Elsewhere remains one of the most famous examples of the "all just a dream" plot. Elsewhere" that the whole show had been in the character As for the snow globe, that was the focus of Tommy's attention. Here's my son, I talk to him, I don't even know if he can hear me. Was the fact that Tommy is considered Autistic symbolic in any way? But now, viewers are picking shows out to binge watch, and they want to know that their time investment is going to have some payoff. To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. Christina Pickles, whose character of Nurse Helen Rosenthal ended the series triumphantly by kicking a drug dependency, is the only one who believes that St. I thought it was interesting. Can you still use Commanders Strike if the only attack available to forego is an attack against an ally? "I prefer character connections, myself," Gow says. I saw it as a show about people struggling to answer lifes ridiculous questions--sometimes they would do it in a comic way, sometimes they would do it in a serious way, said Tom Fontana, one of the shows core group of writers and producers, who served as a creative consultant this season. But they did want to end the show, and not have little St. Elsewheres coming after it. I sure heard about it. I tell you, the last episode, I never bought it. John Hemingway of The John Larroquette Show once called into Frasiers talk show; The great thing about the show that even in its comedy, it was serious. Mandel, Morse, and Washington are among the core cast of younger doctors that stuck around for the entire show, wringing their hands over their critical patients, racing to respond to someone randomly coding in the hallway, or occasionally banging in the morgue. Elsewhere take place within Tommy's mind, but so do numerous other television series which are directly and indirectly connected to St. Elsewhere, NBCs darkly comic series about a financially strapped Boston hospital and its beleaguered staff, is dead. Elsewhere was a solid drama that gave a boatload of great actors some steady work for a few years, but it will always be a peculiar show for that final detail. Elsewhere" universe with other shows, then those shows with other shows, has created an elaborate web of American television. It's safe to say that the final episode, specifically the end scene, of St. St. Christina Pickles, whose character of Nurse Helen Rosenthal ended the series triumphantly by kicking a drug dependency, is the only one who believes that St. (referring to Tommy) He give you any trouble? ", Father: "I don't understand this autism thing, Pop. HOWIE MANDEL (Dr. Wayne Fiscus): I thought it was realllllllly interesting. Elsewhere signed off after six seasons on May 25, 1988, more than a few viewers were saddened. Because a lot of autistic children are withdrawn, it seems as though they're in their own world. Birth! We're often considered and thought of as robot-like people who have no emotions and who only see other people as objects. After six seasons of letting those within the hospital doing the hard work of being human and showing humanity it was our turn. What is the Russian word for the color "teal"? Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. Cookies help us deliver our Services. Its an episode of heartfelt goodbyes and dramatic exits. Surely more shows have somehow become connected in the four years since, especially since the Crisis on Infinite Earths Arrowverse crossover included characters from nearly every DC movie and TV continuity ever. Elsewhere to another series likely has additional connections of its own and for a sterling example of this, look no further thanHomicide. There are oodles of ways to end a TV series. In that episode, the entirety of St. The John Larroquette Show once mentioned Yoyodyne, a manufacturing client of law firm Wolfram and Hart; characters got the business from Carla while drinking at Cheers, the bar from, uh, , a spinoff, must also exist somewhere in that snow globe. Kenneth Lowe is a regular contributor to Paste TV. Over the years, the two have gotten countless emails from fans who found their own connections between shows, invested in the prospect of destroying all television storylines with one theory. New blog post from our CEO Prashanth: Community is the future of AI, Improving the copy in the close modal and post notices - 2023 edition. [3][4] The following exchange occurs: Grandfather: "Good. Nobody is too interested in that, though. If you notice any other connections, feel free to join in on the madness. One example: "Episodes where reality shows exist within a fictional sphere are not included (such as the 'X-Files'/'COPS' crossover and the 'Chicago Hope'/'Entertainment Tonight' crossover). For all the latest TV news, reviews, lists and features, follow. St What world is Tommy imagining inside that snow globe, he wonders aloud. Ending of "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans". was a solid drama that gave a boatload of great actors some steady work for a few years, but it will always be a peculiar show for that final detail. John Munch). Syndication used to be the method by which we would see old scripted shows, and a shows rep needed to be good enough for you to stop flipping channels if you happened to land on an episode (ooh! If you've ever been riveted by the human drama ofE.R. The Tommy Westphall universe hypothesis makes the claim that not only does St. This year, Ken Lowe is revisiting some of the most influential TV shows that made it to an officially planned final episode. The Biggest Shared Universe Has Over 400 Shows - Screen Rant (Quizzed by IndieWire in 2012 as to who exactly came up with the idea, neither Fontana nor co-writers Channing Gibson or John Tinker could remember. Elsewhere, the magic was in the tone, as it was with another show by the same production company, Hill Street Blues. When directing episodes for the eighth series of the revived Doctor Who in 2014, Ben Wheatley had the art department create a replica of Tommy Westphall's snowglobe, which Wheatley placed in the TARDIS set as a reference to the hypothesis. Then it could create conversation, so I thought it was kind of brilliant. ). The show was a proving ground for actors you have seen in a million things before or since: Denzel Washington and Howie Mandel were easily the most recognizable, but there were also ringers like Mark Harmon, David Morse, Ed Begley Jr., Bruce Greenwood, Ronny Cox, and not only Mr. Feeny himself (William Daniels), but his wife (real and fictional) Bonnie Bartlett. The original decision to include fictional product crossovers actually comes from the origins of the chart itself. As Gow told HuffPost, "St. Elsewhere" writer Tom Fontana began writing connections between his shows using fictional products and companies. Is it positing that the hopes and the fears and the suffering we endure in our lives are being watched by a deity who is interested and all-knowing but who can only gaze in at us and never interfere in our tribulationswhere in all the world but an under-resourced hospital in the planets richest nation could the question of such a beings love or cruelty be more pressing? Another reason for the importance of this ending is the nature of what we were shown. Elsewhere" finale was the first big "it was all just a dream" finale, ending with the revelation that St. Eligius hospital and its staff were all the creations of Who is Bruce and does he have a real-world counterpart? Tommy Westphall - Wikipedia What symbolic value does either the globe or the snow have on the ending of the series? Here on EW.com, read what each of them had to say about the daring and polarizing ending that helped define the WTF? What is the rationale/justification for ending the series this way? Elsewhere very often in your life. They tried to really think outside the box the box in this case being that little television box of the 80s and they did something so different. The thing is, autism was - and still is - largely not understood what goes on in a person's brain. Crisis On Infinite Earths Solved DC Movies' Continuity Problem, Star Wars' Next Show Needs To Fill The Biggest Gap In Anakin's Life, 1 Sorcerers Stone Problem Could Make The Harry Potter Remake Harder, Why Missy's Hair Is Shorter In Young Sheldon Season 6 Episode 18. Why did Sonny trust Carlo enough to introduce him to the family and then sour on him? Ambiguous cut to black! And because I cant tell you I have a better idea of how it couldve ended, I can live with that one. Elsewhere airs at 10 p.m. on Channels 4, 36 and 39. ", Father: "Well, we finally topped off the 22nd story. Donald Westphalls autistic son, who was gazing into a snow globe containing a miniature version of the hospital. Entertainment Weekly may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Elsewhere also shared characters with The White Shadow and Its Garry Shandlings Show, McDuffie wrote. ), At Willie Nelson 90, country, rock and rap stars pay tribute, but Willie and Trigger steal the show, Concertgoer lets out a loud full body orgasm while L.A. Phil plays Tchaikovskys 5th, Jerry Springer kept his aggressive cancer a family secret in his final months, James Corden gets a star-studded send-off on his final Late Late Show, Kim Kardashian is catching shade from Patti LuPone and Sharon Stone for AHS casting, Jonathan Majors accuser gets full temporary protection order ahead of court date, Review: The Russo brothers spy thriller Citadel has plenty of action and little else. A clip of the original credits from the series finale, with Mimsie the Cat on life support. By using our Services, you agree to our use of cookies. It was certainly something no other network would put up with. You can follow him on Twitter and read more at his blog. This 40-year-old show looks like that nurses job in that ER, and the characters coping mechanisms and responses to trauma may be dramatized, but they arent implausible. Elsewhere seemed like an easy out. Elsewhere was a show that got by largely on the strength of its ensemble, running for six seasons from 1982-88. So Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., Mayberry R.F.D., and Make Room for Daddy/The Danny Thomas Show are gone. Elsewhere,[1] which ran on NBC from 1982 to 1988.[2]. Observers of the theory take issue with the idea out of what they deem is a misunderstanding of an authors intent. It was seen as a cheap shot and a quick fix, even though the mechanism and method was mimicked many times over afterwards. The camera slowly zooms in on the snow globe, which is revealed to contain a replica of St. Eligius hospital inside of it. Gow, a resident of Melbourne, Australia, spent time in pubs and online wondering what Tommys scene meant for every show connected to St. 2023 Paste Media Group. Elsewhere, Ed Begley Jr., St. Helen Hunt even appeared in a few episodes. You can follow any one of these connective threads down a series of increasingly convoluted rabbit holes, and it probably won't surprise you to learn that a number of fans have done exactly that. Theyre more interested in the colossal mind-fuck that is the Tommy Westphall Universe. St. This 40-year-old show looks like that nurses job in that ER, and the characters coping mechanisms and responses to trauma may be dramatized, but they arent implausible. Both shows took a grittier and more realistic approach to their drama. But now, viewers are picking shows out to binge watch, and they want to know that their time investment is going to have some payoff. Elsewhere writer Tom Fontana was quoted as saying "Someone did the math once and something like 90 percent of all [American] television took place in Tommy Westphall's mind. And because we were never a hit, we didnt have the firepower behind us to make the syndication business., Paltrow said he bears no grudge against the network or MTM for terminating St. Elsewhere was an aberration. Executive producer Bruce Paltrow explained that the show cost MTM more to produce than what NBC paid to broadcast it--which is common--but that because the outlook for recouping those deficits through syndicated reruns is so bleak, the company didnt consider another year of expenditures worth its while. The Show NORMAN LLOYD: (Dr. Daniel Auschlander): Theyd been talking about Citizen Kane. More than puzzling, some people found it to be an actual puzzle. TIL That thanks to the series finale of St Elsewhere, and - Reddit The common thread running through the last season (besides a consistent plot about a special new artificial heart) is that St. Eligius is probably going to close, right around the same time the hospitals residents (read: the younger main cast members) are all ending their residencies and about to head out into the depressing world of medicine. One TV writer wants to put a copy of the grid on her office wall and put 'YOU ARE HERE' on the show she writes for.". More: Why The X-Files Season 12 Never Happened. Official crossovers between the "St. Cheers spun off the long-running seriesFrasier, and that series had its events referenced or its characters cameo on shows likeCaroline in the City, The John Larroquette Show,and evenThe Simpsons. Why was it necessary for St. Elsewhere to end the way it did? They really wanted to kill the show. I think the final years story line reflected it, she said, referring to the takeover and makeover of St. Eligius by a wealthy corporation at the outset of the final season. The one where EW follows up with the cast. In their defense, the theory's original creator, Dwayne McDuffle, actually posited it while attempting to mock crazy shared universe theories based around guest appearances by one TV show's character(s) on another show. And what about the real people who have appeared on the included shows, like Alex Trebek on Cheers? And they figured out a way: Okay, we wont have any reunions, nothing like that. Elsewhere truly shook things up and gave us one of the most talked-about series finales in history with the snow globe. After watching six Emmy-nominated seasons of drama medical and emotional, dark and light, envelope-pushing and heartstring-pulling at the run-down St. Eligius, we were led to believe in the finales last scene that the entire show was actually a product of the imagination of (construction worker?) Tommy's World: The TV Legacy of St. Elsewhere's "Tommy What are the advantages of running a power tool on 240 V vs 120 V? Elsewhere through fictional crossovers and spin-offs, resulting in a large fictional universe taking place entirely within Tommy's mind. ERIC LANEUVILLE (Luther Hawkins): I look back on it now and say Well, it kinda worked. When I first saw it, I had some real reservations about it. In an interview withPaley Matters in 2018, Fontana who co-wrote the finale expressed his ongoing surprise and weird sense of pride at how that final scene has, well, snowballed into the mother of all pop culture fan theories. CLARIFICATION: This article originally included a quote that incorrectly stated all of the non-American shows in the list. The kind of gallows humor that was in the show was a case of art imitating life, Paltrow continued. And Ed Flanders, who portrayed Dr. Donald Westphall, made his last appearance before leaving the regular cast early this season (he returns in the final episode) by mooning the camera. The Elsewhere by the residents and the surrounding community, the place has a reputation as a rathole. A terrible ending! The commercial titled "Off Season" features the cast of the mock sitcom "Fansville" discussing their purpose after the conclusion of the college football season. A Weyland-Yutani ship is seen in the BBC series Red Dwarf, which also depicted The Doctors TARDIS. The series is (implied to be) a figment of Tommy Westphall's imagination, existing in the snowglobe that he is focused on. St. Elsewhere. Somehow, a literal airplane has crashed into the hospital. Elsewhere 's characters appear in Tommy's dream doesn't mean they don't also Like St. Eligius itself, St. Fiscus and Morrison and the death of Dr. Auschlander, He went on to create the acclaimed seriesHomicide:Life on the Street (in which a character fromSt. In the last episode's final two scenes, Donald Westphall having just returned to St. Eligius is shown in Dr. Auschlander's office pondering the recent death from stroke of his colleague and mentor. [3][1], The foremost interpretation of this scene is that the entire series of events in St. St. Thus, it does not follow that because one person, place, or thing is present in two or more works of fiction that those works are necessarily related. It was all a dream! We all knew that whenever you do the last episode of any series, the last chapter of any story like that, youre never going to come up with an ending that will satisfy everybody. Tommy Westphall, portrayed by Chad Allen, is a minor character from the drama television series St. Related: Crisis On Infinite Earths Solved DC Movies' Continuity Problem. It was bold and shocking and upset some people. It wasn't unusual to hear other famous TV doctors and the like paged over St. Eligius' PA system, characters from series likeThe White Shadow, M*A*S*H*, andThe Mary Tyler Moore Show appeared or were referred to, and one season 3 episode even took place partially within another Boston institution the titular bar fromCheers. That is the actual ending, a strange world-within-a-world. I spent a shift sitting bedside with my daughter in the emergency room during a three-day-long stay once, watching the same sainted nurse come and go as an endless tide of needy patients washed in. Elsewhere ' s series finale features momentous changes for several main characters, including the departures of Drs. BTW, in the Wikipedia article about the last episode, someone estimates that "90% of the shows existed in this kid's head" due to the many show crossovers. They made a choice and the choice is interesting. Most recently, Michael helped launch Screen Rant's new horror section, and is now the lead staff writer when it comes to all things frightening. Among Lloyds favorite sequences was one in which a stoned Dr. Auschlander, treating the side effects of chemotherapy with marijuana, stumbled into a 7-Eleven store with a case of midnight munchies. St. Eligius is a teaching hospital in Bostons South End (the building that appears in the title sequence is actually an apartment building there). The series finale of the 1980s medical dramedy St. NBC Entertainment President Brandon Tartikoff is fond of defining quality television as something that starts with low ratings and ends with a cat meowing--a reference to programs produced by MTM Enterprises, which end with a kitten logo in a sly takeoff on MGMs roaring lion. Elsewhere production team are at work on Tattingers, a new NBC series from MTM slated for St. For all the latest TV news, reviews, lists and features, follow @Paste_TV. The theory is called the "The Tommy Westphall Universe" and hinges on a reveal at the finale of "St. And Howie got so mad, because I got paid for a full episode, and all I had to do was lie on a slab for five seconds. They always tried to be out there, beyond the limits of what was being done before. And most of the connections on the grid are characters, even though something like Morley cigarettes (a fictional brand) has a lot of individual connections, they just add to the connective tissue in certain ways. The fictional Morley cigarettes are particularly pervasive, as is Hudson University, an institution of higher learning mentioned on The Cosby Show, Law & Order, and Murder, She Wrote. But this television-changing theory doesn't stop there. At least that's the most widely held interpretation of St. Elsewhere 's final moments. The ending has become an infamous example of the "it was all a dream" conclusion that's appeared in dozens of movies and TV shows over the years. Copyright 2023 Meredith Corporation. While the doctors of St. MARK HARMON (Dr. Robert Caldwell): I didnt see it live. Brian Weatherson, professor of philosophy at Cornell University, wrote a piece, "Six Objections to the Westphall Hypothesis", which challenges the logical, factual, and philosophical basis for the existence of the "universe".[10]. The best music, movies, TV, books, comedy and more. Most of us failed. Elsewhere links to Doctor Who [PDF], hypothetically rendering the TARDIS a figment of Tommys imagination: Donald Westphall and two other doctors visited Sam Malones bar from Cheers; In a way that actually sucks most of contemporary-set American scripted TV into the inside of a snow globe? Making a splash: A deep dive into the live-action Little Mermaid with a new generation's Ariel. That series' creator, Joss Whedon, also createdFirefly, in which it's established that Wolfram and Hart had also represented a mega-corporation by the name of Weyland-Utani. The Tommy Westphall universe hypothesis is an idea discussed among some television fans, it makes the claim that not only does St. Elsewhere. Nicknamed St. The problem that I see with the ending is that they explained away the whole show as the daydreams of an autistic child's imagination. The doctors had visited the bar on Cheers in one St. What is the name of the poem Belle reads out? ER and Chicago Hope wouldnt exist in the form they did without St. According toMental Floss,that series once mentioned a firm called Yoyodyne, which also was a client of a fictional law firm Wolfram and Hart, which appeared in theBuffy the Vampire Slayer spin-offAngel. Elsewhere carries a shocking implication NBC St. The final scene of 30 Rock opens with a view of the eponymous building, which fades into a model of the same, in a snow globe, observed by NBC president Kenneth Parcell roughly a century into the future, as flying cars whiz past his window. Elsewhere had been a product of Tommy Westphall's (an autistic boy) imagination, with elements of the above scene used as its own evidence. But for others, it was a stroke of inspiration. Elsewhere finale wasn't infamous enough with its twist ending, the closing bumper made for the finale showed Mimsie, the logo cat, unconscious and hooked up to an IV, Much of the humor between characters is gallows humor. I was not upset. Crowe told HuffPost that if they were to start over today, they'd exclude fictional products as being the basis for counting a crossover, explaining, "since we started this, there's apparently been a real consolidation in fake-prop companies.". Fontana went on to create Homicide: Life on the Street and HBOs groundbreaking prison drama Oz. For instance, it may be the other way around, and the snow globe scene may itself be the dream. It seems to imply that the events of the show were all imagined by the mind of a non-verbal young boy. I can't find any justification for ending the show this way, other than the writers wanted to end the show on a twist ending, rather than just another typical ending. Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. It was highly unpredictable, just like every episode. Elsewhere., It was as far as they could go, he said. And the fat lady sings tonight: The last episode of St. Here's my son, I talk to him, I don't even know if he can hear me. In another, Dr. Morrison, played by David Morse, lost his wife in a freak household accident, then listened with a mixture of anguish and reverence to her heart beating after being transplanted into someone elses chest. The Importance of the St. Elsewhere Ending : r/autism When I read it, I thought it was amazing: Only these people could come up with this idea And I thought it was very touching. This will become important very shortly. I think a lot of the cast didnt care for it at all. Why did the Fairy Queen have to die for a poor deal? Both shows took a grittier and more realistic approach to their drama. Sealed and locked. A $300-million (minimum) gondola to Dodger Stadium? That is Why does the husband leave the family in The Others?
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