As the episode comes to a close, Dr. Westphall is sitting alone in the office of his friend and mentor Dr. Auschlander, who has recently died when in runs his son, Tommy (Chad Allen), a quiet, autistic boy whom viewers had met a time or two before. Contemporary television writers have even bought in to Gow and Crowe's theory. Interpreting non-statistically significant results: Do we have "no evidence" or "insufficient evidence" to reject the null? Like St. Eligius itself, St. And then I saw it and I thought, Its too much. Michael Kennedy is an avid movie and TV fan that's been working for Screen Rant in various capacities since 2014. In the age of streaming in particular, I feel as if this is even more true than its been in the past. 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. WebTommy Westphall, portrayed by Chad Allen, is a minor character from the drama television series St. St elsewhere ending theory. Cookies help us deliver our Services. Elsewhere is not a great place to work or convalesce. This year, Ken Lowe is revisiting some of the most influential TV shows that made it to an officially planned final episode. Over time and with the help of reader contributions, The Tommy Westphall Universe grew to include shows as diverse as ALF, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Knight Rider, Melrose Place, Seinfeld, and dozens of others, much of it helped along by the character of Munch appearing in more than 10 series, and those series making reference to other characters and brands. The best music, movies, TV, books, comedy and more. Although you may have never noticed the connection, there's a compelling case that "Friends," "Breaking Bad," "Seinfeld," "I Love Lucy" and just about every other popular American television show exist within the same universe. Elsewhere, he was openly hostile toward any idea of a reunion special down the line and insisted that the series finale should be definitive. Ambiguous cut to black! In another episode, St. Eligius traveled 50 years into the past. I think other people will find it puzzling, odd, maybe unfulfilling in some way.. But the series managed to survive for six years on a powerful drug called demographics: The show attracted a relatively small but highly desirable audience of young, affluent viewers, and that in turn attracted plenty of advertising dollars to NBC. Canceled. Wikipedia describes the content of the show as: Though the series dealt with serious issues of life, death, the medical profession, and the human effects of all three, a substantial number of comedic moments, inside jokes, and references to television history were included, as well as tender moments of humanity. When NBCs hour-long hospital drama St. Elsewhere signed off after six seasons on May 25, 1988, more than a few viewers were saddened. Not necessarily because the serieswhich had earned 13 Emmy Awards during its runwas ending, but because producers opted for a highly unconventional finale. Movies & TV Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for movie and TV enthusiasts. So what happens when an ending goes completely off the rails? Is there a weapon that has the heavy property and the finesse property (or could this be obtained)? Suddenly, we're taken to a small apartment where Tommy sits on the floor, playing with a snow globe. A $300-million (minimum) gondola to Dodger Stadium? English version of Russian proverb "The hedgehogs got pricked, cried, but continued to eat the cactus". Here on EW.com, read what each of them had to say about the daring and polarizing ending that helped define the WTF? "That really solidifies things. The "St. More than puzzling, some people found it to be an actual puzzle. Autism news, information and support. St. What symbolic value does either the globe or the snow have on the ending of the series? Elsewhere Tags theory, tv, map, universe, autism, st. elsewhere, concept, 80s Additional References Urban Dictionary Wikipedia About. Elsewhere,[1] which ran on NBC from 1982 to 1988.[2]. 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; Elsewhere to Homicide: Life on the Street, which shared a writer/producer in Tom Fontana. Elsewhere': About that snow-globe ending. Elsewhere has fallen victim to economic pressures. In 1988, though, St. It's not even that much of a leap to make a connection to the Mighty Marvel Cinematic Universe (you can get there a number of ways, according to Polygon). The whole circus is overseen by Dr. Donald Westphall (Ed Flanders), with Dr. Daniel Auschlander (Norman Lloyd) and Dr. Mark Craig (Daniels) rounding out the experienced older set of doctors helping the residents learn the ropes. Who is Bruce and does he have a real-world counterpart? Elsewhere" -- the notion of which is a hated cliche, yes, but could it be the reality of almost every story arc you've ever loved on American television? 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. "You know, I still have the snow globe," he said. sign-off. 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. This is not likely the case (I'm not going to search for links to autism websites for this answer), but for writers looking for some weird ending for their show (other than "it was all a dream"), the idea of a child imagining the world of St. Theyre more interested in the colossal mind-fuck that is the. The corporation that bought St. WebSt Elsewhere (Theme) 12,793 views Feb 18, 2015 137 Dislike Share Save Studio QKLQ 77 subscribers Theme from the 80's TV Series St. Why is Frank McCourt really pushing this? According to the duo's notes, the only other non-US shows in the "Tommyverse" are "The 'Degrassi' shows (Canada), 'The Office' (UK), the 'Doctor Who' shows (UK), 'Luther' (UK), 'Jo' (France) and 'Paris Section Criminelle' (France)," which "is the only show not in English in the Tommyverse.". 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. Though they remain philosophical about the loss of St. Characters from Homicide crossed over with multiple series, including The X-Files, Law & Order, The Wire and Arrested Development, with Richard Belzer's John Munch being the most frequent culprit. That would surely lead to spreadsheets the size of walls: Weyland-Yutani is the company behind the machinations of the Alien franchise. Elsewhere was known for its Can I use my Coinbase address to receive bitcoin? As Begley added wistfully, Its never over till its over--but I think in this case, its over .. Six years . Like their small but loyal band of viewers--who have already written at least 300 letters to MTM and the network protesting its cancellation--the St. Since Dr. Turner and Dr. Ehrlich are figments of Tommys imagination that means when they visit the Homicide universe, that it too is part of Tommys world. The great thing about the show that even in its comedy, it was serious. From the mind of a young person whose fantasies were coming to life before him, it was neat. What is the name of the poem Belle reads out? , like basically every television series that is set in the present day, had crossover episodes or cameos with other popular shows. He sits there, all day long, in his own world, staring at that toy. Elsewhere production team are at work on Tattingers, a new NBC series from MTM slated for St. The series sported a large ensemble cast, with veteran actors Ed Flanders and Norman Lloyd anchoring the proceedings for most of its run as Dr. Donald Westphall and Dr. Daniel Auschlander, respectively, and it made household names of up-and-comers like Howie Mandel, Mark Harmon, and Denzel Washington, as well. If the universe of St. I knew there would be an uproar. (On that series, Bobby Ewing was brought back to life after his "death" turned out to be just a bad dream. WebSt. The Elsewhere. I was only supposed to be in 18 of the 22 episodes, so I got an extra episodes pay out of it. This is more interesting than interrogating the deeper philosophical or metaphorical meaning behind the very last scene of a six-season show! One of the producers on St. God love him."[9]. But the notion isn't necessarily dependent on Tommy imagining anything: The connections still exist, whether they're considered a dream within fiction or just an interconnected television universe. MARK HARMON (Dr. Robert Caldwell): I didnt see it live. Entertainment Weekly is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation All Rights Reserved. Because of the number if cross overs that involved St Elsewhere characters (or their mention) and the cross overs those other shows had with other Television these daysor rather, television that jerks like me actually bother to write aboutbasically falls into two categories now: Heavily scripted and serialized prestige TV or reality show stuff that sounds like a made up show on, . I felt it wasnt serious. It was all a dream! This expands the Tommy Westphall universe ever outward, to the point where over 400 shows now reside under its umbrella. Most scripted television shows end in cancellation, so theres something special about the ones that get the chance to go out on their own terms. It was highly unpredictable, just like every episode. Ending of "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans". At one point. If it were just a solid hospital show, it would be a popular back catalog binge watch, but its a part of TV history for two reasons: its novel approach to the hospital drama, and. Why does the husband leave the family in The Others? ", Tommy, who is shaking a snow globe,[5] is told by his father to come and wash his hands. 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. Elsewhere was never a huge ratings hit, but it had a loyal following, won awards, and remained well-regarded in the years following its final curtain call. 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! Elsewheres bumbling Dr. Victor Erlich, offered the final diagnosis of his medical career. The theory is called the "The Tommy Westphall Universe" and hinges on a reveal at the finale of "St. Fontana was being facetious (we think), but not everyone was as enthused with the premise. At one point I was the answer for a Trivial Pursuit question. Erasing the fiction of an entire medium is not what Tom Fontana had planned. Airing for six seasons from 1982 to 1988 on NBC,St. He went on to create the acclaimed seriesHomicide:Life on the Street (in which a character fromSt. Its an episode of heartfelt goodbyes and dramatic exits. While that can sometimes describe St. Elsewhere have dropped out of the cultural lexicon entirelyexcept for one. 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?) (referring to Tommy) He give you any trouble? Even if you go to Alice in Wonderland, and he has the wonderful poem Life is But a Dream in it, still it was serious. Proponents of the Tommy Westphall Universe argue that because of this fictional crossover, the two series exist within the same fictional universe, and within Tommy Westphall's mind because of the final episode of St. Elsewhere--a derisive nickname for the aging South Boston medical facility--was never healthy in the ratings. Goober and the Truckers Paradise [pilot only], Mrs Columbo/Kate Columbo/Kate the Dectective/Kate Loves a Mystery, use this link to the web that allows for zooming. And they figured out a way: Okay, we wont have any reunions, nothing like that. After six seasons of letting those within the hospital doing the hard work of being human and showing humanity it was our turn. 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. This is because it's pretty easy to connectSt. DAVID MORSE (Dr. Jack Boomer Morrison): I felt two things. Fontana went on to create Homicide: Life on the Street and HBOs groundbreaking prison drama Oz. St. It is underfunded, understaffed, crowded, and running on fumes. You can barely please half the people most of the time. I think itll have another life, he said, smiling enigmatically. Part of HuffPost Entertainment. The theory is called the "The Tommy Westphall Universe" and hinges on a reveal at the finale of "St. I thought it was terrible. For example, take thatCheers crossover. orGrey's Anatomy, then you've got one series to thank. Therefore, the commercial also does homage to the Newhart finale, as Larry Culpepper's presence from a previous Dr Pepper ad campaign references Bob Newhart's psychiatrist from The Bob Newhart Show appearing in The Last Newhart. Elsewhere, Paltrow said he remains hopeful that the reruns will find a home someday, on cable if not on broadcast stations. St. What world is Tommy imagining inside that snow globe, he wonders aloud. My character died in the second-to-last episode, but I was in the last episode in a scene in which Howies character pays a visit to Dr. Axelrods corpse in the morgue. That fictional firm appears inDoctor Who, Red Dwarf, and of course, theAlien feature film franchise. As Gow told HuffPost, "St. Elsewhere with varying degrees of separation, ranging from I Love Lucy to The Flash. Tommy runs to see the snow falling outside the window, and that's when everything changes. Elsewhere" universe with other shows, then those shows with other shows, has created an elaborate web of American television. And because I cant tell you I have a better idea of how it couldve ended, I can live with that one. We're often considered and thought of as robot-like people who have no emotions and who only see other people as objects. If NBC had started paying us more money, they would have had to start giving a lot of other people more money, too. 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 A few shows are outside of American television such as the British show, "Red Dwarf." The commercial titled "Off Season" features the cast of the mock sitcom "Fansville" discussing their purpose after the conclusion of the college football season. Marriage! But [executive producers] Tom Fontana and John Masius and Bruce Paltrow didnt want just a normal ending. Meme Status Submission Year 1988 Origin St. It was seen as a cheap shot and a quick fix, even though the mechanism and method was mimicked many times over afterwards. Because a lot of autistic children are withdrawn, it seems as though they're in their own world. In that time, Michael has written over 2000 articles for the site, first working solely as a news writer, then later as a senior writer and associate news editor. Fiscus (Mandel), Morrison (Morse) and Ehrlich (Begley) are all dealing with their own issues around their impending exits. That's the nature of a hospital drama, that's why we tune in. 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. But this television-changing theory doesn't stop there. , the magic was in the tone, as it was with another show by the same production company. WebIf the St. The notion that appearances by the same character in two or more series tie those series together in the same fictional universe is also problematic. I think reality is much more the smell of the hospital, the smell of death. 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? Was the fact that Tommy is considered Autistic symbolic in any way? To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. (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. Why did DOS-based Windows require HIMEM.SYS to boot? On this day in 1988, TV viewers saw one of the most famous and perhaps the most debated series finales in TV history. And people say, Norman, youre either mad or senile or both--but you dont get a show like St. rev2023.4.21.43403. If you've ever been riveted by the human drama ofE.R. Also, consider that each connection fromSt. 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.". Gow, a resident of Melbourne, Australia, spent time in pubs and online wondering what Tommys scene meant for every show connected to St. The attitude was, Nothing can get us down, as bad as it is. And it was bad all the time.. Elsewhere's final episode, "The Last One", one interpretation of which is that the entire St. Partnering with The Huffington Post, Gow and Crowe published an extensive update of the "Tommyverse" to their television web of compromised shows, which HuffPost illustrator, Alissa Scheller, put into visual form. When NBCs hour-long hospital drama St. Death! Share. The thing is, autism was - and still is - largely not understood what goes on in a person's brain. [3][4] The following exchange occurs: Grandfather: "Good. A clip of the original credits from the series finale, with Mimsie the Cat on life support. Flashforward! So Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., Mayberry R.F.D., and Make Room for Daddy/The Danny Thomas Show are gone. 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. Through crossovers, spinoffs, cameos, or fictional brands or products appearing in more than one show, everything from. If you notice any other connections, feel free to join in on the madness. I think a lot of the cast didnt care for it at all. Most of us failed. Review/Television; Ed Flanders as Dr. Westphal in, "Six Objections to the Westphall Hypothesis", "Director Ben Wheatley Talks 'High-Rise', 'Doctor Who', 'Free Fire' and More at TIFF", "NewsRadio (TV Series) Daydream (1996) Trivia", Other arguments against the Tommy Westphall Universe, Association for Science in Autism Treatment, Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative, Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, Maia Chung Autism and Disabilities Foundation (Jamaica), The Accidental Teacher: Life Lessons from My Silent Son, Aspergirls: Empowering Females with Asperger's Syndrome, Freaks, Geeks, and Asperger Syndrome: A User Guide to Adolescence, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Everybody Is Different: A Book for Young People Who Have Brothers or Sisters With Autism, Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tommy_Westphall&oldid=1148529078, Fictional characters on the autism spectrum, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 6 April 2023, at 18:38. But for others, it was a stroke of inspiration. Did the drapes in old theatres actually say "ASBESTOS" on them? Thats All, Folksis a look back at televisions most unforgettable series finales. 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. Is all of American television the hallucination of an autistic child?? Elsewhere" that the whole show had been in the character The original decision to include fictional product crossovers actually comes from the origins of the chart itself. The hospital at its center, Boston's fictional St. Eligius, picked up its titular nickname because of its reputation as an aging, poorly-staffed dumping ground for hopeless patients, and the show's urgent, fly-on-the-wall visual style added to its air of gritty realism. Elsewhere. 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 also shared characters with The White Shadow and Its Garry Shandlings Show, McDuffie wrote. In the final scene of the series, the camera widens out from St. Eligius, until it becomes clear the hospital is a model inside a snow globe being shaken by Tommy as he plays on the floor of a small apartment. Web"Cora and Arnie". Television these daysor rather, television that jerks like me actually bother to write aboutbasically falls into two categories now: Heavily scripted and serialized prestige TV or reality show stuff that sounds like a made up show on 30 Rock. Ambiguous cut to black! It seems to imply that the events of the show were all imagined by the mind of a non-verbal young boy. STEPHEN FURST (Dr. Elliot Axelrod): I thought it was kind of cool, actually. Toe-tagged. If it were just a solid hospital show, it would be a popular back catalog binge watch, but its a part of TV history for two reasons: its novel approach to the hospital drama, and, Nobody is too interested in that, though. It was a show that never did amazing in the ratings, but it held on because it was always pressing the boundaries of what was okay on TV, bringing up issues that werent even being discussed. The fictional brand or company thing is also Fontana's fault. Elsewhere visited the Cheers bar, the creators of Cheers offered no consent to have their series thought of as imaginary. Paired with the show's penchant for references, this finale has spawned one of the most bizarre and elaborate fan theories of all time. When we read it, we all had reservations about it. I could have put in a sauna and a Jacuzzi, you know?. Elsewhere" that the whole show had been in the character Westphall's dream. Elsewhere cast reunion: It was a show that changed television, 'St. Elsewhere characters got the business from Carla while drinking at Cheers, the bar from, uh, Cheersand therefore, Frasier, a spinoff, must also exist somewhere in that snow globe. [1][6] This hypothesis was originally put forward by comic book and TV writer Dwayne McDuffie in a 2002 blog post,[8] as a reductio ad absurdum argument against making strong statements about fictional continuity based upon guest appearances. With the aria "Chi il bel sogno di Doretta" (Doretta's Beautiful Dream) from Puccini's opera La Rondine playing, Tommy Westphall enters the office and runs to the window, where he looks at the snow falling outside St. The shows cast had seen ups and downs, additions and subtractions in its time, with Flanders character Westphall eventually stepping down as the hospitals head to become a doctor there. 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. It was not right for us to say, You should lose more money. . Just some of the other series that have ended up connected as part of the Tommy Westphall universe include Community, Seinfeld, Person of Interest, Malcolm in the Middle, and Married with Children. It is underfunded, understaffed, crowded, and running on fumes. characters got the business from Carla while drinking at Cheers, the bar from, uh, , a spinoff, must also exist somewhere in that snow globe. Walter White and Rachel Green are no longer just characters in your pop culture-themed fantasy game of Clue, they're characters that could have bumped into each other on the street. You can follow him on Twitter and read more at his blog. As for the snow globe, that was the focus of Tommy's attention. 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. In fact, for all its success, most aspects of St. That is The first episode of a show has to hook viewers in for the long haul in a way totally unlike, say, the first pages of a novel. Elsewhere to a trivial mention in Fontanas biography, if not for the curiosity of a playwright named Keith Gow. Make Room For Daddy takes out I Love Lucy.. That kind of anguish you just cant transmit. Halle Bailey, Melissa McCarthy, and director Rob Marshall share the tale behind making their underwater musical with a groundbreaking Disney princess. The implication was that Tommya character on the autism spectrumhad imagined the entire show, a fiction-within-the-fiction conceit that had angered viewers during the infamous dream season arc on Dallas five years earlier. Elsewhere to another series likely has additional connections of its own and for a sterling example of this, look no further thanHomicide. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. And listen, we set such a bar, its hard to top it to make that ending satisfy a lot of people. 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. Elsewhere by the residents and the surrounding community, the place has a reputation as a rathole. 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. While that can sometimes describe. Elsewhere. Not necessarily because the serieswhich had earned 13 Emmy Awards during its runwas ending, but because producers opted for a highly unconventional finale. WebSt Elsewhere Closing Credits Season 5 Lorenzo F 1.61K subscribers 47 Share 14K views 2 years ago #bumpers #tvthemes #televisionthemes WELCOME TO MY VIDEOS of little-known, forgotten TV gems. Elsewhere was a hospital drama where we, the audience, are invited to feel and think along with the patients, the families and the medical staff. The series finale of the 1980s medical dramedy St. Though MTM hasnt had much luck yet syndicating St. Mimsie the Cat has seen better days. 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. Does the 500-table limit still apply to the latest version of Cassandra? this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines. When youre finished, watch the cast reunion on Good Morning America and voice your own opinion on the finale in our poll. St. Eligius is a teaching hospital in Bostons South End (the building that appears in the title sequence is actually an apartment building there). As Gow and Crowe assembled their chart, comics writer Dwayne McDuffie (Static Shock) wrote a blog entry for Slush.com in 2002 that made a similar observation. Some people liked its provocativeness. ER and Chicago Hope wouldnt exist in the form they did without St. 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. The suggestion is that the entire series was a product of Tommy Westphall's imagination but if that's true, then what it implies is nothing short of jaw-dropping. 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. wouldnt exist in the form they did without. Where things get complicated is that characters from St. ", This means cartoons and late-night shows are notably excluded, but it gets far more specific than that. Yet, none of those universes compare to the sheer enormity of the Tommy Westphall world, which traces back to the series finale of popular 1980s medical drama St.

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