Kenneth Lowe is a regular contributor to Paste TV. Elsewhere have dropped out of the cultural lexicon entirelyexcept for one. St. would not look or feel the same without its influence and success. Sealed and locked. At one point, St. We cant take that jump from seeing these people, Norman, Ed [Flanders] and Bill [Daniels], and this young boy for six years, and suddenly were supposed to believe that theyre these other people. Lloyd also enjoyed the priest who heard confession in a toilet stall (I mean, that was wild--I never thought that would get on), a nude surgery sequence based on Scandinavian medical practices and a scene in which Auschlander discussed sexual awakening with a frightened boy. Beyond the theoretical connections, it's possible that the 419 affected shows all exist within the dream of an autistic boy from the show, "St. Illustration by HuffPost's Alissa Scheller. 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? 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. Though they remain philosophical about the loss of St. 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. Through it all, time skips are marked off by a digital clock readout in the corner, and its the lightest touch that makes a world of difference in how the show goes over, marking the endless grind the characters face in tangible hours and minutes. What world is Tommy imagining inside that snow globe, he wonders aloud. Here's my son, I talk to him, I don't even know if he can hear me. We always said: Thats a tough question--well, good night! . For all the latest TV news, reviews, lists and features, follow @Paste_TV. The Tommy Westphall universe hypothesis makes the claim that not only does St. St Elsewhere Can my creature spell be countered if I cast a split second spell after it? 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.". HOWIE MANDEL (Dr. Wayne Fiscus): I thought it was realllllllly interesting. But they did want to end the show, and not have little St. Elsewheres coming after it. As a special tribute to recently deceased writer Dwayne McDuffie, CBR is pleased to present one of the most well-known texts from his time writing about the art of comics in "Six Degrees of 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. 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. St. 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 streamlining kind of took away its energy.. CLARIFICATION: This article originally included a quote that incorrectly stated all of the non-American shows in the list. In that episode, the entirety of St. I think other people will find it puzzling, odd, maybe unfulfilling in some way.. John Munch). The attitude was, Nothing can get us down, as bad as it is. And it was bad all the time.. Elsewhere ' s series finale features momentous changes for several main characters, including the departures of Drs. If the theory holds, then a large chunk of television is the direct result of one childs formidable imagination. 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. Elsewhere into Homicide.". Elsewhere 's characters appear in Tommy's dream doesn't mean they don't also 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. Dr Pepper includes an homage to Tommy Westphall's snowglobe in its 2021 advertising campaign. They remember it because of young Tommy Westphall (Chad Allen)the autistic son of Dr. Westphall, who was a recurring character on the show. An exterior camera shot of the hospital cuts to Tommy West In the age of streaming in particular, I feel as if this is even more true than its been in the past. There are no villains in this piece. Entertainment Weekly is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation All Rights Reserved. [3][4] The following exchange occurs: Grandfather: "Good. Westphall sits down next to Tommy and says, "I don't understand this autism thing, Pop. The stories speak for themselves. 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved. As Gow told HuffPost, "St. 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. St. So far, the included shows span from "I Love Lucy" in 1951, to today, with 26 listed shows still on the air. NORMAN LLOYD: (Dr. Daniel Auschlander): Theyd been talking about Citizen Kane. , the magic was in the tone, as it was with another show by the same production company. Nobody is too interested in that, though. How was your day up on the building? While the doctors of St. BONNIE BARTLETT (Ellen Craig): [The writers] wanted to do an ending to the show in a way so that it could never be brought back again. Is all of American television the hallucination of an autistic child?? The I tell you, the last episode, I never bought it. The original decision to include fictional product crossovers actually comes from the origins of the chart itself. 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. As for the snow globe, that was the focus of Tommy's attention. 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. Scan this QR code to download the app now. Fan Theory Proves Almost All TV Shows Exist Within Same Elsewhere. WebNo, you missed the point. orGrey's Anatomy, then you've got one series to thank. A Weyland-Utani ship is also seen in a spaceship graveyard in the British sci-fi series Red Dwarf.. 7. A long-term member of the Screen Rant family, Michael looks forward to continuing on creating new content for the site for many more years to come. Elsewhere, Paltrow, Fontana and the several cast members interviewed all said they would have been willing to continue indefinitely. Fontanas favored conclusion was a literal apocalypse, where the staff of St. Eligius would be standing by in the year 2013 while a toxic gas cloud passed over, the result of a corporate war between foreign factions. Of course, every party has a pooper, and there are those that consider the Tommy Westphall universe ridiculous. (referring to Tommy) He give you any trouble? Elsewhere, the magic was in the tone, as it was with another show by the same production company, Hill Street Blues. As Dr. Fiscus struggles with the anxiety of leaving the hospital, his last patient at St. Eligius is the actress portraying a valkyrie in a Wagner opera who has, get this, laryngitis. Elsewhere team enjoyed life on the series even when times were tough, which was always. At least that's the most widely held interpretation of St. Elsewhere airs at 10 p.m. on Channels 4, 36 and 39. wouldnt exist in the form they did without. The show had, above all, an attitude, said Norman Lloyd, whose character, liver specialist Dr. Auschlander, faced his own debilitating liver cancer during the run of the show. I remember reading about it in the paper that there was controversy over it. St. Eligius is a teaching hospital in Bostons South End (the building that appears in the title sequence is actually an apartment building there). Movies & TV Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for movie and TV enthusiasts. The corporation that bought St. 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 (. 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. Elsewhere signed off after six seasons on May 25, 1988, more than a few viewers were saddened. 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. "St. Elsewhere. --Tom Fontana, former producer, St. I was only supposed to be in 18 of the 22 episodes, so I got an extra episodes pay out of it. Why was it necessary for St. But of course, none of that is what people really remember the last episode for. Elsewherefollowed its flawed, relatable characters over multi-episode storylines and even season-long arcs. The thing is, autism was - and still is - Please feel free to submit articles to enhance the knowledge, acceptance, understanding and research of Autism and ASD. Elsewhere had been a product of Tommy Westphall's (an autistic boy) imagination, with elements of the above scene used as its own evidence. The kind of gallows humor that was in the show was a case of art imitating life, Paltrow continued. It was seen as a cheap shot and a quick fix, even though the mechanism and method was mimicked many times over afterwards. Erasing the fiction of an entire medium is not what Tom Fontana had planned. A $300-million (minimum) gondola to Dodger Stadium? 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. It couldve been 900 things, which is very clever because you were allowed to make up your minds so you could stay with your own fantasy so everybody could have an opinion. Web"Cora and Arnie". I think itll have another life, he said, smiling enigmatically. I thought it was interesting. Elsewhere, Ed Begley Jr., St. That is the actual ending, a strange world-within-a-world. Composition by Dave Grusin Because a lot of autistic children are withdrawn, it seems as though they're in their own world. 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. Flashforward! Here's my son, I talk to him, I don't even know if he can hear me. St. Elsewhere (Series) - TV Tropes Theyre more interested in the colossal mind-fuck that is the Tommy Westphall Universe. That fictional firm appears inDoctor Who, Red Dwarf, and of course, theAlien feature film franchise. Elsewhere,' It's Goodbye (or Is It?) To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. "The discussion began on alt.tv.homicide, a newsgroup that discussed Homicide: Life on the Street," Gow tells Mental Floss. And people say, Norman, youre either mad or senile or both--but you dont get a show like St. I said at the time we were shooting, This is a cheat. For me, it was a cheat. Elsewhere was the designated comic relief for the first few episodes. was a show that got by largely on the strength of its ensemble, running for six seasons from 1982-88. Law & Order creator Dick Wolf is close friends with Fontana and frequently crossed Homicide characters over into his own series. sign-off. Westphall, who is autistic, played an increased role in St. Elsewhere ' s final episode, "The Last One", one interpretation of which is that the entire St. Elsewhere storyline exists only within Westphall's imagination. St. The Westphall universe just keeps expanding out in that manner from there, getting bigger and bigger in the same way as a snowball rolling downhill, which is appropriate considering Tommy's snow globe. 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.". The series was also known for one of its more playful aspects: it was prone to dropping references and callbacks to other TV series. The John Larroquette Show once mentioned Yoyodyne, a manufacturing client of law firm Wolfram and Hart; [11], NewsRadio episode "Daydream" (season 3 episode 7) ends with Jimmy James staring into a snow globe that appears to contain a miniature version of the WNYX office, thus seeming to indicate that Jimmy James has imagined the entire episode.[12]. Did the drapes in old theatres actually say "ASBESTOS" on them? And in the end, Fiscus patient does finally sing. The fictional brand or company thing is also Fontana's fault. Theres a lot to unpack: is it simply making a statement on the show as a fictional world? Why is it shorter than a normal address? So Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., Mayberry R.F.D., and Make Room for Daddy/The Danny Thomas Show are gone. 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. Tommy Westphall's Universe Wolfram and Hart had another client, Weyland-Yutani, that made a weapons display screen for Firefly; Tommy's World: The TV Legacy of St. Elsewhere's "Tommy But I think now weve got the toe tag on, and were in the drawer, and its sealed and locked., St. Can you still use Commanders Strike if the only attack available to forego is an attack against an ally? Elsewhere. 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.
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