WebYet, in the ending of St. Mandels character, though, gets the easiest metaphor of the episode. St. It only takes a minute to sign up. Elsewhere, like basically every television series that is set in the present day, had crossover episodes or cameos with other popular shows. Please feel free to submit articles to enhance the knowledge, acceptance, understanding and research of Autism and ASD. Over time, it began to look something like the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game. World of his own. 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. Canceled. 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. orGrey's Anatomy, then you've got one series to thank. This is because it's pretty easy to connectSt. For instance, it may be the other way around, and the snow globe scene may itself be the dream. 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. Other people didnt care for it at all. ", Father: "Well, we finally topped off the 22nd story. I tell you, the last episode, I never bought it. 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. 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. Dr Pepper includes an homage to Tommy Westphall's snowglobe in its 2021 advertising campaign. Elsewhere ' s series finale features momentous changes for several main characters, including the departures of Drs. THE TOMMY WESTPHALL UNIVERSE 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. While the doctors of St. [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. "I prefer character connections, myself," Gow says. I knew there would be an uproar. Elsewhere by the residents and the surrounding community, the place has a reputation as a rathole. St Elsewhere Why is Frank McCourt really pushing this? 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. 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. Quantum Leap is on!). Dedicated fans attempting to chase down every connection toSt. Elsewhere's characters. Tommy Westphall, portrayed by Chad Allen, is a minor character from the drama television series St. Through crossovers, spinoffs, cameos, or fictional brands or products appearing in more than one show, everything from Brooklyn Nine Nine and Law & Order to Everybody Hates Chris and Dr. Who were arguably all dreamed up by young Tommy. Behind him stood his father, who was sporting a construction workers wardrobe. The 50 greatest TV and movie detectives of all time. Elsewhere, Alfre Woodard's Dr. Roxanne Turner,appeared) andOz (in which a company that briefly owned St. Eligius, Weigert, makes a bid to buy that show's Oswald Maximum Security Prison). The episode marked the end of St. Via Wikipedia: The most common interpretation of this scene is that the entire series of events in the series St. were arguably all dreamed up by young Tommy. 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; But [executive producers] Tom Fontana and John Masius and Bruce Paltrow didnt want just a normal ending. Movies & TV Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for movie and TV enthusiasts. A Weyland-Utani ship is also seen in a spaceship graveyard in the British sci-fi series Red Dwarf.. 7. Ambiguous cut to black! 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. 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. The theory is called the "The Tommy Westphall Universe" and hinges on a reveal at the finale of "St. WebIf the St. ER and Chicago Hope wouldnt exist in the form they did without St. 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. So what happens when an ending goes completely off the rails? Another reason for the importance of this ending is the nature of what we were shown. Birth! Elsewhere was a show that got by largely on the strength of its ensemble, running for six seasons from 1982-88. WebThe problem that I see with the ending is that they explained away the whole show as the daydreams of an autistic child's imagination. I think it can happen. Elsewhere': About that snow-globe ending. Seated in a rocking chair is none other than Dr. Auschlander only that's not quite right. And I dont think that set of circumstances will ever happen again. The full list includes 419 shows as of 2016, the last time the curators of the Westphall theory updated its website. Where things get complicated is that characters from St. 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. What's he thinking about? Halle Bailey, Melissa McCarthy, and director Rob Marshall share the tale behind making their underwater musical with a groundbreaking Disney princess. "The theory doesn't really depend on Tommy Westphall, but he's a good hook," Gow says. Both shows took a grittier and more realistic approach to their drama. Elsewhere to another series likely has additional connections of its own and for a sterling example of this, look no further thanHomicide. St. Westphall, Auschlander, and Gideon (Cox) are stressing about how they can possibly keep the hospital open. 2023 Paste Media Group. Elsewhere" Dwayne McDuffie at the Los Angeles premiere of "All Star Superman" The complete list of shows is at the bottom of the article. Because a lot of autistic children are withdrawn, it seems as though they're in their own world. 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. You can barely please half the people most of the time. Erasing the fiction of an entire medium is not what Tom Fontana had planned. Much of the humor between characters is gallows humor. And what about the real people who have appeared on the included shows, like Alex Trebek on Cheers? [3][1], The foremost interpretation of this scene is that the entire series of events in St. They needed a way to end the show It was a provocative ending. I hear people, like Oh, what happened there? or Oh, I didnt understand that or Oh, I love that! You got all kinds of comments on it. 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. Tommy Westphall's Universe But for others, it was a stroke of inspiration. 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. [1] As characters from St. When NBCs hour-long hospital drama St. In a way that actually sucks most of contemporary-set American scripted TV into the inside of a snow globe? If the theory holds, then a large chunk of television is the direct result of one childs formidable imagination. 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. 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. There are two very important reasons why the ending is not only justified but important and even critically needed for a show like St. For indeed, St. I felt it wasnt serious. Entertainment Weekly is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation All Rights Reserved. It was all a dream! But I wasnt surprised that there were many people who didnt find it satisfying. This means that all of those series and other media thatthey referenced in-universe, which in the case ofThe Simpsons is ridiculously extensive technically take place in the same universe asSt. The Westphall Theory of a Unified TV Universe, Explained Toe-tagged. The elder Westphall returns home, but he's not dressed in scrubs he's wearing a hard hat, and his conversation with Auschlander (whom he addresses as "Pop") implies that he's a construction worker. "You know, I still have the snow globe," he said. The attitude was, Nothing can get us down, as bad as it is. And it was bad all the time.. The Show Elsewhere, Paltrow said he remains hopeful that the reruns will find a home someday, on cable if not on broadcast stations. Flashforward! Elsewhere airs at 10 p.m. on Channels 4, 36 and 39. Elsewhere's finale, titled "The Last One," aired on May 25, 1988, and the bulk of its narrative was concerned with the requisite deaths, departures, transfers, and tying up of loose ends that one might expect. Elsewhere. HOWIE MANDEL (Dr. Wayne Fiscus): I thought it was realllllllly interesting. 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. Despite its high standing among TV critics, St. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. Elsewhere's final episode, "The Last One", one interpretation of which is that the entire St. But this television-changing theory doesn't stop there. At least that's the most widely held interpretation of St. Web359. Thats All, Folksis a look back at televisions most unforgettable series finales. 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. Is it safe to publish research papers in cooperation with Russian academics. 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. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. WebTommy Westphall, portrayed by Chad Allen, is a minor character from the drama television series St. St elsewhere ending theory. I think itll have another life, he said, smiling enigmatically. The last year, I put in a rug and a lamp. Elsewhere; by extension this hypothesis can be extended to include the science fiction program The X-Files and the Law & Order franchise (due to various crossovers with characters from Homicide, in particular Det. Fontana wrote a fictional "Weigert Corporation" as an intergral part of both "St. At the end of the ride it was now up to us to put effort into understanding other people, by showing compassion for an autistic boy. 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. St. Elsewhere - Wikipedia The most far-reaching regulation is that they "do not include any show that is not a narrative live-action program with a shared continuity from episode to episode. Elsewhere very often in your life. Elsewhere, NBCs darkly comic series about a financially strapped Boston hospital and its beleaguered staff, is dead. It wasnt darker than reality, he said. 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. 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. This ending was not serious to me. To me the last 10 minutes of the final Due to crossovers and shared universes between shows, almost every popular TV show exists within the dream of one character from the '80s. There is too much that is rich, that is still to be mined., Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Get ready for the 2023 Met Gala: Heres when, and how, to tune in live, Tucker Carlson, Don Lemon blasted at White House Correspondents dinner, Tom Jones review: PBS Masterpieces latest period drama is laid-back and enjoyable, Michael J. Michael Kennedy is an avid movie and TV fan that's been working for Screen Rant in various capacities since 2014. Can my creature spell be countered if I cast a split second spell after it? ST. ELSEWHERE: Season 6 (1987-88) Clip - (The Final Scene) Tommy runs to see the snow falling outside the window, and that's when everything changes. Theres also nothing standing in the way of the belief that perhaps the Tommy Westphall end sequence was itself a dream, negating the snow globe conceit. God love him."[9]. 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. Heres how St. Birth! Its simultaneously a lot of what I find fun about the inside baseball or meta commentary on TV, and also most of what I hate about it. Elsewhere. Share. Though MTM hasnt had much luck yet syndicating St. Some people liked its provocativeness. Elsewhere production team are at work on Tattingers, a new NBC series from MTM slated for St. I thought it was an interesting choice to make I respect [the ambition]. What's he thinking about?". If the show were not great, if we had not had as many nominations, we probably wouldnt even be talking about it. WILLIAM DANIELS (Dr. Mark Craig): I was shocked, actually. Then the Birdman decides he's fed up with being in the mental ward and wants to fly away from the hospital, so he jumps off the roof. Interpreting non-statistically significant results: Do we have "no evidence" or "insufficient evidence" to reject the null? St. Elsewhere (Series) - TV Tropes Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. The fictional brand or company thing is also Fontana's fault. 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. It's safe to say that the final episode, specifically the end scene, of St. "[Fontana] was fond of putting in references to previous shows he worked on, including bringing characters from St. Elsewhere's characters appear in Tommy's dream doesn't mean they don't also exist in the show's actual reality, and thus the ending is being interpreted wrong, and by extension the universe theory is invalid. The Tommy Westphall universe hypothesis makes the claim that not only does St. sign-off. Even if that's true though, thinking about it remains an amusing diversion. Fontana was being facetious (we think), but not everyone was as enthused with the premise. Not necessarily As they leave the living room, Tommy's father places the snow globe upon a television set. I think other people will find it puzzling, odd, maybe unfulfilling in some way.. The streamlining kind of took away its energy.. 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. "The first time I saw [the Tommy Westphall Universe theory] it just completely devastated me, because []We believed that our show was just a speck in the universe, and then it turned out that our show was the universe.". Elsewhere, Ed Begley Jr., St. And then I saw it and I thought, Its too much. Elsewhere" writer Tom Fontana began writing connections between his shows using fictional products and companies. The best music, movies, TV, books, comedy and more. 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. Howie goes to the morgue, slides me out, says something to me and pushes me back in. 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. ", Tommy, who is shaking a snow globe,[5] is told by his father to come and wash his hands. In that episode, the entirety of St. TIL That thanks to the series finale of St Elsewhere, and - Reddit After six seasons of letting those within the hospital doing the hard work of being human and showing humanity it was our turn. St 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. I thought it was interesting. Official crossovers between the "St. I was not upset. Elsewhere through fictional crossovers and spin-offs, resulting in a large fictional universe taking place entirely within Tommy's mind. ", Father: "I don't understand this autism thing, Pop. So Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., Mayberry R.F.D., and Make Room for Daddy/The Danny Thomas Show are gone. When youre finished, watch the cast reunion on Good Morning America and voice your own opinion on the finale in our poll. --Tom Fontana, former producer, St. So far, the included shows span from "I Love Lucy" in 1951, to today, with 26 listed shows still on the air. That is 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, including all its characters, are revealed to have been the dream of a minor character named Tommy Westphall, an autistic boy who possesses a snow globe containing a replica of the hospital where the series took place. If you've ever been riveted by the human drama ofE.R. A terrible ending! In 1988, though, St. Composition by Dave Grusin A clip of the original credits from the series finale, with Mimsie the Cat on life support. Elsewhere was the father of the modern medical drama, establishing a format that's been followed by pretty much every serial fitting of that description to come after it. Elsewhere an autistic boy is shown to have imagined and created a vast and deeply human universe. Closing the Curtain on 'St. Elsewhere' Operation - Los Angeles 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. 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. Mimsie the Cat has seen better days. St. Eligius is a teaching hospital in Bostons South End (the building that appears in the title sequence is actually an apartment building there). 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. Here's my son, I talk to him, I don't even know if he can hear me. You cant please most people most of the time. Elsewhere, he was openly hostile toward any idea of a reunion special down the line and insisted that the series finale should be definitive. Tommy Westphall - Wikipedia 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]. DAVID MORSE (Dr. Jack Boomer Morrison): I felt two things. While that can sometimes describe. Fontana was the executive producer and showrunner for Homicide for its entire seven years. All Rights Reserved, In the age of streaming in particular, I feel as if this is even more true than its been in the past. Autism news, information and support. MARK HARMON (Dr. Robert Caldwell): I didnt see it live. Here's my son, I talk to him, I don't even know if he can hear me. It made me laugh actually because it just is so like those guys. 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. 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. At one point, St. How's he been? Hour shows are just not selling into syndication; the market is saturated with them, Paltrow said in a telephone conversation from New York, where he and others from the St. If Cheers is not real, then is Trebek? Elsewhere also shared characters with The White Shadow and Its Garry Shandlings Show, McDuffie wrote. A $300-million (minimum) gondola to Dodger Stadium? This has led to dozens of shows using the same fake product, so in terms of the chart, "that's become an increasingly complex can of worms," said Crowe. That fictional firm appears inDoctor Who, Red Dwarf, and of course, theAlien feature film franchise. 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 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. Elsewhere characters Dr. Roxanne Turner and Dr. Victor Ehrlich appear on Homicide: Life on the Street. Meme Status Submission Year 1988 Origin St. Westphall, who is autistic, played an increased role in St. To me the last 10 minutes of the final episode of St. What is the Russian word for the color "teal"? Law & Order creator Dick Wolf is close friends with Fontana and frequently crossed Homicide characters over into his own series. 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. And I was very upset. Helen Hunt even appeared in a few episodes. Elsewhere's final moments. Browse other questions tagged, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site. Scan this QR code to download the app now. The series finale of the 1980s medical dramedy St. Somehow, a literal airplane has crashed into the hospital. . Why is it shorter than a normal address? To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. English version of Russian proverb "The hedgehogs got pricked, cried, but continued to eat the cactus". What world is Tommy imagining inside that snow globe, he wonders aloud. You never knew what was going to happen next. The thing Im proudest of is the overall balance of the comedy to the drama; the counterpoint of that really grew and grew.. Elsewhere an autistic boy is shown to have imagined and created a vast and deeply human universe. I was only supposed to be in 18 of the 22 episodes, so I got an extra episodes pay out of it. Of course, every party has a pooper, and there are those that consider the Tommy Westphall universe ridiculous. I think a lot of the cast didnt care for it at all. The corporation that bought St. And in the end, Fiscus patient does finally sing. Why did Sonny trust Carlo enough to introduce him to the family and then sour on him? 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. Inside it is a perfect replica of St. Eligius, with snow swirling around it as the shot fades to black. The John Larroquette Show once mentioned Yoyodyne, a manufacturing client of law firm Wolfram and Hart; 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 carries a shocking implication NBC St. Elsewhere take place within Tommy's mind, but so do numerous other television series which are directly and indirectly connected to St. Elsewhere came to an end for creative as well as financial reasons. In fact, for all its success, most aspects 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. Cookies help us deliver our Services. He gets Tommy up to wash up for dinner, and as he puts the snow globe on the TV set, the camera zooms in. Weatherson, in his sixth objection, offers the example of Michael Bloomberg playing the role of New York City Mayor both on Law & Order and in real life, which, if one accepts the logic of the hypothesis, indicates that real life is in the head of Tommy Westphall. In another episode, St. Eligius traveled 50 years into the past. EW gathered a dozen members of the cast for a photo shoot and asked them to reflect on the years they spent making this provocative, eccentric, beloved show, which you can check out in our third-annual Reunions Issue. This is more interesting than interrogating the deeper philosophical or metaphorical meaning behind the very last scene of a six-season show! "The discussion began on alt.tv.homicide, a newsgroup that discussed Homicide: Life on the Street," Gow tells Mental Floss. Elsewhere episode; Cheers spawned Frasier, a character who appeared on Wings; John Munch, the detective from Homicide, had mingled with the St. Eligius crew, and he has appeared on shows ranging from The X-Files to The Wire, effectively making him the Patient Zero of what's become known as The Tommy Westphall Universe theory. 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. Tommy's father, still being portrayed by Ed Flanders (aka "Donald Westphall") arrives at the apartment wearing a hard hat. Lloyd, whose Dr. Auschlander was supposed to die years ago but enjoyed a miraculous remission, is even more hopeful. By using our Services, you agree to our use of cookies. Why did the Fairy Queen have to die for a poor deal? 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. I thought it was terrible. Fox doesnt think hell live to be 80: Every day its tougher. I was pretty happy with it. The stories speak for themselves. It was this wonderful, crumbly, noble, decadent building that housed this incredible heart. These strings go on across multiple decades of television, with I Love Lucy being the earliest example.

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