WILLIAM DANIELS (Dr. Mark Craig): I was shocked, actually. . As far as I could tell, there was always controversy around St. Howie Mandels Dr. Wayne Fiscus--who distinguished himself by having sex on an autopsy table during the shows first episode--experienced death through a fantasy sequence last season. Is there a weapon that has the heavy property and the finesse property (or could this be obtained)? I thought it was interesting. Helen Hunt even appeared in a few episodes. At one point I was the answer for a Trivial Pursuit question. 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. Elsewhere's characters. 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. 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. THE TOMMY WESTPHALL UNIVERSE Why does the husband leave the family in The Others? And the fat lady sings tonight: The last episode of St. 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. Mimsie the Cat has seen better days. Why did the Fairy Queen have to die for a poor deal? Beginnings and endings are important in all forms of fiction, but Id argue especially so in scripted television. Elsewhere remains one of the most famous examples of the "all just a dream" plot. Elsewhere take place orGrey's Anatomy, then you've got one series to thank. He also loves both Marvel and DC movies, and wishes every superhero fan could just get along. Elsewhere very often in your life. It only takes a minute to sign up. It was seen as a cheap shot and a quick fix, even though the mechanism and method was mimicked many times over afterwards. Elsewhere characters on other shows are not sufficient to indicate that those shows exist only in Westphall's dream. 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.". Make Room For Daddy takes out I Love Lucy.. 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 didnt dislike it. St Elsewhere Contemporary television writers have even bought in to Gow and Crowe's theory. The stories speak for themselves. Why was it necessary for St. Elsewhere to end the way it did? The strange thing that occurs to me when thinking about the show was how temporary it seemed, mused Begley, who spent the last six years matching wits--and losing--with William Daniels, who played St. Eligius Hospitals cranky chief of surgery, Mark Craig. Airing for six seasons from 1982 to 1988 on NBC,St. For all the latest TV news, reviews, lists and features, follow @Paste_TV. Then it could create conversation, so I thought it was kind of brilliant. were arguably all dreamed up by young Tommy. In 1988, though, St. That would surely lead to spreadsheets the size of walls: Weyland-Yutani is the company behind the machinations of the Alien franchise. They always tried to be out there, beyond the limits of what was being done before. was a show that got by largely on the strength of its ensemble, running for six seasons from 1982-88. All of it, McDuffie said, proved his own Grand Unification Theory that everyone and everything seen on TVexcept for the few minutes viewers spent with Tommy Westphall in May 1988is just a daydream. 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. 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. Though MTM hasnt had much luck yet syndicating St. A terrible ending! Though they remain philosophical about the loss of St. It was all a dream! Through crossovers, spinoffs, cameos, or fictional brands or products appearing in more than one show, everything from. STEPHEN FURST (Dr. Elliot Axelrod): I thought it was kind of cool, actually. Elsewhere, you see, fielded one of the most confoundingly weird finales in television history, a variation on the age-old "it was all a dream" trope that left viewers scratching their heads. To me the last 10 minutes of the final It was certainly something no other network would put up with. Entertainment Weekly is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation All Rights Reserved. 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. 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. 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. would not look or feel the same without its influence and success. But of course, none of that is what people really remember the last episode for. 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. Even if that's true though, thinking about it remains an amusing diversion. The Show 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. 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.". Elsewhere have dropped out of the cultural lexicon entirelyexcept for one. ", But despite the elaborate system, the two still doubt their methods from time to time. But I think now weve got the toe tag on, and were in the drawer, and its sealed and locked., St. 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. Eligius. They needed a way to end the show It was a provocative ending. Somehow, a literal airplane has crashed into the hospital. . Like St. Eligius itself, St. It was all a dream! Elsewhere an autistic boy is shown to have imagined and created a vast and deeply human universe. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Elsewhere. Meme Status Submission Year 1988 Origin St. 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. A clip of the original credits from the series finale, with Mimsie the Cat on life support. 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. At one point, St. Law & Order creator Dick Wolf is close friends with Fontana and frequently crossed Homicide characters over into his own series. The theory is called the "The Tommy Westphall Universe" and hinges on a reveal at the finale of "St. WebIf 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. --Tom Fontana, former producer, St. What symbolic value does either the globe or the snow have on the ending of the series? We always said: Thats a tough question--well, good night! . As Begley added wistfully, Its never over till its over--but I think in this case, its over .. Thats All, Folksis a look back at televisions most unforgettable series finales. He went on to create the acclaimed seriesHomicide:Life on the Street (in which a character fromSt. I was only supposed to be in 18 of the 22 episodes, so I got an extra episodes pay out of it. "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.". The finale (if youre lucky enough to ever have a planned one air) might be one of the most watched episodes in the whole run of the show and the impression that lingers in the minds of most viewers long after the show ends. Why was it necessary for St. 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. Please feel free to submit articles to enhance the knowledge, acceptance, understanding and research of Autism and ASD. St. 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. Remembering 'St. Elsewhere' 25 Years Later - HuffPost 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. What's he thinking about? Elsewhere was the designated comic relief for the first few episodes. The thing is, autism was - and still is - 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]. Fontana went on to create Homicide: Life on the Street and HBOs groundbreaking prison drama Oz. 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. [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. What world is Tommy imagining inside that snow globe, he wonders aloud. The attitude was, Nothing can get us down, as bad as it is. And it was bad all the time.. In the age of streaming in particular, I feel as if this is even more true than its been in the past. If Cheers is not real, then is Trebek? Why did Sonny trust Carlo enough to introduce him to the family and then sour on him? At least that's the most widely held interpretation of St. Due to crossovers and shared universes between shows, almost every popular TV show exists within the dream of one character from the '80s. In another episode, St. Eligius traveled 50 years into the past. 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. Making a splash: A deep dive into the live-action Little Mermaid with a new generation's Ariel. Not enough dollars, however, to keep the series alive for another year. To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. 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. Quantum Leap is on!). This expands the Tommy Westphall universe ever outward, to the point where over 400 shows now reside under its umbrella. Inside it is a perfect replica of St. Eligius, with snow swirling around it as the shot fades to black. I thought it was an interesting choice to make I respect [the ambition]. ER and Chicago Hope wouldnt exist in the form they did without St. 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. And they figured out a way: Okay, we wont have any reunions, nothing like that. It was not right for us to say, You should lose more money. . The Marvel Cinematic Universe might seem like a huge landscape of interconnected shows and TV movies, but the Tommy Westphall universe has it beat. You cant please most people most of the time. 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. After six seasons of letting those within the hospital doing the hard work of being human and showing humanity it was our turn. That is quite a choice. They did very unusual, bold things and did it regularly. 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. this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines. I tell you, the last episode, I never bought it. There are two very important reasons why the ending is not only justified but important and even critically needed for a show like St. Gow said, "I've heard from TV writers who deliberately put in references to draw their shows into Tommy's mind. Halle Bailey, Melissa McCarthy, and director Rob Marshall share the tale behind making their underwater musical with a groundbreaking Disney princess. 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. Not necessarily Gow and Crowe, who still periodically update the grid, assert that episodes with real people playing themselveslike Trebek did on Cheersare exempt, as are cartoons and feature films. You can barely please half the people most of the time. Elsewhere--a derisive nickname for the aging South Boston medical facility--was never healthy in the ratings. 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. Revisiting McDuffie's "Six Degrees of St. Elsewhere
