Here's my son, I talk to him, I don't even know if he can hear me. Rather than case-of-the-week stories with infallible doctors and carboard-thin supporting characters,St. What are the advantages of running a power tool on 240 V vs 120 V? Ambiguous cut to black! 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. Donald Westphalls autistic son, who was gazing into a snow globe containing a miniature version of the hospital. Elsewhere have appeared on other television shows and those shows' characters appeared on more shows, and so on, a "Tommy Westphall Universe" hypothesis (postulated by Dwayne McDuffie) argues that a significant amount of fictional episodic television exists within a fictional universe imagined by Tommy Westphall. "That really solidifies things. Offers may be subject to change without notice. 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. What world is Tommy imagining inside that snow globe, he wonders aloud. At one point I was the answer for a Trivial Pursuit question. (referring to Tommy) He give you any trouble? 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. The last year, I put in a rug and a lamp. I said at the time we were shooting, This is a cheat. For me, it was a cheat. WebThere are oodles of ways to end a TV series. On this day in 1988, TV viewers saw one of the most famous and perhaps the most debated series finales in TV history. ED BEGLEY JR. (Dr. Victor Ehrlich): It was quite fitting for what they had done the previous six years. 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved. Fan Theory Proves Almost All TV Shows Exist Within Same They always tried to be out there, beyond the limits of what was being done before. Elsewhere carries a shocking implication NBC St. Over time, it began to look something like the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game. 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. 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. Elsewhere" that the whole show had been in the character Dr Pepper includes an homage to Tommy Westphall's snowglobe in its 2021 advertising campaign. But for others, it was a stroke of inspiration. Elsewhere storyline exists only within Westphall's imagination. 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. 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. When we read it, we all had reservations about it. You can and should thank Keith Gow and Ash Crowe for being the keepers of this theory for over a decade, managing what has become the official website. Can my creature spell be countered if I cast a split second spell after it? Weatherson's fifth objection holds that the appearance of a person or event in a dream does not mean the person or event cannot exist in real life. 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. Elsewhere made guest appearances on another TV series, and characters from that series in turn appeared on other series. Elsewhere to Homicide: Life on the Street, which shared a writer/producer in Tom Fontana. Why was it necessary for St. Elsewhere to end the way it did? What is the name of the poem Belle reads out? Kenneth Lowe is a regular contributor to Paste TV. The show also has connections to series that cameafter it, largely thanks to one of its writers and producers, Tom Fontana. , like basically every television series that is set in the present day, had crossover episodes or cameos with other popular shows. 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. WebYet, in the ending of St. CHRISTINA PICKLES (Helen Rosenthal): I have no idea what it means. Erasing the fiction of an entire medium is not what Tom Fontana had planned. Does the 500-table limit still apply to the latest version of Cassandra? St. Elsewhere - Wikipedia this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines. It is underfunded, understaffed, crowded, and running on fumes. One prominent critic, Professor Brian Weatherson, argues that just because St. 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. wouldnt exist in the form they did without. 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. ), 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. And in the end, Fiscus patient does finally sing. Elsewhere seemed like an easy out. It's not every day we see Plucky Comic Relief commit suicide. 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. Entertainment Weekly may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. It was all a dream! And because I cant tell you I have a better idea of how it couldve ended, I can live with that one. The episode marked the end of St. . But they did want to end the show, and not have little St. Elsewheres coming after it. Elsewhere" Dwayne McDuffie at the Los Angeles premiere of "All Star Superman" Elsewhere,[1] which ran on NBC from 1982 to 1988.[2]. Nobody is too interested in that, though. It wasnt darker than reality, he said. John Hemingway of The John Larroquette Show once called into Frasiers talk show; Elsewhere,' It's Goodbye (or Is It?) The series is (implied to be) a figment of Tommy Westphall's imagination, existing in the snowglobe that he is focused on. While that can sometimes describe. ST. ELSEWHERE: Season 6 (1987-88) Clip - (The Final Scene) There are oodles of ways to end a TV series. I thought it was interesting. "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.". 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. So what happens when an ending goes completely off the rails? He sits there, all day long, in his own world, staring at that toy. Sealed and locked. It seems to imply that the events of the show were all imagined by the mind of a non-verbal young boy. "You know, I still have the snow globe," he said. The thing is, autism was - and still is - Death! Its just asking too much from all of us. But I loved that they took the leap, and that was in the spirit of the show. If Cheers is not real, then is Trebek? Is there a weapon that has the heavy property and the finesse property (or could this be obtained)? That kind of anguish you just cant transmit. Most of us failed. Westphall, who is autistic, played an increased role in St. Elsewhere by the residents and the surrounding community, the place has a reputation as a rathole. Did the drapes in old theatres actually say "ASBESTOS" on them? 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. The attitude was, Nothing can get us down, as bad as it is. And it was bad all the time.. 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. They made a choice and the choice is interesting. Theyre more interested in the colossal mind-fuck that is the. And none of MTMs shows better defined quality television than St. Elsewhere" and "Oz," and, as Gow tells it, "It was that little connection that spawned a thousand other connections -- references to fictional airlines, companies, nods from one series to another.". Paltrow noted that the shows bleak vision was deliberate. At least that's the most widely held interpretation of St. A clip of the original credits from the series finale, with Mimsie the Cat on life support. Elsewhere to end the way it did? Birth! 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. 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. And I'm beat. 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. I think reality is much more the smell of the hospital, the smell of death. The Importance of the St. Elsewhere Ending : r/autism After six seasons of letting those within the hospital doing the hard work of being human and showing humanity it was our turn. The Biggest Shared Universe Has Over 400 Shows - Screen Rant As of this writing, 441 shows can be tied to St. The thing Im proudest of is the overall balance of the comedy to the drama; the counterpoint of that really grew and grew.. "I prefer character connections, myself," Gow says. I think there was a period when last rites were being performed when we could have rallied, he said, his tone clinically matter-of-fact. Tommy's World: The TV Legacy of St. Elsewhere's "Tommy The kind of gallows humor that was in the show was a case of art imitating life, Paltrow continued. Its been observed that much of American primetime TV has been about cops and the sex lives of doctors. World of his own. Elsewhere's characters. St. To me the last 10 minutes of the final Elsewhere, Paltrow said he remains hopeful that the reruns will find a home someday, on cable if not on broadcast stations. Nicknamed St. 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. Behind him stood his father, who was sporting a construction workers wardrobe. Can I use my Coinbase address to receive bitcoin? I actually have an easy answer for that - assuming that the 'real world' has shows like Cheers and MASH on TV, it's entirely plausible that Tommy took characters from those shows after seeing them on TV and made them part of his imagination. Copyright 2023 Meredith Corporation. It made me smile when I heard about what they did because it was so them. 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. Cookies help us deliver our Services. Then it could create conversation, so I thought it was kind of brilliant. Tommy Westphall - Wikipedia Specific to the Westphall Hypothesis, even if we accept that St. That fictional firm appears inDoctor Who, Red Dwarf, and of course, theAlien feature film franchise. 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. For a constant stream of entertainment news and discussion, follow HuffPost Entertainment on Viber. God love him."[9]. He also loves both Marvel and DC movies, and wishes every superhero fan could just get along. Seated in a rocking chair is none other than Dr. Auschlander only that's not quite right. While that can sometimes describe St. Elsewhere was the designated comic relief for the first few episodes. CYNTHIA SIKES (Dr. Annie Cavanero): Part of me likes that whole thing because its sort of an Orson Welles-ian Rosebud [ending]. 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. orGrey's Anatomy, then you've got one series to thank. 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; This year, Ken Lowe is revisiting some of the most influential TV shows that made it to an officially planned final episode. 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. Elsewhere team enjoyed life on the series even when times were tough, which was always. The theory is called the "The Tommy Westphall Universe" and hinges on a reveal at the finale of "St. Fontana wrote a fictional "Weigert Corporation" as an intergral part of both "St. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Elsewhere. [3] An exterior camera shot of the hospital cuts to Tommy Westphall sitting in the living room of an apartment building alongside his grandfather, now being portrayed by Norman Lloyd (aka "Daniel Auschlander"). 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. These strings go on across multiple decades of television, with I Love Lucy being the earliest example. Elsewhere was known for its As Gow told HuffPost, "St. If the show were not great, if we had not had as many nominations, we probably wouldnt even be talking about it. Elsewhere take place Elsewhere also shared characters with The White Shadow and Its Garry Shandlings Show, McDuffie wrote. The Marvel Cinematic Universe might seem like a huge landscape of interconnected shows and TV movies, but the Tommy Westphall universe has it beat. 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. [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. Elsewhere signed off after six seasons on May 25, 1988, more than a few viewers were saddened. As Begley added wistfully, Its never over till its over--but I think in this case, its over .. Elsewhere. Elsewhere, an NBC drama about St. Eligius, a run-down Boston hospital headed by chief of staff Dr. Donald Westphall (Ed Flanders).His staff included Dr. Daniel Auschlander ", Grandfather: "He's been sitting there ever since you left this morning, just like he does every day. sign-off. What positional accuracy (ie, arc seconds) is necessary to view Saturn, Uranus, beyond? Fontana went on to create Homicide: Life on the Street and HBOs groundbreaking prison drama Oz. Elsewhere remains one of the most famous examples of the "all just a dream" plot. 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. That is the actual ending, a strange world-within-a-world. What world is Tommy imagining inside that snow globe, he wonders aloud. What is the Russian word for the color "teal"? St. I was only supposed to be in 18 of the 22 episodes, so I got an extra episodes pay out of it. 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. It made me laugh actually because it just is so like those guys. Fontana was being facetious (we think), but not everyone was as enthused with the premise. We never answered any of the questions we posed. 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. I was not upset. Is all of American television the hallucination of an autistic child?? Web359. As far as I could tell, there was always controversy around St. What's the cheapest way to buy out a sibling's share of our parents house if I have no cash and want to pay less than the appraised value? This is the final scene from "The Last One", the 22nd episode (137th overall) from the sixth and final season of NBC's 1982-88 medical drama 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. 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. And the fat lady sings tonight: The last episode of St. 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. John Munch). 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. I thought it was terrible. 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. 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. I thought it was an interesting choice to make I respect [the ambition]. Other people didnt care for it at all. It was all a dream! In fact, for all its success, most aspects of St. Elsewhere has fallen victim to economic pressures. St The theory is called the "The Tommy Westphall Universe" and hinges on a reveal at the finale of "St. 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. The great thing about the show that even in its comedy, it was serious. The Tommy Westphall universe hypothesis makes the claim that not only does St. Here's my son, I talk to him, I don't even know if he can hear me. Autism news, information and support. 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. Mimsie the Cat has seen better days. Elsewhere. The Westphall Theory of a Unified TV Universe, Explained And listen, we set such a bar, its hard to top it to make that ending satisfy a lot of people. I felt it wasnt serious. It is underfunded, understaffed, crowded, and running on fumes. "Red Dwarf" is now included as well. Elsewhere characters on other shows are not sufficient to indicate that those shows exist only in Westphall's dream. 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. 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. ", This means cartoons and late-night shows are notably excluded, but it gets far more specific than that. ), Fontana did, however, recall that half of the viewer mail retrieved after the finale was positive, while the other half made loose reference to a desire to burn [the studio lot] to the ground.". Remembering 'St. Elsewhere' 25 Years Later - HuffPost I think a lot of the cast didnt care for it at all. Ending of "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans". The Ending Of St. Elsewhere Explained - Looper , the magic was in the tone, as it was with another show by the same production company. The 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. 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.