Theyre more interested in the colossal mind-fuck that is the Tommy Westphall Universe. Tommy runs to see the snow falling outside the window, and that's when everything changes. Elsewhere's characters. I tell you, the last episode, I never bought it. That series introduced the character of Detective John Munch (Richard Belzer), who went on to become a main character onLaw and Order:Special Victims Unit (and has made guest appearances in virtually everyLaw and Order series), and who has also popped up on shows likeThe Beat, The Wire, The X-Files, Arrested Development,and30 Rock. 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. It's safe to say that the final episode, specifically the end scene, of St. Then it could create conversation, so I thought it was kind of brilliant. I was pretty happy with it. When youre finished, watch the cast reunion on Good Morning America and voice your own opinion on the finale in our poll. 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. 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. [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]. Over time, it began to look something like the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game. 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. The 50 greatest TV and movie detectives of all time. It was not right for us to say, You should lose more money. . Elsewhere characters Dr. Roxanne Turner (Alfre Woodard) and Dr. Victor Ehrlich (Ed Begley Jr.) appeared on Homicide: Life on the Street. Halle Bailey, Melissa McCarthy, and director Rob Marshall share the tale behind making their underwater musical with a groundbreaking Disney princess. 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. Stack Exchange network consists of 181 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. What world is Tommy imagining inside that snow globe, he wonders aloud. That fictional firm appears inDoctor Who, Red Dwarf, and of course, theAlien feature film franchise. 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. 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. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. Here's my son, I talk to him, I don't even know if he can hear me. Elsewhere carries a shocking implication NBC St. It was bold and shocking and upset some people. We never answered any of the questions we posed. wouldnt exist in the form they did without. ", But despite the elaborate system, the two still doubt their methods from time to time. Elsewhere production team are at work on Tattingers, a new NBC series from MTM slated for St. 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. 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.". How's he been? There are two very important reasons why the ending is not only justified but important and even critically needed for a show like St. 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 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.". We're often considered and thought of as robot-like people who have no emotions and who only see other people as objects. Elsewhere is Westphall's dream, it does not imply that all of the characters on the show exist only in his mind. He adds that, "while a controversial and maddening ending for some loyal viewers, the final episode of St. WebYet, in the ending of St. I thought it was an interesting choice to make I respect [the ambition]. More: Why The X-Files Season 12 Never Happened. That would surely lead to spreadsheets the size of walls: Weyland-Yutani is the company behind the machinations of the Alien franchise. Elsewheres Wednesday night time slot in the fall. 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. Elsewhere, Ed Begley Jr., St. St. Elsewhere (Series) - TV Tropes "That really solidifies things. 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. 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. Heres how St. WebBasically the theory known as The Tommy Westphall Universe (TWU) begins when St. Elsewhere had been a product of Tommy Westphall's (an autistic boy) imagination, with elements of the above scene used as its own evidence. "I prefer character connections, myself," Gow says. St. Eligius is a teaching hospital in Bostons South End (the building that appears in the title sequence is actually an apartment building there). ), 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. Elsewhere remains one of the most famous examples of the "all just a dream" plot. This expands the Tommy Westphall universe ever outward, to the point where over 400 shows now reside under its umbrella. Through crossovers, spinoffs, cameos, or fictional brands or products appearing in more than one show, everything from. Birth! "You know, I still have the snow globe," he said. For all the latest TV news, reviews, lists and features, follow. Elsewhere, the magic was in the tone, as it was with another show by the same production company, Hill Street Blues. Birth! More than puzzling, some people found it to be an actual puzzle. The full list includes 419 shows as of 2016, the last time the curators of the Westphall theory updated its website. 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. Embedded hyperlinks in a thesis or research paper. The great thing about the show that even in its comedy, it was serious. Tommy Westphall - Wikipedia 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. Elsewhere signed off after six seasons on May 25, 1988, more than a few viewers were saddened. The Scan this QR code to download the app now. That's the nature of a hospital drama, that's why we tune in. ", This means cartoons and late-night shows are notably excluded, but it gets far more specific than that. 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. In a way that actually sucks most of contemporary-set American scripted TV into the inside of a snow globe? As they leave the living room, Tommy's father places the snow globe upon a television set. The series was also known for one of its more playful aspects: it was prone to dropping references and callbacks to other TV series. Elsewhere., It was as far as they could go, he said. 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. 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. TIL That thanks to the series finale of St Elsewhere, and - Reddit 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 can follow any one of these connective threads down a series of increasingly convoluted rabbit holes, and it probably won't surprise you to learn that a number of fans have done exactly that. --Tom Fontana, former producer, St. The kind of gallows humor that was in the show was a case of art imitating life, Paltrow continued. were arguably all dreamed up by young Tommy. 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. After six seasons of letting those within the hospital doing the hard work of being human and showing humanity it was our turn. The theory is called the "The Tommy Westphall Universe" and hinges on a reveal at the finale of "St. WILLIAM DANIELS (Dr. Mark Craig): I was shocked, actually. 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. If you notice any other connections, feel free to join in on the madness. Interpreting non-statistically significant results: Do we have "no evidence" or "insufficient evidence" to reject the null? Often, characters crossing over on the same network can ignite a connection, with shared brands or locations providing the connective tissue for others. When NBC refused to finance their ambitious plan, the idea for the snow globe was hatched. Tommy Westphall, portrayed by Chad Allen, is a minor character from the drama television series St. The first connection made in the Tommy Westphall universe is from St. Ambiguous cut to black! Elsewhere also shared characters with The White Shadow and Its Garry Shandlings Show, McDuffie wrote. ED BEGLEY JR. (Dr. Victor Ehrlich): It was quite fitting for what they had done the previous six years. He went on to create the acclaimed seriesHomicide:Life on the Street (in which a character fromSt. What's he thinking about?". orGrey's Anatomy, then you've got one series to thank. Revisiting McDuffie's "Six Degrees of St. Elsewhere A surprise to everybody. The fictional brand or company thing is also Fontana's fault. 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. "St. 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. That series' creator, Joss Whedon, also createdFirefly, in which it's established that Wolfram and Hart had also represented a mega-corporation by the name of Weyland-Utani. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. Elsewhere made guest appearances on another TV series, and characters from that series in turn appeared on other series. Even some of the more innocuous-seeming connections can lead to some shocking places takeThe John Larroquette Show, which all but the most dedicated TV fanatics could be forgiven for not remembering. 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. 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. One of the producers on St. A terrible ending! 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 magic was in the tone, as it was with another show by the same production company. DAVID MORSE (Dr. Jack Boomer Morrison): I felt two things. But I think now weve got the toe tag on, and were in the drawer, and its sealed and locked., St. Elsewhere. They remember it because of young Tommy Westphall (Chad Allen)the autistic son of Dr. Westphall, who was a recurring character on the show. I think it can happen. At least that's the most widely held interpretation of St. Gow said, "I've heard from TV writers who deliberately put in references to draw their shows into Tommy's mind. While that can sometimes describe St. 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. 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, . For example, take thatCheers crossover. 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. He also loves both Marvel and DC movies, and wishes every superhero fan could just get along. Its been observed that much of American primetime TV has been about cops and the sex lives of doctors. Elsewhere to a trivial mention in Fontanas biography, if not for the curiosity of a playwright named Keith Gow. The complete list of shows is at the bottom of the article. What are the advantages of running a power tool on 240 V vs 120 V? The one where EW follows up with the cast. Making a splash: A deep dive into the live-action. I remember reading about it in the paper that there was controversy over it. 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. St Helen Hunt even appeared in a few episodes. One example: "Episodes where reality shows exist within a fictional sphere are not included (such as the 'X-Files'/'COPS' crossover and the 'Chicago Hope'/'Entertainment Tonight' crossover). Related: Crisis On Infinite Earths Solved DC Movies' Continuity Problem. Elsewhere" that the whole show had been in the character Donald Westphalls autistic son, who was gazing into a snow globe containing a miniature version of the hospital. Through six years, I never put anything in my dressing room. NORMAN LLOYD: (Dr. Daniel Auschlander): Theyd been talking about Citizen Kane. It is underfunded, understaffed, crowded, and running on fumes. Yet, in the ending of St. St. But for others, it was a stroke of inspiration. Nicknamed St. Here on EW.com, read what each of them had to say about the daring and polarizing ending that helped define the WTF? 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. And most of the connections on the grid are characters, even though something like Morley cigarettes (a fictional brand) has a lot of individual connections, they just add to the connective tissue in certain ways. It only takes a minute to sign up. 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. 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 through fictional crossovers and spin-offs, resulting in a large fictional universe taking place entirely within Tommy's mind. The thing is, autism was - and still is - largely not understood what goes on in a person's brain. 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. 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. 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. 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! Fox doesnt think hell live to be 80: Every day its tougher. And I'm beat. Dedicated fans attempting to chase down every connection toSt. How was your day up on the building? 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. The Tommy Westphall universe hypothesis makes the claim that not only does St. Elsewhere" universe with other shows, then those shows with other shows, has created an elaborate web of American television. 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. 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. In 1988, though, St. Elsewhere Tags theory, tv, map, universe, autism, st. elsewhere, concept, 80s Additional References Urban Dictionary Wikipedia About. The entire series is revealed to have been based on the stories Liz Lemon told her great-granddaughter, a future television writer, and as remembered by the more-or-less immortal Parcell. 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. Both shows took a grittier and more realistic approach to their drama. When we read it, we all had reservations about it. The attitude was, Nothing can get us down, as bad as it is. And it was bad all the time.. And what about the real people who have appeared on the included shows, like Alex Trebek on Cheers? If the show were not great, if we had not had as many nominations, we probably wouldnt even be talking about it. An exterior camera shot of the hospital cuts to Tommy West 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. [3][1], The foremost interpretation of this scene is that the entire series of events in 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. The theory is called the "The Tommy Westphall Universe" and hinges on a reveal at the finale of "St. Mimsie the Cat has seen better days. It was certainly something no other network would put up with. The Biggest Shared Universe Has Over 400 Shows - Screen Rant 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. 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. John Munch). Gow, a resident of Melbourne, Australia, spent time in pubs and online wondering what Tommys scene meant for every show connected to St. St Elsewhere I think the reality of a hospital is much worse. CLARIFICATION: This article originally included a quote that incorrectly stated all of the non-American shows in the list. There are oodles of ways to end a TV series. [3][4] The following exchange occurs: Grandfather: "Good. 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 Revisiting St. Elsewhere's Strange Snow Globe Series Finale We all knew that whenever you do the last episode of any series, the last chapter of any story like that, youre never going to come up with an ending that will satisfy everybody. Tommy's father, still being portrayed by Ed Flanders (aka "Donald Westphall") arrives at the apartment wearing a hard hat. 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. The Marvel Cinematic Universe might seem like a huge landscape of interconnected shows and TV movies, but the Tommy Westphall universe has it beat. Here's my son, I talk to him, I don't even know if he can hear me. Theyre more interested in the colossal mind-fuck that is the. The last year, I put in a rug and a lamp. So far, the included shows span from "I Love Lucy" in 1951, to today, with 26 listed shows still on the air. If you've ever been riveted by the human drama ofE.R. Elsewhere with varying degrees of separation, ranging from I Love Lucy to The Flash. Is all of American television the hallucination of an autistic child?? Tell me if you think it means what I think it means! My mom read it, and she looked at me sort of puzzled too and said, I think it means its all in your head? I said, Thats what I thought it think it means! So I knew that it was really cool, and I loved that. Elsewhere an autistic boy is shown to have imagined and created a vast and deeply human universe. 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. (On that series, Bobby Ewing was brought back to life after his "death" turned out to be just a bad dream. For indeed, St. And the fat lady sings tonight: The last episode of St. Official crossovers between the "St. 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