Observers of the theory take issue with the idea out of what they deem is a misunderstanding of an authors intent. Making a splash: A deep dive into the live-action. That is ), 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.". There are oodles of ways to end a TV series. 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. 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. One prominent critic, Professor Brian Weatherson, argues that just because St. 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. The Tommy Westphall universe hypothesis makes the claim that not only does St. Suddenly, we're taken to a small apartment where Tommy sits on the floor, playing with a snow globe. The 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. 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. After six seasons of letting those within the hospital doing the hard work of being human and showing humanity it was our turn. 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. Elsewhere, and I venture to say stuff like House or Scrubs, or even Greys Anatomy would not look or feel the same without its influence and success. Web359. 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. In a 2003 article published on BBC News Online, St. 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. Not necessarily 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. Why did the Fairy Queen have to die for a poor deal? is not a great place to work or convalesce. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. 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. Elsewhere was universally panned. Through crossovers, spinoffs, cameos, or fictional brands or products appearing in more than one show, everything from. HOWIE MANDEL (Dr. Wayne Fiscus): I thought it was realllllllly interesting. This year, Ken Lowe is revisiting some of the most influential TV shows that made it to an officially planned final episode. Because a lot of autistic children are withdrawn, it seems as though they're in their own world. 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.". And because we were never a hit, we didnt have the firepower behind us to make the syndication business., Paltrow said he bears no grudge against the network or MTM for terminating St. Flashforward! Helen Hunt even appeared in a few episodes. Craig, always a prissy sort, is absolutely beside himself with the prospect that his wife Ellen is taking a job in (gasp) Ohio. --Tom Fontana, former producer, St. And none of MTMs shows better defined quality television than St. Elsewhere, which established a defiant tradition of baiting the NBC censors, blurring the line between the real and the surreal, tantalizing the alert viewers with inside jokes and subtle references to literature, television and pop music lyrics, going precariously far out on a limb and then deliberately chopping it off. At one point. would not look or feel the same without its influence and success. CLARIFICATION: This article originally included a quote that incorrectly stated all of the non-American shows in the list. "Red Dwarf" is now included as well. The ending has become an infamous example of the "it was all a dream" conclusion that's appeared in dozens of movies and TV shows over the years. TV Shows That Were Actually All Just A Dream - Looper 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. 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. Can I use my Coinbase address to receive bitcoin? Six years . Elsewhere carries a shocking implication NBC St. Why did Sonny trust Carlo enough to introduce him to the family and then sour on him? Elsewhere was a figment of Tommy Westphalls elaborate imagination, then wouldnt other television characters who appeared in the shows continuity exist only within Tommy's mind, as well? 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. At least that's the most widely held interpretation of St. Elsewhere 's final moments. The ending has become an infamous example of the "it was all a dream" conclusion that's appeared in dozens of movies and TV shows over the years. 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. How's he been? Elsewhere were dreamt by Tommy Westphall, and thus, products of his imagination. Elsewhere, the magic was in the tone, as it was with another show by the same production company, Hill Street Blues. Though MTM hasnt had much luck yet syndicating St. Elsewhere--a derisive nickname for the aging South Boston medical facility--was never healthy in the ratings. What's he thinking about? 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. This will become important very shortly. The thing Im proudest of is the overall balance of the comedy to the drama; the counterpoint of that really grew and grew.. For all the latest TV news, reviews, lists and features, follow @Paste_TV. Elsewhere,[1] which ran on NBC from 1982 to 1988.[2]. I really had very little to say about that episode because I thought it was a letdown. 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. ), 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 made guest appearances on another TV series, and characters from that series in turn appeared on other series. Elsewhere 's characters appear in Tommy's dream doesn't mean they don't also THE TOMMY WESTPHALL UNIVERSE We never answered any of the questions we posed. Not necessarily because the serieswhich had earned 13 Emmy Awards during its runwas ending, but because producers opted for a highly unconventional finale. 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. Elsewhere to another series likely has additional connections of its own and for a sterling example of this, look no further thanHomicide. Elsewhere': About that snow-globe ending. You can make up your own line what it means. Often, characters crossing over on the same network can ignite a connection, with shared brands or locations providing the connective tissue for others. WILLIAM DANIELS (Dr. Mark Craig): I was shocked, actually. In the closing moments of the episode, a boy named Tommy Westphall (Chad Allen), the son of medical director Dr. Donald Westphall, was seen peering into a snow globe. Composition by Dave Grusin Elsewhere. Paired with the show's penchant for references, this finale has spawned one of the most bizarre and elaborate fan theories of all time. Here's my son, I talk to him, I don't even know if he can hear me. Elsewhere. lump on inside of buttocks cheek World of his own. Elsewhere seemed like an easy out. Elsewhere. 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. I sure heard about it. 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. In another episode, St. Eligius traveled 50 years into the past. The series is (implied to be) a figment of Tommy Westphall's imagination, existing in the snowglobe that he is focused on. I thought it was interesting. 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. Arrow is also included, which means all subsequent Arrowverse shows also tie back to Westphall. Westphall sits down next to Tommy and says, "I don't understand this autism thing, Pop. Specific to the Westphall Hypothesis, even if we accept that 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. In that episode, the entirety 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. Much of the humor between characters is gallows humor. Also, consider that each connection fromSt. Elsewhere truly shook things up and gave us one of the most talked-about series finales in history with the snow globe. After watching six Emmy-nominated seasons of drama medical and emotional, dark and light, envelope-pushing and heartstring-pulling at the run-down St. Eligius, we were led to believe in the finales last scene that the entire show was actually a product of the imagination of (construction worker?) ST. ELSEWHERE: Season 6 (1987-88) Clip - (The Final Scene) Inside the globe was a tiny mock-up of St. Eligius, the medical center that was featured in the series. 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. 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. , the magic was in the tone, as it was with another show by the same production company. Elsewhere storyline exists only within Westphall's imagination. 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. A clip of the original credits from the series finale, with Mimsie the Cat on life support. Elsewhere an autistic boy is shown to have imagined and created a vast and deeply human universe. Elsewhere in its final season owned the prison hospital in his series Oz.". 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved. Elsewhere" that the whole show had been in the character Westphall's dream. It was all a dream! To me the last 10 minutes of the final 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. 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. One prominent critic, Professor Brian Weatherson, argues that just because St. It was bold and shocking and upset some people. But I wasnt surprised that there were many people who didnt find it satisfying. That would surely lead to spreadsheets the size of walls: Weyland-Yutani is the company behind the machinations of the Alien franchise. St. Eligius is a teaching hospital in Bostons South End (the building that appears in the title sequence is actually an apartment building there). Elsewhere illustrates the rich and often blurred boundaries in how we experience the world."[7]. Ending of "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans". Its been observed that much of American primetime TV has been about cops and the sex lives of doctors. 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. But for others, it was a stroke of inspiration. I thought it was ahead of its time, pretty ingenious and creative and not like anything else. As for the snow globe, that was the focus of Tommy's attention. 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. Seated in a rocking chair is none other than Dr. Auschlander only that's not quite right. WebNo, you missed the point. I think a lot of the cast didnt care for it at all. What is the Russian word for the color "teal"? It seems to imply that the events of the show were all imagined by the mind of a non-verbal young boy. Why was it necessary for 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. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Not the answer you're looking for? St. And I was very upset. Elsewhere cast reunion: It was a show that changed television, 'St. 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 30 Rock. 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. It was seen as a cheap shot and a quick fix, even though the mechanism and method was mimicked many times over afterwards. If you're viewing this list on a mobile device, use this link to the web that allows for zooming. In 1988, though, St. It made me smile when I heard about what they did because it was so them. 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. The thing is, autism was - and still is - largely not understood what goes on in a person's brain. 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. Elsewhere finale wasn't infamous enough with its twist ending, the closing bumper made for the finale showed Mimsie, the logo cat, unconscious and hooked up to an IV, 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. St. Elsewhere - Wikipedia Elsewhere characters got the business from Carla while drinking at Cheers, the bar from, uh, Cheersand therefore, Frasier, a spinoff, must also exist somewhere in that snow globe. Elsewhere visited the Cheers bar, the creators of Cheers offered no consent to have their series thought of as imaginary. Part of HuffPost Entertainment. Westphall, who is autistic, played an increased role in St. It was not right for us to say, You should lose more money. . 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. Share. For instance, it may be the other way around, and the snow globe scene may itself be the dream. Lloyd, whose Dr. Auschlander was supposed to die years ago but enjoyed a miraculous remission, is even more hopeful. The 50 greatest TV and movie detectives of all time. 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. St 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. Can my creature spell be countered if I cast a split second spell after it? Cheers introduced Frasier Crane, of Frasier; Elsewhere's final moments. The fictional brand or company thing is also Fontana's fault. 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. [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. 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. In fact, for all its success, most aspects of St. The show also has connections to series that cameafter it, largely thanks to one of its writers and producers, Tom Fontana. While the doctors of St. If Cheers is not real, then is Trebek? ED BEGLEY JR. (Dr. Victor Ehrlich): It was quite fitting for what they had done the previous six years. The kind of gallows humor that was in the show was a case of art imitating life, Paltrow continued. Fiscus (Mandel), Morrison (Morse) and Ehrlich (Begley) are all dealing with their own issues around their impending exits. Theres a lot to unpack: is it simply making a statement on the show as a fictional world? On this day in 1988, TV viewers saw one of the most famous and perhaps the most debated series finales in TV history. I knew there would be an uproar. 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. 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. He went on to create the acclaimed seriesHomicide:Life on the Street (in which a character fromSt. Tommy Westphall - Wikipedia English version of Russian proverb "The hedgehogs got pricked, cried, but continued to eat the cactus". Elsewhere. 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?