st elsewhere ending theory

Elsewhere take place Elsewherefollowed its flawed, relatable characters over multi-episode storylines and even season-long arcs. These strings go on across multiple decades of television, with I Love Lucy being the earliest example. Here's my son, I talk to him, I don't even know if he can hear me. Mandels character, though, gets the easiest metaphor of the episode. As of this writing, 441 shows can be tied to St. Lloyd, whose Dr. Auschlander was supposed to die years ago but enjoyed a miraculous remission, is even more hopeful. And because I cant tell you I have a better idea of how it couldve ended, I can live with that one. The Biggest Shared Universe Has Over 400 Shows - Screen Rant 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. Paltrow noted that the shows bleak vision was deliberate. 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.". 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. 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. It's not even that much of a leap to make a connection to the Mighty Marvel Cinematic Universe (you can get there a number of ways, according to Polygon). 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. Along with U.S.-based fan Ash Crowe, Gow began to develop a chart linking the series to other shows on television. God love him."[9]. 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. When we read it, we all had reservations about it. 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. At one point, St. Somehow, a literal airplane has crashed into the hospital. 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. 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. Original Closing Credits From the Series Finale | The St. When NBCs hour-long hospital drama St. 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. Law & Order creator Dick Wolf is close friends with Fontana and frequently crossed Homicide characters over into his own series. 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. Elsewhere. And I was very upset. Elsewhere, by only a few degrees, to a startling number of TV shows and movies. 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. Make Room For Daddy takes out I Love Lucy.. lump on inside of buttocks cheek The doctors had visited the bar on Cheers in one St. Therefore, appearances from St. 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. 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]. Elsewhere in its final season owned the prison hospital in his series Oz.". In the door comes Dr. Westphall, but he hangs up a construction workers hat. It is underfunded, understaffed, crowded, and running on fumes. St. Tommy's father, still being portrayed by Ed Flanders (aka "Donald Westphall") arrives at the apartment wearing a hard hat. Yet, none of those universes compare to the sheer enormity of the Tommy Westphall world, which traces back to the series finale of popular 1980s medical drama St. Elsewhere was an aberration. I was not upset. Elsewhere" -- the notion of which is a hated cliche, yes, but could it be the reality of almost every story arc you've ever loved on American television? Elsewhere team enjoyed life on the series even when times were tough, which was always. Elsewhere. Because a lot of autistic children are withdrawn, it seems as though they're in their own world. 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. 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 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. Then it could create conversation, so I thought it was kind of brilliant. 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. 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. 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. Heres how 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 the door comes Dr. Westphall, but he hangs up a construction workers hat. I felt it wasnt serious. 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. WebBasically the theory known as The Tommy Westphall Universe (TWU) begins when St. Paired with the show's penchant for references, this finale has spawned one of the most bizarre and elaborate fan theories of all time. John Munch). I said at the time we were shooting, This is a cheat. For me, it was a cheat. Did the drapes in old theatres actually say "ASBESTOS" on them? 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. The St. Fontana wrote a fictional "Weigert Corporation" as an intergral part of both "St. But this television-changing theory doesn't stop there. "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.". That is quite a choice. They did very unusual, bold things and did it regularly. Elsewhere., It was as far as they could go, he said. 59K views 4 years ago. What were the most popular text editors for MS-DOS in the 1980s? 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. 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. 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 TOMMY WESTPHALL UNIVERSE The show also has connections to series that cameafter it, largely thanks to one of its writers and producers, Tom Fontana. Scan this QR code to download the app now. Ambiguous cut to black! It only takes a minute to sign up. Inside it is a perfect replica of St. Eligius, with snow swirling around it as the shot fades to black. So far, the included shows span from "I Love Lucy" in 1951, to today, with 26 listed shows still on the air. Elsewhere. 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 In a way that actually sucks most of contemporary-set American scripted TV into the inside of a snow globe? What's he thinking about? Elsewhere remains one of the most famous examples of the "all just a dream" plot. Helen Hunt even appeared in a few episodes. 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. What are the advantages of running a power tool on 240 V vs 120 V? Crisis On Infinite Earths Solved DC Movies' Continuity Problem, Star Wars' Next Show Needs To Fill The Biggest Gap In Anakin's Life, 1 Sorcerers Stone Problem Could Make The Harry Potter Remake Harder, Why Missy's Hair Is Shorter In Young Sheldon Season 6 Episode 18. Composition by Dave Grusin Elsewhere. --Tom Fontana, former producer, St. Elsewhere's final episode, "The Last One", one interpretation of which is that the entire St. Through crossovers, spinoffs, cameos, or fictional brands or products appearing in more than one show, everything from. A clip of the original credits from the series finale, with Mimsie the Cat on life support. Often, characters crossing over on the same network can ignite a connection, with shared brands or locations providing the connective tissue for others. STEPHEN FURST (Dr. Elliot Axelrod): I thought it was kind of cool, actually. HOWIE MANDEL (Dr. Wayne Fiscus): I thought it was realllllllly interesting. One prominent critic, Professor Brian Weatherson, argues that just because St. Ending of "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans". And listen, we set such a bar, its hard to top it to make that ending satisfy a lot of people. 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. Gow, a resident of Melbourne, Australia, spent time in pubs and online wondering what Tommys scene meant for every show connected to St. The fictional brand or company thing is also Fontana's fault. The series finale of the 1980s medical dramedy St. And none of MTMs shows better defined quality television than St. Why did Sonny trust Carlo enough to introduce him to the family and then sour on him? 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. Remembering 'St. Elsewhere' 25 Years Later - HuffPost 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. 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. Elsewhere production team are at work on Tattingers, a new NBC series from MTM slated for 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 last year, I put in a rug and a lamp. Web359. Elsewhere, the magic was in the tone, as it was with another show by the same production company, Hill Street Blues. In 1988, though, St. 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. 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. Elsewhere an autistic boy is shown to have imagined and created a vast and deeply human universe. It wasnt darker than reality, he said. St. Eligius is a teaching hospital in Bostons South End (the building that appears in the title sequence is actually an apartment building there). 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 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. Are you and I??? I think the reality of a hospital is much worse. It made me smile when I heard about what they did because it was so them. Embedded hyperlinks in a thesis or research paper. 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. Birth! Is all of American television the hallucination of an autistic child?? WebYet, in the ending of St. In the age of streaming in particular, I feel as if this is even more true than its been in the past. 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.". 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. When NBC refused to finance their ambitious plan, the idea for the snow globe was hatched. 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. 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. 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. We're often considered and thought of as robot-like people who have no emotions and who only see other people as objects. DAVID MORSE (Dr. Jack Boomer Morrison): I felt two things. When youre finished, watch the cast reunion on Good Morning America and voice your own opinion on the finale in our poll. The John Larroquette Show once mentioned Yoyodyne, a manufacturing client of law firm Wolfram and Hart; 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. Gow and Crowe have an elaborate system of rules for what shows can and can't be included in the list, which they shared with HuffPost and can now be seen on their site's latest update. I knew there would be an uproar. To me the last 10 minutes of the final 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 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. You can barely please half the people most of the time. Tommy's World: The TV Legacy of St. Elsewhere's "Tommy Nicknamed St. Though MTM hasnt had much luck yet syndicating St. Elsewhere 's characters appear in Tommy's dream doesn't mean they don't also I think a lot of the cast didnt care for it at all. 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. 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. Why was it necessary for St. Official crossovers between the "St. Due to crossovers and shared universes between shows, almost every popular TV show exists within the dream of one character from the '80s. The Importance of the St. Elsewhere Ending : r/autism Howie goes to the morgue, slides me out, says something to me and pushes me back in. Quantum Leap is on!). 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. Web"Cora and Arnie". "[Fontana] was fond of putting in references to previous shows he worked on, including bringing characters from St. After the "Fansville" characters exchange meta-humorous existential comments, the camera pans out to show that the characters in fact exist in a snowglobe sitting on Larry Culpepper's desk. Arrow is also included, which means all subsequent Arrowverse shows also tie back to Westphall. Specific to the Westphall Hypothesis, even if we accept that St. Sealed and locked. Elsewhere storyline exists only within Westphall's imagination. In that episode, the entirety of St. The original decision to include fictional product crossovers actually comes from the origins of the chart itself. 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. What symbolic value does either the globe or the snow have on the ending of the series? 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. 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. A Weyland-Yutani ship is seen in the BBC series Red Dwarf, which also depicted The Doctors TARDIS. 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. Death! For a constant stream of entertainment news and discussion, follow HuffPost Entertainment on Viber. Related: Crisis On Infinite Earths Solved DC Movies' Continuity Problem. For indeed, St. Erasing the fiction of an entire medium is not what Tom Fontana had planned. I think it can happen. 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. Seated in a rocking chair is none other than Dr. Auschlander only that's not quite right. Its been observed that much of American primetime TV has been about cops and the sex lives of doctors. Via Wikipedia: The most common interpretation of this scene is that the entire series of events in the series St. Elsewhere through fictional crossovers and spin-offs, resulting in a large fictional universe taking place entirely within Tommy's mind. Elsewhere to a trivial mention in Fontanas biography, if not for the curiosity of a playwright named Keith Gow. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. Elsewhere--a derisive nickname for the aging South Boston medical facility--was never healthy in the ratings. Elsewhere by the residents and the surrounding community, the place has a reputation as a rathole. Elsewhere was known for its 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. Entertainment Weekly is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation All Rights Reserved. We never answered any of the questions we posed. 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. Theyre more interested in the colossal mind-fuck that is the Tommy Westphall Universe. 2023 Paste Media Group. 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. You cant please most people most of the time. For all the latest TV news, reviews, lists and features, follow. [3][1], The foremost interpretation of this scene is that the entire series of events in St. A FL native, Michael is passionate about pop culture, and earned an AS degree in film production in 2012. If the universe of St. Entertainment Weekly may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. While that can sometimes describe St. Elsewhere seemed like an easy out. 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. Even if that's true though, thinking about it remains an amusing diversion. Dr Pepper includes an homage to Tommy Westphall's snowglobe in its 2021 advertising campaign. CYNTHIA SIKES (Dr. Annie Cavanero): Part of me likes that whole thing because its sort of an Orson Welles-ian Rosebud [ending]. Westphall, who is autistic, played an increased role in St. Elsewhere ' s final episode, "The Last One", one interpretation of which is that the entire St. Elsewhere storyline exists only within Westphall's imagination. 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 would surely lead to spreadsheets the size of walls: Weyland-Yutani is the company behind the machinations of the Alien franchise. That's the nature of a hospital drama, that's why we tune in. was a show that got by largely on the strength of its ensemble, running for six seasons from 1982-88. Fox doesnt think hell live to be 80: Every day its tougher. To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. 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? Toe-tagged. But because we set a bar, it was just hard to really top that I wish I could say that I loved it. Making a splash: A deep dive into the live-action. Birth! It's not every day we see Plucky Comic Relief commit suicide. So you pick your horse and place your bet. NORMAN LLOYD: (Dr. Daniel Auschlander): Theyd been talking about Citizen Kane.

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