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 were dreamt by Tommy Westphall, and thus, products of his imagination. That is the actual ending, a strange world-within-a-world. The Tommy Westphall universe hypothesis is an idea discussed among some television fans, it makes the claim that not only does St. It was not right for us to say, You should lose more money. . TIL That thanks to the series finale of St Elsewhere, and - Reddit What positional accuracy (ie, arc seconds) is necessary to view Saturn, Uranus, beyond? Tommy's father, still being portrayed by Ed Flanders (aka "Donald Westphall") arrives at the apartment wearing a hard hat. 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). Fontana was the executive producer and showrunner for Homicide for its entire seven years. Mandel, Morse, and Washington are among the core cast of younger doctors that stuck around for the entire show, wringing their hands over their critical patients, racing to respond to someone randomly coding in the hallway, or occasionally banging in the morgue. Theyre more interested in the colossal mind-fuck that is the. MARK HARMON (Dr. Robert Caldwell): I didnt see it live. Illustration by HuffPost's Alissa Scheller. 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. Not necessarily because the serieswhich had earned 13 Emmy Awards during its runwas ending, but because producers opted for a highly unconventional finale. What's he thinking about? 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. Make Room For Daddy takes out I Love Lucy.. Fontana wrote a fictional "Weigert Corporation" as an intergral part of both "St. But because we set a bar, it was just hard to really top that I wish I could say that I loved it. Theres a lot to unpack: is it simply making a statement on the show as a fictional world? Most of us failed. Rather than case-of-the-week stories with infallible doctors and carboard-thin supporting characters,St. Because of the number if cross overs that involved St Elsewhere characters (or their mention) and the cross overs those other shows had with other You can follow him on Twitter and read more at his blog. Elsewhere. Elsewhere, Paltrow said he remains hopeful that the reruns will find a home someday, on cable if not on broadcast stations. St. Is it safe to publish research papers in cooperation with Russian academics. Elsewhere came to an end for creative as well as financial reasons. More: Why The X-Files Season 12 Never Happened. The Tommy Westphall universe hypothesis makes the claim that not only does St. Flashforward! Elsewhere characters Dr. Roxanne Turner and Dr. Victor Ehrlich appear on Homicide: Life on the Street. Elsewhere in its final season owned the prison hospital in his series Oz.". 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. The notion that appearances by the same character in two or more series tie those series together in the same fictional universe is also problematic. The original decision to include fictional product crossovers actually comes from the origins of the chart itself. It was highly unpredictable, just like every episode. Elsewhere an autistic boy is shown to have imagined and created a vast and deeply human universe. Halle Bailey, Melissa McCarthy, and director Rob Marshall share the tale behind making their underwater musical with a groundbreaking Disney princess. If a person dreams about visiting London and meeting Gordon Brown, it does not follow that because the city of London and Gordon Brown appeared in a dream, they do not exist in real life. ), 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.". English version of Russian proverb "The hedgehogs got pricked, cried, but continued to eat the cactus". 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 Therefore, the commercial also does homage to the Newhart finale, as Larry Culpepper's presence from a previous Dr Pepper ad campaign references Bob Newhart's psychiatrist from The Bob Newhart Show appearing in The Last Newhart. Inside it is a perfect replica of St. Eligius, with snow swirling around it as the shot fades to black. 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. 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 episode marked the end of St. He also loves both Marvel and DC movies, and wishes every superhero fan could just get along. It was seen as a cheap shot and a quick fix, even though the mechanism and method was mimicked many times over afterwards. Even if you go to Alice in Wonderland, and he has the wonderful poem Life is But a Dream in it, still it was serious. Executive producer Bruce Paltrow explained that the show cost MTM more to produce than what NBC paid to broadcast it--which is common--but that because the outlook for recouping those deficits through syndicated reruns is so bleak, the company didnt consider another year of expenditures worth its while. 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. Nicknamed St. 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. Who is Bruce and does he have a real-world counterpart? 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. 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, (On that series, Bobby Ewing was brought back to life after his "death" turned out to be just a bad dream. You cant please most people most of the time. Despite its high standing among TV critics, St. 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, he was openly hostile toward any idea of a reunion special down the line and insisted that the series finale should be definitive. 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. 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. TV Shows That Were Actually All Just A Dream - Looper When we read it, we all had reservations about it. NORMAN LLOYD: (Dr. Daniel Auschlander): Theyd been talking about Citizen Kane. A Weyland-Utani ship is also seen in a spaceship graveyard in the British sci-fi series Red Dwarf.. 7. Erasing the fiction of an entire medium is not what Tom Fontana had planned. 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. There are no villains in this piece. Gow and Crowe, who still periodically update the grid, assert that episodes with real people playing themselveslike Trebek did on Cheersare exempt, as are cartoons and feature films. The fictional Morley cigarettes are particularly pervasive, as is Hudson University, an institution of higher learning mentioned on The Cosby Show, Law & Order, and Murder, She Wrote. Those two impressive achievements would have likely relegated the bizarre ending of St. ), I expect a very mixed reaction, Bruce Paltrow, one of the show's executive producers, told the Chicago Tribune in 1988. I think some people will think it's extraordinary and existential and quintessential St. It made me smile when I heard about what they did because it was so them. Because a lot of autistic children are withdrawn, it seems as though they're in their own world. 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 (. One prominent critic, Professor Brian Weatherson, argues that just because St. Yet, in the ending of St. 2023 Paste Media Group. St 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. 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. I was pretty happy with it. 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. 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. We're often considered and thought of as robot-like people who have no emotions and who only see other people as objects. Entertainment Weekly may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Birth! This will become important very shortly. , the magic was in the tone, as it was with another show by the same production company. 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.". Why was it necessary for St. 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. CHRISTINA PICKLES (Helen Rosenthal): I have no idea what it means. Beginnings and endings are important in all forms of fiction, but Id argue especially so in scripted television. Marriage! John Hemingway of The John Larroquette Show once called into Frasiers talk show; 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 all the latest TV news, reviews, lists and features, follow @Paste_TV. Elsewhere visited the Cheers bar, the creators of Cheers offered no consent to have their series thought of as imaginary. You can barely please half the people most of the time. I didnt dislike it. A surprise to everybody. was a show that got by largely on the strength of its ensemble, running for six seasons from 1982-88. Some people liked its provocativeness. WebSt. 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. Would you ever say "eat pig" instead of "eat pork"? WebThe problem that I see with the ending is that they explained away the whole show as the daydreams of an autistic child's imagination. If the theory holds, then a large chunk of television is the direct result of one childs formidable imagination. An exterior camera shot of the hospital cuts to Tommy West , like basically every television series that is set in the present day, had crossover episodes or cameos with other popular shows. Movies & TV Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for movie and TV enthusiasts. In the moments before hes expected to announce the fate of the hospital, Auschlander suffers a catastrophic stroke off-screen and is discovered dead, with the cast gathering for a mournful goodbye. St. A clip of the original credits from the series finale, with Mimsie the Cat on life support. As one of the co-authors of the scene that ignited the entire premise, Fontana said he was stunned to discover the aftershocks and that the theory basically means that Tommy Westphall is the mind of God.. Elsewhere. It was certainly something no other network would put up with. "You know, I still have the snow globe," he said. Elsewhere carries a shocking implication NBC St. Not enough dollars, however, to keep the series alive for another year. Arrow is also included, which means all subsequent Arrowverse shows also tie back to Westphall. Why did the Fairy Queen have to die for a poor deal? The stories speak for themselves. Westphall sits down next to Tommy and says, "I don't understand this autism thing, Pop. Elsewhere was the father of the modern medical drama, establishing a format that's been followed by pretty much every serial fitting of that description to come after it. Entertainment Weekly is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation All Rights Reserved. They made a choice and the choice is interesting. Paired with the show's penchant for references, this finale has spawned one of the most bizarre and elaborate fan theories of all time. 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. And Ed Flanders, who portrayed Dr. Donald Westphall, made his last appearance before leaving the regular cast early this season (he returns in the final episode) by mooning the camera. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. I went, Wow. 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. The last year, I put in a rug and a lamp. Elsewhere., It was as far as they could go, he said. 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. They needed a way to end the show It was a provocative ending. [1] As characters from St. Its been observed that much of American primetime TV has been about cops and the sex lives of doctors. Other people didnt care for it at all. When NBCs hour-long hospital drama St. 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. There are oodles of ways to end a TV series. I really had very little to say about that episode because I thought it was a letdown. In fact, for all its success, most aspects of St. So what happens when an ending goes completely off the rails? orGrey's Anatomy, then you've got one series to thank. Fan Theory Proves Almost All TV Shows Exist Within Same 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. 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. 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. It is underfunded, understaffed, crowded, and running on fumes. Elsewhere, NBCs darkly comic series about a financially strapped Boston hospital and its beleaguered staff, is dead. 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. 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved. 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. A $300-million (minimum) gondola to Dodger Stadium? Garry Shandling crossed over with The Andy Griffith Show (no, really!). Revisiting St. Elsewhere's Strange Snow Globe Series Finale Weatherson, in his sixth objection, offers the example of Michael Bloomberg playing the role of New York City Mayor both on Law & Order and in real life, which, if one accepts the logic of the hypothesis, indicates that real life is in the head of Tommy Westphall. 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. Then it could create conversation, so I thought it was kind of brilliant. The streamlining kind of took away its energy.. ", But despite the elaborate system, the two still doubt their methods from time to time. ER and Chicago Hope wouldnt exist in the form they did without St. 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! I sure heard about it. ", Father: "Well, we finally topped off the 22nd story. 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. Ending of "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans". World of his own. lump on inside of buttocks cheek The Importance of the St. Elsewhere Ending : r/autism 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; 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. Inside the globe was a tiny mock-up of St. Eligius, the medical center that was featured in the series. 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. At one point I was the answer for a Trivial Pursuit question. 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. Why does the husband leave the family in The Others? To me the last 10 minutes of the final Elsewhere to Homicide: Life on the Street, which shared a writer/producer in Tom Fontana. St. Nobody is too interested in that, though. Elsewhere was a hospital drama where we, the audience, are invited to feel and think along with the patients, the families and the medical staff. It is underfunded, understaffed, crowded, and running on fumes. Elsewhere,' It's Goodbye (or Is It?) Elsewhere. 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. So you pick your horse and place your bet. 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. 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. 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 known for its And I was very upset. Elsewhere 's characters appear in Tommy's dream doesn't mean they don't also Fox doesnt think hell live to be 80: Every day its tougher. In the age of streaming in particular, I feel as if this is even more true than its been in the past. God love him."[9]. Thats really cool for a teenager. The thing Im proudest of is the overall balance of the comedy to the drama; the counterpoint of that really grew and grew.. Fontana was being facetious (we think), but not everyone was as enthused with the premise. Elsewhere take place Elsewhere has fallen victim to economic pressures. Did the drapes in old theatres actually say "ASBESTOS" on them? St. Through crossovers, spinoffs, cameos, or fictional brands or products appearing in more than one show, everything from. is not a great place to work or convalesce. Elsewhere signed off after six seasons on May 25, 1988, more than a few viewers were saddened. Kenneth Lowe is a regular contributor to Paste TV. How was your day up on the building? This year, Ken Lowe is revisiting some of the most influential TV shows that made it to an officially planned final episode. The complete list of shows is at the bottom of the article. A FL native, Michael is passionate about pop culture, and earned an AS degree in film production in 2012. 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st elsewhere ending theory
st elsewhere ending theory
st elsewhere ending theory