Elsewhere very often in your life. Suddenly, we're taken to a small apartment where Tommy sits on the floor, playing with a snow globe. What are the advantages of running a power tool on 240 V vs 120 V? 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). What symbolic value does either the globe or the snow have on the ending of the series? 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. 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. As of this writing, 441 shows can be tied to St. Elsewhere" and "Oz," and, as Gow tells it, "It was that little connection that spawned a thousand other connections -- references to fictional airlines, companies, nods from one series to another.". Seated in a rocking chair is none other than Dr. Auschlander only that's not quite right. "[Fontana] was fond of putting in references to previous shows he worked on, including bringing characters from St. The kind of gallows humor that was in the show was a case of art imitating life, Paltrow continued. A clip of the original credits from the series finale, with Mimsie the Cat on life support. 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. Original Closing Credits From the Series Finale | The St. 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, 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 think other people will find it puzzling, odd, maybe unfulfilling in some way.. Elsewhere with varying degrees of separation, ranging from I Love Lucy to The Flash. St. "Red Dwarf" is now included as well. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. Here's my son, I talk to him, I don't even know if he can hear me. [3][4] The following exchange occurs: Grandfather: "Good. 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. 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. If the theory holds, then a large chunk of television is the direct result of one childs formidable imagination. 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?) Erasing the fiction of an entire medium is not what Tom Fontana had planned. Heres how St. ", Grandfather: "He's been sitting there ever since you left this morning, just like he does every day. Elsewhere to a trivial mention in Fontanas biography, if not for the curiosity of a playwright named Keith Gow. 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; Elsewhere made guest appearances on another TV series, and characters from that series in turn appeared on other series. Fontana went on to create Homicide: Life on the Street and HBOs groundbreaking prison drama Oz. When NBCs hour-long hospital drama 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, Nobody is too interested in that, though. The Ending Of St. Elsewhere Explained - Looper I sure heard about it. Elsewhere were dreamt by Tommy Westphall, and thus, products of his imagination. 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. Why does the husband leave the family in The Others? Cookies help us deliver our Services. I really had very little to say about that episode because I thought it was a letdown. Elsewhere. 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.". Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. Although you may have never noticed the connection, there's a compelling case that "Friends," "Breaking Bad," "Seinfeld," "I Love Lucy" and just about every other popular American television show exist within the same universe. 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. Donald Westphalls autistic son, who was gazing into a snow globe containing a miniature version of the hospital. What were the most popular text editors for MS-DOS in the 1980s? Elsewhere to another series likely has additional connections of its own and for a sterling example of this, look no further thanHomicide. ), 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. Other people didnt care for it at all. The series finale of the 1980s medical dramedy St. There are no villains in this piece. It was highly unpredictable, just like every episode. 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. Elsewhere,' It's Goodbye (or Is It?) 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. 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. Related: Crisis On Infinite Earths Solved DC Movies' Continuity Problem. Cheers spun off the long-running seriesFrasier, and that series had its events referenced or its characters cameo on shows likeCaroline in the City, The John Larroquette Show,and evenThe Simpsons. 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. It was this wonderful, crumbly, noble, decadent building that housed this incredible heart. Elsewhere" Dwayne McDuffie at the Los Angeles premiere of "All Star Superman" When NBCs hour-long hospital drama St. What's he thinking about?". I thought it was interesting. [3][1], The foremost interpretation of this scene is that the entire series of events in St. Fan Theory Proves Almost All TV Shows Exist Within Same Please feel free to submit articles to enhance the knowledge, acceptance, understanding and research of Autism and ASD. CHRISTINA PICKLES (Helen Rosenthal): I have no idea what it means. The series was also known for one of its more playful aspects: it was prone to dropping references and callbacks to other TV series. One prominent critic, Professor Brian Weatherson, argues that just because St. But [executive producers] Tom Fontana and John Masius and Bruce Paltrow didnt want just a normal ending. Can I use my Coinbase address to receive bitcoin? 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. For indeed, 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. Rather than case-of-the-week stories with infallible doctors and carboard-thin supporting characters,St. Web359. That would surely lead to spreadsheets the size of walls: Weyland-Yutani is the company behind the machinations of the Alien franchise. Garry Shandling crossed over with The Andy Griffith Show (no, really!). I didnt dislike it. 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. 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. Most of us failed. CHAD ALLEN (Tommy Westphall): I remember the script arrived, I read it, got to the end, and I was stumped. A few shows are outside of American television such as the British show, "Red Dwarf." Elsewhere airs at 10 p.m. on Channels 4, 36 and 39. WebThere are oodles of ways to end a TV series. Elsewhere" that the whole show had been in the character Westphall's dream. 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. It was certainly something no other network would put up with. The St. Tommy Westphall, portrayed by Chad Allen, is a minor character from the drama television series St. Was the fact that Tommy is considered Autistic symbolic in any way? characters got the business from Carla while drinking at Cheers, the bar from, uh, , a spinoff, must also exist somewhere in that snow globe. Craig, always a prissy sort, is absolutely beside himself with the prospect that his wife Ellen is taking a job in (gasp) Ohio. St. I felt it wasnt serious. For all the latest TV news, reviews, lists and features, follow @Paste_TV. TV Shows That Were Actually All Just A Dream - Looper It couldve been 900 things, which is very clever because you were allowed to make up your minds so you could stay with your own fantasy so everybody could have an opinion. "I prefer character connections, myself," Gow says. 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. The Importance of the St. Elsewhere Ending : r/autism Elsewhere characters on other shows are not sufficient to indicate that those shows exist only in Westphall's dream. St. 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. 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. 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. Death! Westphall sits down next to Tommy and says, "I don't understand this autism thing, Pop. The Westphall Theory of a Unified TV Universe, Explained Tommy runs to see the snow falling outside the window, and that's when everything changes. CLARIFICATION: This article originally included a quote that incorrectly stated all of the non-American shows in the list. 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]. 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. If you notice any other connections, feel free to join in on the madness. 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. Eligius. The corporation that bought St. "St. Why is Frank McCourt really pushing this? 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.". Not necessarily because the serieswhich had earned 13 Emmy Awards during its runwas ending, but because producers opted for a highly unconventional finale. As far as I could tell, there was always controversy around St. 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. God love him."[9]. 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. Contemporary television writers have even bought in to Gow and Crowe's theory. It was not right for us to say, You should lose more money. . [3][5][6] According to Lindsey Freeman, the narrative framing of Tommy's imagination as within a snow globe occurs because, as an "oneiric and mnemonic gadget", a snow globe "often finds itself as a companion piece to the dream sequences found in television and movies".
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