So Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., Mayberry R.F.D., and Make Room for Daddy/The Danny Thomas Show are gone. 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. 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. 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. I think it can happen. A terrible ending! Elsewhere characters on other shows are not sufficient to indicate that those shows exist only in Westphall's dream. When NBCs hour-long hospital drama St. And I'm beat. I could have put in a sauna and a Jacuzzi, you know?. 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. Tommy's World: The TV Legacy of St. Elsewhere's "Tommy This is more interesting than interrogating the deeper philosophical or metaphorical meaning behind the very last scene of a six-season show! It made me smile when I heard about what they did because it was so them. Over time, it began to look something like the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game. Fontana went on to create Homicide: Life on the Street and HBOs groundbreaking prison drama Oz. More than puzzling, some people found it to be an actual puzzle. Elsewhere an autistic boy is shown to have imagined and created a vast and deeply human universe. Elsewhere--a derisive nickname for the aging South Boston medical facility--was never healthy in the ratings. Elsewhere. What is the rationale/justification for ending the series this way? [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. 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. Death! Elsewhere was universally panned. 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.". St Thanks to the phenomenal success of the MCU, shared universes now dot the pop culture landscape, including the DCEU, The Conjuring universe, the Godzilla and King Kong MonsterVerse, and many more. 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. 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. 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). St Elsewhere 's characters appear in Tommy's dream doesn't mean they don't also 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. --Tom Fontana, former producer, St. Tommy Westphall - Wikipedia Like their small but loyal band of viewers--who have already written at least 300 letters to MTM and the network protesting its cancellation--the St. 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. Heres how St. Elsewhere was the designated comic relief for the first few episodes. Donald Westphalls autistic son, who was gazing into a snow globe containing a miniature version of the hospital. If the universe of 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. 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. Elsewhere,' It's Goodbye (or Is It?) 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.. And listen, we set such a bar, its hard to top it to make that ending satisfy a lot of people. You cant please most people most of the time. This will become important very shortly. Why did the Fairy Queen have to die for a poor deal? Its been observed that much of American primetime TV has been about cops and the sex lives of doctors. Elsewhere take place within Tommy's mind, but so do numerous other television series which are directly and indirectly connected to St. I think the reality of a hospital is much worse. ER and Chicago Hope wouldnt exist in the form they did without St. 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. But of course, none of that is what people really remember the last episode for. For all the latest TV news, reviews, lists and features, follow. Theyre more interested in the colossal mind-fuck that is the Tommy Westphall Universe. Elsewhere seemed like an easy out. 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. 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. CHAD ALLEN (Tommy Westphall): I remember the script arrived, I read it, got to the end, and I was stumped. The Biggest Shared Universe Has Over 400 Shows - Screen Rant 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. Tommy runs to see the snow falling outside the window, and that's when everything changes. A few shows are outside of American television such as the British show, "Red Dwarf." ", Father: "I don't understand this autism thing, Pop. In 1988, though, 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. 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. Elsewhere, Alfre Woodard's Dr. Roxanne Turner,appeared) andOz (in which a company that briefly owned St. Eligius, Weigert, makes a bid to buy that show's Oswald Maximum Security Prison). Behind him stood his father, who was sporting a construction workers wardrobe. It made me laugh actually because it just is so like those guys. Elsewhere also shared characters with The White Shadow and Its Garry Shandlings Show, McDuffie wrote. Can you still use Commanders Strike if the only attack available to forego is an attack against an ally? As of this writing, 441 shows can be tied to St. STEPHEN FURST (Dr. Elliot Axelrod): I thought it was kind of cool, actually. Elsewhere through fictional crossovers and spin-offs, resulting in a large fictional universe taking place entirely within Tommy's mind. English version of Russian proverb "The hedgehogs got pricked, cried, but continued to eat the cactus". DAVID MORSE (Dr. Jack Boomer Morrison): I felt two things. The full list includes 419 shows as of 2016, the last time the curators of the Westphall theory updated its website. "I prefer character connections, myself," Gow says. 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. sign-off. 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. John Hemingway of The John Larroquette Show once called into Frasiers talk show; 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. 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. Its been observed that much of American primetime TV has been about cops and the sex lives of doctors. ST. ELSEWHERE: Season 6 (1987-88) Clip - (The Final Scene) At one point I was the answer for a Trivial Pursuit question. All Rights Reserved, In the age of streaming in particular, I feel as if this is even more true than its been in the past. At one point. 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. . 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. 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. CLARIFICATION: This article originally included a quote that incorrectly stated all of the non-American shows in the list. Elsewhere, Paltrow, Fontana and the several cast members interviewed all said they would have been willing to continue indefinitely. 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 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. How's he been? Elsewhere is not a great place to work or convalesce. Thats really cool for a teenager. Did the drapes in old theatres actually say "ASBESTOS" on them? The stories speak for themselves. Westphall, who is autistic, played an increased role in St. Elsewhere to another series likely has additional connections of its own and for a sterling example of this, look no further thanHomicide. 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. Elsewhere made guest appearances on another TV series, and characters from that series in turn appeared on other series. 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. Autism news, information and support. Copyright 2023 Meredith Corporation. WebBasically the theory known as The Tommy Westphall Universe (TWU) begins when St. How was your day up on the building? It was certainly something no other network would put up with. Entertainment Weekly may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Elsewhere is Westphall's dream, it does not imply that all of the characters on the show exist only in his mind. At least that's the most widely held interpretation of St. WebThere are oodles of ways to end a TV series. 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. Why was it necessary for St. Elsewhere to end the way it did? St Not necessarily A $300-million (minimum) gondola to Dodger Stadium? Be sure to join us next time as we look back on an even more esoteric final episode of an even more esoteric show: The Prisoner! ", Grandfather: "He's been sitting there ever since you left this morning, just like he does every day. 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.