st elsewhere ending theory

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]. 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. It is underfunded, understaffed, crowded, and running on fumes. 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?) The show also has connections to series that cameafter it, largely thanks to one of its writers and producers, Tom Fontana. And listen, we set such a bar, its hard to top it to make that ending satisfy a lot of people. 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. 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. He went on to create the acclaimed seriesHomicide:Life on the Street (in which a character fromSt. Some people liked its provocativeness. As Dr. Fiscus struggles with the anxiety of leaving the hospital, his last patient at St. Eligius is the actress portraying a valkyrie in a Wagner opera who has, get this, laryngitis. Official crossovers between the "St. There are other possible interpretations of Tommy's "vision" which may suggest something other than the entire series being his dream. The kind of gallows humor that was in the show was a case of art imitating life, Paltrow continued. 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. Its been observed that much of American primetime TV has been about cops and the sex lives of doctors. 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 through fictional crossovers and spin-offs, resulting in a large fictional universe taking place entirely within Tommy's mind. For all the latest TV news, reviews, lists and features, follow. Elsewhere made guest appearances on another TV series, and characters from that series in turn appeared on other series. ), 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. 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. "St. (Quizzed by IndieWire in 2012 as to who exactly came up with the idea, neither Fontana nor co-writers Channing Gibson or John Tinker could remember. What is the Russian word for the color "teal"? The thing is, autism was - and still is - largely not understood what goes on in a person's brain. The theory is called the "The Tommy Westphall Universe" and hinges on a reveal at the finale of "St. It was all a dream! The first episode of a show has to hook viewers in for the long haul in a way totally unlike, say, the first pages of a novel. 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. would not look or feel the same without its influence and success. Elsewhere's characters appear in Tommy's dream doesn't mean they don't also exist in the show's actual reality, and thus the ending is being interpreted wrong, and by extension the universe theory is invalid. Copyright 2023 Meredith Corporation. Elsewhere., It was as far as they could go, he said. 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. 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. They needed a way to end the show It was a provocative ending. Birth! Elsewhere was an aberration. 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. World of his own. 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. It was a show that never did amazing in the ratings, but it held on because it was always pressing the boundaries of what was okay on TV, bringing up issues that werent even being discussed. Elsewhere to a trivial mention in Fontanas biography, if not for the curiosity of a playwright named Keith Gow. Though they remain philosophical about the loss of St. I felt one thing when I read it and one thing when I saw it. But for others, it was a stroke of inspiration. Elsewhere has fallen victim to economic pressures. ER and Chicago Hope wouldnt exist in the form they did without 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. As they leave the living room, Tommy's father places the snow globe upon a television set. Related: Crisis On Infinite Earths Solved DC Movies' Continuity Problem. 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. In another episode, St. Eligius traveled 50 years into the past. Much of the humor between characters is gallows humor. Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. Elsewhere" finale was the first big "it was all just a dream" finale, ending with the revelation that St. Eligius hospital and its staff were all the creations of 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. Elsewhere. As Gow told HuffPost, "St. St. Via Wikipedia: The most common interpretation of this scene is that the entire series of events in the series St. Elsewhere was the designated comic relief for the first few episodes. Share. Elsewhere signed off after six seasons on May 25, 1988, more than a few viewers were saddened. As Begley added wistfully, Its never over till its over--but I think in this case, its over .. Eligius. Can you still use Commanders Strike if the only attack available to forego is an attack against an ally? ", Grandfather: "He's been sitting there ever since you left this morning, just like he does every day. 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. WebSt. One prominent critic, Professor Brian Weatherson, argues that just because St. What world is Tommy imagining inside that snow globe, he wonders aloud. 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. I was only supposed to be in 18 of the 22 episodes, so I got an extra episodes pay out of it. The series is (implied to be) a figment of Tommy Westphall's imagination, existing in the snowglobe that he is focused on. Even if that's true though, thinking about it remains an amusing diversion. You can make up your own line what it means. One prominent critic, Professor Brian Weatherson, argues that just because St. The whole circus is overseen by Dr. Donald Westphall (Ed Flanders), with Dr. Daniel Auschlander (Norman Lloyd) and Dr. Mark Craig (Daniels) rounding out the experienced older set of doctors helping the residents learn the ropes. 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. 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. Elsewhere,' It's Goodbye (or Is It?) Elsewhere" universe with other shows, then those shows with other shows, has created an elaborate web of American television. It was this wonderful, crumbly, noble, decadent building that housed this incredible heart. Elsewhere. . St. Elsewhere production team are at work on Tattingers, a new NBC series from MTM slated for St. Ambiguous cut to black! That kind of anguish you just cant transmit. [1] As characters from St. And what about the real people who have appeared on the included shows, like Alex Trebek on Cheers? The streamlining kind of took away its energy.. How was your day up on the building? To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. "The discussion began on alt.tv.homicide, a newsgroup that discussed Homicide: Life on the Street," Gow tells Mental Floss. ", This means cartoons and late-night shows are notably excluded, but it gets far more specific than that. 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.

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