History Series / StElsewhere

** In "The Boom Boom Womb", a deeply religious, fanatical pro-lifer delivers a package containing a bomb to the Boston's Women Clinic, an abortion clinic where Dr. Chandler is performing community service. As soon as the bomber leaves, it explodes, killing the clinic's administrator Dr. Francine Kennedy and injuring several other people. Chandler is physically unharmed but is traumatized by the experience. The bomber later plants another bomb in St. Eligius and calls Dr. Auschlander with a bomb threat demanding that the hospital cease all abortions. Although the police are able to locate the bomb, the bomber plants yet another in a cleaning cart later that afternoon. The next day, the bomb detonates in the vicinity of the hospital gift shop. Chandler is badly injured but survives. Ehrlich has a near miss as he left the gift shop moments before the explosion. The bomber turns himself in at Chandler's bedside so that his arrest will shed light on the issue of abortion.

* DrJerk: Dr. Craig, and to a lesser extent Dr. Ehrlich.

* DrJerk: Dr. Craig and Dr. Ehrlich.

* AndStarring: William Daniels gets an "and starring as Dr. Mark Craig" credit in the open. Averted, however, during the final season, in which he's given top billing following the departure of Ed Flanders.

** Norman Lloyd (Dr. Daniel Auschlander), Ellen Bry (Nurse Shirley Daniels), Eric Laneuville (Luther Hawkins) and Kim Miyori (Dr. Wendy Armstrong) in Season Two. They were all major recurring cast members in Season One.

* CrossOver: The show had connections with a number of other shows and had minor crossovers with others...including ''Series/{{Cheers}}'', of all things. In 1998, Creator/AlfreWoodard reprised her role as Dr. Roxanne Turner in the ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'' episode "Mercy". In 2000, Ed Begley, Jr. reprised his role as Victor Ehrlich in a cameo appearance in ''Homicide: The Movie'', though he is not named. Private contractor Weigert was also prominently featured in several storylines in ''Series/{{Oz}}'', having taken over the prison's medical ward following a deal with the Governor.

* MatzoFever: Helen Rosenthal has a case of this, admitting that she is "fatally attracted to Jewish men."

* SerialSpouse: Helen Rosenthal has been married four times, [[MatzoFever each time to a Jewish man]]. All four marriages end in divorce.

* MurphysBed: Mrs. Hufnagel is discovered trapped in her bed like this in a Season 3 episode "Murder, She Rote". For the most part it's treated seriously, but there's also some degree of comedy, as Luther, who discovers her, doesn't take it seriously until he notices she's not responding, and two of the first three doctors he tells about it can't help but chuckle. [[spoiler:It's also played with in that, while the bear-trap bed certainly didn't help things, that wasn't what actually did her in.]]

* DownerEnding: The finale's reveal that it was AllJustADream, although that evidently wasn't enough since the credits ''make it worse'' by '''[[spoiler:killing Mimsie, the kitten mascot]]'''. [[labelnote:Spoiler note]]To be fair, they just used a photo of a different (not dead) cat lying on its side. Mimsie [[FunnyAneurysmMoment did die later that year, though.]][[/labelnote]]

''St. Elsewhere'' is a MedicalDrama series created by Joshua Brand and John Falsey that aired on Creator/{{NBC}} from [[TheEighties 1982 to 1988]]. The series revolved around the staff, and to a lesser extent the patients, in the rundown Boston teaching hospital St. Eligius (sardonically nicknamed "St. Elsewhere"). The ensemble cast of these characters was led by Creator/WilliamDaniels, Ed Flanders and Creator/NormanLloyd, and also included early prominent roles from actors such as Creator/DenzelWashington and Creator/HowieMandel.

''St. Elsewhere'' is a MedicalDrama series created by Joshua Brand and John Falsey that aired on Creator/{{NBC}} from [[TheEighties 1982 to 1988]]. The series revolved around the staff, and to a lesser extent the patients, in the rundown Boston teaching hospital St. Eligius (sardonically nicknamed "St. Elsewhere"). The ensemble cast of these characters was led by Creator/WilliamDaniels, Ed Flanders and Creator/NormanLloyd, and also included early prominent roles from actors such as Creator/DenzelWashington and Creaotr/HowieMandel.

Airing on Creator/{{NBC}} from [[TheEighties 1982 to 1988]], ''St. Elsewhere'' was the first prime-time MedicalDrama series in almost a decade to use {{continuity}} for CharacterDevelopment. It would be a model for many shows that followed it, including ''Series/{{ER}}''.

It was all about the staff, and to a lesser extent the patients, in the rundown Boston teaching hospital St. Eligius (sardonically nicknamed "St. Elsewhere"). The show was {{Soap Opera}}tic at times, with frequent doses of BlackComedy, and had numerous {{Very Special Episode}}s. It ran for six seasons, appeared to have strong {{continuity}} for the most part, was written well enough for the most part that people got attached to the characters, had crossed over with numerous other network properties (most notably sister series ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'') and it was both popular and critically acclaimed while it was running. It was truly Must-See TV.

...Well, until the controversial GrandFinale. At the end, as the camera zoomed out to show snow falling on St. Eligius, America discovered the horrible truth about the events they had witnessed over the past six years: the camera continues to pan out, showing that the hospital is actually just a model of a hospital in a snowglobe. The events of the past six years (and hundreds of other shows, if you include the web of crossovers that this show famously sits within) are all just the imaginative daydreams of the [[HollywoodAutism autistic]] Tommy Westphall, based on his favourite snowglobe. This final scene continues to be debated to this day, thanks mostly to the proliferation of crossovers that both ''Elsewhere'' and ''Homicide'' enjoyed.

Creator/WilliamDaniels starred as Dr. Mark Craig. Creator/DavidMorse played Dr. Jack Morrison. A young Creator/DenzelWashington had one of his first big roles as Dr. Phillip Chandler.

* OutOfGenreExperience: In the episode "Cheers", the scene set at, well, ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' is scripted and acted out as if it were a scene from ''Cheers'', complete with Carla, Norm, and Cliff all making appearances and interacting with the mains exactly as you would expect them to on that show. The only thing missing is the live studio audience, which is jarring since there are still punchlines that nobody laughs at.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Especially in the first couple of seasons.

* AbsenteeActor: Dr. Chandler goes to training in Missouri shortly after being promoted to Chief Resident to accommodate Creator/DenzelWashington's movie work.

* DeliberatelyMonochrome: In "Sweet Dreams", Ehrlich's dream about being on an island of [[AmazonianBeauty Amazon women]] is shown in black and white as it is an AffectionateParody of adventure films of the 1930s to the 1950s.

It was all about the staff, and to a lesser extent the patients, in the rundown Boston teaching hospital St. Eligius (sardonically nicknamed "St. Elsewhere"). The show was {{Soap Opera}}tic at times, with frequent doses of BlackComedy, and had numerous {{Very Special Episode}}s. It ran for six seasons, appeared to have strong {{continuity}} for the most part, was written well enough for the most part that people got attached to the characters, had crossed over with numerous other network properties (most notably sister series ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'' and ''''Series/{{Cheers}}'''' of all shows) and it was both popular and critically acclaimed while it was running. It was truly Must-See TV.

* AmazonianBeauty: In "Sweet Dreams", Ehrlich has an EroticDream in which he is washed up on an [[LadyLand island inhabited by beautiful Amazon women]]. As punishment for trespassing, the Amazonian high priestess sentences him to death [[OutWithABang by having sex with every woman on the island before sundown]]. Unfortunately for Ehrlich, Craig wakes him up before the priestess can have her way with him.

* RacistGrandma: Dr. Craig often says racist and bigoted things to others - seemingly oblivious to how much it offends or hurts them. It isn’t until [[spoiler:Luther angrily calls him out on it]] that he seems to display any regret about it.

** Dr. Craig’s Cushing Left Anterior Descending Artery Award for Surgeon of the Year, and it’s propensity to needing to be replaced after it meets an unfortunate accident.

* CriticalResearchFailure: While the series was pretty thorough in researching medicine, procedures, conditions, diseases, etc., it played fast and loose with how hospitals worked, specifically in regards to the residency program. For one thing, in the first two seasons the main residents are repeatedly referred to as "First Year Residents" and by no other title. Later, in the episode "Time Heals, Part I", Craig speaks of his "Internship" under Dr. David Domedian and is seemingly offended when the journalist he's talking to calls it a "Residency", almost as if an "Intern" is something better than being a mere "Resident", not to mention Domedian refers to "all these years you've been an intern under me"...an Intern is just another name for "First Year Resident". There is a slight difference; in your first year you are not allowed to administer treatment or give an official diagnosis without say-so from a senior physician, and other restrictions that gradually get removed with each year of residency. Craig would not have spent "years" as an Intern under Domedian, and there's no reason he should have gotten offended over being called a Resident. Finally there is the fact that most Internal Medicine and Emergency Medicine residencies are four years long, not three, as portrayed on this show, which wanted to end on the emotional note of having the residents move on to bigger things, but had only portrayed them as having completed three years. One area of accuracy is that surgical residencies are longer, which is shown by Wade lamenting that she will not be moving on with them...but for some reason, Ehrlich will be.