History Series / StElsewhere

'''Mrs. Hufnagel (on tape)''': You did too! Shut up, chubs.\\/

'''Mrs. Hufnagel (on tape)''': You did too! Shut up, chubs.\\

* GoneHorriblyRight: Dr. Craig's [[spoiler:artificial heart patient]] ended up feeling like a freak, with a side of WhatHaveIBecome.

* 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.

* BuryYourGays: Mostly subverted. While there are several storylines involving AIDS, nearly all are straight men or infants. There is only one notable storyline involving a gay patient with AIDS, but it is a story arc that lasts for much of season 6.

* BreakTheCutie: Poor [[spoiler:Cathy Martin]]. After being [[spoiler:raped twice and beaten by Peter White]], she is irrevocably broken. Lovable Dr. Morrison has a pretty tragic run of luck throughout the series as well; [[spoiler:his first wife dies, he nearly loses his job and his medical license, his son is kidnapped, he gets raped and severely beaten, and then his second wife moves away to be closer to her children from a previous marriage]].

* BreakTheCutie: Poor [[spoiler:Cathy Martin]]. After being [[spoiler:raped twice and beaten by Peter White]], she is irrevocably broken.

* ButtMonkey: Boomer Morrison's wife [[spoiler:dies tragically]], his toddler son disappears (but eventually is found), he gets raped during a prison riot by the husband of a former patient in an especially brutal CallBack to Season 1, and then later said rapist escapes prison, stalks Boomer, and finally takes him and his new wife and kids hostage, only to be saved when [[spoiler:Boomer's son, who's around six by now, shoots the rapist dead]].

* TragicAidsStory: St. Elsewhere was one of the first shows to feature AIDS-related storylines. In season 2, a straight patient is diagnosed with AIDS causing much fear to the hospital staff who are unsure how to handle the disease. In an unrelated incident, a straight major character gets AIDS and dies off-screen. A season 6 story arc involves a patient eventually dies of AIDS. A doctor has an AIDS scare. There are also several infants with AIDS.

* BuryYourGays: Mostly suberted. While there are several storylines involving AIDS, nearly all are straight men or infants. There is only one notable storyline involving a gay patient with AIDS, but it is a story arc that lasts for much of season 6.

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Drs. Ben Samuels, Hugh Beale and Annie Cavanero disappear without explanation.

* TokenMinorityCouple: Luther & Penny. Dr. Chandler & Roseanne Keaton. Dr. Chandler & Dr. Turner.

* RunningGag: Season 2 has every major character call Dr. Ehrlich a pig, including Ehrlich himself.

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 [[AllThereIsToKnowAboutTheCryingGame 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.

[[quoteright:282:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/st_elsewhere_dvd_cover_6430.jpg]]
Airing on Creator/{{NBC}} from [[TheEighties 1982 to 1988]], ''St. Elsewhere'' was the first prime-time MedicalDrama 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 about the staff, and to a lesser extent the patients, in the rundown Boston teaching hospital St. Eligius (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.

** In "Tears of a Clown", Dr. Craig and Dr. Westphall by a British real estate agent showing them an apartment. This leads to a SeparatedByACommonLanguage / GettingCrapPastTheRadar moment when she offers Westphall a cigarette by asking "fag?"

** In "Dr. Wyler, I Presume", Dr. Craig mentions his old Army buddy B.J. from UsefulNotes/TheKoreanWar, a reference to ''Series/{{MASH}}'' character Captain B.J. Hunnicutt. In "Close Encounters", Dr. Auschlander chooses Trapper John, a main character on ''M*A*S*H'' and later the protagonist of the dramatic spin-off ''Trapper John, M.D.'', as the fictional character whom he would most like to be. B.J. replaced Trapper John in ''M*A*S*H'' after Wayne Rogers' departure.

* 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". Similarly, in 2000, Ed Begley, Jr. reprised his role as Victor Ehrlich in a cameo appearance in ''Homicide: The Movie'', though he is not named.

** Similar to the above, "Rites of Passage" is largely told from the perspective of three boys sharing a room in the children's ward: Elvis, Ryan Deaton and Michael Skelton.