Any St. Elsewhere fans?

Ed Bagely Jr was best with cream cheese

I was completely obsessed with this show. I had the only TV in my fraternity and everyone was welcome to come over and watch whatever they wanted, except on Wednesday from 10 to 11.

So many great episodes, but some of the best included the dream study episode, the birth-life-death episode, the flashback episodes, and the AIDS episodes.

Hufnagel on a half shell!

One of the best shows on TV ever...

...until that incredibly stupid ending with the snow globe. In one minute they ruined years of excellence.

And Mark Harmon in his sexy prime. Though he's aged well NCIS is boring as f

[quote]I was also shocked when they had Kim Miyori (Dr. Wendy Armstrong's character) commit suicide.

Loved her line about constantly waiting for her life to start tomorrow.

St. Elsewhere was one of those "prestigious ", critically acclaimed dramas that won TONS of Emmys but at the end of the day was really just another 80s nighttime soap opera, ala Dallas and Dynasty

Of course it was NEVER referred to as one, oh no.

Hill Street Blues, Cagney and,Lacey, LA Law etc also fall into this categpry

Wonder why it’s not in syndication?

It used to be on WGN 20 years ago. I have VHS copies of most of my favorite episodes. I forgot to list one of those above...Fiscus in Heaven!

Poor r7.

They got some really filthy gay references past the censors at times. I remember one about that fat nurse's husband helping his workers "pack the fudge."

Ellen Bry barely worked again. didn't Cynthia Sikes quit because of a lesbian storyline?

I loved Alfre Woodard.

IIRC, there was an episode in a later season with Howie Mandel in bikini underwear getting it on with a chick when his mother (who may have been Lainie Kazan) burst in the door.

I did love the show...I was a kid when it was on too. And yes, the ending was so lame.

Lainie Kazan did play Fiscus' mother. There is a heart-breaking episode (were there any other kinds with this show) where she volunteered at St. Eligius until the suffering of the patients got too much for her.

Why is this show not on DVD!!!???

I received a signed cast photo from when I wrote a fan letter circa 1985. I’d kill to get the series on DVD.

Loved Dr Fishhandler.

I'm sure I watched this show, but I believe my memories of it have been eclipsed by E.R.

Loved this show, so many great characters and actors.

I wanted (and still want) Terrence Knox inside me.

It is a bit strange that it's so hard to find now considering Denzel Washington went on to become a huge star and it was a critical favourite.

I have the first season on DVD but it is another show that season one was issued but the rest wasn't. Maybe Shout could rectify that.

Wasn't Terrence Knox named as the hospital rapist and attacked and killed by one of the nurses, only to find out the rapist was actually someone else? Or was it another character?

Is it not available on DVD?

It was great, and different from the other shows on at the time. A lead character was a rapist, then killed by a victim then turned up in the heaven episode, Eve and her heart transplant, Bobby Caldwell getting cut in the face, then got AIDS, Boomber being raped, Mark Craigs kids dying, it rocked, still think of it often. And loved the end, it was so nutso and set up the whole 'Tommy Westphall Universe' theory

[quote]Why is this show not on DVD!!!???

No Brand-Falsey show except Northern Exposure is available on DVD. I'm still waiting for A Year in the Life and I'll Fly Away.

Some seasons seem to be on youtube

Loved this show when I was young. I wish it would go to Netflix or Amazon.

Does anyone know anyone who could get these two to release their shows on DVD, Netflix, Amazon, whatever?

someone call Gwyneth and get her to work on it

I'll bet Gwynnie would stop at St. Elsewhere, though, and do nothing for I'll Fly Away and A Year in the Life.

Fiscus. That's Jewish, isn't it?

r14

There is also an episode where Howie poses for some hunky doctor of the month photos in bikini underwear. Then he keeps getting calls at the hospital for dates.........from men.

had my first orgasm over that hot young doctor, well there were several.....GREAT SHOW

Remember the classic episode where a John Doe with amnesia thinks he's Mary Richards? And recognizes Betty White (playing a different character) as Sue Ann?

People scoff at the finale of the show, but over the years the show was consistent for top notch acting, directing, and writing. It really was quality television...which is why it would never work today.

Exactly, R35. The circumstances that made this show possible just don't exist anymore. Network TV is no longer willing to take risks on shows like this.

Between this and [italic]Hill Street Blues[/italic], MTM Productions really raised the bar for dramatic network TV. They thought lightning would strike three times when they created [italic]Bay City Blues[/italic], which applied the same principles to a baseball team, but it flopped.

Without Grant Tinker at the helm, they literally had no hit shows after this, [italic]Newhart[/italic], and [italic]Remington Steele[/italic]. It's sad that one of the all-time great independent TV producers ended up in the hands of the despicable Pat Robertson. Now it and the rest of their back catalog is owned by Disney, which scares me for different reasons.

Grant Tinker worked for Pat Robertson? Is that what you are saying r36?

No. Sorry I didn't word it more clearly. In 1988, the same year this show went off the air, MTM Productions was sold to an English company called TVX, who later sold it to International Family Entertainment, Robertson's company. It was they who let the music rights licenses lapse on this and other shows. That's why we got stuck with legendarily terrible music substitutions on [italic]WKRP in Cincinnati[/italic] reruns for almost 20 years until Shout! Factory bit the bullet and cleared as much as possible for DVD. I was hoping they'd come to this show's rescue before The Mouse ate it.

At least they didn't manage to lose all trace of it like they did with the last season of [italic]Lou Grant[/italic]. That actually disappeared from the Fox vaults despite having been in reruns on A&E or some such cable network during the IFE era, and Shout! had to resort to home recordings to even release it at all. The Hulu episodes are a mish-mosh of cut and uncut episodes, and they don't seem to be remastered.

Why haven’t the other seasons been released?

Fox pulled the same "poor sales" excuse they pulled on [italic]The Mary Tyler Moore Show[/italic]. It did not help matters that the cover made it look like [italic]The Denzel Washington Show[/italic] when his character was a supporting one at best and he wasn't the only black guy on the show by any means. Also, Mark Harmon, who got the lion's share of the publicity at the time and the coveted People Magazine "Sexiest Man Alive" designation (David Morse was my favorite), didn't join the cast until season 2. Season 1 had the thoroughly unattractive, marginally talented David Birney.

Wanting quiet in the OR, William Daniels said: "Let's all pretend we are in the Marcel Mersaux (spelling?) School of medicine."

Fucking brilliant piece of television

In the minority, I guess, but the ending was perfect to me. It reminded me of the shock of how Newhart ended, or the day the feisty attorney stepped into the elevator shaft on LA Law.

And it provided good fodder for crossover enthusiasts.

R44 The ending was amazing, seems only recently people started hating on it.

It worked because it was a commentary on both [italic]Dallas[/italic]' clumsy handling of Bobby Ewing's return and as a meditation on the inherently fictitious nature of TV.

I remember watching it but have few memories of any plotlines. Mrs Huffnagel’s death, crushed by her bed being one.

Norman Lloyd, at 104, is still alive!

R49 His career is amazing, he worked with legends

[quote]Marcel Mersaux (spelling?)

Marceau

I only started to watch it in the early '90s, when it was on Maryland Public Television.

I have just two words:

BARBARA.

THORNDYKE.

Two more words:

STAN

ZBORNAK

ER and Chicago Hope were the lame children of St Elsewhere.

r41=Meredith Baxter

R56 Nah David Birney felt wrong in the first season, Bobby Caldwell was an amazing character replacement

This is where I discovered Bruce Greenwood. Still one of my all time favorite actors. So underrated and still really good looking in old age.

Loved the flashback scenes with Edward Hermann as the priest who founded the hospital. He was such a good actor.

I hated Howie Mandel.

William Daniels who played the pompous head surgeon also did the voice of the car in Knight Rider and both shows aired in the same years, so that was a bit weird but otherwise he was a great actor in his role.

Early on in the show Mark Harmon had a LARGE mustache. Boy did he look good with that mustache.

Wasn’t he interrupted in shaving off the mustache & had half of it?

Not to mention the time Harmon's character accidentally zipped his tool in his fly and had to go to the ER

Not to mention the Mark Harmon character having his face slashed by a lunatic woman during a sex gone wrong scene . . .

There were quite a few ‘Mary Hartman’ alumni on the show. Begley. Louise Lasser played his aunt, Marian Mercer was the lovely heart transplant recipient, Dodie Goodman had a small cameo, as did Bruce Solomon.

I was born in 1982 the year it started, so missed it first time round and then about 4 years ago a channel here in the UK started showing 2 a day at like 4.30am so I recorded them. Looked forward to it more than any show that was currently running at the time. So well written and acted and I loved David Morse in it.

R67 Boomer was an amazing character, but shit, bad stuff always happened to him. That prison rape storyline was way ahead of its time.

Boomer’s wife’s death and his listening to her heart beat in the recipient was totally copied years later by General Hospital.

R69 Lots was stolen, but never as well executed

Mrs Hufnagel made my peen hard.

All the seasons of St. Elsewhere are now on Hulu.

I've been on a binge.

Fucking great show.

[quote] Mrs Hufnagel made my peen hard.

Didn't she die when she was trying to adjust her hospital bed, and she caused it to fold upon itself thus crushing her? I was a little kid when I saw that, and I couldn't stop laughing.

[quote]Didn't she die when she was trying to adjust her hospital bed, and she caused it to fold upon itself thus crushing her?

Yup! Just watched that episode.

My two favorite things from St. Elsewhere:

Left anterior descending artery award.

Bring me the head of Bill Belvedere.

r54 They were a couple in real life, too. When Herb Edelman died, Christina Pickles was listed in the obit as his "longtime companion."

Another example of smutty television writing passing for intelligence. I swear it seems like all those shows were written by a horny thirteen year old boy.

[quote] I swear it seems like all those shows were written by a horny thirteen year old boy.

You’re off by a few years:

R77 = Dr. Craig

I liked the episode where William Daniels (Dr. Craig) who played John Adams in 1776, went to Philadelphia and kept running into old colleagues who told him he "was obnoxious and disliked". IIRC, they got the same actors from 1776.

His scenes with Bonnie Bartlett were great, especially when their only son died.

[quote] His scenes with Bonnie Bartlett were great

They often argued about which places served a great breakfast and had free parking.

The only thing I cannot forgive them for is putting Judith Light AND Candace Cameron on as guest stars in season 1.

I'm amazed that everyone can remember the character names and storylines. I loved it back in the day and always associate the leads with it, but all the details are gone.

Norman Lloyd is still kicking at 105!

He did an interview with Deadline in July.

Great comment on a YT clip

"Beautiful theme music! But two things you will never see again on a tv show: 16(!) actors in the opening credits and actual opening credits with music!"

Loved this show so much. I lust after Mark Harmon a little bit to this day.

Such a great show! I was a kid too. Most of my favorite shows as a kid were for adults. Now, I watch an episode of Family and think Oh my stars! Abortion in the first episode and it just gets better and better.

It and "Hill Street Blues" were "water cooler shows" back in the day.