Sitcoms Online Message Boards - Forums - St. Elsewhere https://sitcomsonline.com/boards/ en Mon, 13 Jul 2026 16:47:54 GMT vBulletin 60 https://sitcomsonline.com/boards/images/misc/rss.jpg Sitcoms Online Message Boards - Forums - St. Elsewhere https://sitcomsonline.com/boards/ Was St. Elsewhere originally based on an idea by Howie Mandel? https://sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=513525&goto=newpost Thu, 11 Jun 2026 07:55:39 GMT Today my dad told me that the idea for St. Elsewhere came from Howie Mandel and me and Dad want to know if the story for the idea of St. Elsewhere was true? Another story Dad told me about St.... Today my dad told me that the idea for St. Elsewhere came from Howie Mandel and me and Dad want to know if the story for the idea of St. Elsewhere was true? Another story Dad told me about St. Elsewhere was that it was actually based on a real story and the characters were based on the actual real doctors and nurses and surgeons that worked in the actual Boston hospital where the fictional St. Elgus Hospital was used for St. Elsewhere. My dad is full of interesting facts about TV shows and I never knew this about St. Elsewhere ]]> St. Elsewhere Hawkee https://sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=513525 <![CDATA[TV Stars Who Didn't Like How Their Show Ended: Bonnie Bartlett]]> https://sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=513440&goto=newpost Wed, 10 Jun 2026 05:18:17 GMT The acclaimed ‘80s drama "St. Elsewhere", which ran for six seasons from 1982 through 1988, helped define the medical drama for television and launched a little star by the name of Denzel Washington.

It also has a controversial ending.




The show concludes by revealing the whole show was the daydream of Tommy, the autistic son of Dr. Donald Westphall (Ed Flanders). In reality, Westphall was a construction worker, and Tommy had been imagining the events of the show while staring at a snow globe with a tiny model of St. Eligius Hospital inside it.

In a cast reunion for Entertainment Weekly in 2012, star William Daniels said, “I think a lot of the cast didn't care for [the finale] at all."




Bonnie Bartlett, who played Ellen Craig, didn't mince words. “[The writers] wanted to do an ending to the show in a way so that it could never be brought back again. They really wanted to kill the show,” she said.

“And they figured out a way: Okay, we won't have any reunions, nothing like that. And I was very upset. I thought it was terrible. A terrible ending!”

https://ew.com/actors-unhappy-with-t...-hall-11993877 ]]> St. Elsewhere JamesG https://sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=513440