A cuore aperto

After watching St. Elsewhere on Bravo, I realized that it is truly a superior show even now. It took chances that nobody else is willing to take. It is even more multi-ethnic than most dramas today. It makes ER and other medical shows look like they written by first graders. Even after all these years, St. Elsewhere has aged like fine wine. It is fresher now than ever before. Too bad, it struggled in its day. What a shame. It is truly one of the finest dramas on television today even in syndication. ER could learn a lot from watching St. Elsewhere. Too bad, ER's stars are ruining their own show. Maybe if William Daniels joined the cast, I would start watching it again. St. Elsewhere is one of the finest hours on television. Even now, it will blow you away. I miss the chemistry among it's characters and it's controversial but yet compassionate way of handling some situations. I still think Christina Pickles should be recognized with an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) because it would boost the show's genius and brilliance all around the world. I dislike the fact that she will be more remembered for her role as Ross and Monica's mother on Friends than her days on St. Elsewhere as Nurse Rosenthal, a British woman with a love for Jewish men. Anyway, it was a show that just gets better in time. It's classic television and every medical show should watch and take notes.

There is much to be said about St Elsewhere and its immense importance in defining the modern Television drama. The series set the formula for how future medical dramas would be produced. Physicians were not perfect individuals, and patients died. Doctors and nurses were "real people", and they, as did the patients, cope with day to day life inside and outside the confines of St Eligious hospital.

St Elswehere would bring the viewer into a drama filled hospital, where both doctors and patients interacted. The writers while giving us a look into the lives of both the Physician and patient, mercifully avoided a soap opera like atmosphere. They were instead disciplined in the intercourse between doctor and patient, and everything in between. They explored issues that TV had previously considered taboo, and handled those subjects in a mature, responsible manner, while never disregarding the intellect of the audience, and their ability to hold attention to dialogue.

Comparatively St Elsewhere moved on a slower pace than it's modern counterpart, "ER". The writers gave you scenes and story-lines that would cause the viewer to slow down and think, and avoided fast paced vacuous imagery and verbiage. Rarely did their ER blow-up, or the hospital fall victim to a helicopter crash. While there were expeditious Emergency Room exhibits in the St Elsewhere series, they did not bounce back and forth the camera like a ping-pong in an attempt to keep us amused. Instead, they focused on dialogue, the characters, and most imortant the plot.

Its drama along with real and diverse characters, will ensure its place in history, as one of televisions best series. St. Elsewhere is a prime example of how big ratings mean very little in defining a shows value or place in Televisions hierarchy.

This series concerned St. Eligius, a hospital in a less fashionable section of Boston, and the day-to-day lives of its staff and patients. The institution had acquired its unfortunate nickname from statements made by doctors at other institutions to the effect that, if patients could not afford treatment in a respectable hospital, they would have to go to "St. Elsewhere." Nevertheless, St. Eligius consistently showed itself to be a place full of concerned and highly skilled medical personnel.

The central character was Donald Westphall, the chief of medicine and also the one in charge of the new residents who came in every year (St. Eligius was, among other things, a noted teaching hospital). He was depicted primarily as a caring, understanding, and reserved (even repressed) individual, but he could also be seen slugging it out occasionally with the administration, his residents, and even his colleagues if the situation required it

The other two "old-timers" who were present throughout the run of the series were Daniel Auschlander, the chief of services, who had already been diagnosed with cancer in the first episode but wouldn't seem to die (though he certainly talked about dying enough) and Mark Craig, the brilliant and extremely pompous heart surgeon who always said exactly what was on his mind to everyone, regardless of the reaction it got. Craig`s favorite target by far was young Victor Ehrlich, a tall, blonde California surfer dude who also happened to be a skilled surgeon. Ehrlich, though, was content to good-naturedly absorb the barrage of insults as best he could and go on learning from the master. (Ehrlich, unfortunately, was only slightly more adept than his mentor in interpersonal relations, and his conversations with other residents frequently ended with them telling him, "You're a pig, Ehrlich," and walking off.)

Other main characters in the sizeable cast included people every part of the hospital, from the residents to the regulars at the nurse's stations to people in custodial services to patients to administrators. As in real life, doctors came and went every couple of years, with some making greater impact than others. Indeed, the "star" of the series, David Birney, was gone after a single season. (It should be noted that, though the bulk of the hospital staff consisted of men, there were also women in highly visible and well-thought out roles as well, or were at times anyway.)

"St. Elsewhere" was much more soap opera-like than "Hill Street Blues," and this effectively drew viewers in and kept them in year after year. In the last seasons, there were radical changes in plotline (the hospital was bought by a large corporation, which brought with it brand-new management styles), and the cast seemed to change more frequently. There were also more episodes that tried to stretch beyond the established formula of the series. One flashback episode, for example, showed the young resident Mark Craig sucking up to HIS mentor, which was a delight to watch. The final episode proved to be the most strange and surreal, and left most longtime viewers dumbfounded.

For me, the series was marred slightly by that fact that, as in previous series created by Bruce Paltrow ("Lou Grant" and "The White Shadow"), the producer's politics too often became an integral part of the series. In practically every episode, it seemed, there would be a conversation between a doctor and a patient`s relative in which the latter would inform the physician about the percentage of Americans affected by some unfair law, or the exact number of cases of such-and-such a societal problem that were reported in the previous four fiscal years. The intent was good; had it occurred less frequently, it would have been far less annoying.

When it appears in syndication, "St. Elsewhere" can easily become an addiction, even if you have seen episodes three or four times already. The writing was at a very high level, the characterizations were three-dimensional and complex, and the medical situations intriguing. One becomes very interested in how the characters deal with their problems, and what twists and turns their lives will take. There is sufficient comedy mixed in with the serious plots to allow the easing of your pain after serious conflicts have arisen, and there are even some inside TV jokes thrown in once in a while for those who can catch them. Yes, there is far too much melodrama sometimes, but even that can be fun.

("St. Elsewhere" is often mentioned in the same breath with "Hill Street Blues." They were both hour-long, big-cast dramas of the 1980s, both with several plots going on at the same time, both were made by the same production company, and both were part of the "revitalization" of NBC, which by the end of the decade was not at all the "joke" network it had been ten years before. "St. Elsewhere" and "Hill Street Blues" were fine programs, though "Hill Street" was easily the best drama of the decade.)

This is a wonderfully scripted, well-acted drama which takes place in the fictional Saint Eligius hospital in Boston. The ensemble cast is perfect, with stellar performances by William Daniels, Ed Flanders, and Norman Lloyd as the long-practicing doctors who hold the hospital together. The series follows the physicians, residents, and staff through their personal and professional lives, with just enough humor and pathos to keep it all interesting. Especially notable is the two-part episode dealing with the 50th anniversary of Saint Eligius. The flashback sequences really tie to the current stories, help fill in blanks and make you understand more fully certain characters' actions and quirks. I highly recommend this series. It is currently being shown on Bravo (cable network). Look for it!

There were very few shows that could provide stirring, insightful, sometimes disturbing drama week after week, but "St. Elsewhere" always did. A superlative cast made it entirely believable: Ed Flanders was terrific as Dr. Westphall, as was William Daniels as Dr. Craig. I still miss the insults that Craig threw at Dr. Ehrlich (Ed Begley, Jr.)

I found the show so believable that I wondered if there was a real St. Eligius Hospital in Boston. I think everyone should see it.