If you watched NBC during the 80s, you would think they invented quality TV shows. Forget that CBS, in the early 70s, offered perhaps the best ever evening of programming every Saturday night. Nope, NBC was the alleged trailblazer, despite the fact that they had also unleashed such visual trash cans as "Hello, Larry," "Supertrain," and "BJ and the Bear" onto the unsuspected public.
NBC parlayed a couple of really well done shows into a huge marketing campaign. "Must See TV." If you weren't watching, you were marked as a heathen, a leper, and perhaps something far worse. You had to pay attention if, for nothing else, you wanted to hold your own at the office coffee wagon the following morning.
Now, I was not a complete buyer when it came to "Must See TV" on NBC. I enjoyed "Cheers"... when I caught up to it, which was not regularly. I liked "Family Ties" ... during its first two seasons before they turned every single character into a joke-wielding punching bag. I never got into "The Cosby Show." Or "Hill Street Blues" and "LA Law" which happened to air against another program which will turn up on my list very, very soon. Essentially, I was not the ideal invite for dinner at then NBC President Brandon Tartikoff's house.
Except for "St. Elsewhere." That was must-see television for me. Must-see, must-relish, must-watch-over-and-over-and-over.
Eons before "ER" hit primetime, "St. Elsewhere" became the quintessential medical drama. It had never been done before and will probably never be done like this again. Forget about "Gray's Anatomy." For a hospital show, "St. Elsewhere" placed the bar so high that even the youngest of the Chinese Olympic gymnasts could surmount it.
"St. Elsewhere" was about life. Its ups, its downs, its laughter, its tears. In any given episode, you would have some of all of the above. With a tone and a cache of regular characters and actors that was pitch perfect. And, just as in real life, everyone was just a little bit flawed. Or a lot flawed. But, who really isn't?
"St. Elsewhere" tackled a lot of issues long before anybody else on TV tried. AIDS, Epstein-Barre, autism, health insurance, senior citizen neglect. I learned first about all of them on "St. Elsewhere." And they did it in such a fashion that was not hit-you-over-the-head-with-our-message. You got the point and frequently both sides of an argument. It was way too smart for most folks' living rooms, but this was pure entertainment that was educational.
And funny.
The humor on "St. Elsewhere" was perhaps the most clever in TV history. Because the producers were not afraid of making inside jokes. Gags that might have gone over the heads of three-quarters of the audience. But, the other 25 percent were rolling on the floor. There was one episode which made one reference after another to MTM Enterprises, which produced the show. Biting the hand that fed them, the writers concocted one male character in the psyche ward who actually thought he was Mary Richards from the "Mary Tyler Moore" show. Of course, right alongside him in the padded room was one Elliot Carlin, the lovable loser and former patient of Dr. Bob Hartley from the "Bob Newhart Show." When "Mary" is walking down the hospital corridor wearing the famed beret that MTM threw in the air during the opening credits, he runs into Betty White who has a guest shot as a visiting White House doctor. "Mary" naturally mistakes White's character for Happy Homemaker Sue Ann Nivens which she played previously on the MTM show. This is sheer brilliance. One of the true Gospels of TV writing.
No discussion of "St. Elsewhere" is complete without citing two of the actors, one a regular and another a recurring character for just one season. But, both were absolutely spot-on portrayals of people who would be the most memorable roles in TV history.
William Daniels as bombastic and arrogant surgeon Dr. Mark Craig is probably one of the greatest acting jobs on any TV series. Craig could be one of the nastiest, most racist, and politically incorrect people around. But, even with those
extremes, Daniels colored enough of his acting choices to make this a truly likeable character. You waited with bated breath every week for his first appearance and/or tirade. Talking to an Indian assisting his surgery, "I'm still wondering where you were when Gandhi was shot." To a new woman doctor who is disputing his diagnosis on a patient, "Oh, why don't you go home and do the wash?" To a Black orderly, "You people need to get your heads away from the boom boxes and start to do some work in this country." To an Asian female surgeon, "I'll bounce you out of here so fast your kimono will spin." Yet, you loved the guy. Daniels won a passel of Emmys for his work here and he still didn't win enough as far as I was concerned.
Grizzled actress Florence Halop kicked around Hollywood for years. I think she was a sister to one of the Dead End Kids. But, nothing she did previously (or for the year or so she lived
after her one season) would top her performance as the ultra-cranky patient Mrs. Hufnagel. In a storyline that ran for one year only, Mrs. Hufnagel was used by the writers as a means to show how the medical system tends to neglect and misdiagnose senior citizens. Because she is prickly and gnarly, it's easy for the doctors to dismiss her. She keeps getting admitted and re-admitted to the hospital because nobody wants to deal with her. Each week, she manages to piss off one of the characters until even the head of the hospital, Dr. Westphall as played by Ed Flanders, doesn't want to deal with her. She ultimately dies as a result of a poorly done surgery, but the previous season-long journey offers Halop with a wonderful legacy and end to her long career as a character actress. She is crabby, disrespectful, funny, racist, and touching all at once. Florence Halop didn't even get a sniff of an Emmy that year and she should have. I just watched this whole season all over again on the American Life TV network and I was moved one more time. Marvelous!
"St. Elsewhere" lasted six seasons but really only caught on with the smart people in the TV audience. Nevertheless, its very existence is pure validation that truly brilliant television can be created. Even when characters would leave the show, they did so in unique ways. Take a look at how Dr. Westphall departs, having been replaced by a huge medical conglomerate.
And while we're thinking about "the end," much has been made of "St. Elsewhere's" rather bizarre closing episode. Indeed, they fashioned the entire season as being the illusions of Westphall's young autistic son. Was it a little too over the top? Perhaps.
But my real issue is not how "St. Elsewhere" ended. It's that it ended at all. A loss for all of us. Just like in real life every single day.
Dinner last night: Chicken Tenders at the Arclight.
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