Medical TV Show Review: St. Elsewhere
Medical TV Show Review: St. Elsewhere
St. Elsewhere: I have to admit that I watched some episodes of St. Elsewhere recently because I love William Daniels – he’s 93 as of 2020. This was where he established the gruff/mean surgeon archetype that every single medical show has tried since then. ER, Grey’s Anatomy, Chicago Hope, everyone has a mean cardiothoracic surgeon.
Date/Seasons: 1982-1988, 6 seasons, 137 episodes
Main cast: William Daniels, Denzel Washington, Howie Mandell, Mark Harmon pre CSI played a doctor too!
Premise: The granddaddy of all medical dramas, the doctors of St. Elsewhere are fighting the good fight in their crumbling Boston hospital . . . unless it was all an imaginary event in a snow globe. Not joking.
Pros: William Daniels (aka John Adams aka Mr. Feeny) sold the role of gruff surgeon that has been copied in EVERY SINGLE MEDICAL DRAMA, and it was the star making role of a previously unknown Denzel Washington. It even had ‘Black Lives Matter’ discussions 40 years ahead of it’s time. All medical dramas after this have followed the mold of St.Elsewhere. From the doctors going the extra mile for their patients to operating on your own parent/child/brother/cat, everyone wanted to be St. Elsewhere. BTW, did you see the last few beats when William Daniels walks down the hall in the intro? OMG!
Cons: There are pretty much no female roles worth discussing. The women were busy being murdered/raped/bizarre storylined. I didn’t even bother to refer to them in main cast because they were so colorless and were constantly replaced. It was the 1980 so it isn’t that big of a surprise. It doesn’t age well though.
Overall Impression: A fun visit to the 1980s. Listen to the theme on repeat.
OMG, How did I miss that Denzil Washington was in this show? I was very young when this started and I only began to watch it towards the end of it’s run. I do remember Mark Harmon from repeats that were shown.
Great show
[…] odd – like the Good Doctor where Dr. Sean Murphy has Autism to evil crazy rapist on St. Elsewhere Dr. Peter White or the DeLuca family actively having a bipolar meltdown on Grey’s Anatomy. It […]