Allusions, crossovers, and homages
St. Elsewhere was known for the insertion of several allusions both large and small to classic movies, pop culture, and television events (the latter especially) throughout its run, including other shows that were produced by MTM Enterprises. Some of the more noteworthy allusions have included:
The St. Eligius public address loudspeakers periodically summoned characters from other television series, often going unnoticed by the show's characters.
The character of hospital orderly Warren Coolidge (played by Byron Stewart) was carried over from The White Shadow, where Coolidge had been a student at Carver High. (Before St. Elsewhere, Bruce Paltrow served as Shadow's showrunner.) Coolidge occasionally sported a Carver High T-shirt while working at St. Eligius. In third-season episode "Any Portrait in a Storm", Coolidge sees guest star Timothy Van Patten (another Shadow alumnus) in an elevator and calls out "Hey! Salami!," to which Van Patten, playing an unrelated character (named Dean, in a three episode story arc), replies "You got the wrong guy, pal," leaving Coolidge trying to plead his case with a confused "No – it's Warren," as the elevator doors close.
In the third season episode "Saving Face", in which a character has the same condition as the main character in The Elephant Man, Dr. Westphall mentions that he has a meeting with Tony Clifton, "modifying the phone system and rewiring the whole hospital". Tony Clifton was one of several characters created by Andy Kaufman in his stage act. Later in the same episode Dr. Axelrod brings a ham to Mrs. Hufnagel after her husband, a vaudeville comedian, dies from an aneurysm in front of him while telling him a joke in the previous episode "Bye, George". Mrs. Hufnagel ends up in the emergency room after eating the ham as it was too much for her gallbladder. In vaudeville a ham was a bad comic or one could kill by "hamming it up".
In the third season episode "Playing God, Part 2", the Craigs are in their bedroom and Mrs. Craig says she wants to see who is on The Merv Griffin Show. Dr. Craig says, "Probably some stupid comic." She turns on the TV and Howie Mandel, the actor/comedian who played Dr. Wayne Fiscus on the show, can be heard. Dr. Craig says, "What is he wearing, a hand?" (a reference to Mandel's routine that involved wearing a surgical glove on his head, or more likely his prop "handbag" which was shaped like a hand).
The third season episode "Sweet Dreams" features a recreation of the music video for the ZZ Top song "Legs". It features the Eliminator car, but the band was played by members of the cast.
The fourth season episode "Close Encounters" has numerous crossovers.
In the psychiatric ward, patients watch various MTM-produced shows on television – MTM (headed by Mary Tyler Moore and Grant Tinker) was the company that produced St. Elsewhere.
The patients briefly watch MTM's The White Shadow, produced by St. Elsewhere showrunner Bruce Paltrow. It is seen here as fictional, even though orderly Warren Coolidge is a carryover from The White Shadow (see above). (In the previous season, the bar from Cheers is seen as both fictional and part of the St. Elsewhere universe.)
The amnesiac patient John Doe #6, a recurring character played by Oliver Clark, while watching an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show on a hospital TV, believes himself to be that series' lead character Mary Richards. He then mistakes guest star Betty White, who had already appeared on the show in a straight role as a naval officer, for Sue Anne (the character White had played on that same show). She responds, "I'm afraid you've mistaken me for someone else."
John Doe #6 is verbally disparaged by another patient in the psychiatric ward — Elliott Carlin, the resident neurotic from The Bob Newhart Show played by Jack Riley. Carlin's treatment of Doe mirrored his behavior toward Oliver Clark's Bob Newhart Show character, Mr. Herd. Mr. Carlin subsequently appeared on an episode of Newhart, still uncured from the damage caused by "some quack in Chicago."
In "Santa Claus Is Dead", Dr. Craig mentions serving in Korea with his drinking buddy, B. J. Hunnicutt, implying that Dr. Hunnicutt was reassigned to another unit in Korea following the July 1953 deactivation of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital at the end of M*A*S*H's finale, "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen".
The crew filled the series finale, "The Last One", with an abundance of allusions and homages. The cold open has Dr. Fiscus saying to an ER patient "General Sarnoff..." (the man responsible for launching NBC, the first television network, in 1926) "... cut down the time you spend in front of the television". There is a direct reference to the 1967 series finale of The Fugitive, when orderly Coolidge catches a "One-Armed Man", on a water tower, for "Dr. Kimble". A patient appears to get his hair cut by (The Andy Griffith Show's) Floyd the Barber, including his first name, face and clothing. There is a call over the public address system for a Code Blue (someone has reached their "end") in Room 222. There is a direct reference to the 1977 series finale of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, including a group hug, a group shuffle to get tissues and a suggestion that they sing "It's a Long Way to Tipperary". The finale for the character Dr. Henry Blake in a 1975 episode of M*A*S*H is referred to when cadaver "4077" is autopsied after a "helicopter crash". There are numerous song references, including Dr. Fiscus saying "It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine", and Dr. Auschlander exclaiming "Jumpin' Jack, what was that flash?"
St. Elsewhere was also host to one crossover, served as the source material for two others, and has been paid homage to in several ways:
The third season's finale featured Drs. Westphall, Auschlander, and Craig visiting the eponymous pub of Cheers (also set in Boston) for a drink. During the second season of Cheers, barmaid Carla Tortelli (Rhea Perlman) gave birth to a child at St. Eligius, and here expresses her displeasure about her hospitalization there, even getting into a verbal altercation with Dr. Craig.
Two St. Elsewhere characters were carried over to the NBC series Homicide: Life on the Street, which was executive produced by St. Elsewhere alumnus Tom Fontana. In an episode in season six entitled "Mercy", Alfre Woodard reprises her role of Dr. Roxanne Turner, who is accused of illegally euthanizing a cancer patient. Woodard was nominated for an Emmy Award as Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her performance. In other Homicide episodes, the character of Detective Tim Bayliss (played by Kyle Secor) develops a bad back and is treated by an offscreen "Dr. Ehrlich". In the Homicide: The Movie finale, Ed Begley Jr., makes an uncredited appearance as Dr. Victor Ehrlich.
Ed Begley Jr., William Daniels, Stephen Furst, and Eric Laneuville reunited to appear in a season-one episode of Scrubs where the actors, rather than reprising their St. Elsewhere roles, play a quartet of doctors that fall sick at a medical convention. The episode was part of a week-long series of events honoring NBC's 75th Anniversary.
Episode 7 ("There Are No F**king Sides") of Season 1 of Showtime's series City on a Hill (based in early 1990s Boston) includes an establishing shot of the exterior of St. Eligius, along with hospital scenes in which Dr. Morrison is referenced by a character, and in which Drs. Axelrod, Wade, Westphall, and Fiscus and Nurse Papandreau are paged in the background on the hospital's PA system. In S01E08, St. Eligius was mentioned by name.
In Oz, the company Weigert (which played a major role in St. Elsewhere's final season) takes over the prison's medical ward after the company makes a deal with Governor Devlin in Season 3. During the final season, nurse and angel of mercy serial killer is mentioned as having been fired from numerous hospitals prior to joining Oz's medical staff, including St. Elsewhere.
In the 2023 Rock N Roll Biographies comic book on King Diamond from Ten Ton Press, the ending is a direct homage to the final episode which writer Spike Steffenhagen has called "The greatest ending to any television show." The final panel features a couple looking at their two black cats (who have appeared as giants throughout the story) staring into a snow globe with a haunted house in it.
