Simply the Best

buckwater

Whenever the topic of "good television" comes up, inevitably someone brings up "St. Elsewhere." And it's usually me. After all these years I still miss it. It's among the only shows I have ever felt that way about--"Six Feet Under" and "Northern Exposure" being the only other two that I place in that category. ("The Sopranos" will be there all too soon, I fear.) It has never been replayed in this market, yet I still recall the juxtaposition of comedy and drama, and what an intriguing new idea that was at the time. Howie Mandel sings "Psycho Killer" one minute and Mark Harmon worries about accidental AIDS exposure the next. The casting was incredible...I particularly remember a very young Denzel Washington, but everybody was wonderful: Ed Flanders, Ed Begley , Jr. as Erlich, and William ("You're a Pig, Erlich!")Daniels. "St. Elsewhere" was the progenitor of "ER", and David Morse as Boomer Morrison was the progenitor of Anthony Edwards as Dr. Mark Greene. Let others play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon; when I watch television or film I consistently watch for actors who were in or worked on "St. Elsewhere," among the finest television ever created (Joshua Brand and John Falsey)and produced (Bruce Paltrow).

score 10/10

buckwater 9 August 2006

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1443874/