The ER of the '80s

bcolquho

St. Elsewhere was the ER of the '80s. Originally on Tuesday nights at ten, it moved to Wednesday nights at ten. Like ER, it was cutting edge. The series was about St. Elsewhere, (St. Eligieus, the

hospital's real name in the show. It was set at Boston City

Hospital, now Boston Medical Center.) There was an Indian doctor played by Kavi Raz. The name of the series, which like ER, was filmed in Boston and on a Hollywood sound stage, referred to a hospital of last resort. One where patients were dumped by the

then-newly emerging HMOs. The staff was compassionate. Bobby Caldwell, the plastic surgeon, had his face cut up by an insane girl who had razor blades in her mouth. AIDS was just emerging as a major public health crisis then. So when Mark Harmon left the

show after three years, the writers killed off his character by giving him AIDS. I used to watch it all the time back in the day.

score /10

bcolquho 2 October 2003

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0190541/