“Previously on St. Elsewhere”: A Tribute to one of tv’s most pioneering dramas.
Some of you may have heard of this show. Hopefully some of you have watched this show, though many of you may not have. Either way St. Elsewhere was and still is one of the most important television dramas ever made and certainly a pioneer medical drama. Like Hill Street Blues with all modern cop shows, without St. Elsewhere there’d be no ER, no Chicago Hope, no Scrubs, no Grey’s Anatomy, no Private Practice, no House MD, no Scrubs, and no The Good Doctor. It is the father of all modern medical shows.
Of course it wasn’t the first medical show ever made. There was Ben Casey, Dr. Killdare, Marcus Welby, MD etc. but St. Elsewhere was certainly the first of its kind and helped redefine the television medical drama. It was part medical drama, part wild satirical comedy, part character piece. It wore many hats and wore them well. The show garnered 13 emmys and a lot of critical acclaim during its 1982–1988 run. Allow me to show you why this show is still such a gem after all these years even if it’s often overlooked.
The Theme Song: