As far as medical dramas go, St. Elsewhere ranks among the memorable and dramatic, with its twisted story arcs and plot lines often ranking it up there with soap opera drama. Gathering its fans from the Hill Street Blues following, St. Elsewhere would go on to influence a number of future medical dramas, like Chicago Hope and ER.  For six years St. Elsewhere aired on NBC. It contained a cast of memorable faces like Howie Mandel, Ed Bagley Jr., Mark Harmon and Denzel Washington, just to name a few.

Centered around a Boston teaching hospital called St. Eligius, the hospital was nicknamed St.

Elsewhere on account of its servicing patients that weren’t wanted “elsewhere,” a joke that despite the series’ dramatic nature, often wound its way into the lives of the staff and students working the hospital. Blending drama and reality with a healthy prescription of comedy, St. Elsewhere touched on a variety of issues that set it apart from the other shows on television during the 1980s. Not only was the show famous for killing at least five of its primary characters during its six year run, it also explored the nudity taboo and became the first prime time drama to feature a patient with AIDS.

One of the most lasting, yet controversial episodes of the series, however, was its final episode, which to this day remains a discussion piece among fans and viewers. Veering away from its traditional format, the final episode of St. Elsewhere, which drew in more than 22 million viewers, took a turn toward the unique and introspective. It has often been interpreted to suggest that the lives and activities that endured throughout the series were nothing more than the vivid imagination of an autistic boy named Tommy Westphall. This interpretation led to an ongoing fan conspiracy about the number of other series that only existed in the boy’s imagination due to the appearance of St. Elsewhere staff and characters on other TV shows.

Despite the fact that six seasons of St. Elsewhere exist, and that they have been in re-run land on a number of stations, including Bravo and TV Land, throughout the years, only season one of the series has been formatted for DVD release. There is news that the entire series is slated for DVD release sometime in 2009, but for now fans who want to relive the St. Elsewhere experience can find it currently running Monday through Thursday evenings on the American Life Network.