St. Eligius is a poor Boston teaching hospital often derided as St. Elsewhere. It refers to the perception that it's the elsewhere where unwanted patients and staff end up. Dr. Donald Westphall (Ed Flanders) is the kindly chief of medicine. Dr. Daniel Auschlander (Norman Lloyd) is the constantly dying chief of services. Dr. Mark Craig (William Daniels) is the pompous arrogant chief of surgery. The show starts with Dr. Victor Ehrlich (Ed Begley Jr.), jokey Dr. Wayne Fiscus (Howie Mandel), caring Dr. Jack Morrison (David Morse) and serious Dr. Philip Chandler (Denzel Washington) as residents. Helen Rosenthal (Christina Pickles) is the head nurse and Luther Hawkins (Eric Laneuville) is the always present orderly.
Medical dramas have been around since forever. There are medical mystery procedural, movies, and also soaps. St. Elsewhere serves as an important transition into darker and more realistic TV hospital dramas paving the way to later shows such as ER. It follows multiple parallel intersecting stories which some are procedural and others serials. It also doesn't hurt that some interesting actors are on the show as regulars as well as guest stars. It doesn't have many female doctors which keeps the romantic intrigue at a minimum. It was another era. I remember liking the lesser character Peter White who seems to have a darker hidden side until they made him a rapist. The most lasting effect is its evolution of the medical drama although its most memorable aspect may be its controversial and much-derided finale. It's definitely a problematic ending but I refuse to deduct points for it.
