Dr. House owes his existance to St. Elsewhere
I found an article in the Washington post a while ago that says “St Eleswhere redefined Medical Dramas. Does anyone remember that show? It was a hit way back in 1982! It was the perfect drama - life and death medical cases, doctors and occasionally nurses seen working under stressful conditions and long hours and just watching the close interactions that developed between the staff as they worked day in and day out saving lives.
It’s not surprising that after the success of St Elsewhere that many of todays top medical dramas have been modelled after the show in both formula and co-worker to co-worker interactions.
“St. Elsewhere” did to medical dramas what “Hill Street Blues” did to police shows: It crowded the screen with a large ensemble cast, padded the script with a bewildering number of ongoing stories and introduced human flaws to a breed of professionals that television previously had presented as super-human.
The personal lives of the doctors were as important as the jobs they were doing. They were flawed, they made mistakes and their patients didn’t always get better.
The title character in “House” (Hugh Laurie) owes his existence to “St. Elsewhere’s” acerbic but brilliant Mark Craig (William Daniels). Others on the staff of St. Eligius Hospital - from the righteously serious Dr. Phillip Chandler (Denzel Washington) to the comic Dr. Wayne Fiscus (Howie Mandel, with a full head of hair) - continue to be echoed in characters on current hospital shows.
You should watch some episodes of St. Elsewhere sometime. I’m sure they are running on the channels that show older programs. It was a great medical drama and I’m pleased to hear that some think that our beloved Dr. House’s charactor was modelled after non other than Dr. Mark Graig.
hugh laurie, hugh, laurie, House, Gregory House, medical show, medical drama, St Elsewhere
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