Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
More On:
St. Elsewhere
-
R.I.P. Alan Arkin: 'Little Miss Sunshine' Oscar-Winner Was 89
-
Tim Robbins Predicted Our Political Future With 'Bob Roberts,' But He's Hopeful The Dystopian 'Silo' Won't Come True Anytime Soon
-
Kymberly Herrin, Playboy Model Known for 'Ghostbusters' and ZZ Top's "Legs" Video, Dead at 65
-
Norman Lloyd, 'St. Elsewhere' Actor and Hitchcock Star, Dies at 106
Shared universes may be all the rage on the big screen nowadays thanks to the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but never forget that intense interconnectivity was born on the small screen. There was Hooterville sitcom universe of the ’60s, the Happy Days and All in the Family franchises of the ’70s, the rebirth of the Star Trek universe on TV in the ’80s, and the subtly connected TGIF lineup of the ’90s. It even continues today, as seen on NBC’s lineup of Chicago shows and The CW’s slate of DC superhero shows.
But what if I were to tell you that all of those shared universes are all dwarfed, and in some cases consumed, by one massive, all-encompassing shared universe with tendrils snaking all the way out to the big screen and back to the small screen? And what if I were to tell you that all of it, thousands and thousands of episodes of TV, were all contained within the mind of one boy? That’s the idea behind the Tommy Westphall Universe fan theory, one of the most enduring fan theories in pop culture history.
It all traces back to the series finale of St. Elsewhere, an ’80s medical drama that wrapped up in 1988. The show’s close remains one of the most shocking moments in TV history: it’s revealed that all 137 episodes of St. Elsewhere actually took place in the mind of an autistic teen boy named Tommy Westphall. St. Eligius hospital was actually contained in a snow globe, just as the lives of all those characters were contained in Tommy’s mind.
There’s just one catch that St. Elsewhere’s creators probably didn’t even consider: if St. Elsewhere was all made up by one kid, then every show that crossed over with St. Elsewhere would be affected–and then every show that crossed over with those shows would be affected too! Just by crossing over with Cheers and The Bob Newhart Show and having one retroactive crossover with Homicide: Life on the Street, St. Elsewhere is now connected to close to 300 TV shows, a list that keeps growing every year because writers love dropping references to shows they love or because prop masters keep using the exact same fake brand of cigarettes.
With it’s expansive library of TV spanning the entire history of the medium, including St. Elsewhere’s inciting incident, Hulu is the perfect place to explore the Tommy Westphall Universe. Below you’ll find a list of highlights where two shows connected, thus bringing even more characters into the mind of Tommy Westphall.
'St. Elsewhere' & 'Cheers'
Episode: St. Elsewhere, “Cheers” (1985)
Crossover characters: Carla Tortelli (Rhea Perlman), Norm Peterson (George Wendt), Cliff Clavin (John Ratzenberger)
Further connections:
- Cheers spun off Frasier
- Frasier crossed over with The John Larroquette Show and Caroline in the City
- The John Larroquette Show’s bus station was built by Yoyodyne, a company that’s also a client of Angel’s Wolfram and Hart, and also the company that built the starships for Starfleet in the Star Trek universe
- Angel is a spinoff of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Caroline in the City crossed over with Friends
- Friends crossed over with Mad About You
- Mad About You crossed over with Seinfeld
- Mad About You crossed over with The Dick Van Dyke Show
- The Dick Van Dyke Show crossed over with The Danny Thomas Show
- The Danny Thomas Show spun off The Andy Griffith Show and crossed over with I Love Lucy
'Wings' & 'Cheers'
Episode: Wings, “The Story of Joe” (1990)
Crossover characters: Cliff and Norm
How Wings connects to St. Elsewhere: Wings > Cheers > St. Elsewhere
Further connections: See above
'Arrested Development' & 'Homicide: Life on the Street'
Episode: Arrested Development, “Exit Strategy” (2006)
Crossover character: John Munch (Richard Belzer)
How Arrested Development connects to St. Elsewhere: Arrested Development > Homicide: Life on the Street > St. Elsewhere
Further connections:
- John Munch has appeared on Homicide: Life on the Street, Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The X-Files, and The Wire (to name a few) and was mentioned by name on Luther
- Law & Order: SVU crossed over with Chicago PD and Chicago Fire
- Chicago Fire spun off Chicago Med
- Arrested Development’s Bluth company designed the nightclub in Running Wilde, a series about the heir to an oil fortune
- Community used Wilde Oil in an episode
- If you look closely, you can spot Tobias from Arrested Development in the Collector’s collection in Avengers: Infinity War, which connects all of these shows to every movie and TV show in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
'The X-Files' & 'Homicide: Life on the Street'
Episode: The X-Files, “Unusual Suspects” (1997)
Crossover character: John Munch
How The X-Files connects to St. Elsewhere: The X-Files > Homicide: Life on the Street > St. Elsewhere
Further connections:
- X-Files’ Cigarette Smoking Man smokes the same brand of fictional cigarettes (Morley) as Spike on Buffy
- Morley cigarettes have been featured on 24, Breaking Bad, ER, The Walking Dead, Friends, The Dick Van Dyke Show, and so so so many other shows
- A mugshot from the X-Files episode “Tithonus” appears in the Veronica Mars episode “Leave It to Beaver,” and X-Files and Veronica Mars share the same fictional car rental place (Lariat)
- The Veronica Mars episode “Donut Run” has the same fortune numbers as Hurley’s from Lost
- Lost’s fictional airline Oceanic has also appeared in episodes of Diagnosis Murder, JAG, and Alias
'Ally McBeal' & 'The Practice'
Episodes: Ally McBeal, “The Inmates”; The Practice, “Axe Murderer” (1998)
Crossover characters: Bobby Donnell (Dylan McDermott), Rebecca Washington (LisaGay Hamilton), Eugene Young (Steve Harris), Ellenor Frutt (Camryn Manheim), and Lindsay Doyle (Kelli Williams) on Ally McBeal; Ally McBeal (Calista Flockhart) and Billy Thomas (Gil Bellows) on The Practice
How Ally McBeal connects to St. Elsewhere: Ally McBeal > Boston Public > St. Elsewhere
How The Practice connects to St. Elsewhere: The Practice > Boston Public > St. Elsewhere
Further connections:
- The Practice spun off Boston Legal
- Boston Public crossed over with Ally McBeal, The Practice and Boston Legal
- A character on Boston Public received a pension from St. Eligius Hospital, the setting of St. Elsewhere
- Candice Bergen and Tom Selleck’s characters from Boston Legal go out to eat at Melville’s, which is the restaurant above Cheers
'St. Elsewhere' & 'The Bob Newhart Show'
Episode: St. Elsewhere, “Close Encounters” (1985)
Crossover character: Eliot Carlin (Jack Riley)
Further connections:
- The Bob Newhart Show’s Mr. Carlin also appeared on ALF
- The Bob Newhart Show’s Bob (Bob Newhart) and Carol (Marcia Wallace) appeared on Murphy Brown
- The entirety of Newhart was revealed to have been a dream in Bob Hartley’s of The Bob Newhart Show’s head
- The entirety of I Dream of Jeannie was revealed to have been a dream in Howard Borden’s (Bill Daily) of The Bob Newhart Show’s head
- Newhart crossed over with Coach
- Coach crossed over with The Drew Carey Show, Grace Under Fire, and Ellen–and this leads us to the tangled mess that is TGIF (below)
'Boy Meets World' & 'Sabrina, the Teenage Witch'
Episode: Boy Meets World, “The Witches of Pennbrook” (1997)
Crossover character: Sabrina Spellman (Melissa Joan Hart)
How these shows connect to St. Elsewhere: Boy Meets World > Sabrina, the Teenage Witch > Clueless > Moesha > The Parkers > The Hughleys > The Drew Carey Show > Coach > Newhart > The Bob Newhart Show > St. Elsewhere
Further connections:
- Sabrina hung out with Cher (Rachel Blanchard) in the Clueless series
- Boy Meets World continued into Girl Meets World
- Girl Meets World crossed over with Best Friends Whenever and Austin and Ally, which connects TGIF to the Disney sitcom world
- Boy Meets World crossed over with Step By Step (below)
'Boy Meets World' & 'Step By Step'
Episode: Boy Meets World, “The Happiest Show on Earth” (1996)
Crossover character: Dana Foster (Staci Keanan)
How Step By Step connects to St. Elsewhere: Step By Step > Boy Meets World > Sabrina, the Teenage Witch > Clueless > Moesha > The Parkers > The Hughleys > The Drew Carey Show > Coach > Newhart > The Bob Newhart Show > St. Elsewhere
Further connections:
- Step By Step crossed over with Family Matters (see below)
'Step By Step' & 'Family Matters'
Episode: Step By Step, “The Dance” (1991)
Crossover character: Steve Urkel (Jaleel White)
How Family Matters connects to St. Elsewhere: Family Matters > Step By Step > Boy Meets World > Sabrina, the Teenage Witch > Clueless > Moesha > The Parkers > The Hughleys > The Drew Carey Show > Coach > Newhart > The Bob Newhart Show > St. Elsewhere
Further connections:
- Family Matters spun off from Perfect Strangers
- The Perfect Strangers episode “Games People Play” features a toilet from Cunningham Hardware in Milwaukee, Wisconsin–which is Howard Cunningham’s (Tom Bosley) store in Happy Days
- Happy Days spun off Laverne and Shirley and Mork and Mindy
- Family Matters crossed over with Full House (below)
- Urkel also appeared on the short-lived show Meego
- Meego crossed over with Gilligan’s Island
'Full House' & 'Family Matters'
Episode: Full House, “Stephanie Gets Framed” (1991)
Crossover character: Steve Urkel
How Full House connects to St. Elsewhere: Full House > Family Matters > Step By Step > Boy Meets World > Sabrina, the Teenage Witch > Clueless > Moesha > The Parkers > The Hughleys > The Drew Carey Show > Coach > Newhart > The Bob Newhart Show > St. Elsewhere
Further connections:
- Full House continued into Fuller House
- Full House crossed over with Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper (below)
'Hangin' with Mr. Cooper' & 'Full House'
Episode: Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper, “Hangin’ with Michelle” (1992)
Crossover characters: Michelle Tanner (Mary-Kate, Ashley Olsen)
How Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper connects to St. Elsewhere: Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper > Full House > Family Matters > Step By Step > Boy Meets World > Sabrina, the Teenage Witch > Clueless > Moesha > The Parkers > The Hughleys > The Drew Carey Show > Coach > Newhart > The Bob Newhart Show > St. Elsewhere
Further connections:
- None. Ain’t that enough?
So just to recap everything, here’s a list of the shows that–according to the Tommy Westphall theory–all take place in the same universe, a universe in the mind of a child:
24
Alias
Ally McBeal
Angel
Arrested Development
Austin and Ally
Best Friends Whenever
Boston Legal
Boston Public
Boy Meets World
Breaking Bad
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Caroline in the City
Cheers
Chicago Fire
Chicago Med
Chicago PD
Clueless
Coach
Community
Diagnosis Murder
Ellen
ER
Family Matters
Frasier
Friends
Full House
Fuller House
Gilligan’s Island
Girl Meets World
Grace Under Fire
Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper
Happy Days
Homicide: Life on the Street
I Dream of Jeannie
I Love Lucy
JAG
Laverne and Shirley
Law and Order
Law and Order: Special Victims Unit
Lost
Luther
Mad About You
Meego
Moesha
Mork and Mindy
Murphy Brown
Newhart
Perfect Strangers
Running Wilde
Sabrina the Teenage Witch
Seinfeld
St. Elsewhere
Step By Step
The Andy Griffith Show
The Bob Newhart Show
The Danny Thomas Show
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Drew Carey Show
The Hughleys
The John Larroquette Show
The Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Parkers
The Practice
The Star Trek franchise
The Walking Dead
The Wire
The X-Files
Veronica Mars
Wings
That’s 68 TV shows and two sprawling cinematic universes–and that’s seriously just the beginning. For even more on all of this madness, you can check out The Tommy Westphall Universe blog and Poobala’s crossovers and spinoffs list. And TBH, it’s probably easier to wonder which shows aren’t part of this universe.
Stream Hangin' with Mr. Cooper "Hangin' with Michelle" on Hulu
