SHOUT! Studios DVD Request: "St. Elsewhere: The Complete Series"

[stevearino]

Dear Brian Ward,

I have a proposal for SHOUT! Studios: to make a deal with 20th Television (as of 2017 a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company) for SHOUT! Studio to issue and release, for the first time EVER on DVD, "St. Elsewhere: The Complete Series," a loving showcase of all 137 hour-long episodes of the hit 1982-1988 Hospital Drama "St. Elsewhere" 100% Complete, 100% Uncut, AND 100% Unedited, as each episode originally aired on the NBC Television Network.

Created by Bruce Paltrow, "St. Elsewhere" was a hit '80s Hospital Drama originally airing on NBC from October 26, 1982 - May 25, 1988 for 6 seasons; the show, described as "Hill Street Blues" in a Hospital, focused on the staff and patients of the fictional St. Eligius Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts--among them Dr. Donald Westphall (Ed Flanders), the Hospital Chief of Services, and the Hospital's first-year residents--among them Dr. Wayne Fiscus (Howie Mandel), the Comic Relief character; Dr. Jack Morrison (David Morse), known by the nickname "Boomer"; and Dr. Phil Chandler (Denzel Washington), whom I jokingly refer to as "the original Dr. Phil," along with Dr. Victor Ehrlich (Ed Begley, Jr.), a Protege of Dr. Mark Craig (William Daniels), a brilliant heart surgeon with a pompous ass of an ego to boot.

Other Principal Characters over the course of the show's run included Dr. Ben Samuels (David Birney), who only stuck around for the first season; Dr. Hugh Beale (G.W. Bailey, futurely of the "Police Academy" franchise), the Hospital Psychiatrist in the first season (later succeeded by Paul Sand as Dr. Michael Ridley in that capacity and Brian Tochi as Dr. Alan Poe thereafter); and frequent patient Mrs. Florence Hufnagel (Florence Halop), as well as Dr. Bobby Caldwell (Mark Harmon, futurely of "NCIS"), who at the start of Season 2 joined the cast, only to leave midway through Season 4 after testing Positive for AIDS (after Mark Harmon left "St. Elsewhere" for a film career that didn't quite pan out before eventually returning to TV; his "St. Elsewhere" character, Dr. Bobby Caldwell, eventually died of AIDS 2 years after Mark Harmon's departure), and Dr. Daniel Auschlander (Norman Lloyd), who underwent the longest fictional remission from Liver Cancer in Television History.

Despite ranking no less than #49 in the Nielsen ratings, "St. Elsewhere" was very popular among the 18-49 demographic who tuned in regularly and faithfully; however, in the end, it wasn't ratings that caused the end of "St. Elsewhere" after 6 seasons, but rather finances--or specifically, MTM Enterprises, Inc. (the company behind "St. Elsewhere") wanted more money than the network (NBC) could afford to continue for Season 7 and beyond.

The series finale telecast on May 25, 1988 proved to be one of the more memorable moments in TV History; among other notable events: several months earlier, in his last regular episode (though "NYPD Blue" always gets the credit) before the finale, Ed Flanders delivered network TV's first deliberate full moon, revealing his naked butt to both actor Ronny Cox (joining the "St. Elsewhere" cast in Fall 1987 as Dr. John Gideon, the new Hospital Chief of Services on behalf of the Hospital's new owners, the fictional Ecumena Corporation, later renamed Weigert mid-season to avoid confusion with the REAL Humana Corporation) and the viewing audience that night; in the finale, Dr. Westphall returned after Weigert sold the Hospital back to the archdiocese, with his severely Autistic son, Tommy (Chad Allen), in tow; Dr. Gideon, simultaneously, left St. Eligius and moved to San Francisco; Dr. Craig reconciled with his wife, Ellen (Bonnie Bartlett, married in real life to William Daniels since 1951), and moved with her to Cleveland, Ohio; Dr. Auschlander, after a series-long fight with Liver Cancer, died of a Massive Stroke in his office unrelated to the Cancer; and in the final scene ever of the series, the entire 6-year run of "St. Elsewhere" was revealed to be the figment of the imagination of Tommy Westphall, whose father, Donald, was actually a Construction Worker whose OWN Father, Daniel, helped raise Tommy (Dr. Auschlander returning to Earth as Donald Westphall's own father).

In the years since, reruns aired briefly in syndication during the late '80s & early '90s on local TV stations such as WGN in Chicago before making its cable TV debut on Nickelodeon on April 29, 1996 as part of its Nick at Nite lineup--specifically initially as part of the all-night sneak peek of sister network TV Land (then officially Nick at Nite's TV Land), when the Pilot of "St. Elsewhere" aired at 1 A.M. ET / PT on April 29, 1996; after that, reruns of "St. Elsewhere" aired regularly on Nick at Nite from May 4, 1996 - July 6, 1996 on Saturday nights from 10 P.M. to 12 A.M. ET as part of "Nick at Nite's TV Land Sampler," a rotating weekly Nick at Nite Programming Block featuring a sample of the inaugural lineup of TV Land ("St. Elsewhere" included as part of the lineup); after that, reruns of "St. Elsewhere" moved permanently to TV Land, although they'd make one final return to Nick at Nite from June 30, 1997 - July 4, 1997 as part of the simulcast TV Guide and TV Land Greatest Episodes Marathon when the "St. Elsewhere" 2-part episode "Time Heals" aired during that week.

By the way, during the weekly "Nick at Nite's TV Land Sampler" block on Nick at Nite, during its regular run on Nick at Nite, the "St. Elsewhere" episode "Bypass" was included as part of the regular airings of "St. Elsewhere."

Tentatively, Brian, SHOUT! Studios shall issue and release, for the first time EVER on DVD, "St. Elsewhere: The Complete Series" on Tuesday, February 4, 2025 at a cost of ONLY $59.99 wherever DVDs are sold.

Sincerely,
Steve Arino