St. Elsewhere - Allusions and Crossovers

Allusions and Crossovers

• The character of hospital orderly Warren Coolidge (played by Byron Stewart) was carried over from The White Shadow, where Coolidge had been a student at Carver High. Coolidge was sometimes seen on St. Elsewhere wearing a Carver High T-shirt. In one episode Coolidge passed guest star Timothy Van Patten in an elevator and called out "Salami! It's me, Warren Coolidge!", but Van Patten, playing a different character, didn't recognize him.
• A 1985 episode featured a Cheers crossover, in which Drs. Westphall, Auschlander and Craig stop into the fictional Cheers pub (also set in Boston) for a drink, and Craig gets into a verbal altercation with barmaid Carla Tortelli (Rhea Perlman) who had delivered her most recent child at the hospital as stated on Cheers. In a possible discontinuity however, another episode depicted Dr. Morrison and his young son visiting The Bull and Finch Pub's real-world exterior.
• In a similar event, a recurring character—an amnesiac known as John Doe #6 (Oliver Clark) – watched an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show on a hospital TV and started believing himself to be the character Mary Richards. Betty White, who had played Sue Anne Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, was a guest star as a Naval officer in a concurrent storyline in the same episode; Doe sees her and calls her "Sue Ann!". She responds: "I'm afraid you've mistaken me for someone else."
• In the same episode, another patient in the psychiatric ward is Elliott Carlin, the resident neurotic from The Bob Newhart Show, as played by veteran character actor Jack Riley. Carlin's abusive and disparagement of Doe mirrored his behavior toward Oliver Clark's Bob Newhart Show character, Mr. Herd. Mr. Carlin subsequently appeared on Newhart, still uncured from the damage caused by "some quack in Chicago."
• Two St. Elsewhere characters were carried over to the NBC series Homicide: Life on the Street, which was executive produced by St. Elsewhere alumnus Tom Fontana. In an episode in season six entitled "Mercy", Alfre Woodard reprises her role of Dr. Roxanne Turner, who is accused of illegally euthanizing a cancer patient. Woodard was nominated for an Emmy Award as Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her performance. In other Homicide episodes, the character of Detective Tim Bayliss (played by Kyle Secor) develops a bad back and is treated by an offscreen "Dr. Ehrlich". In the Homicide: The Movie finale, Ed Begley, Jr., makes an uncredited appearance as Dr. Victor Ehrlich.
• In a 1986 episode, the Craigs return to their Penn alma mater and reminisce about their college days, where Dr. Craig was (according to Mrs. Craig) "obnoxious and disliked." This is how John Adams was frequently described in the movie and stage musical "1776," in which William Daniels played the founding father. He also comments on the weather by singing "It's hot as hell/In Philadelphia!" which is also a line from that musical.
• In another episode, Dr. Craig calls his wife, who does not recognize his voice, to which he responds, "Well, who do you think it is, G. Gordon Liddy?" (William Daniels had played Liddy in the 1979 TV miniseries adaptation of John Dean's Blind Ambition.
• In 2002 actors Ed Begley Jr., William Daniels, Stephen Furst and Eric Laneuville appear in Season 1, Episode 21 of Scrubs as four doctors that have fallen sick at a medical convention. The episode was part of a week-long event honoring NBC's 75th Anniversary.