The Bob Newhart Show and St. Elsewhere

    For years Dr. Bob Hartley on the Bob Newhart Show treated grouchy Mr. Elliot Carlin. Yet apparently he didn't do him much year. Years later Mr. Carlin showed up in the psych ward of St. Elsewhere's St. Eligius Hospital. He was on for quite a number of episodes. It never came across as a real official thing. At first I figured it was just the same actor playing a similar character as a joke by the writers. But as his stint on the show went on, more and more comments were made that made very clear that this was supposed to be the same character.

    An addendum to all St. Elsewhere entries: The final episode of St. Elsewhere revealed the entire series to be the daydream of an autistic child (man did this show have balls!). Given this, an argument could be made that all the crossovers with St. Elsewhere are invalid. That all the crossovers were merely part of the kid's dream. Like he watched Cheers on TV and worked it into his little fantasy and thus the shows don't really exist as part of the same reality. I count the crossovers as valid however. When all these crossovers were aired it was with the idea they were real. No one new the whole show was supposed to be a kids dream. So, since they were intended as real, I say they're legit. I actually like the idea that the kid dreamed ALL the shows connected to St. Elsewhere. In that case the Newhart show was the dream of Bob Newhart's character from the Bob Newhart show who was in turn only a character in an autistic kid's head. Don't think about that too long or your head will explode.

Other The Bob Newhart Show Crossover Links
The Bob Newhart Show and Bob
The Bob Newhart Show and I Dream Of Jeannie
The Bob Newhart Show and Murphy Brown
The Bob Newhart Show and Newhart

Other St. Elsewhere Crossover Links
St. Elsewhere and Cheers
St. Elsewhere and Chicago Hope
St. Elsewhere and Homicide: Life On The Streets
St. Elsewhere and M*A*S*H
St. Elsewhere and Oz
St. Elsewhere and Tattingers/Nick And Hillary
St. Elsewhere and The White Shadow

St. Elsewhere Season 1 DVD article!

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