Retro Television Review: St. Elsewhere 2.18 “Equinox”

Posted on October 3, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Fridays, I will be reviewing St. Elsewhere, a medical show which ran on NBC from 1982 to 1988. The show can be found on Hulu and, for purchase, on Prime!

This week, Peter White returns to the hospital.

Episode 2.18 “Equinox”

(Dir by David Anspaugh, originally aired on March 14th, 1984)

A college student (Thomas Byrd) comes in after taking a hit to the groin during a touch football game. It turns out that he might have testicular cancer and it falls to Dr. Cavanero to let him know that he will soon be down a ball.

Dr. Chandler is upset when his new girlfriend prefers to hang out with Luther. Chandler accuses Luther of “shuckin’ and jivin’.” Chandler’s girlfriend dumps him for being “mean.” In a well-acted scene, Chandler talks to Morrison about how he’s expected to act one way as a black man and another way as a black doctor.

Fiscus makes the mistake of giving Elliott Axlerod (Stephen Furst) his lucky baseball cap. Axelrod spills a urine sample on it and then accidentally sets the hat on fire while attempting to dry it. Axlerod is having a terrible day until a man dressed like Paul Revere brings his horse into the ER for treatment. It turns out that Axlerod’s father was veterinarian. Axlerod cures the horse but he still has to get Fiscus a new hat.

Finally, Dr. White returns. His charges have been reduced from attempted rape to assault. Wendy Armstrong is not happy and starts to binge eat. (And yet, as several nurses point out, she doesn’t gain a pound. We all know what that means….) When Kathy Martin sees Peter in the cafeteria, she yells that he raped her. “You’re crazy,” Peter lies.

The episode ends with Dr. Chandler going for a run outside, stopping, and screaming into the air.

This episode was a bit uneven. The Axlerod story worked because of the likability of Stephen Furst and not because the story itself was particularly clever. The Philip Chandler/Jack Morrison conversation was the highlight of the episode, though the ending with Chandler screaming into the void was a bit overdone.

As for Dr. White, I’ve reached the point where I can’t even stand to look at him and I feel foolish for having any sympathy for him earlier in the season. Hopefully, this season will end with Dr. White going to prison for life because I’m not sure how many more episodes I can handle of him wandering around the hospital with that smug look on his face.

Seriously, St. Elsewhere, take care of this guy soon….

Retro Television Review: St. Elsewhere 2.17 “Vanity”

Posted on September 26, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week’s episode was available on neither Hulu nor Prime. I had to watch a really terrible upload that I found on Daily Motion. Bleh.

Episode 2.17 “Vanity”

(Dir by Mark Tinker, originally aired on March 7th, 1984)

I was relieved to see that this episode featured Kathy Martin returning to the hospital. I was seriously worried that Peter White had killed her. With Peter in jail for attacking Wendy Armstrong, Kathy doesn’t tell anyone that Peter raped her. From the minute we first see her, it’s clear that Kathy is suffering from severe PTSD. As a character, Kathy Martin was not always treated well by this show. During the first season, she was often portrayed as being a caricature, the quirky pathologist who liked to have sex in strange places. This episode finally allowed Kathy to emerge as a fully-developed character and Barbara Whinnery gave a strong performance in the role.

Peter is in jail. Despite Wendy’s anger, Dr. Morrison regularly visits him. Morrison says that Peter is obviously sick and needs help but, at the same time, he hasn’t accepted that Peter is also the Ski Mask Rapist. (Peter wasn’t wearing his mask when he attacked Wendy.) As for Peter, he continues to feel sorry for himself.

Dr. Craig is upset when he receives a cop of the documentary about him and he discovers that he comes across like an arrogant martinet. Dr. Craig threatens to sue the director (played, again, by Michael Richards) though one gets the feeling that Craig is mainly angry because he knows the documentary is true.

Nurse Rosenthal gets reconstructive breast surgery. Joseph, the construction worker who has been having attacks of blindness, is successfully operated on. Sometimes, things work out well at the hospital. Not often, but sometimes.

Finally. Mr. Entertainment (Austin Pendleton) returns, singing to patients and upsetting his supervisor. (Mr. Entertainment now works as a janitor at the hospital.) To be honest, the majority of this episode was devoted to Mr. Entertainment and it was a bit too much. Austin Pendleton is a good actor but Mr. Entertainment is such a cartoonish character that I mentally checked out of his story.

This was an odd episode. There was a lot to work but it was almost all overshadowed by Mr. Entertainment. Sometimes, you can tell a writer has fallen so in love with a minor character that they’ve forgotten about what the audience is actually interested in. The episode felt like an example of that.

Retro Television Review: St. Elsewhere 2.16 “After Dark”

Posted on September 19, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, it’s time to name the Doctor of the Year!

Episode 2.16 “After Dark”

(Dir by Eric Laneuville, originally aired on February 29th, 1984)

It’s time for the annual end-of-the-year dinner, during which the Women’s Auxiliary will announce their pick for Doctor of the Year. Last year, to Dr. Craig’s shock, Westphall won the award. This year, Dr. Craig is sure that he’s going to win. Even though Craig says that he doesn’t care about awards, he still has his wife, Ellen (Bonnie Bartlett), write out a speech for him.

The dinner is just as boring as usual. The majority of the doctors who show up mention that their spouse couldn’t make it because they suddenly came down with the flu. When it is time to announce the Doctor of the Year, Dr. Craig prepares to accept the award. However, the award is given — for the second year in a row — to Dr. Westphall!

Seriously? I mean, what the Heck? Nothing against Dr. Westphall but what exactly has he done to deserve the award this year? Dr. Auschlander has continued to see patients while battling cancer. Dr. Craig performed a heart transplant! Meanwhile, Dr. Westphall has dealt with the administrative stuff and been kind of grumpy. I’m totally on Dr. Craig’s side here. There’s no way Westphall deserved that award for two years running.

Westphall, himself, had to leave the awards dinner early because of an emergency at the hospital. (More on that below.) Dr. Craig accepts the award in Westphall’s place and — surprise! — gives a sincere speech about how much he appreciates Dr. Westphall’s leadership. Good for Dr. Craig! That said, there’s no way Dr. Westphall deserved the award this year.

Meanwhile, Kathy Martin, who we last saw being raped by Peter White in the morgue, is missing. Peter wanders through the hospital in a narcotic-induced haze, carrying his ski mask in his pocket. He nearly attacks Shirley. He does attack Wendy Armstrong and this time, he doesn’t even put on his ski mask. Fortunately, Fiscus hears Wendy’s screams and knocks Peter out with a fire extinguisher. Peter is taken away by the police while Westphall heads to Peter’s home to tell Peter’s wife that her husband is the Ski Mask Rapist.

Victor is thinking of getting divorced. Bobby, on the other hand, decides to ask Joan to marry him. And Dr. Morrison continues to get too involved with his patients. When Joseph (Dan Hedaya), a construction worker dealing with random bouts of blindness, is told that he’ll have to quite job, Morrison calls out a fellow doctor being callous. Good for Morrison!

The episode, a well-acted one that deftly mixed drama and comedy, ended with some unanswered questions. Peter’s been arrested. Is he gone for good? And where is Kathy Martin? And seriously, how did Dr. Westphall win that award!?

Retro Television Review: St. Elsewhere 2.15 “Attack”

Posted on September 12, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, the identity of the Ski Mask Rapist is revealed.

Episode 2.15 “Attack”

(Dir by Kevin Hooks, originally aired on February 22nd, 1984)

The Ski Mask Rapist is continuing to attack. Off-screen, a pharmacist is assaulted while trying to catch her train. In the hospital, a candy striper gets lost in the cavernous building and is attacked in a storage room. When Shirley Daniels enters the storage room, she’s startled by a man wearing a pest control outfit. She sprays him with her mace but is later told that the police do not believe that he was the rapist. Instead, he was just a man trying to steal drugs. When Fiscus tries to put together a list of men who will walk the women to their cars, Dr. Cavanero tells him that one of the men on his list could very well be the rapist.

Amongst themselves, the women who work at St. Eligius debate what they would do if they are attacked. Shirley carries her mace. Wendy says that she would use her keys as a weapon. Jacqueline Wade says that women who don’t struggle and just submit have a better chance of surviving. Dr. Cavanero dumps her insensitive boyfriend after he offers up a half-hearted, insincere apology for trying to force himself on her during the previous episode. The head of the hospital’s security gives a lecture and makes the women feel like the attacks are somehow their fault. “There’s no need to get hysterical,” he says.

(Myself, I carry mace. I’m always scared that I’ll accidentally spray myself in the face with it but still, I carry it.)

Kathy Martin turns down the offer of a rape whistle, saying that carrying it would give her the aura of a victim. As the episode ends, she’s attacked in the morgue. She manages to push up the ski mask, revealing the face of …. Peter White.

It’s not really a surprise that Peter turned out to be the rapist. I suspected it was him last week. Rape may be classified as a sex crime but ultimately, it’s about power. The weakest men are rapists and there’s no man on this show who is weaker than Peter White. Before Peter attacks Kathy, we see him with a prostitute who tells him that it’s okay that he couldn’t get it up. Peter mentions that it’s his anniversary. Peter is weak and, looking back at the the moment he first appeared during the first season (begging Dr. Morrison to cover for him), it’s obvious that the series has been building up to the moment that he loses control.

There were other things that happened during this episode. Geraldine Fitzgerald played a patient who Auschlander dated in his younger days. (Now, she’s a drug addict.) Victor and Roberta returned from their honeymoon, Victor with a painful sunburn and Roberta with a host of problems that she accidentally broadcast to the entire hospital while talking to her friend in the front office. (You have to make sure the PA is turned off before talking about your sex life, folks.) There was a humorous scene in which Dr. Ridley got into an argument with Roberta’s psychiatrist (Philip Sterling). Dr. Morrison tried to figure out why his latest patient (Dan Hedaya) was suffering from sudden bouts of blindness.

In the end, though, this was a grim episode and not always an easy one for me to watch. Honestly, if I had been a nurse or a doctor at that hospital, I would have walked as soon as it became apparent that the Ski Mask Rapist was someone inside the building. I would have gone home and refused to come back until they caught the guy.

Kathy saw Peter’s face as he attacked her. I fear what’s waiting for me on next week’s episode.

Retro Television Review: St. Elsewhere 2.14 “Drama Center”

Posted on September 5, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, things get depressing.

Episode 2.14 “Drama Center”

(Dir by David Anspaugh, originally aired on February 15th, 1984)

This week’s episode opens with a disturbing scene in which a woman, trying to get her car to start on a snowy night, is attacked and raped in the parking lot of St. Eligius. The rapist is wearing a green jacket and a ski mask.

At first, I assumed that the rapist was a random lowlife, someone who would likely never be seen again. But then Dr. Cavanero’s wealthy boyfriend tried to force himself on her and I was left wondering if maybe he would be revealed as the man in the ski mask. However, towards the end of the episode, there was scene featuring Dr. Peter White. Having been banned from working in the ER and from prescribing medicine, White is now working in the morgue and, needless to say, he spends this entire episode bitching about it. As the episode ends, we see that Peter is holding a capsule in his hand, suggesting that he is once again abusing drugs. However, I also noticed that Peter was wearing the same green jacket as the man in the ski mask!

This was a good episode, well-written and well-acted. It was also pretty depressing. Dr. Westphall brings his severely autistic, noncommunicative son Tommy (Chad Allen) to St. Eligius so that Dr. Ridley can examine him. Dr. Ridley warns Westphall that Tommy is aggressive and that Westphall might not be able to continue to care for him at home, despite the fact that Westphall’s daughter (Dana Short) is planning on forgoing her dream college to stick around and help. Westphall ends his day reading Tommy a book (“Your mom bought you this book.”) and breaking down into tears and it made me cry a little too.

Meanwhile, a TV crew followed around Dr. Craig for a documentary. Needless to say, they got in the way and they got on Craig’s nerves. The director was played by Michael Richards, who, of course, is best-known for playing Kramer on Seinfeld and then having a racist meltdown when he got heckled at a comedy club. In an episode that was, emotionally, pretty dark, it was almost a relief to get some scenes of Dr. Craig losing his temper with the documentary crew. As someone who knows William Daniels best as the kindly Mr. Feeney from countless Boy Meets World reruns, it’s been a real pleasure to Daniels as the prickly and arrogant Dr. Craig. Dr. Craig wouldn’t have had much use for the Matthews clan and all of their drama.

This was an intense and sad episode. It was St. Elsewhere at its most emotional.

Retro Television Review: St. Elsewhere 2.13 “In Sickness and In Health”

Posted on August 29, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Victor gets married!

Episode 2.13 “In Sickness and In Health”

(Dir by Mark Tinker, originally aired on February 8th, 1984)

This week’s episode features three storylines.

The least interesting one features Joan Halloran’s father, Charlie Halloran (William Windom), being admitted to and eventually dying at St. Eligius. The entire Halloran family comes out to visit Charlie and this is one of the storylines that would have worked better if I had the slightest bit of interest in Joan or her family. For the most part, though, Joan is a boring character and her wealthy family is not that interesting. I got the feeling this storyline was mostly included to remind us that Joan is a character on the show. We really have seen much of her over the past few episodes.

Dr. Chandler trained for the Boston Marathon by running the route in the rain. A car ran him off the road. A dog chased him. An attractive woman flirted with him. (He is Denzel Washington, after all!) And he finally reached the finish line and nearly collapsed while imagining everyone cheering for him.

Finally, Ehrlich married Roberta. The wedding took place at Dr. Craig’s house. Dogger (Kevin Scannell) was the best man and turned out to be just as crude as you might expect someone named Dogger to be. Dr. Craig was disgusted by the whole thing. Roberta got cold feet after her mother confessed to having never loved her father. However, Dr. Craig’s abrasive mother-in-law (Lurene Tuttle) was there to order Roberta to take a chance and marry the man who she might eventually come to love. This marriage is so obviously doomed. I’m predicting Ehrlich will be divorced before the season ends.

This episode really didn’t work. Dr. Chandler training for the Boston Marathon finally gave Denzel Washington something to do but the storyline excuse was mostly just an excuse to do some Boston location shooting. The Halloran storyline didn’t work because the Hallorans themselves aren’t that interesting. And, after all the build-up, the wedding was a bit anti-climatic.

They can’t all be winners.

Retro Television Review: St. Elsewhere 2.12 “Hearing”

Posted on August 22, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Peter White faces the judgment of the medical board.

Episode 2.12 “Hearing”

(Dir by Charles Braverman, originally aired on February 1st, 1984)

At his disciplinary hearing for giving a controlled substance to an undercover officer, Dr. White lies to protect Shirley Daniels. Even though Shirley tossed him the keys to the drugs on that night, White says that he took the keys without Shirley noticing. It’s a rare case of Dr. White actually trying to help someone else. It gets Shirley off the hook but it leads to Dr. White receiving a two-year suspension from working in an ER or prescribing medicine. Westphall and Auschlander both agree that Dr. White’s career is probably over but Westphall, who has been White’s biggest supporter since he returned from rehab, says that they’ll find a place for him in the hospital.

The new X-ray tech, Lee Tovan (Robert Daniels), cannot hear. His supervisor (Raymond Singer) claims that Lee is too difficult to work with. Westphall pledges to support Lee, no matter how much his supervisor complains.

Victor meets Roberta’s wealthy parents and, to everyone’s shock (especially his), he manages to charm them. Victor also asks Dr. Craig if he can use his house for the wedding. Dr. Craig misunderstands and thinks that Victor is asking him to be his best man. Victor explains that he’s already asked his friend, “Dogger,” to be best man. Craig rolls his eyes but agrees to let Victor use the house.

Finally, Dr. Auschlander asks Fiscus to help him get some marijuana to help with his chemo side effects. Fiscus tries and fails to call his old college weed guy and then asks Luther if he knows anyone who deals drugs. Luther rightly points out that Fiscus is stereotyping him but he still manages to get Auschlander a baggie of joints. Auschlander gets high. For a first time smoker, he gets REALLY high! He also ultimately decides that marijuana is not for him.

This episode was a bit uneven. I liked the irony of White saving Shirley, just to potentially lose his own career as a result. (Saying that he stole the keys probably didn’t help his case.) Victor’s wedding storyline has been kind of dragged out more than it needs to be but it’s still entertaining to watch Dr. Craig get frustrated with him. Norman Lloyd was adorable playing stoned. But the storyline about the deaf x-ray tech was sabotaged by some very bad acting and some very heavy-handed writing. That was a shame.

Next week, Victor Ehrlich gets married!

Trailer for HIGHEST 2 LOWEST (2025), starring Denzel Washington!

Posted on August 5, 2025 by Bradley Crain

Who thinks that a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s HIGH AND LOW, directed by Spike Lee, and starring Denzel Washington, sounds intriguing? I do! The duo’s fifth film will be released on August 15th, 2025.

Check out the trailer for HIGHEST 2 LOWEST:

Retro Television Review: St. Elsewhere 2.9 “AIDS and Comfort”

Posted on August 1, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, St. Elsewhere makes history.

Episode 2.9 “AIDS and Comfort”

(Dir by Victor Lobl, originally aired on December 21st, 1983)

A city councilman named Anthony Gifford (Michael Brandon) has checked into St. Eligius under an assumed name. He’s complaining about fatigue. His lymph nodes are swollen. His immune system seems to be shutting down. Dr. White and Dr. Westphall look at the man’s x-rays and Dr. White says that it looks like Gifford might be suffering from a newly discovered disease that no one knows much about. The name of that disease is AIDS.

“Could he be …. gay?” Dr. White asks.

Westphall initially scoffs. He points out that Gifford is married and has two children. When Gifford is asked directly about his personal life, he admits to having affairs but is quick to say that they were all with women. Westphall later says that Gifford is either lying or they’ve discovered something entirely new about the virus and they need to call the CDC….

Today, with all we know about HIV and AIDS, it’s a bit jarring to hear some of the dialogue in this episode. Doing some research, I discovered that this was the first ever episode of network television to deal with the AIDS epidemic and that it aired at a time when there were still a lot of unanswered questions about how the disease was spread. (For instance, the episode aired shortly after the HIV virus has been discovered.)

When words get out that Gifford is a patient at the hospital and that he has AIDS, panic erupts. No one donates to the hospital’s blood drive because they’re scared the needles have somehow gotten infected. Even usually sympathetic characters — like Luther and Dr. Fiscus — refuse to be anywhere near the isolation ward. Gifford’s doctor, Peter White, requests that Gifford’s case be given to another doctor. Later, White asks everyone is Westphall is mad at him. Morrison replies that White acted unethically. White blames his wife and her fears of him contracting the disease by being in the same room as Gifford. (Not surprisingly, White is also the one who, because he won’t stop whining about his job, is responsible for word spreading about Gifford having AIDS.)

After spending nearly the entire episode denying it, Gifford finally admits to having had affairs with other men. As he leaves the isolation ward, he’s besieged by reporters. Getting in the elevator, he sees that someone has spray-painted “AIDS” on the wall. Before he leaves, he asks Westphall how long he has. Westphall grimly replies that most AIDS patients die within two years.

Later, while talking to Dr. Craig and Nurse Rosenthal, Westphall says, “Yeah, I know that’s how I felt about it at first. Then I started to think, Who am I? Why should any of us be penalized, fatally, for choosing a certain lifestyle, especially when you realize that it all boils down to chance anyway? And I tell you something I don’t give a damn for all this talk about morality and vengeful gods and all that. If you have AIDS, you’re sick, you need help. That’s all that matters. And that’s why we’re here, right?”

And yes, it’s a bit jarring to hear Westphall refer to being a gay as a “choosing a certain lifestyle,” but you again you have to consider when this episode aired and that it was also the first network television show to feature a storyline about AIDS. When this episode aired, saying that “If you have AIDS, you’re sick, you need help …. that’s all that matters,” took a certain amount of courage. For many viewers, this episode was probably the first they ever really heard about AIDS.

This episode dealt very honestly with AIDS. It actually helped that all of the character didn’t have the type of “perfect” reaction that television shows often present characters as having. Even Dr. Westphall, usually presented as being this show’s beacon of moral clarity, had to deal with his own prejudices. When it comes to a controversial topic, television shows too often portray their lead characters as being saints. This episode portrayed the staff of St. Elsewhere as being flawed and imperfect and, as such, it was a very effective and thought-provoking hour.

Retro Television Review: St. Elsewhere 2.6 “Under Pressure”

Posted on July 11, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, the hospital staff is under pressure!

Episode 2.6 “Under Pressure”

(Dir by David Anspaugh, originally aired on November 30th, 1983)

What a depressing episode!

It’s another day at St. Eligius and almost everyone seems to be in a bad mood. Patients are complaining that Dr. Craig is so obsessed with his heart transplant that he’s ignoring them. Dr. Westphall wakes up in a bad mood and continue to be in a bad mood for the entire episode. Dr. Morrison is upset because he’s treating two Irish teens who nearly killed each other because one is Protestant and the other is Catholic. (One of the teens is played by a young Eric Stoltz.) Bobby Caldwell has to figure out how to put together the face of one of the Irish boys. Ehrlich is complaining nonstop. Morrison is missing his wife. Auschlander is dealing with his approaching mortality. (There’s a wonderful moment when Norman Lloyd rolls his eyes while Auschlander listens to Westphall whine.)

Finally, a man calling himself Mr. Entertainment (Austin Pendleton) took over one of the hospital’s elevators and sang to the patients. That cheered some people up. It would have annoyed the Hell out of me. Mr. Entertainment is checked into the psych ward, where he meets the new head psychiatrist, Michael Ridley (Paul Sand). (Hugh Beale apparently no longer works at the hospital. Both he and Dr. Samuels were dropped after the first season, with no onscreen explanation.) The episode ends with Mr. Entertainment singing for a collection of nurses and doctors and bringing some happiness to their lives.

Everyone in this episode is under pressure. That’s fine. That’s realistic. Being a doctor cannot be an easy job. But it just made for a rather melancholy episode and I have to admit that I couldn’t wait for the end credits and that meowing cat.

Perhaps next week will be better.