Retro Television Review: St. Elsewhere 3.15 “Bye, George”

Posted on April 10, 2026 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 Daily Motion.

Episode 3.15 “Bye George”

(Dir by Mark Tinker, originally aired on January 9th, 1985)

It’s another busy day at St. Eligius.

The then-Governor of Massachusetts, Michael Dukakis, appears as himself, entering the ER after pulling a muscle while out for his daily run. Fiscus refuses to believe that he’s the governor. Elliot recognizes him, of course.
Three years later, Governor Dukakis ran for President and lost …. big time. Dukakis is still alive and is the earliest living unsuccessful presidential nominee. Because he lost to the first President Bush, he used to show up on the news during the second President Bush’s term. He always came across as being bitter and kind of whiny.
With Tshalla’s kidney transplant having been performed and his clinic at risk due to government corruption, Dr. Wyler finally leaves Boston and heads back to Africa. And really, it’s not a moment too soon. For all the time the show spent assuring us that Dr. Wyler was a modern-day saint, I found him to be a bit full-of-himself and a little annoying. We’ve already got Dr. Westphall and Dr. Craig on this show. We don’t need any more pompous doctors.
Speaking of Dr. Westphall, he’s depressed. Well, what else is new?
Since revealing that he only studied for six months at a fly-by-night medical school, Dr. Morrison is no longer allowed to treat patients or go on rounds. Joan Halloran (played by Nancy Stafford) returns to the hospital (and the show) and announces that she will be defending Morrison in front of the medical review board and that she hopes that Morrison will be able to continue on as a resident. Morrison just kind of shrugs. Morrison is easily depressed as Dr. Westphall.
Joan talks to everyone around the hospital and everyone agrees that Jack Morrison is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being they’ve ever known in their life. When Joan tells Jack that he is universally beloved, Jack seems to cheer up a little. Not much but a little.
Poor Mrs. Hufnagel. She’s finally about to leave the hospital but, before she goes, she asks another patient, stand-up comedian Murray Robbin (Murray Rubin), to marry her. Murray says he’ll think about it and then he promptly dies.
Murray was Elliot’s patient. Depressed by his death, Elliot goes to Westphall for advice. Westphall’s advice is as useless as usual. Given that Westphall can’t even hear the laughter of children without spending the next eight hours obsessing on about how they’re all going to grow up and die someday, he may not be the best person to talk to while feeling down.
Elliot finds Hufnagel in the chapel and they both cry together. It was a touching scene, well-played by Florence Halop and Stephen Furst.
Dr. Ehrlich took Dr. Craig out for dinner! Yay! I love it Ehrlich tries to suck up to Craig because it neve goes well. He takes the Craigs to an incredibly tacky Hawaiian place.
Uh-oh, Ehrlich’s credit card has been declined! Surely the wealthy Dr. Craig will help….
“Start washing dishes, Ehrlich,” Craig says.
As if so often the case, Ellen Craig admonishes her husband for being rude and agrees to help Victor out.

This was a great episode! Yes, Westphall and Morrison were their usual depressing selves but Elliot and Hufnagel finally got to act like real people (as opposed to just caricatures) and the bit with Ehrlich and the Craigs was wonderfully handled. Those who only know William Daniels as the kindly old Mr. Fenney are really missing out. Dr. Craig’s a great character.

I enjoyed this episode. For once, the humor and the drama were evenly balanced. With Peter White dead and the cast clicking as an ensemble, St. Elsewhere appears to have really found its pace.

Retro Television Review: St. Elsewhere 3.13 “Dr. Wyler, I Presume”

Posted on March 27, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, a famous doctor comes to St. Eligius.

Episode 3.13 “Dr. Wyler, I Presume”

(Dir by Mark Tinker, originally aired on December 19th, 1984)

This week’s episode opens in the hospital gift shop. Dr. Craig is excited because a Nobel Prize-winning surgeon, Dr. George Wyler (David Wayne), is traveling from Africa to St. Eligius. Wyler is bring along a man who needs a kidney transplant. They are hoping to find a donor in Boston.

Dr. Auschlander, who is an old friend of Wyler’s, is a bit more nervous. Craig tells him not to worry so much and then grabs a carnation that he puts on Auschlander’s lapel.
As Auschlander starts to leave the gift shop, Craig says, “Don’t forget to pay for that.”

It’s a brilliant opening for a pretty good episode of St. Elsewhere. It’s always interesting to see the usually arrogant Dr. Craig in fanboy mode and one gets the feeling that, if he’s impressed by Dr. Wyler, than Wyler really must be as brilliant as everyone says.
And maybe he is! It’s hard to say for sure. When Wyler arrives at the hospital, he’s avuncular and obviously intelligent but we really don’t learn much about him, beyond the fact that he’s an old friend of Auschlander’s. The rest of Wyler’s scenes feature him and Auschlander sitting around and talking about how they’re both getting older. It’s not boring, largely due to the performances of Norman Lloyd and David Wayne. But, after all of the build-up, it’s a bit anti-climatic. That said, according to the imdb, Dr. Wyler appeared in a total of three episodes so I imagine things will develop.

While this is going on, Nurse Rosenthal is having a mid-life crisis. Her 45th birthday is coming up and she doesn’t want to celebrate it. She’s not amused when the nurses get her a stripper. Usually, I would have sympathy for a character who hates the idea of getting older but I’m a little bit tired of Nurse Rosenthal and her poor-me attitude. I get that she’s upset that her adulterous affair hasn’t been going well but maybe she should take that as a sign to stop sleeping with married men.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Hufnagle, the patient that no one likes, continues to get on everyone’s nerves. She’s even managed to alienate Elliott! I actually feel bad for Mrs. Hufnagle. Yes, she complains a lot but being in a hospital is a scary thing. I get the feeling that the doctors and nurses getting annoyed with her is probably the most realistic part of the series. Dr. Morrison is now Hufnagle’s doctor and that worries me. Morrison’s stories always end in the most depressing way possible.

At the tv station, Victor is told that his medical segments are not popular with viewers and that he needs to make being sick sound more pleasant than it is. Victor records an upbeat segment about how wonderful it is to go the hospital.

At the hospital, Victor assists Dr. Craig in removing an live exploding bullet from a woman who was shot in a robbery. Victor worries that the bullet could explode as he removes it and end his medical career. Fortunately, the operation is successful but Craig still tells Ehrlich that he’s a disgrace.

Ouch!

Hey, this was a really good episode. It was well-acted. It wasn’t too depressing. Dr. Craig got to snap at a lot of people. The best episodes always feature Dr. Craig going off on someone. St. Eligius may not be the best hospital but, this week, it was the most entertaining.

Retro Television Review: St. Elsewhere 3.9 “Up On The Roof”

Posted on February 13, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, an arrest is made.

Episode 3.9 “Up On The Roof”

(Dir by Eric Laneuville, originally aired on November 21st, 1984)

It’s another busy day at St. Eligius.

The last of the firemen (Stephen Elliott) is finally sent home. At first, he’s bitter about all of the skin grafts and all the other work that Dr. Caldwell did on him. But then his grandkids come in the hospital and room and shout, “Grandpa!” And then he steps outside and is greeted by all the other firemen. He leaves in a fire truck and Dr. Caldwell — the only angst-free doctor at St. Eligius — smiles and waves. Finally, someone on this show gets a happy ending.
Ms. Hufnagel continues to get on everyone’s nerves with her constant complaints. Dr. Fiscus dumps her on Dr. Axelrod. While the show seems to want us to be as annoyed with Ms. Hufnagel as everyone else, I have to admit that I feel sorry for her. Does she complain a lot? Yes, she does. But being in a hospital can really be scary. I complained a lot whenever I was rushed to the ER because of my asthma. I complained a lot when my mom was in the hospital. I complained a lot when my dad was in the hospital. I complained a lot when my aunt was in the hospital. Sometimes, complaining is the only comfort you have.
Dr. Morrison is upset when a friend (John Schuck) is told that his daughter cannot be treated with an experimental dialysis machine.
Nurse Rosenthal continues to have an affair with Richard Clarendon, the labor negotiator.
Dr. Christine Holz (Caroline McWilliams) comes to the hospital to perform a bone marrow transplant. Dr. Annie Cavanero invites Dr. Holz to come to her place for dinner. Cavanero is shocked when Dr. Holz reveals that she’s a lesbian and the viewer is once again reminded that this show aired in the mid-80s.
According to what I’ve read online, the original plan was for Dr. Holz to become Cavanero’s romantic partner but Cynthia Sikes refused to kiss another woman onscreen. This led to the storyline being hastily rewritten and it apparently also led to Sikes being fired from the show at the end of the third season.
Kathy Martin is still in the psych ward. When Detective Alex MacGallen (Charles Lanyer) attempts to question her about where she was when Peter White was shot, he is informed by Kathy’s doctor that Kathy has an alibi. Later, Shirley comes to the psych ward and slips Kathy a letter.
Shirley has been hiding the gun that she used to shoot Peter all over the hospital. However, when the detective finally confronts her and reveals that he knows that she killed Peter, Shirley pulls the gun on him and then run up to the rooftop.
On the roof, Dr. Westphall and Jack take their turns trying to convince Shirley to surrender to the police. After Shirley confesses and then demands to know why Jack didn’t make more of an effort to stop Peter, Shirley drops her gun and is taken into custody.

This was a depressing episode, even by the standards of St. Elsewhere. Shirley has always been one of my favorite characters and I hate the idea that she’s now going to go to prison for killing Dr. White. From a narrative point of view, someone had to shoot Peter. That was really the only way his story could end. Personally, I think it would have made more sense for Dr. Cavanero to be the shooter that Shirley. I mean, if Cavanero was going to be written off the show anyway, killing Dr. White would have given her a decent exit.

Next week, I’m sure something else depressing will happen. We’ll see!