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!

Usually, I review this show on Friday but, yesterday, my week of visiting Lake Texoma in freezing weather finally caught up with me and I spent most of the day congested and curled up in bed.  As a result, St. Elsewhere got preempted until today.  Now, let’s see what’s happening at St. Eligius….

Episode 1.13 “Family History”

(Dir by Kevin Hooks, originally aired on February 8th, 1983)

After being a background character for the past few episodes, Dr. Wendy Armstrong (Kim Miyori) finally gets her time in the spotlight with this episode.  When Charlie Heller (Keenan Wynn) comes into the ER with a chronic nosebleed, Dr. Armstrong is too quick to assume that it’s nothing serious.  Dr. Westphall, who is in an especially crappy mood this episode, reprimands her for not getting a family history before making her diagnosis.  A chastened Armstrong gets Charlie’s family history and comes to suspect that he has a rare blood condition that only seems to effect Jewish men.  A very expensive test confirms Armstrong’s diagnosis.  Armstrong is excited.  “I was right!” she says.  Westphall again reprimands her, telling her that she now needs to tell Charlie that he has a chronic condition and will have to take medicine for the rest of his life.

Seriously, Westphall was not in a good mood during this episode!  But I don’t blame him.  From her first appearance on the show, Dr. Armstrong has been complaining nonstop.  No matter what happens in the hospital, she seems to take it as a personal affront.  Now, after several episodes of complaining about the other doctors, Armstrong fails to do a simple thing like get a family history.  No wonder Westphall was all like, What are you bragging about?

That said, even if his mood was understandable, I would not want to get on Westphall’s bad side.  Even after Armstrong makes the correct diagnosis, Westphall takes the time to say, “Next time, do what I told you to do.”  Agck!

While Westphall was dealing with whatever was eating away at him, Dr. Chandler was getting annoyed by John Doe’s refusal to try to remember anything about his past.  Even when John Doe’s real father showed up and explained that Doe was his son, Dave Stewart, he refused to try to remember anything.  Eventually, Chandler snapped at Dave for refusing to even try.  Chandler, of course, is played by a young Denzel Washington so, when he gets mad, it’s like having the voice of God call you out.  After Chandler’s reprimand, Dave finally makes an effort to remember his past.  He realizes that, when he was shot, he had a vision of his deceased mother welcoming him to heaven.  Awwww!

Dr. Craig’s friend has his gender affirmation surgery.  Crag met his friend’s lover, a trans man.  Needless to say, this episode featured a lot of scenes of Craig rolling his eyes as he struggled to come to terms with everything he was learning about his old friend.  It was all pretty predictable but William Daniels did a great job playing up Craig’s confusion and single-mindedness.

And finally, Peter was happy because his wife wanted to get back together.  I get the feeling any happiness Peter feels is destined to always be temporary.

This episode was a bit uneven.  Armstrong’s story would have been compelling if Armstrong herself was a more interesting character.  The highlight of the episode were the scenes between Denzel Washington’s doctor and Tom Hulce’s amnesiac.  It’s always enjoyable to watch two good actors perform opposite of each other.

Next week, the great Norman Lloyd takes center stage as Auschlander’s cancer returns.