St. Elsewhere
Last Dance at the Wrecker's Ball
TV Flash files “Last Dance at the Wrecker's Ball” as the last listed hour of season 5 — St. Elsewhere (1982–1988) on NBC, season 5, episode 23, aired 1987-05-27, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S05E23: listed hour 115 of 137 in the St. Elsewhere guide, last listed hour of season 5. It aired 1987-05-27 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Slip Sliding Away” (S05E22). Next is “Resurrection” (S06E01).
Viewer FAQ
Where does Last Dance at the Wrecker's Ball sit in the St. Elsewhere guide?
S05E23 is listed hour 115 of 137 — last listed hour of season 5, season 5 episode 23.
When did St. Elsewhere S05E23 air?
Last Dance at the Wrecker's Ball aired 1987-05-27 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Do I have to finish for the snow-globe ending?
The finale is the lore — it suggests the hospital world may be imagined by a child staring into a snow globe — but the six seasons are the medical ensemble. Watch the dump first; the twist is the argument after.
In the series
Why this series still plays
1980s hospital drama with teeth: St. Eligius as the dump where careers washed up, an MTM ensemble (Denzel Washington among them) mixing cases with serial damage. Also a starter kit for later prestige habits — and an all-time infamous snow-globe ending. Rounds never recovered. Watch it for quality-TV medicine, stay for the continuity fight it still starts.
St. Eligius was the dump where careers and patients washed up, and NBC still put it on the night like a dare. *St. Elsewhere* (1982–1988) — Joshua Brand and John Falsey, MTM's quality banner — treated medicine as human mess rather than soap glamour. Ed Flanders, William Daniels, Howie Mandel, Denzel Washington, Ed Begley Jr., David Morse, a deep bench mixing case-of-the-week with serial character damage. Six seasons, 137 hours. Max's vending machine would call this a limited run with a twist ending. **It was…
Filed against
- Ed Flanders as Dr. Donald Westphall
Ed Flanders ran St. Eligius as Dr. Donald Westphall on St. Elsewhere — the dump where careers washed up, MTM ensemble teeth, and hospital drama that mixed cases with serial damage. Rounds never recovered. TV Flash files him as 1980s…
- William Daniels as Dr. Mark Craig
William Daniels’s Dr. Mark Craig made St. Elsewhere’s dump hospital feel like a scalpel with tenure — 1980s catalog rounds, then Knight Rider’s KITT and Boy Meets World’s Feeny stretching the same diction into a car and a classroom. TV…
- Howie Mandel as Dr. Wayne Fiscus
Howie Mandel's Dr. Wayne Fiscus worked St. Elsewhere as the dump where careers washed up — 1980s hospital drama with teeth, MTM ensemble mixing cases with serial damage, an infamous snow-globe ending. Rounds never recovered. TV Flash…
- Denzel Washington as Dr. Philip Chandler
Denzel Washington’s Dr. Philip Chandler walked St. Elsewhere’s dump hospital as MTM ensemble steel — St. Eligius where careers washed up, cases mixed with serial damage, a 1980s hospital drama with teeth and an infamous snow-globe ending.…
- David Morse as Dr. Jack Morrison
David Morse’s Dr. Jack Morrison made St. Elsewhere’s dump rounds feel like a conscience with a pager — 1980s catalog MTM hospital teeth, then John Adams stretching the stillness into founding-era grit. TV Flash files him as the intern who…