Reminder: Every Show You’ve Ever Loved Exists in the Mind of This Child

by Howie Decker @HowardTheDeck on December 13, 2013

in Television

The recent appearance of Walter White’s signature blue meth on Arrow got me searching for other television Easter Eggs that’ve been spotted over the years. My search took me to Reddit (shocker), specifically this Best Easter Eggs in a Television Show discussion. Perhaps the most interesting nugget embedded in the comments is this one, posted by user redliness, regarding the “universe” in which many prominent shows take place:

The Tommy Westphall universe is another great one. Tommy Westphall was an autistic child in the TV series “St Elsewhere”. In the final episode, it was revealed that the entire series had taken place in his mind. Which was a problem, because other shows had crossed over into that show, meaning they were also fictional. And other shows had crossed over into those shows, and so on… making pretty much every TV show from the past 20 years take place in the mind of one kid.

For example, two characters from St Elsewhere appeared on the series Homicide — so Homicide was in that kid’s mind, too. And a character from Homicide crossed over into The Wire, The X-Files, Sesame Street, and Arrested Development, which puts those shows, Millennium, and The Simpsons into that universe. Which also put Family Guy, Futurama, and The Critic into that universe. A St Elsewhere character appeared on ER, and an ER character appeared on Friends; Friends takes place in the same universe as Mad About You, which takes place in the same universe as Seinfeld, putting all those shows in the mind of a disabled child as well. It’s fun to trace it all out, and connect every show to it. The Wire, Fringe, Firefly, Twin Peaks, Seinfeld, Lost, Doctor Who, Knight Rider, Sherlock, and Battlestar Galactica all take place in the same universe if you get that nerdy about it.

That’s right, Tommy Westphall’s brain is straight ballin’ son. According to this theory, some, nay- MOST of the best television series in history took place in this kid’s mind. I remember the snow globe ending of St. Elsewhere, but I had never pondered it’s far reaching ramifications. I realize I may be late to the party, since there are websites dedicated to the Tommy Wesphall “multiverse”, but Barry Allen is late to everything and he’s still cool, right? RIGHT?

I don’t quite follow this chart, but it appears to be a “six degrees of St. Elsewhere” of sorts, which ties every show on the chart to Tommy’s snow globe, and essentially, his mind. Mine = blown.

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