Before ‘The Pitt,’ There Was ‘St. Elsewhere’

Though it was never an outright hit, St. Elsewhere punched way above its weight in terms of the careers it helped launch and a style that set the template for medical dramas that followed it. The show can also boast one of the more memorable series finales in TV history. Created by Joshua Brand and John Falsey, St. Elsewhere followed the staff and patients at a struggling Boston hospital over six seasons on NBC, from 1982 to 1988. Like its fellow NBC show Hill Street Blues (both were from MTM Enterprises), St. Elsewhere pioneered a new kind of storytelling. Hospital dramas that came before it focused mainly on a lead character whose…