Medical dramas like Dr. Kildare, Medical Center, Chicago Hope, and ER have long been one of the most popular television show formats. Of the many programs that presented the issues surrounding major medical institutions, none was more unique, ambitious, and unpredictable than St. Elsewhere. The series, which ran on NBC from 1982 to 1988, focused on the lives of the doctors, nurses, and patients at St. Eligius, an inner city Boston teaching hospital. Each episode offered a realistic look at the fallibility of doctors, the stresses of being hospitalized, and the ethical dilemmas inherent in the practice of medicine. Mixed in with the often tragic storylines were oblique in-jokes, subtle bawdy humor, and countless intertextual references to other works of popular culture. Although the series often struggled with mediocre ratings, its strong appeal to the demographically important baby-boomer and upscale urban professional audiences allowed the idiosyncratic show to...