Tommy Westphall's Mind

Another Homicide Crossover

2009-05-27T08:28:11Z

According to Tom Myers' LO:SVU site, the season finale will guest star Carol Kane reprising her role of Gwen Munch, one of John´s ex-wives who appeared previously in H:LOTS ep. #85 ("All is Bright"), way back in 1997.

This is what makes that whole crossover business so interesting.

What about the Pope?

2008-10-08T20:20:18Z

This may be a moot point since the ascension of Joseph Kardinal Ratzinger to the Holy Seat as Pope Benedict XVI since he bears no resemblance at all to Pope John Paul II. And I know that I have stated differently in a previous thread. But ...

Gene Greytak played Pope John Paul II on - at least - ALF, Ally McBeal, Golden Girls, Picket Fences, SISTER ACT, The Wayans Brothers and numerous others, no doubt. Sometimes credited, sometimes un.

Would he count as a crossover link?

And which shows are missing from the above list?

Community Notice

2008-07-11T10:56:06Z

tommywestphall is now open to posts by all members of the community.

New Community Information is available on the community's profile page and copied below.

New Members are welcome, but will need to be accepted by the moderator.

Posting by your maintainers has dried up in the last twelve months, while discussion continued in old threads. Any information posted there may be transfered into new community posts, allowing all members an opportunity to discuss these crossover connections.

This new policy is designed to encourage up-to-date discussion.

Community Information: (11/07/08)

- </a></b></a>tommywestphall is now a moderated community: memberships need to be accepted
- Posting access has been granted to all community members, but each post needs to be approved by the moderator
- Posts need to remain On Topic: this means - television shows already linked to the Tommy Westphall Universe OR further connections to the Tommy Westphall Universe
- A full list of up-to-date connections to the Tommy Westphall Universe can be downloaded here (this list will continue to be updated, where the above site will remain static)
- The moderator's decision is final. We want to broaden the discussion by opening posting access to the community, but the decision of whether a post will be added or a link included on the spreadsheet is made by mods alone (healthy discussion in the forums can sway them, unhealthy discussion will not be tolerated)

The old versions of the Westphall Universe PDFs will remain accessible for downloading, but will not be updated in the near future.

I do plan on continuing to update this spreadsheet list of Tommy Westphall shows, though even now it is almost twelve months out-of-date. Future posts by all community members should seek to flesh out this list.

Thanks for your attention.

ETA: The Law & Order spreadsheet has been updated for the upcoming 19th season, scheduled to air in 2009.

What's Alan Watching?

2008-02-15T04:04:52Z

Us.

At least he will be now, with the search on for 8,000 Degrees of John Munch...

Upholding LAW & Keeping ORDER

2007-08-06T10:12:17Z

The Law & Order franchise just keeps on ticking. The mothership will launch its 18th Season in January 2008. Special Victims Unit is entering its ninth season. And Criminal Intent will be back for season seven - airing on the USA Network before getting a run on NBC.

The Law & Order Cast Spreadsheet has been my little baby for a long time now - after finding an embryonic version of it online way back when.

Over its eighteen seasons, the original series has had twenty-six different cast members. Eleven in the last four seasons alone - including two new recruits for the coming year: Jeremy Sisto as Detective Cyrus Lupo to partner Detective Green and Linus Roache to play EADA Michael Cutter, taking Sam Waterson's position in the series paradigm... while Waterston's Jack McCoy fills the role of District Attorney.

Law & Order is the longest running series still on air in the Tommy Westphall Universe. The original twenty-six year run of Doctor Who takes the longest-running drama title... at least until we fold in those recent daytime soap opera additions.

Hang on to your snowglobes...

2007-08-04T06:55:23Z

Okay.

I'm finally sifting through old emails, LJ notifications and tommywestphall to make sense of all the suggestions and queries since our last major update... six months ago!

Here we go...

Thanks to Thom Holbrook's site - details to a fully-fledged crossover between CSI: New York and Cold Case

Morley Cigarettes grabs four more series:

Nash Bridges
Prison Break
Space Above and Beyond
That 70s Show

The fictional Los Angeles Tribune brings in (via Lou Grant, which is already on the grid):

Columbo
Moonlighting
24
Matt Huston
Wonder Woman
Remington Steele
City of Angels
Burke's Law (1994)

Columbo then brings in Mrs Columbo (and the various series she morphed into)

Moonlighting crossed over with Hart to Hart

Burke's Law (1994) brings in its predecessors Burke's Law and Amos Burke - Secret Agent

The fictional Hudson University (originating with Law & Order) brings in:

Tru Calling
Without a Trace

(To answer a recent question, Hudson University also connects to the DC Universe series devised by Bruce Timm, as well as the DC comic universe itself)

The fictional Trans-Global Airlines (which actually originated in the Airport film series but got a mention on Matlock) brings in:

Young and the Restless
All My Children
Emergency

and possibly Quincy ME

Thanks to tele_toby and his research, we find...

The Young and the Restless brings in The Bold and the Beautiful and As the World Turns

All My Children brings in General Hospital, One Life to Live, Port Charles and Loving

Emergency brings in Sierra and Adam 12

Adam 12 brings in Dragnet and Dragnet 67 (anyone know if Dragnet 67 is connected to the two revivals in the 80s and 90s?)

Also...

The Double Meat Corporation links Buffy the Vampire Slayer to the short-lived Andy Barker P.I.

The planet Gallifrey links Doctor Who with The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers which brings in the live action series Ninja Turtles the Next Mutation

And, finally, things that don't count...

Bernie Kopell did not appear as his Love Boat character on Fresh Prince of Bel Air, even though his character name was Doc

Columbo is not connected to Magnum P.I.

And the fictional magazine The National Inquisitor is currently being left out of the Westphall-verse to allow for more research on the subject.

That's an additional 35 series. The Grid and Key have not been updated yet. Let's discuss this compiled list and see if they have unearthed any further connections to expand the Tommy Westphall Universe.

Tommy in Melbourne...

2007-08-02T05:48:12Z

The Green Guide in Melbourne's The Age newspaper today discusses a crossover between Crossing Jordan and Las Vegas. It discusses crossovers in general - why they happen, when they work best - and then discusses the Tommy Westphall theory and the site.

The writer's conclusion: "So [Crossing Jordan and Las Vegas] don't really exist. And thank God for that because they are awful."

Read the full article under the cut. Thanks to paulbot for transcribing it...

Critic's View
Lucy Beaumont

This was going to be a simple discussion about crossover appearances.
About how networks and producers stuck for ideas regularly pluck one
or two characters from one show and temporarily insert them into
another.

The shows that do this most effectively are crime shows and soap
operas. These genres work because the character types are fairly
inter-changeable and there are plausible reasons for people to pup up
somewhere else.

Detectives working on a crime in New York might find a clue that leads
them into another jurisdiction.

In soap land, a cosmetics mogul from Genoa City might liaise with
fashion pack in LA (see current The Bold and the Beautiful storyline
featuring Ashley Abbott from The Young and the Restless or previous
appearances on both shows by Lauren Fenmore), which is believable.

Sometimes a crossover appearance is merely a lame promotional tool,
leveraging the appeal of one show to boost a flagging stablemate (see
Ally McBeal and the Practice). Sometimes it's a natural fit (The
Bionic Woman meets The Six Million Dollar Man).

There are in-jokes by producers (the song by Driveshaft in Lost
apparently plays in the background of an episode of Alias, another
show created by J.J. Abrams).

Then you've got your spin-offs, which occasionally match their
forebears (Frasier) but frequently detract from the show that spawned
them (hello Joey).

So this preview of Las Vegas / Crossing Jordan -- in which Danny and
Delinda (Las Vegas' Josh Duhamel and Molly Sims) visit Boston for a
romantic break that includes boxing and murder -- was going to note
how characters can flounder or flourish outside their natural TV
habitat.

Blonde stunner, Delinda, for example, reveals an aptitude for ionic
spectrometry and a strong stomach. Danny, on the other hand, gets into
a beefcake-off with Woddy (Jerry O'Connell).

But none of that matters -- thanks to Tommy Westphall.

He was not a pit boss or a mortician on screen or a director behind
the scenes, but it turns out he is the lord and master of these shows
and hundreds of others.

He was an autistic kid, played by Chad Allen, who appeared in the last
episode of 1980s hospital drama St Elsewhere. In the final frames he
shook a snow dome with a hospital inside, St Eliguis where the soap
was set, implying that the entire series had been a figment of his
imagination.

That's not the end of it because of crossover between St Elsewhere and
other shows. If St Elsewhere doesn't exist, neither can its co-created
Homicide: Life on the Streets. If that latter doesn't exist, there
goes the entire Law & Order franchise. And Chicago Hope and ER and down
the line X Files and therefore The Simpsons.

The theory goes that any show tracing back to St Elsewhere exists only
in the fictional sphere of Tommy's mind. Somebody has plotted out all

the shows connected in this way (it's on the Internet for the geekier

among us) and it goes right back to 1951's I Love Lucy and forward to
today, 282 shows in all, including Crossing Jordan and Las Vegas. So
these two shows don't really exist. And thank God for that because
they are awful.

END OF ARTICLE

In other news, if The Simpsons counted, then 24 would be part of the Westphall Universe madness - with Keifer Sutherland appearing as Jack Bauer on a recent episode, "24 Minutes".

But animated series don't count. I wonder if Prime Time animated series should...

Finally...

2007-08-01T09:33:32Z

You know what? I've never actually seen this before...

For your enjoyment, the final five minutes of St Elsewhere and the birth of the Tommy Westphall Universe.

Inside the mind of Tommy Westphall

2007-07-20T03:56:50Z

The Guardian blog discusses our friend Tommy in a particularly lucid post on the subject.

And how grateful am I that Six Objections to the Westphall Hypothesis exists? Because at least then bloggers everywhere can sight that without succumbing to the madness.

Plus I don't have to answer stupid email objections - I just point people there and say I've read it all before.

More Wanderers...

2007-05-31T08:26:44Z

Well, time flies when... well, time just flies.

Our good friend johnmunch sent us an update to his Westphall's Wanderers project months and months ago and I never got around to uploading it onto the site. So now that the 2006-07 season has come to an end, I waited until the project was further updated and now I've uploaded the entire thing here.

The Wanderers list keeps track of actual character crossovers between series, specifically listing the when and where - while our Key explains the whys and hows.

Additions to this update include Blossom, Civil Wars, Day by Day, I Dream of Jeannie, the very short-lived Public Morals and the very long-lived and still-running ER.

Enjoy! And one day, we'll update the Grid and the Key, too.

More West Wing/Studio 60

2007-02-20T01:37:42Z

I noticed, and truthbealiar did too, in tonight's episode of Studio 60 the name of a familiar legal firm.

The blonde lawyer on tonight's 60 works for Gage Whitney, the same firm Sam Seaborn worked for on The West Wing before working with the President.

This is more proof that Sorkin loves to recycle names and dialogue. Again on 60 tonight, Matt's assistant said "I go home when you go home." Which is just as lovely a sentiment now as when Margaret said it to Leo on The West Wing.

Now, it's impossible to reconcile President Bush with President Bartlett - but Munch dealing with alien conspiracies on The X Files doesn't exactly fit in neatly with Homicide either...

Still not connected to Tommy, though.

ETA: The OC/Grey's Anatomy connection in thread... (also Non-Tommy so far...)

Hudson University

2007-02-14T10:53:28Z

We've got fictional hospitals, fictional churches and now a fictional University.

Hudson University - mostly seen on Law & Order - also brings in Tru Calling and Without a Trace?

Anyone got more info on this Tommy-verse college?

Non-Tommy Crossover: The West Wing/Studio 60

2007-02-01T01:49:47Z

I always loved the fact that The West Wing took place in its own hermetically sealed universe - even though I would have loved the characters on ER to have left work to vote in the fictional 2006 election between Matt Santos and Arnold Vinnick.

And, so far, Studio 60 has avoided actual crossovers - though it looks like Sorkin might be pushed into marketing crossovers, with Masi Oka of Heroes appearing this week.

But now we have proof that Sorkin's two babies connect to each other.

Note the "Bartlet for America" poster on the wall in this screencap of a Studio 60 office.

Now if only we can connect to Sorkin's third series, Sports Night... then Tommy will have some new friends to play with!

ETA: Maybe it doesn't count? Discussion of Bush and 9/11 references in the comments...

Update at last...

2007-01-14T01:03:19Z

The Tommy Westphall Universe has expanded. By 46 shows!

It's been four and a half months since our last update and the community has worked overtime digging up new connections to the Tommyverse.

The new TV season has already introduced Heroes and The Game.

The Doctor Who canon flies in... bringing along K9 and Company, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures.

The CSI franchise finds itself connected to The X-Files through the fictional Morley cigarettes.

ABC's TGIF sitcoms wander in to send us mods crazy... Seriously, no one should know this much about Sabrina, Boy Meets World, Family Matters, etc, etc. And etc... there's a lot of those suckers!

Although the most bizarre connection is this, a show called Out of the Blue:

Out of the Blue was a spin-off of Happy Days in which Chachi’s guardian angel Random got his own show set in the (then) present day where Random tried to live as a human. (note: due to oddities of scheduling Out of the Blue actually started airing before the episode of Happy Days meant to introduce Random aired. By the time the episode of Happy Days with Random aired Out of the Blue was already on the air and the character was not new. So Random’s appearance on Happy Days is both a crossover episode and a backdoor pilot for a show that was already on the air.)

Mork of Mork and Mindy visited Random on Out of the Blue. The two were old friends, Mork’s home planet of Ork was right next to Heaven (where Random was from)

</random>

Yes, Ork was right next to Heaven! Figure that out, television theologians!

Well, here it is... a full list of forty-six additions:

Red Dwarf
Space: 1999
Doctor Who (1963)
Doctor Who (1996)
Doctor Who (2005)
K9 and Company
Torchwood
Sarah Jane Investigates
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Chelmsford 123
Heroes
Miss Match
The Hughleys
The Parkers
Moesha
Girlfriends
Clueless
Sabrina the Teenage Witch
Teen Angel
You Wish
Boy Meets World
Step by Step
Family Matters
Meego
Perfect Strangers
Full House
Hanging with Mr Cooper
The Game
Gilligan's Island
The New Gidget
Gidget
The Flying Nun
Happy Days
Joanie Loves Chachi
Laverne & Shirley
Mork and Mindy
Blanksy's Beauties
Out of the Blue
Paris Section Criminelle
CSI
CSI: Miami
CSI: New York
Bones
The Wire
Criminal Minds
The Office (US)

Thanks to everyone who contributed to lots and lots of threads over the last few months. The

tommywestphall hive mind works wonders!

The Wire joins the Tommyverse

2006-12-05T00:40:21Z

In the episode of The Wire that aired last night on HBO ("That's Got His Own") there was a crossover with Homicide. In the episode last night Junior Bunk from Homicide was mentioned as someone who had once put bad product on the market causing deaths. It is interesting that this (of all things) was the first mention of Homicide in the canon of The Wire (particularly since The Wire had an earlier bad dope story that could have been referenced).

But it was, no doubt, a crossover for our purposes and counts.

So, The Wire will be added to the grid on the next update (which is coming soon I promise (blame me not crossoverman, I'm the hold up)). Making this the first time in at least a year that a show has been added right to the core of the grid instead of out on the fringes.

Please welcome... the CSI franchise!

2006-10-28T09:07:28Z

The anonymous tipper who suggested someone smoked a Morley cigarette in the fifth season premiere of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation was only one season out, it was in the sixth season premiere, "Bodies in Motion" - as backed-up by a discussion of the episode.

Obviously, one CSI brings in the other two CSI: Miami and CSI: New York. Anybody know if these shows connect beyond their franchise?

A little help... Las Vegas and French L&O

2006-10-24T23:00:23Z

Two things I need help on:

- can anyone confirm a possible sighting of Morley's cigarettes in the fifth season premiere of CSI, "Viva Las Vegas"? Got an email to suggest that the victim of the episode or possibly Warrick smoked the fictional brand in that episode... and it'd be nice to get the CSI franchise in!

- thanks to johnmunch (who else?), there's word that Richard Belzer will appear as John Munch on the French version of Criminal Intent that is being developed over there. No question as to whether that show is in development - Variety confirms it. But the IMDB doesn't list this new show under star, Vincent Perez.

What I need is details on when the program might premiere and if, indeed, Belzer will be guest starring on it. As pointed out here, this will be the first non-English language show in the Westphall Universe...

Happy Days/Perfect Strangers

2006-10-24T03:50:05Z

Thanks to willdevine, we have some more new inclusions to the Tommyverse: the Happy Days family.

According to TV.com, Balkai & Larry on Perfect Strangers have a toilet provided to them by Cunningham Hardware, Milwaulkee, Wisconsin. This is the fictional store and location of Howard Cunningham's business in Happy Days.

Happy Days spun off Joanie Loves Chachi, Laverne & Shirley, Mork and Mindy and had character crossovers with Blanksie's Beauties and Out of the Blue!

Sunday, Monday... No Happy Days!

2006-10-23T10:00:32Z

Why Sabrina the Teenage Witch doesn't link to Happy Days!

Disappointing. Close, but no cigar.

ETA: Hold the presses! I'll be making a new post, but thanks to willdevine, Happy Days are here again!!

Five More

2006-10-21T23:25:07Z

Thanks to the hive mind, yesterday's avalanche picks up five more series... and ushers them into Tommy's mind...

Girlfriends was spun-off this season, creating the first Tommy series to originate on The CW, The Game.

Meego contacted the castaways on Gilligan's Island.

Gilligan's Island met the cast of The New Gidget.

The New Gidget was a sequel to the original Sally Field series, Gidget.

Both Gidget and The Flying Nun's Sister Betrille were members of a band called The Gorries when they were growing up!

Thanks to tele_toby, truthbealiar - and momsdinercodelj for confirmation.

Thanks again to johnmunch for getting us into this little mess of sitcom madness!

From The Hughleys to... ABC's TGIF line-up!

2006-10-21T03:39:01Z

While westphallian and I continue to work on updating the Grid and the Key (yes, yes, it's been a while...), this week has been an embarassment of riches... if indeed that's what you can call "Heroes" and "Miss Match" being welcomed to the Tommyverse.

Now johnmunch has discovered a link between The Drew Carey Show and The Hughleys! And The Hughleys is connected to The Parkers... and that's where the avalanche begins, bringing in lots of sitcoms from all over the dial!

The Drew Carey Show

The Hughleys

The Parkers

Moesha

Girlfriends
Clueless

Sabrina the Teenage Witch

Teen Angel
You Wish
Boy Meets World

Step by Step

Family Matters

Meego
Perfect Strangers
Full House

Hanging with Mr Cooper

We'll explain all the connections once we update, but in this instance, all of the crossovers are actor crossovers! Characters moving from one series to another. Melissa Joan Hart's Sabrina the Teenage Witch visited four series - making her another Tommy Westphall Fiver!

Some of these shows have appeared in the Tommyverse before, but disappeared when their connections were inaccurate. But this time they are full-fledged crossover characters - and the Tommyverse just got bigger (but not all that much funnier... have you seen these shows???)

More Wanderers by johnmunch

2006-10-19T12:30:55Z

While westphallian and I continue to work on the update of the Tommy Westphall Universe (playing God is hard work), I've posted a further update of johnmunch 's exhaustive Westphall's Wanderers guide - currently clocking in at 183 pages!

This file is an adjunct to the main universe fun - Grid and Key - containing a lot of data about crossover appearances by actors in shows linked to St. Elsewhere. Highly recommended, as usual.

New in this addition? Archie Bunker and spin-offs, the original E/R, another Lucille Ball show, Newhart, L.A. Law - and the entire Brady clan... from the Bunch to The Bradys. And lots more!

Boston Legal/Miss Match

2006-10-19T06:45:46Z

The short-lived legal series, "Miss Match" - from producer Darren Star and starring Alicia Silverstone, is connected to the Tommyverse via a Judge, who must have relocated from Los Angeles to Boston. But stranger things have happened in Tommy's head...

Writer Jeff Rake, who helped create Miss Match, moved on to "Boston Legal" in 2004 and imported one of his creations in David E Kelley's series. Actress Anne Betancourt appeared as Judge Isabel Hernandez in both Miss Match and Boston Legal.

Thanks to johnmunch for this find.

We can be "Heroes"... New Season, New Show, New Addition

2006-10-19T00:39:44Z

It may simply have been an act of convenience... But if you're sending your new super "Heroes" to Las Vegas, you might as well shoot on the set of your Las Vegas-based series "Las Vegas" to save on costs!

Heroes' Hiro Nakamura and his best friend played roulette and poker at the fictional Montecito Hotel... which brings the very new show - and the biggest hit of the new season - into the Tommyverse.

Thanks to anonymous for the heads-up!

St Elsewhere - DVD art!

2006-10-12T03:33:48Z

Here it is, the first season DVD cover art!