THE "GREY'S ANATOMY" - "ST. ELSEWHERE" CROSSOVER

'GREY'S ANATOMY'

"LET THE BAD TIMES ROLL"

Thanks to a head's-up warning from Brent McKee, blogmaster of "I Am A Child Of Television" (Link is to the left, Team Toobworld!), I watched the latest episode of 'Grey's Anatomy' on Hulu......

Watching the previews at the end of tonight's "Grey's Anatomy" offered a huge possible X-over. Next week the various residents will be doing their surgical board exams. This includes Christina who is of course a heart surgeon. It appears that one of her board examiners is played by William Daniels! And of course William Daniels played Mark Craig on "St. Elsewhere"!! Naturally we'll know more next week, but I'm sure we can all see the implications here.

It was a good tip! As you can see from the following frame grabs, the character played by William Daniels was not identified by name:

From TVRage.com

From the "Grey's Anatomy" Wiki

So for all intents and purposes, I believe he was playing Dr. Mark Craig - older, quieter, but no less acerbic. And that he - as a "cardio god" (as one commenter at the Entertainment Weekly recap described him) - was in charge of Dr. Cristina Yang's three sessions made his identification as Dr. Mark Craig even stronger.

The "boards" were conducted in San Francisco, with doctors flown in from all over the country to examine each applicant (not just those residents from Seattle Grace). So there's no obstruction to Dr. Craig flying in from Cleveland to take part. (I'm assuming he was still in Cleveland - by the end of 'St. Elsewhere' in 1988, his wife had taken a post in the city and so he reluctantly agreed to move with her.

By the way, I'm one of those crossoverists who does not subscribe to the Westphallian Universe Theory- the belief that all of the 'St. Elsewhere' series took place in the mind of an autistic boy. For me, the dream-world began as Tommy Westphall was looking out the window and he began imagining a world in which Dr. Auschlander was still alive (and his grandfather to boot), while his father, Dr. Donald Westphall, was now a construction worker.

So this appearance by Dr. Craig was the real deal.

This just may be the top crossover of the year, but I don't mind listing it as the Best Theoretical Crossover for Toobits Awards consideration.  It also puts Dr. Craig in contention for the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame.....

Thanks, Brent!  I never would have seen this had it not been for you.  'Grey's Anatomy' just isn't my cuppa (although I had no complaints about watching the bathroom sex scene!)

BCnU!