TOMMY:

Tommy Westphall was an austistic child on the TV series St Elsewhere who, it was revealed in the closing moments of the final episode of that series, had dreamt the entire run of the show.

St Elsewhere has direct connections to twelve other television series - many of them direct crossovers of character to and from the series. Others make mention of specific parts of the St Elsewhere fictional universe, placing them within the same fictional sphere.

If St Elsewhere exists only within Tommy Westphall's mind, then so does every other series set within the same fictional sphere.

Some of the links are direct - characters cross over from television series to television series all the time, it's a long-time television tradition. Some series spin off entire other series, obviously expanding their fictional universes.

Some connections are indirect - fictional places, character names, awards, newspapers, cigarette brands, companies place some shows within the same fictional universe.

There isn't necessarily any rhyme or reason with having one series connect to another. There is no attempt to have any crossover consistency either within the series themselves or here as we discover more connections.

Tommy's mind is a tricky thing to decipher.

THE GRID:

This page began simply as a list of crossover appearances by characters from Homicide: Life on the Street on other programs and characters from other programs appearing on Homicide.

Then came the realisation that the Fontana-verse (named after Homicide producer and St Elsewhere writer Tom Fontana) was bigger than we had realised. St Elsewhere - which had a direct crossover with Homicide - had many connections to other TV shows. And cross-pollinating Homicide with Dick Wolf's Law & Order franchise bred even more connections.

Tom Fontana has increased his own corner of the multiverse by adding sly references to his past series in his current work. It is his hope that one day all of TV will be part of Tommy's mind. I'm not sure if he's joking or not, but slowly but surely, Tom's (and Tommy's) dream is coming true.Fig 1. a sample of the grid. Click on above for a jpeg of the full picture of Tommy's Mind (648kb)

DOWNLOAD:

Originally devised as an Excel spreadsheet, the Grid is now available for download as:

- Large jpeg

- Small jpeg

- PDF File

There is also a list of all series within Tommy Westphall's Mind (including original airdates and network), in alphabetical order:

- PDF File

- Text

Once the crossover grid was finished, we realised the connections - while clear to see - couldn't be easily deciphered on a mere spreadsheet.

So we went to work creating a key to explain how Homicide and St Elsewhere exist within the same fictional sphere as Buffy, Seinfeld, Walker Texas Ranger, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, I Love Lucy, Mayberry RFD, Cop Rock, Ellen, M*A*S*H, Parker Lewis Can't Lose, The Jeffersons... and a whole host of others.

The Key includes a description of how each series connects to the ones immediately adjacent to it on the grid. These descriptions are very brief, but do give a quick understanding of the connections involved. It is organised by quadrant (the best way we could distinguish where to direct your eye) - although it is becoming less clear as time goes on - the connections spreading further and further from the Homicide/St Elsewhere core.

(NB: Nearly half the grid is comprised of series many generations from the crux. Keep in mind, though, these series are listed under the "Top Left" designation on the Key.)

A brief description of what is not included and the final count round out The Key.

DOWNLOAD:

The Key is now available:

- PDF File

- Text

280 shows are connected to Homicide: Life on the Street and St. Elsewhere, for a grand total of 282 series.

There are 15 non-US shows in the Tommyverse. Most notably the Candian teen series "Degrassi Junior High" and its spin-offs, "Doctor Who" and its spin-offs, as well as the only non-English language series "Paris Section Criminelle" - a French-language version of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent".

The shows span from 1951 (I Love Lucy) to the present (23 shows are still on the air).

FULL DOWNLOAD NOW AVAILABLE IN PDF FORMAT:

Includes Grid, Key and Stats in on file!

Tommy Westphall - A Multiverse Explored

The Crossover Grid is always evolving. Occasionally it will stay dormant for months at a time.

To facilitate discussion on the Multiverse, the Grid, the Key and our combined insanity, we have created a LiveJournal Community named in honour of the child whose head contains all of this and - potentially - all of us.

See you at Tommy Westphall! Your hosts, Westphallian and CrossoverMan.

Or contact us via e-mail.

An Explanation:

Law & Order is one of television's longest-running dramatic series.

Premiering on NBC in 1990 (after Dick Wolf produced the pilot, "Everybody's Favourite Bagman" for CBS in 1988), the show is now in its 18h Season and has spawned three spinoffs - Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999), Law & Order: Criminial Intent (2001) and Law & Order: Trial by Jury (2005).

Most television series continue because of the viewers' attachment to the characters week in and week out, but with L&O, the series has always been story-driven, with details about the characters coming out very gradually - usually in response to each case as it comes. The show's dedication to story has allowed it to survive many cast changes across its fifteen years.

No original characters remain on L&O, which probably puts it in the record books for a prime-time drama. Even record-holder Gunsmoke (whose 20 years on air Dick Wolf is sure L&O can beat) had two originals left in its final season.

The structure of the cast on L&O is also unique. Six main characters holding six specific positions within the show's structure is the series' paradigm. When one character leaves, their replacement fills the same position - albeit with their own personalities.

The first cast change came at the end of season one, when George Dzundza left the series, to be replaced in season two by Paul Sorvino. Sorvino left the following season to be replaced by Jerry Orbach who remained until the end of Season 14. He was replaced in Season 15 by Dennis Farina.

For each of the first seven seasons, one of the six main characters was replaced. In fact, over 18 years, only two seasons have held exactly the same cast as the previous year.

S Epatha Merkeson holds the record for the longest-serving cast member, appearing in fifteen of the eighteen seasons as Lieutenant Van Buren. The position of Lieutenant has only been held by two cast members in the series run.

The second longest running cast member is Sam Waterston, who joined in season five. Throughout his run he has appeared as the Executive Assistant District Attorney, but in the forthcoming season, he'll move into the position of District Attorney.

The Law & Order spreadsheet you are about to peruse was first created by someone other than myself. I found it linked to at the L&O newsgroup through Google (or Dejanews as it was at the time). As best I can recall, it contained details for the first seven years of the show only.

As I have continued to update it, I have made changes to the spreadsheet, including further details on recurring characters, as well as a sidebar detailing L&O cast appearances on Homicide: Life on the Street, the first (and as yet only) L&O TV movie - Exiled, and on the three spin-offs, SVU, CI and TbJ.

Download the spreadsheet here

At the time of Orbach's death, he was the longest serving character on the original Law & Order series.

Orbach appeared on all three Law & Order spin-offs, including the short lived Trial by Jury where he would have been a recurring cast member.

He also appeared as Lennie Briscoe on three episodes of the series Homicide: Life on the Street and in the only L&O TV movie, Exiled.

Vale Jerry Orbach. 1935-2004

Farewell, Detective Briscoe. 1992-2005