"Remission"

Description: Auschlander faces the prospect of more chemotherapy for his liver cancer. A female flasher makes the rounds. The fastidious Ehrlich has a nightmare of a roommate when the free-wheeling Fiscus moves in temporarily. Cavanero faces a difficult choice about a fellowship. Chandler and Morrison treat a patient beaten in a racially-motivated gang fight.

"Remission" is the 14th episode of season 1 of St. Elsewhere.
Originally aired February 22, 1983.
Teleplay by Leigh Curran
Story by Joshua Brand, John Falsey
Directed by Mark Tinker


Recap:

It's 10:48 PM in the E.R. Dr. Wayne Fiscus (Howie Mandel) is telling Dr. Philip Chandler (Denzel Washington) about his desire to hire a lawyer to sue his landlord, who has sold his house, forcing Wayne to vacate his apartment. He has to be out tomorrow. Wayne admits that he had received notice six months earlier. Phil hands Wayne the paper, as he got his car from an ad, a 1972 Buick station wagon that drives like a boat. Nurse Shirley Daniels (Ellen Bry) appears, and tells Wayne he's got a "customer."

A young man (Michael Madsen) has brought in his younger brother (David Elliott), who's been severely beaten and is lying on a bench. They sit him up. Wayne asks him to open his mouth, and the man recoils in pain. He's bleeding from somewhere in his mouth, and he has a broken tooth. They put him on a gurney and Shirley wheels him away for x-rays. Wayne asks what happened. The older brother says he got jumped by "a couple n*****s." He doesn't know who they were. Wayne asks him to have a seat.

The next morning, Dr. Donald Westphall (Ed Flanders) and Dr. Daniel Auschlander (Norman Lloyd) are playing tennis, and Daniel wins the rally and takes the set. Donald asks Daniel why he couldn't be more patronizing on the court, and drop a point every now and then. Daniel admits he's a bad loser, but a wonderful winner. Daniel will be supervising a lecture Dr. Cavanero is giving to the first-year residents.

At 8:02 AM,


Trivia for "Remission":

• Broadway legend Janis Paige played flasher Dee Macaluso. Though her character was fifty years old, Paige was actually sixty years old when they filmed this episode.
• Michael Madsen, who played Mike O'Connor, would go on to a long and successful film career. He's been in a lot of movies, but to me his iconic role is Mr. Blonde in Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (1992).
• Morton Chegley was the name of the doctor that the title character worked for in Julia (1968-71). Chegley was played by Lloyd Nolan, and Julia was played by Diahann Carroll.

Here's "Remission" on DailyMotion:



Cast

Starring
Ed Flanders as Dr. Donald Westphall
and
David Birney as Dr. Ben Samuels

Also Starring (in alphabetical order)
G.W. Bailey as Dr. Hugh Beale
Ed Begley, Jr. as Dr. Victor Ehrlich
Terence Knox as Dr. Peter White
Howie Mandel as Dr. Wayne Fiscus
David Morse as Dr. Jack Morrison
Christina Pickles as Nurse Helen Rosenthal
Kavi Raz as Dr. Vijay Kochar
Cynthia Sikes as Dr. Annie Cavanero
Denzel Washington as Dr. Philip Chandler

and Starring
William Daniels as Dr. Mark Craig

Guest Starring
Norman Lloyd as Dr. Daniel Auschlander
Kim Miyori as Dr. Wendy Armstrong
Ellen Bry as Nurse Shirley Daniels
Dick O'Neill as Mr. O'Connor
Janis Paige as Dee Macaluso
Melody Anderson as Nurse Jill Roberts
David Elliott as Kevin O'Connor
Michael Madsen as Mike O'Connor

Co-Starring
Sagan Lewis as Dr. Jacqueline Wade
Jennifer Savidge as Nurse Lucy Papandrao
Stacy Keach, Sr. as Father Sturm
Ben Slack as Mr. Samrock
Arthur Taxier as Dr. Morton Chegley

With
D.J. Sydney as Mrs. Rowand
Mark Cassella as Dudley
Robert Beecher as Mr. Stratos
Fred Dennis as Neil Dubrock


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