Cheers to St. Elsewhere

During St. Elsewhere's season three finale, Doctors Donald Westphall, Mark Craig, and Daniel Auschlander head to Cheers for beer. 

Television crossovers are an old phenomenon, still seen today, but they're reasonably rare and thus still feel special, suggesting fictional worlds larger than the restrictions of any one drama or comedy. When I first read that the Cheers/St. Elsewhere crossover existed, I wondered how the creators of the episode would balance the very different tones of the two shows. 

As it turns out, and as I suppose should have been obvious, the crossover was a St. Elsewhere episode, not a Cheers episode, so drama won out. The three doctors have a pretty serious discussion at the bar, and the laughs aren't terribly uproarious. Carla Tortelli (Rhea Perlman) is as sharp-mouthed as ever as she waits on the doctors' table, calling St. Eligius a dump and crossing swords with the equally sharp-tongued Doctor Craig. Norm (George Wendt) recognizes Doctor Auschlander when he walks into the bar, and there's a brief exchange about taxes; Norm, it turns out, is the good doctor's accountant. And finally. Cliff (John Ratzenberger) drifts by the table to share some of his overblown erudition. 

It all works, because the crossover feels organic. The scene is given just as much weight as it would have had there been no crossover at all; that is, if they'd gone to some other bar filled with nameless extras. If it was intended as a way to boost ratings for St. Elsewhere, the crossover was certainly handled more artistically than one might have expected.