*St. Elsewhere aired from 1982-1988 on NBC, 6 seasons and 137 episodes.
*Close Encounters is the seventh episode of the series' third season and premiered Wednesday, November 20, 1985 at 10:00 P.M.
*The crossover with Cheers occurs in the episode titled...Cheers! It is the season 3 finale from 1985.
*Ed Flanders died too young at 60 in 1995.
*The series was finally added to Hulu in 2018, but only season 1 is available on DVD.
*The infamous series finale aired May 25, 1988. Here is a compelling piece by Matt Zoller Seitz on the legacy of the episode. He discusses many of the meta aspects we mention on the podcast. Entertainment Weekly asked a group of cast members to comment on the finale in 2012. And here author Sean Munger provides more perspective, arguing that the producers got to do the finale they really wanted to end the fifth season before being renewed by NBC at the last minute.
*The Emmy year Mike highlights is 1984, when Elsewhere received writing noms for 4 different episodes, winning for season 2's The Women, while the other two slots went to Hill Street Blues.
*The astronaut in this episode is played by David Ackroyd. The other grandfather of Dr. Craig's granddaughter is played by prolific character actor Ramon Bieri.
*Betty White guested as Captain Gloria Neal in this episode and the earlier season 3 episode Red, White, Black and Blue.
*Oliver Clark, John Doe #6 here, played Ed Herd in a recurring role on The Bob Newhart Show alongside Jack Riley's Mr. Carlin.
*According to IMDB, the sequence where John Doe #6 changes the channels and hears snippets of various theme songs is edited on Hulu. WKRP, Newhart, Hill Street Blues replace Star Trek, Dragnet, and Leave It to Beaver.
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