# Out of the Blue things learned about TV Characters

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-of-the-blue-things-learned-about-tv-characters/318775>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [August 26, 2005, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-of-the-blue-things-learned-about-tv-characters/318775 "2005-08-26T19:00:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\
**Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-of-the-blue-things-learned-about-tv-characters/318775/41 "2005-08-29T21:01:32Z")

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On Chicago Hope, Dennis casually reveals that he is gay during a conversation with Aaron. It’s never mentioned again, but feels perfectly in keeping with the character and the show, and does add a level of depth.

And I can’t let this thread go by without saying that I loved the ending of St. Elsewhere, and felt that far from being tacked on, it explained a lot about the things that happened during the show, and worked very well in spite of the fact that it almost certainly was not planned from the beginning.

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**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-of-the-blue-things-learned-about-tv-characters/318775/42 "2005-08-30T05:31:56Z")

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> [@JpnDude](#):
>
> I don’t think this should count on the fact that only one day passes during one season.

“What? We’ve known eachother for, what, 9 hours, and you never thought to tell me that you were divorced and had a twin brother?!” 🙂

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**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-of-the-blue-things-learned-about-tv-characters/318775/43 "2005-08-30T11:29:44Z")

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For out of the blue, random and _seemingly_ inconsequential, the revelation that Lenny Briscoe’s birthdate is 2/1/1940. He mentioned it in the episode where the hacker sent a virus to the blood sugar moitioring program. Meant nothing at the time, but if we assume he dies the same day as Jerry Orbach (28/12/04) does that mean he kicked 5 days short of his pension?

mm

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