Captain Gloria Neal (Betty White) refers to Commander Healey from NASA. This is a reference to the I Dream of Jeannie (1965) character Major Roger Healey (Bill Daily).
Elliot Carlin (Jack Riley) praises The White Shadow (1978) and says that whoever came up with it is "a real smoothie." The series was created by Bruce Paltrow, the executive producer of St. Elsewhere (1982). Furthermore, the St. Eligius orderly Warren Coolidge (Byron Stewart) first appeared as a member of the Carver High School basketball team in The White Shadow (1978).
John Doe #6 comes to believe that he is Mary Richards from The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970). He thinks that Captain Gloria Neal (Betty White) is the happy homemaker Sue Ann Nivens but she tells him that he is confusing her with someone else. This is an in-joke as White played Sue Ann in The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970). Furthermore, Ed Flanders (Donald Westphall) played Father Terrance Brian in Mary's Father (1975).
When John Doe #6 finishes watching The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970), the MTM Productions logo with an animated version of its mascot Mimsie the Cat is seen. The same production credit is seen at the end of every episode of St. Elsewhere (1982).