Doogie Kameāloha, M.D., a new, diverse take on the classic TV series Doogie Howser, M.D., has been picked up to series at Disney+, which will air the reboot sometime next year.
Kourtney Kang (Fresh Off the Boat) is set to write and executive produce the half-hour comedy series for 20th Television, and production is slated to start later this year. Jake Kasdan and Melvin Mar will also executive produce, while Dayna and Jesse Bochco will serve as producers on the show.
Set in modern-day Hawaii, the 10-episode comedy follows Lahela “Doogie” Kameāloha, a mixed race 16-year-old girl, juggling a budding medical career and life as a teenager. Guiding Lahela -- and also complicating things -- is her family, including her spitfire Irish mother, who’s also her supervisor at the hospital, and her Hawaiian father, who is struggling to accept that his daughter is no longer his little girl. That's a solid take right there, and I dig the new direction that Disney is taking this series.
“Thirty years ago, a young medical prodigy took the world by storm and left a lasting impact on pop culture," said Disney+ exec Ricky Strauss. “Kourtney and the team at 20th Television have created a very modern take on this beloved property, which will resonate with our global Disney+ audience. We can’t wait to introduce the world to the new Doogie!”
“Doogie Howser M.D. is beloved by everyone at our studio, so we knew that if we were going to reinvent it for a new generation, we had to have both the blessing and participation of the Bochcos and a creator with a fresh, new take that made us lean in,” added 20th Television president Carolyn Cassidy. “Kourtney’s vision for the character is so inspired, we’ve been dying to collaborate with Melvin and Jake again, and Disney+ is exactly the right home for this idea. We couldn’t be more excited.”
Running for four seasons on ABC from 1989 to 1993, Doogie Howser, M.D. starred Neil Patrick Harris as the prodigious teenage doctor. It's a good thing that kid applied his genius to the field of medicine, because these days, he'd probably become a supervillain or invent the next Facebook or something. NPH leaves some big shoes to fill (well, they were a lot smaller back then), but whoever lands this role may very well go on to become a TV icon in their own right.
Here's the thing, if Doogie Howser, and this Doogie Kameāloha were so smart, they'd probably recommend that production hold off until there's a COVID-19 vaccine available. But hey, I'm not a doctor, no matter how much my parents wanted me to be. And hey, speaking of streaming reboots, Amazon just cast the lead in its Jack Reacher series, so click here to find out who landed the plum part.