Doogie Howser is coming back to entertain a new generation. Doogie Kamealoha, M.D. debuts today on Disney+, a reboot of the popular ABC series that starred Neil Patrick Harris.
This time around, the show follows 17-year-old Peyton Elizabeth Lee as the precocious teenage doctor, and the setting has moved from Los Angeles to Honolulu, Hawaii.
“I grew up watching the show, I always loved it,” writer Kourtney Kang told ABC Audio, explaining the show’s new look and locale. “And I also grew up always wishing there was a show that looked like my family. I was born in Hawaii. My dad’s Korean. My mom’s an Irish Catholic girl from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and there was never a family that looked like mine.”
So, when she heard that Disney+ was reviving her childhood hero, Kang jumped right on it, saying she was inspired to create “the show that I’ve always wanted to make.” She also admits she made the show because she wanted to give her three daughters the chance to see themselves represented on screen.
“I love the idea that they’re going to grow up with watching a Doogie show,” she said, “but it’s a girl at the center and not just a girl, a mixed-race girl from Hawaii and sort of see that different perspective.”
As for star Peyton Elizabeth Lee, she’s excited because her parents were fans of the original series.
“When I got the audition for it, my parents were very excited because they watched the show,” she dished, adding that their enthusiasm inspired her to binge the medical drama.
Doogie Howser ran for four seasons between 1989 to 1993 on ABC, winning three Emmy Awards.
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