'Doogie Howser, M.D.' at 30: Neil Patrick Harris looks back 'with fondness'

Hard to believe, but it's been 30 years since the doctor was first in.

ABC's "Doogie Howser, M.D." the dramedy about a teen prodigy working as a licensed physician, premiered on ABC Sept. 19, 1989, and launched a then-16-year-old Neil Patrick Harris into the national spotlight. For four seasons, fans followed Dr. Douglas "Doogie" Howser's tightrope walk between the worlds of professional medicine and regular teenage-dom.

We checked in with Harris about whether he had foreseen the big anniversary.

"Is that right? 30 years? Wow, no – as you can hear by my stunned reaction, I haven't given it much thought at all," Harris tells USA TODAY before noting the upcoming milestone makes him "feel like I've lived a whole lot of chapters."

Thirty years after becoming a teen actor, Harris, 46, is perhaps better known for his role as the womanizing Barney Stinson on former CBS comedy "How I Met Your Mother;" stints on Broadway and as a four-time host of the Tony Awards; his marriage to chef/actor David Burtka, 44, and 8-year-old twins Harper and Gideon.

But he hasn't forgotten where he started.

Last year's death of series co-creator Steven Bochco sparked a time of "reflection" for Harris about how the show affected his life, he said.

"I look back on that with fondness," Harris says. "That was a very remarkably wonderful chapter for somebody who had never really been in the entertainment business before."

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Doogie Howser' turns 30: Neil Patrick Harris remembers his beginnings