‘Doogie Howser’ Reboot ‘Doogie Kameāloha, M.D.’ Ordered to Series at Disney Plus

Joe Otterson
·3 min read

Disney Plus has picked up the female-led reboot of “Doogie Howser” to series, Variety has confirmed.

The new series is titled “Doogie Kameāloha, M.D.” As previously reported, it will focus on Lahela “Doogie” Kameāloha, a mixed race 16-year-old girl who works as a doctor in Hawaii.

The 10-episode half-hour comedy follows Kameāloha as she juggles a budding medical career and life as a teenager. Guiding Lahela (and also complicating things) is her family, including her spit-fire Irish mother who’s also her supervisor at the hospital, and her Hawaiian “Local Boy” father struggling to accept that his daughter is no longer his little girl.

The reboot hails from writer and executive producer Kourtney Kang. Jake Kasdan and Melvin Mar will also executive produce along with Dayna and Jesse Bochco producing. 20th Television will produce, with the studio also having produced the original series. Kang, Kasdan, and Mar are all under overall deals at the studio.

“’Doogie Howser MD’ 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,” said Carolyn Cassidy, president of 20th Television. “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.”

The original “Doogie Howser” starred Neil Patrick Harris in the title role. It ran on ABC for four seasons and 97 episodes between 1989 and 1993. Along with Steven Bochco, the series was co-created by David E. Kelley. Neither Kelley nor Harris is attached to the reboot at this time.

Kang, Kasdan, and Mar previously worked together on the ABC sitcom “Fresh Off the Boat,” while Dayna and Jesse are the wife and son of “Doogie Howser” co-creator Steven Bochco. In addition to her work on “Fresh Off the Boat,” on which she served as a writer and co-executive producer, Kang is also known for her time as an executive producer and writer on the hit CBS sitcom “How I Met Your Mother.”

“Thirty years ago, a young medical prodigy took the world by storm and left a lasting impact on pop culture,” said Ricky Strauss, president of content and marketing for Disney Plus. “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!”

Disney Plus has been mining the vaults of studios now under Disney control for originals for some time now. One of the first original scripted series to debut on the service was “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series,” based on the Disney Channel film franchise. Other reboots currently in the works at the streamer include a “Turner and Hooch” series starring Josh Peck and a “Mighty Ducks” sequel series starring Lauren Graham. A “Lizzie McGuire” sequel series was also in the works, but behind-the-scenes issues have put that series on hold.

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