Doogie Howser, M.D.

Doogie Howser, M.D.
The Cast of Doogie Howser M.D.
Created by	Steven Bochco David E. Kelley
Starring	Neil Patrick Harris Max Casella Lisa Dean Ryan Belinda Montgomery James Sikking Markus Redmond Lawrence Pressman Mitchell Anderson Robyn Lively Kathryn Layng
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	97
Production
Running time	24 minutes
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	September 19, 1989 – March 24, 1993

Doogie Howser, M.D. (1989–1993), is a television comedy-drama starring Neil Patrick Harris as a brilliant teenage doctor who was also faced with the problems of being a normal teenager, despite having graduated from Princeton University at age 10. Created by Steven Bochco and David E. Kelley, the weekly, half-hour "dramedy" Doogie Howser, M.D. starred Neil Patrick Harris as Douglas "Doogie" Howser, a child prodigy who after completing high school in nine weeks, graduating from Princeton at age 10 and finishing medical school four years later, became at the tender age of 14 the youngest practicing physician in the country. The show was set in Los Angeles, California and ran for four years on ABC. The soundtrack of the series is by Mike Post and uses Post's trademark mid to late 1980s Yamaha DX-7 synthesizer.

Trademarks of the show include Doogie's best friend, the fast-talking and mischievous Vinnie Delpino, played by Max Casella, climbing in through his window, and Doogie writing in his diary on his computer at the end of each episode.

The show characterized the genius Howser as a normal teenager, rather than having the stereotypical traits of TV "nerds" like Screech Powers (from Saved by the Bell) or Steve Urkel (from Family Matters). Steven Bochco revealed that the show's cancellation came abruptly at the hands of ABC executives--before he and the show's staff had a chance to complete the story line.

Smart mice obtained by genetic engineering have been named "Doogie mice" in reference to this character.

Cast

Actor	Role
Neil Patrick Harris	Dr. Douglas "Doogie" Howser
Max Casella	Vincent "Vinnie" Delpino
James Sikking	Dr. David Howser
Belinda Montgomery	Katherine Howser
Lisa Dean Ryan	Wanda Plenn
Lucy Boryer	Janine Stewart
Lawrence Pressman	Dr. Benjamin Canfield
Mitchell Anderson	Dr. Jack McGuire
Kathryn Layng	Nurse Curly Spaulding
Markus Redmond	Raymond Alexander

Doogie Howser in popular culture

• Veronica Mars: In the episode 'Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner' Veronica includes in an e-mail to Wallace the sentence; "You really have to start replying to my e-mails this is getting way too 'Doogie Howser's Journal'."
• Friends: The characters on Friends have used the term "Doogie" to refer (somewhat disparagingly) to someone they feel is not old enough to handle the job they claim they're prepared for. Also in the episode in which Pheobe gives birth, Ross gets her a very young doctor to which Phoebe dis-agrees and calls him Doogie.
• Saved by the Bell : When the gang is in "The Max", and they all open their SAT scores, Screech says, after Zack scores a 1502 compared to that of Jessie Spano's 1205, "Wow...Zack is even smarter than Doogie Howser."
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Willow Rosenberg implies she writes (or at least reads) "Doogie Howser fan fiction". Alyson Hannigan, the actress who portrayed Willow, would later star in How I Met Your Mother alongside the actor who played Doogie Howser, Neil Patrick Harris.
• The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: Hilary mentions she had dinner with "Doogie Howser's manager".
• Roseanne: Roseanne is put to sleep for breast surgery and has a dream the doctor gives her a breast enlargement instead of the intended breast reduction. Doogie Howser makes a guest appearance as the doctor in the dream. Also, in the Season 8 episode "Becky Howser, MD", Doogie Howser is referenced when Becky begins to regret the life she chose with Mark, and aspires to become a doctor at age 21.
• Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Ryan Stiles has been compared to Neil Patrick Harris and Doogie Howser several times, by himself and Drew Carey.
• Gilmore Girls: When Tanna reveals that she is 15, turning 16 years old, Lorelai says "Happy birthday Doogie", because most Yale freshmen are about 18–19 years old. Also when Jess comes to visit Rory in season 6, he asks if school is in session and says "Did you graduate already Doogie?"
• Rugrats: In an episode Angelica "broke" her leg and went to a doctor named Hogie Dooser.
• Rugrats: In another episode, Angelica pretended to be a doctor and mentioned a TV show Binks McGill, about was a child in similar circumstances to Doogie Howser.
• Family Guy: In the episode "Fifteen Minutes of Shame", where the Griffin family is the subject of a new reality show, the episode ends with Meg writing to her diary in a fashion similar to that used in Doogie Howser.
• The Simpsons: In the episode "Little Girl in the Big Ten", Lisa justifies herself spending time at college by comparing herself to Doogie Howser. Homer is not impressed, announcing Doogie went to college "against my wishes".
• Saturday Night Live: In an episode hosted by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, one skit involved a group of perverts attending a seminar about MySpace. One of the perverts (Horatio Sanz) chooses the screen name "9thgrade-Sk8er Boi", claiming it was his fraternity nickname and then claims he went to college early, like "Doogie Howser".
• Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle: Harold and Kumar recognize Neil Patrick Harris as Doogie Howser when they pick him up as a hitchhiker. When he eventually steals their car, Harold says, "Did Doogie Howser just steal my fucking car?"
• In the View Askew comic Chasing Dogma, Jay & Silent Bob are involved in the filming of a hospital themed pornographic film directed by Neil Patrick Harris called "Doogie Nights"
• In one Penny Arcade entry, Tycho says, "I don't believe it was ever referred to as Doobie Howser - even when the show was really big." He is referring to marijuana.
• In the Book Temple by Matthew Reilly one of the characters is nicknamed Doogie because of his likeness to him
• Fabolous: From his first album, Ghetto Fabolous, this rapper mentions Doogie Howser in a song called "Get Smart". The lyric is as follows: My classes be like two three hours, That's why I'm the smartest young guy since Doogie Howser
• In the song "Too much drama" by punk-rock band "The Vandals", Doogie is mentioned in the bridge in the line "From Doogie he learned that he must go to school"
• House: In the episode "The Jerk," the obnoxious teenaged patient refers to Dr. Robert Chase as "Doogie," in reference to his young age.
• Scrubs: In "My Buddy's Booty", Janitor insultingly refers to Dr. Cox as "Doogie", a reference to Howser (Note: The Janitor, Neil Flynn, appears in the pilot episode of Doogie as a police office.).
• In one Little Gamers (webcomic) entry, Mr. Madsen says Doogie Howser invented blogging in 1989.
• Doogie Howser is lampooned in the web comic "Doogie Howser MD: Frat Doctor" [1]; a satire based around the premise "What if Doogie turned 18 and decided to pursue a liberal arts degree?"
• In an episode of Full House the character Stephanie played by Jodie Sweetin reads out from a teenage magazine- "What Doogie Howser Likes"
• In one of the episodes of The Big Bang Theory the parents of character Rajesh played by Kunal Nayyar state they have to go watch Doogie Howser. Later, the character Leonard played by Johnny Galecki mentions that Doogie Howser is big in India

DVD releases

Anchor Bay Entertainment has released all 4 seasons of the TV series on DVD in Region 1.

DVD Name	Ep #	Release Date
Doogie Howser, M.D.: Season One	26	March 22, 2005
Doogie Howser, M.D.: Season Two	25	September 6, 2005
Doogie Howser, M.D.: Season Three	24	January 17, 2006
Doogie Howser, M.D.: Season Four	22	April 18, 2006

See also

• Balamurali Ambati, who in 1995 became the world's youngest doctor at the age of 17.
• Akrit Jaswal
• Sho Yano, who matriculated in the University of Chicago's Medical Scientist Training Program (M.D./Ph.D.) at the age of 12

External links

• Doogie Howser, M.D. at IMDb
• Episode list at epguides.com
• Doogie at jumptheshark.com
• Personal Journal of Doogie Howser, M.D.