{television} doogie howser md; season one (1989)

Teen genius Doogie Howser (Neil Patrick Harris) juggles his responsibilities as a doctor with natural teenage urges in this family show from Stephen Bochco and David E. Kelly. In Season 1, the boy genius works grueling shifts in the pediatric ward but still finds time to earn his driver's license, throw a party with pal Vinnie (Max Casella) when his parents are away, and date Wanda (Lisa Dean Ryan). James Sikking and Belinda Montgomery also star.

ireviewnetflix.com rating: **** (Actually 3.5) In 1989, Neil Patrick Harris was 16 and playing a 16 year old doctor, a rarity in Hollywood and he was so freaking cool to me, a 7 year old kid in California. I remember watching the show and really connecting with Harris as Howser. I'm sure you can't count how many kids were inspired to become doctors because of the Howser character and how many kids worked harder in school to make that happen. Now, I connect more with Harris because we're both gay men which just makes him cooler (even though the character wasn't gay at all.) The supporting cast is kind of weak (especially the annoying Max Casella as Doogie's best friend Vincent "Vinnie" Delpino), and don't really add that much (except a great episode in which Vinnie makes a documentary about Doogie). Harris is without a doubt the star of the show. His struggle to maintain some normalcy as a teenager and to be taken seriously as a doctor at 16 years old is certainly the most interesting element and the core of the success of this show. The fact that the episodes were only thirty minutes (a surprise to me as I thought it was a one hour drama) made the show all the better.