Meet the new Disney+ “genius with a lot to learn.” Today, the streamer revealed the first trailer for Doogie Kameāloha, M.D. — its modern reboot of the Neil Patrick Harris series Doogie Howser, M.D. — which premieres September 8.
Created by Kourtney Kang, the series stars Andi Mack alum Peyton Elizabeth Lee as Lahela “Doogie” Kamealoha, a 16-year-old mixed-race doctor in Hawaii who’s still learning to juggle her medical career and ordinary life as a teenager.
“She’s like a real-life Doogie Howser,” one of her coworkers gushes in a direct reference to the original series, which starred Harris as a similarly gifted teenage doctor.
Although Lahela traded high school for a surgical residency, she still faces tension with her protective parents: Her Irish mother (Kathleen Rose Perkins), who’s a supervisor at the hospital, and her Hawaiian “Local Boy” father (Jason Scott Lee) struggling to accept that his daughter is growing up. In the meantime, she laments her lack of time to pursue normal teen rites of passage, like dating a cute boy she meets on the beach or seeing her friends.
“I’m a doctor now, and it’s not fair that I get all that pressure but none of the fun,” Lahela says. “I just feel so ready for everything.”
Doogie Kameāloha M.D. also stars Matthew Sato, Manapuan Makia, and Jeffrey Bower-Chapman.
Late Doogie Howser co-creator Steven Bochco’s widow, Dayna Bochco, and son, Jesse Bochco, serve as executive producers alongside Kang, Jake Kasdan, and Melvin Mar.
“We felt very confident going forward because they were always respectful of what he had done and were also respectful of the ideas behind the concept, which was the child prodigy that doesn’t fit in either world,” Dayna Bochco said of the reboot at ABC’s recent TCA panel. “[Steve] would love the show. I know he would.”
Scroll up to watch the first teaser for Doogie Kameāloha, M.D., which premieres on Disney+ on September 8.
Where to watch Doogie Kameāloha, M.D