EXCLUSIVE: Episodes former student Kathleen Rose Perkins will star opposite Peyton Elizabeth Lee in the next Disney + comedy series Doogie Kameāloha, MD, an Doogie Howser MD restart from How I met your mother and Fresh off the boat alumna Kourtney Kang and 20th Television, a part of Disney Television Studios.
Written by Kang and set in modern Hawaii, Doogie Kameāloha, MD reimagines Neil Patrick Harris’ half-hour medical drama with female protagonist. He follows Lahela “Doogie” Kameāloha (Lee), a 16-year-old half-breed girl who reconciles a developing medical career with the life of a teenager. Guiding Lahela – and also complicating things – is his family, including his Irish mother, Dr. Clara Hannon (Perkins), who is also the hospital’s team leader and Lahela’s supervisor, and her Hawaiian father “Local Boy” who struggle to accept this your daughter is no longer your little girl.
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Peyton Elizabeth Lee will play the lead role in the reboot of ‘Doogie Howser’ led by a woman at Disney +
Doogie Kameāloha, MD goes for a double gender change as part of its theme of female empowerment. Inside Doogie Howser, raised by the late Steven Bochco and David E. Kelley, he is the father of Doogie, a doctor who works in the same hospital as his son; Doogie’s mother was originally a housewife.
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The role brings together Perkins and Kang, who worked together on ABC / 20th TV’s Fresh off the boat. Perkins went back to being Mey-Mey from 2015-19, and Kang was executive co-producer from 2015-17.
Bochco’s widow, Dayna Bochco, and son, Jesse Bochco, serve as executive producers for the reboot, along with Kang, Jake Kasdan and Melvin. March 20 Television is the studio.
Perkins is best known for her five-season starring with Matt LeBlanc in the Showtime comedy Episodes. Most recently, she starred in the Netflix ripening series I’m not okay with that. She also resorts alongside John Stamos in Big shot, Kelley’s next Disney + / ABC Signature series. Perkins is represented by Gersh and Trademark Talent.