Created by: Steven Bochco & David E Kelley

Cast:
Neil Patrick Harris – Douglas ‘Doogie’ Howser
Max Casella – Vinnie Delpino
Belinda Montgomery – Katherine O’Brien Howser
Lawrence Pressman – Dr. Benjamin Canfield
James Sikking – Dr. David Howser
Kathryn Layng – Nurse Curly Spaulding

Plot:
The main character is Dr. Douglas “Doogie” Howser (Harris), the son of David and Catherine Howser. At the age of five, he was diagnosed with early-stage pediatric leukemia after suspicious bruising was discovered by his father, who is also a medical doctor. After successful treatments, he began to express a genius level of intelligence. At age six, he got a perfect score on the SAT. He completed high school in nine weeks, graduated from Princeton University at age 10 and finished medical school four years later. At age 14, he was the youngest licensed doctor in the country. The series picks up on his 16th birthday; the cold open of the pilot episode shows him stopping his field test for his driver’s license to help an injured person at the scene of a traffic accident.

In the series, Doogie works as a resident surgeon at a hospital in Los Angeles, and still lives at home with his parents. He also has a best friend, Vinnie Delpino (Max Casella), who is a more typical teenager and keeps him grounded in life outside his profession. He keeps a diary on his computer; each episode typically ends with him making an entry in it. A trademark of the show was Vinnie climbing in through his window, to visit his friend. Doogie initially has a girlfriend, Wanda Plenn, but they break up in the course of the series.