if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

I only recently saw this show for the first time when Antenna TV started to show it in reruns. After a few times, I was eventually able to get past the opening theme song, which sounds a lot like a generic ring-tone on a cheap cell phone.Once past that hurdle, I watched an episode. I thought at first, due to the raving reviews, that maybe it was just a bad episode. So I tried to watch it again.I guess the problem for me is "suspension of disbelief" which is critical for enjoying any play, movie or TV show. I find it impossible to suspend disbelief and enjoy this show. First of all is the premise that some young skinny kid is accepted as a doctor in a hospital. It might be more believable if at least the patients were in disbelief, or at least pretended to be a bit surprised.But even if that were the case, there's Max Casella playing the role of "Vinnie Delpino". I was born and raised in New Jersey. Maybe people that aren't from the area can buy into his extremely fake Italian-American accent, but when if you grew up here, you too would also be a little sickened by how extremely fake he sounds. Turns out, Max Casella is from Washington DC. So it's no wonder his accent sounds almost like a stereotyped mockery of New Jersey Italians.For this reason alone, his "Vinnie" character is extremely annoying. And "Vinnie"? Really? Why not go for the gold and use the name "Antney"? I can see how the people who wrote and directed this abomination would completely miss the fact that "Vinnie" is like nails on a chalkboard every time he appears. They live in California and most likely think people from New Jersey actually say "New Joisey". Truth is, they don't. In fact, I've yet to meet somebody who says "Fah get abowt it". And so far the only person from New Jersey I know of that says "How ya doin?" is Wendy Williams.Sorry to go against all the positive accolades of the other reviews, but this show is not unlike smelling fresh vomit in that it makes you want to vomit too.

i love this show, even though i was born after it ended, and now its only on at two a.m. but i still love it!the plot is great because it combines a normal teenage life with the life of a hospital worker, both lines sticking extremely close to the truth.oh, and of course, i love the characters! my favorite is Vinnie Delpino, Doogie's best friend and neighbor. he is the more typical teen, who is obsessed with girls, sex, and other more normal... hobbies, i guess? he brings a sense of balance to Doogie's hectic life, though he succeeds at getting the both of them in trouble on numerous occasions.i was disappointed how the last season came to a end the way it did, but otherwise, i give this series a 10. *Racetrack*(abby)

When it first came out, "Doogie Howser M.D." was one of the more unique shows to grace the airwaves. It centered around a 16-year old child prodigy, Douglas "Doogie" Howser, who was a doctor at a Los Angeles area hospital. He lived with his parents and had a girlfriend, Wanda, and an obnoxious best friend who often came into his house via a window. Each episode ended with Doogie typing up an entry in his personal computer diary. The entry was usually a wise proverb from a lesson learned in the episode.The show was developed by Steven Bochco who created ground-breaking shows like "L.A. Law" and "Hill Street Blues". Although not nearly as acclaimed as those two shows (the only Emmy awards it was nominated for were for Sound Mixing and Cinematography), it had a satisfying blend of comedy and drama that kept the show interesting but not too serious. Since the two main characters were both teenagers, this lead many people to dismiss it as a kid's show. However, it was much deeper than a kid's show as most of the episodes centered on adult themes such as AIDS, death, and racism. The acting was also very solid. Long before he gained recognition for the show "How I Met Your Mother", I always felt that Neil Patrick Harris was a very underrated actor. Very few teenage actors could have pulled off playing a child prodigy the way he did. It would be hard to imagine anyone else playing the Doogie Howser role.The first and second season were terrific as they focused around Doogie's struggles to be a normal teenager despite the demands of his job. A common theme was discrimination as he was often discriminated based on his age by patients and even other doctors. He was not afraid, though, to express his views, even if it meant clashing with more seasoned and respected doctors. By the third or fourth season, the show had lost some of its novelty as Doogie was no longer a child prodigy but just a very smart adult. This must have really made it hard for the writers to come up with interesting story lines and it showed. The show began to focus more on Doogie's personal life and Vinnie quirky adventures and less on the hospital. By this time, Doogie had moved out of his parent's house to live in an apartment which meant that less time was devoted to his parents who were an integral part of the show. The ratings declined and a show that seemed like it would be on the air for many years was canceled after only four.

Sprung from the typewriter of Emmy award winning Steven Bocho, (Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, NYPD Blue) "Doogie Howser, M.D." is a good show from the very late 80s and early 1990s. As you probably know the series is about 16 year old Douglas "Doogie" Howser, the boy genius who is a medical doctor. I just bought the DVD and this is the first time I've watched the series since it went off the air in 1993. I'm watching the 1989 episodes now, and surprisingly it doesn't seem all that dated. I mean sure it's dated in that you can tell it's from 1989, but it's not dated in that cheesy way. It's dated the same way Miami Vice is dated. When viewed through the lens of this show, the fashions and styles of that era seem simply more like something that's time has passed, rather then a horrible campy memory. Make no mistake though, this is no half hour sitcom with a laugh track. Steven Bocho went through great pains to make this an accurate, mature show with humorous elements in it rather then a screwball comedy. In the 1989 episodes Neil Patrick Harris is 16 years old, but he looks and acts like a 12 or 13 year old, 14 tops. Neil wasn't very emotionally mature for 16, and he had his this odd nerdy quality to him----which actually helped the series because it made Doogie seem even younger then he really was. But this was basically only the case for the 1st season.The series wasn't without it's faults though, the show started going down the toilet when the child physician started sporting a 5 o'clock shadow. If I remember correctly, a big problem with the show was that "the joke" of the series, the child prodigy kid doctor who walked around in acid washed blue jeans, Nike high top sneakers and an over-sized lab coat wore off pretty quickly. After the 1st season Doogie was already a typical adult height of 5'6 to 5'8 inches tall. Sure he looked really young because he was a 17 year old teenager, but it wasn't too outrageous to see him in a hospital setting. But Doogie kept on growing unlike his best friend Vinnie Delpino. By 1992 and 1993 Neil Patrick Harris was a 19 and 20 year old grown man who was now standing around an amazing 6'4 inches tall. Doogie was no longer a cute kid trying to be a doctor, he now looked like any medical school student and there was nothing at all weird about him being a physician. By 1991, Doogie had turned into a legal 18 year old adult. He moved out of his parents house and into an apartment with Vinnie. They both started having regular sex. OK, so there goes the concept of the "child prodigy". After 2 years we were treated to watching an over 6ft guy and his friend living an apartment and dealing with older teenager/young adult problems. The premise behind Doogie was gone after 2 seasons, and truth be known it was on shaky ground by the 2nd season anyways.Perhaps if they had started the series in 1987 when Neil was 14 it would have given the series more longevity. Or cast someone who was a little younger, like 14 or better yet 12 or 13 back in 1989. It really was a shame they didn't start Doogie off in the age range of 12-14 instead of 16. But otherwise, this is another well written series from the acclaimed TV writer Steven Bocho. The 1st and 2nd season are well worth checking out.