Kathryn Layng Movies
At the age of 20, child prodigy Doogie Howser (Neil Patrick Harris) remains America's youngest practicing physician--not to mention one of the shyest and most self-effacing members of his profession--as Doogie Howser MD begins its fourth and final season. Besides Harris, most of the familiar regulars are still in attendance, including James B. Sikking and Belinda Montgomery as Doogie's parents, Max Casella as Doogie's roommate Vinnie, Lawrence Pressman as his boss Dr. Benjamin Canfield, Markus Redmond as orderly Raymond Alexander, and Kathryn Layng as Nurse Spaulding. Gone from the series are Doogie and Vinnie's former girlfriends Wanda and Janine; now Vinnie is playing the field, hoping to impress potential "conquests" with his talents as a burgeoning filmmaker, while Doogie is more or less going steady with Nurse Michele Faber (Robyn Lively). The season begins with a typical balanced blend of comedy and drama, as fledgling trauma surgeon Doogie tries to cope with the aftermath of the 1992 Los Angeles riots. In later episodes, Doogie buys a gun after his family is robbed, only to be plagued by memories of the shooting victims he has treated; Doogie agrees to participate in a medical-school project in which he must endure the indignities of being a "typical" patient; Vinnie is inspired to make an all-pantomime film after meeting a hearing-impaired girl; a hospital visit from a friend of the Howser family raises the ugly spectre of child abuse; a confusing encounter with Michele leads Doogie and Vinnie to emulate Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson; and the Letter of the Law becomes an issue when Doogie discovers that one of his colleagues is a phony doctor--but a brilliant phony doctor! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Neil Patrick Harris, James B. Sikking, (more)
Season Three proves to be a year of transition on Doogie Howser M.D.. Figuring that he has reached his majority at age 18, child prodigy Doogie Howser (Neil Patrick Harris), America's youngest practicing physician, decides to move out of his family's house and into a bachelor apartment, sharing the digs with his best pal Vinnie (Max Casella), who is now attending college as a film major. While Doogie is still fond of his teenaged sweetheart Wanda (Lisa Dean Plenn), she has left town to attend art school and as such is largely incommunicado. As a result, Doogie drifts away from Wanda, transferring his affections to attractive nurse Michele Faber (Robyn Lively)--with time out for a lengthy relationship with a woman named Cecilia, who "forgets" to inform him that she has a 4-year-old son. And in another development, Doogie finds himself short one colleague when his fellow resident Dr. McGuire leaves his post at LA's Eastman Medical Center. While most of the Season Three episodes maintain the series' delicate balance of comedy and drama, several are played strictly for laughs. Case in point: "Mummy Dearest", wherein Doogie and his fellow physicians ruminate over the possibility of being cursed as they examined the remains of a centuries-old mummy! On a more serious note, the episode "My Father, My Self" details a schism in the relationship between Doogie and his doctor father David (James B. Sikking) when the latter asks a stranger to join his medical practice. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Neil Patrick Harris, James B. Sikking, (more)
Neil Simon forgoes his typical urban East Coast kvetchers and replaces them with sunny Californian kvetchers in The Marrying Man, a film which became a beacon of gossip in 1991 due to the alleged shenanigans of stars Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger), who fell in love during production. Simon based his script on a true story concerning the love affair between shoe tycoon Harry Karl and actress Marie (The Body) McDonald during the 1950s. Married to each other four times, McDonald still managed to carry on an affair with mobster Bugsy Siegel. In this Simon-ized version, Baldwin plays Charley Pearl, a sharp and handsome Hollywood millionaire, engaged to Adele Horner (Elisabeth Shue), the daughter of dyspeptic movie studio executive Lew Horner (Robert Loggia). The day before their wedding, Charley heads off to Las Vegas for a bachelor party, and in a sleazy casino on the outskirts of town, he sets his eyes on sexy singer Vicki Anderson (Basinger) and falls for her hard. He wants her immediately and even though she warns him she's the property of Bugsy Siegel (Armand Assante), he crawls into her bedroom window to be with her. Caught with his pants down by Siegel, Bugsy, instead of killing him, forces him to marry Vicki ("I was about to dump her anyway," he says). But after their marriage, Charley and Vicki discover they're more attracted to the danger of their relationship than in each other. Charley's friends -- Phil (Paul Reiser), Sammy (Fisher Stevens), Tony (Peter Dobson), and George (Steve Hytner) -- form a Greek chorus commenting on the crazed love affair and are reportedly inspired by Phil Silvers, Sammy Cahn, Tony Martin, and Leo Durocher. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kim Basinger, Alec Baldwin, (more)
Season Two of Doogie Howser M.D. finds the titular hero (Neil Patrick Harris entering his third year of residency at LA's Eastman Medical Center--not bad for a 17-year-old kid who still has to be home before curfew! The responsibilities of his job has child-prodigy Doogie worrying that he is missing out on the typical pleasures of teendom; fortunately, he is able to keep in touch with his peers with the help of his best pal Vinnie (Max Casella) and his high school sweetheart Wanda (Lisa Dean Ryan). New to the series' regular cast this year is Markus Redmond as Raymond Alexander, introduced the previous season as a street-gang member and inept holdup man, but now gainfully employed as an orderly at Eastman Medical. Also making the first of several recurring appearances are Rif Hutton as Doogie's new colleague, Dr. Ron Welch and Robyn Lively as Nurse Michele Faber, who is destined to become the new love of Doogie's life once Wanda heads off to college. And in another development, Vinnie begins to exhibit talent as an experimental filmmaker, anticipating his pursuing a career in the field in later seasons. One of the more popular programs on ABC's Wednesday-night schedule, Doogie Howser, M.D. ranked as America's 24th most-watched series during its second season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Neil Patrick Harris, James B. Sikking, (more)
Although 16-year-old prodigy Doogie Howser (Neil Patrick Harris) is America's youngest physician, he still has a lot to learn in the maturity department, as amply demonstrated during Season One of Doogie Howser, M.D.. Doing his appointed rounds as second-year resident at Eastman Medical Center in L.A., Dr. Howser has earned the (sometimes grudging) respect of Chief of Services Dr. Canfield (Lawrence Pressman), fellow resident Dr. McGuire (Mitchell Anderson) and Nurse Spaulding (Kathryn Layng), in his own home our hero is generally treated like the shy, awkward youngster he truly is, especially by his strict but loving mom Katherine (Belinda Montgomery). While Doogie can rely upon his doctor father David (James B. Sikking) to keep him abreast of the latest advances in medical science and technology, his main conduit to his "own" world--that is, the world of pimply-faced, hormone-driven teenagers--is his best pal Vinnie (Max Casella),who regularly delivers reports from the high-school front in his weekly visits to Doogie via the bedroom window. The pilot episode firmly establishes the strange dichotomy in Doogie's life, as he passes his driver's exam and enjoys his first kiss with girlfriend Wanda (Lisa Dean Ryan) while struggling to cope with a tragedy involving a young, critically ill patient. The eternal inner struggle between Doogie the typical teen and Doogie the boy genius is further illustrated in the famous episode wherein he and Wanda are out on a date when she suffers a sudden appendicitis attack--and he is forced to give her a rather intimate examination just before she undergoes emergency surgery (this is the one in which a jealous Vinnie asks Doogie: "Did you put your hand on her conundrum?") One of the more fascinating first-season episodes is "Use a Slurpy, Go to Jail", in which Doogie and Vinnie find themselves in the middle of a botched convenience-store holdup. The ill-tempered gang member who tries to pull off the heist is one Raymond Alexander, played by Markus Redmond. Beginning with the series' second season, Raymond Alexander would be a Doogie Howser MD regular, hired as an orderly at Eastman Medical. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Neil Patrick Harris, James B. Sikking, (more)
