MovieChat Forums > Doogie Howser, M.D. (1989) Discussion > So, how is this possible?

So, how is this possible?

posted 9 years ago by RickyTheFish
3 replies | jump to latest

I vaguely remember watching this show when I was a kid, but I don't remember a whole lot about it. How exactly was Doogie supposed to be a doctor at 16? At the very least, a person would need 4 years of undergrad education, 4 years of medical school, and between 3 and 7 years of residency afterwards. Even assuming he's in his first year of residency, this means he would have had to have gone through 8 years of schooling. Genius-level intellect aside, that means he started college when he was 8, and I just don't see that happening.

The Hulu write-up says "...He is also a 16-year-old genius, he graduated college at age 10 and finished medical school at age 14." This is actually worse... this means he entered college when he was 6 years old. I know this was just a TV show, but still... suspension of disbelief can only go so far.

I'm watching episode 1 on Hulu just to see if they explain how exactly he became a doctor at his young age, but I have a feeling it's just something we're supposed to go with.

Edit: I'm getting conflicting information from the intro sequence of the show. One article said "six-year old scores perfect on S.A.T.'s" and the next said "Whiz kid breezed thru high school in 9 weeks" with part of the copy reading "... The 12 year old boy genius completed all his requirements in just over two months." The very next article says "Princeton graduates 10 year old prodigy." The next says "14 year old kid passes medical board." It seems his timeline is all over the place.

I have no enemies, but am intensely disliked by my friends.

[–] neilperrin78 9 years ago

Ever seen Finding Nemo? Fish don't talk... Let it go. For me as an 11 year old kid when this show debuted i was more interested in seeing a kid close to my age in a position of power. I could have cared less about 'how' it happened.. So I'd say the show writers succeeded.

[–] deem_bastille 9 years ago

it is not the years, it is the credits. some people can do college in 3 years, some need 5.

and I am sure when you spend every waking hour of your life studying and learning, yeah, you can get a lot done. i'd love to see how he spent his summers....

Reading the paper can really be depressing. Mr. Dithers fired Dagwood again.

[–] davesigmachi 7 years ago

As the previous poster said, it comes down to the credits and whether the institutions would accommodate an accelerated schedule. From personal experience, their was a 17 year old in my law school class who had his college diploma and a masters already before starting (he actually had to wait couple of months longer than the rest of us to start practicing after passing the bar because my state requires you to be 21 to be sworn in). That's not Doogie Howser fast, but shows that the typical timeline doesn't always apply.