Picket Fences

This month we are examining shows about brothers and sisters in Sibling Rivalry. Today it’s Sisters.

Sisters debuted on NBC in May of 1991 which was a weird time to start a show, but they decided to air seven episodes as a test run. It was successful, so it was put on the fall schedule for that year. It was on the air for six seasons. Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman created the series and filled the role of producers.

The show featured four sisters, the Reeds, who live in Winnetka, Illinois. The sisters were very different but were close. Their father had been a successful doctor who was not involved in the girls’ lives much but was involved in the lives of other women. Their mother Beatrice (Elizabeth Hoffman) became an alcoholic to help her through his absence and affairs.

Dr. Reed made it known he wanted sons and the girls all were given “boy” nicknames. Alex (Alexandra) (Swoosie Kurtz) was the oldest. She was wealthy and married to Wade (David Dukes), a plastic surgeon. They have one daughter Reed (played by three actresses over the course of the show: Kathy Wagner [s1], Ashley Judd [s2-4] and Noelle Parker [s6]. Teddy (Theodora) (Sela Ward) was a laid-back artist who never could figure out what she wanted to do with her life. She has a daughter Cat (Heather McAdam) from her prior marriage. Georgie (Georgiana) (Patricia Kalember) was married to John (Garrett M. Brown) and was a stay-at-home mom of two boys, Evan (Dustin Berkovitz) and Trevor (Ryan Francis). Frankie (Francesca) (Julianne Phillips) the youngest, was a businesswoman trying to make a name for herself. She was a bit of a workaholic and an overachiever.

Ward was brought in to audition for the role of Frankie, but after reading the script she felt she was better suited to Teddy.

The first two seasons opened with the sisters having a weekly steam bath and chatting about what was going on in their lives. The sisters did not love this part of the show. Phillips said, “it was miserable.” She said “they were sprayed with mineral oil, sat in a cold towel for hours on a smoke-filled soundstage. . . . We were all severely uncomfortable, and it would go on forever.” Kalember said that it helped the actresses become close though. She said, “if you aren’t able to bond under those circumstances, you are not human.”

A lot of flashbacks are included on the shows, allowing us to learn where some of their personality traits developed and situations in their past that still influence the present. The show found the perfect blend of comedy and drama. They also had a few Moonlighting-like episodes where they were based on movies like The Wizard of Oz or the sisters were in fantasy situations.

During season one Beatrice sells the family home and moves into a condo. She is arrested for driving under the influence. Alex suspects her husband of having an affair only to learn that he is a cross dresser. Teddy returns home to Winnetka and learns that her ex-husband Mitch (Ed Marinaro) is now dating Frankie. She struggles with this and pursues Mitch who discourages her. One night they end up together, but he asks Frankie to marry him, and they plan a quick wedding that Teddy ruins. Frankie stops seeing Mitch, and Teddy realizes she behaved badly and decides to go back to California; however, before leaving she learns Georgie’s son Evan has leukemia, so she stays to help her sister.

In season two, Georgie is dealing with Evan’s treatment. Alex realizes Wade has been cheating on her for six months and they divorce. Reed drops out of school to punish them. Frankie and Mitch spend some time together for a business investment and decide to elope. Teddy realizes she is pregnant and knows it is Mitch’s. She tells her family it was a one-night stand; later Mitch figures out it was his, but Teddy has a miscarriage. Beatrice starts dating Truman (Philip Sterling) who lives in a condo near her. Teddy gets a job at a boutique but that doesn’t last, and she goes through several jobs during the season, eventually designing clothing for local women. Wade tries to convince Alex to come back home and she oddly begins dating her plumber. Alex and Wade reconcile. Frankie learns she cannot have a child, so she asks Georgie to be her surrogate.

Season three finds Beatrice eloping. There is an elaborate ceremony planned that they don’t show up to and Reed ends up marrying her boyfriend Kirby (Paul Rudd). Georgie gives birth to Thomas George and has a hard time not being a mom to him. Teddy finds an investor and is very successful but then he sells it to another person without consulting her. The new investor does not see eye-to-eye with Teddy’s vision, so she leaves the company. Frankie and Mitch divorce and fight over custody of Thomas. In another weird twist for Alex, she discovers she has breast cancer and develops a comedy routine to perform.

A lot of activity occurs in season four. Cat is raped and the police investigator, Falconer (George Clooney) helps her remember and identify him. He is eventually shot at the courthouse by a former victim. Frankie gets out of her stressful job and buys Sweet Sixteen, a local diner. Teddy runs into Falconer at an AA meeting, and they begin dating. Georgie struggles with a deep depression. Her son Trevor runs away from the school he was at and does not contact the family. Alex is hired for a television talk show. She meets Big Al (Robert Klein) who owns a large appliance store and sponsors her show. They eventually marry. Georgie and John have separated with all the drama in their family, and they reunite. You always know it’s a bad sign when another sibling is brought into the fold because it usually means ratings are down. In this show, Charley (Charlotte) (Sheila Kelley) meets her sisters because she needs a bone marrow match. None of them can help her but a donor is found, and she becomes part of the family. At the end of the year, Trevor returns after a tornado hits Winnetka, Reed comes home and gives birth to a daughter, Teddy and Falconer marry on a plane during a storm, and Big Al is arrested for tax evasion on his wedding night.

Teddy learns in season five that she is not meant to be happy. Falconer is murdered by a criminal he was going to testify against in court, and Teddy starts drinking again. Georgie sees a therapist who causes her to remember things about her father molesting her that never happened. (The therapist was played by her real husband, Daniel Gerroll) They begin an affair, and she leaves John, thinking this is her great love, but the doctor ignores her. Frankie’s old investment ends in her managing a boxer whom she begins to date. Big Al gets out of prison and decides to run for mayor. Truman has Alzheimer’s and Beatrice has to deal with that. He wants her to end his life when the disease has advanced. She does and to help her afterward, Charley offers her a job as a receptionist at her free clinic. Teddy has a brief relationship with Jack Chambers (Philip Casnoff) the man who got Falconer’s transplanted heart. Frankie has moved to Japan to market a new cow character she created.

In the final season, Georgie goes to graduate school for psychology. She begins seeing a 24-year-old student. Teddy and Cat are carjacked. Teddy buys a gun for protection and is accidentally shot in the head with it. She is in a coma, and Alex convinces Dr. Sorenson (Stephen Collins) to operate. Teddy and Sorenson start a relationship after her recovery. Cat decides to enter the police academy. Reed returns to Winnetka after divorcing Kirby and losing custody of her daughter. She starts a high-priced prostitution company and Alex turns her in and Reed is sentenced to community service. Big Al needs a heart transplant which he survives.

In the finale, Georgie reads her thesis about sisters which makes Alex and Charley mad. Beatrice has a major stroke and dies, which brings the sisters back together. Frankie moves back to Illinois. Georgie and John reconcile at Bea’s memorial service. Teddy is pregnant with a daughter she has already named Beatrice Rose.

The ratings for this show were never stellar. It was in the fifties for the early seasons but dropped to #75 for season five and #103 for season six. However, it received eight Emmy Award nominations. Sela Ward won for Outstanding Actress in 1994. Swoosie Kurtz was nominated that same year and in 1993. Kurtz was beat out by Kathy Baker for her role in Picket Fences.

I think the success of the show, despite some soap-opera-like plots was the fact that it blended humor with heart. Also, the actresses were believable as sisters. Phillips said that “if God himself came down and said, ‘I’m going to design a show: Who would you like to work with?’ you couldn’t pick better people.” She went on to say that “There was something that just clicked. That chemical, indescribable thing. There was a real comfort and connection. It doesn’t happen often.”

Kurtz agreed. She said that “from the beginning we had chemistry on camera, but we had chemistry in real life too. . . . I’m an only child, so I thought this is my chance. Siblings by proxy.”

I could not find out why, but the show is not available on DVD. There is an avid fan club for this series, and they have campaigned to bring it to Netflix or another streaming service, but so far, they have had no luck. It’s too bad because it is a show well worth revisiting. For now, you’ll just have to take my word for it.

We are in the midst of our Teen Scene blog series this month. Today we learn about a true teen genius, Doogie Howser, MD.

This half-hour sitcom was created for the fall of 1989 by Steven Bochco who created Hill Street Blues and LA Law and would go on to develop NYPD Blue. He asked David E. Kelley for help writing the pilot. Kelley, who also wrote for Hill Street Blues, would go on to write for Picket Fences, Ally McBeal, The Practice, Boston Public, and Boston Legal. Bochco and Co felt Neil Patrick Harris was the perfect kid to play a teenage doctor. ABC did not like the casting and was not fond of the show in general or the pilot. However, Bochco’s contract required that if the network canceled his project, they had to pay a penalty. They ended up putting the show on the air because test screenings ranked so well. The show ended up being on the air for four seasons, creating 97 episodes. It was one of the first sitcoms not to have a live audience or a laugh track.

While Doogie had to deal with professional medical problems at work, in his personal career, he was still a teenager dealing with the same issues all teenagers do. His best friend Vinnie (Max Casella) had been in his life since kindergarten. Vinnie wanted to pursue film school, but his dad wanted him to join the family business. Doogie’s family business was medicine; his dad, Dr. David Howser (James B. Sikking) had a family practice, and his mother Katherine (Belinda Montgomery) became a patient advocate at the hospital.

Sikking, Harris, and Montgomery Photo: showbizjunkies.com

Doogie and Vinnie dated best friends. Wanda (Lisa Dean Ryan) was Doogie’s girlfriend but before the end of the show, she left to attend the Art Institute of Chicago and they broke up. Vinnie’s girlfriend Janine (Lucy Boyer) drops out of college to become a department store buyer.

Doogie’s professional colleagues include Dr. Benjamin Canfield (Lawrence Pressman), head of the hospital and friend of Doogie’s father; Dr. Jack McGuire (Mitchell Anderson), a resident who eventually moves overseas to help third-world countries; Mary Margaret Spaulding (Kathryn Layng) a nurse who ironically dates McGuire, Canfield, and Doogie; and Raymond (Markus Redmond), an orderly who Doogie got hired after he left gang life. In seasons 2-4, Barry Livingston (Ernie from My Three Sons), plays Dr. Bob Rickett, a fellow doctor at the hospital.

Doogie Howser, M.D. (ABC-TV, 1989-93) Shown (l. to r.): James B. Sikking (as Dr. David Howser), Belinda Montgomery (as Katherine Howser), Markus Redmond (as Raymond), Neil Patrick Harris (as Doogie Howser), Lawrence Pressman (as Dr. Canfield), Kathryn Layng (as Nurse Curly Spaulding), Max Casella (as Vinnie)

Doogie’s (Douglas) story is that he was a two-time survivor of early-stage pediatric leukemia which gave him a desire to become a doctor. He was labeled a genius in school and had an eidetic memory and earned a perfect SAT score at the age of six, graduating from high school in only nine weeks at which time he entered Princeton at age 10. By 14, he had finished medical school and was beginning his career. A couple of sources I read said Bochco based the character of Doogie somewhat on his own father who was a violin prodigy.

We meet him at 16 when he is a second-year resident surgeon at Eastman Medical Center in LA. He lives at home with his parents, and he keeps a digital diary which he typically ends the show with, writing as he makes observations about what he has learned during the episode.

The show dealt with some heavier topics including AIDS awareness, racism, homophobia, and gang violence, but most of the shows also involve Doogie’s personal life and his social issues being a teen in an adult world. By the time the show ends, Doogie has moved into his own apartment. Howser then resigns from the hospital to take a trip to Europe. If the show had come back for a fifth season, the creators planned to have Doogie explore a writing career.

While audiences responded enthusiastically to the show, critics were not on board. Marvin Kitman of Newsday rated the first season 40/100 and said sarcastically, “What a wasted childhood my kids have had, I got to thinking while watching this otherwise normal Doogie Howser. It makes you look at your kids differently. What lazy bums they must be still in high school at 16.” Christopher Smith of the Bangor Daily News gave it a C and said, “No classic, this series.”

Harris, Dean Ryan Photo: sitcomsonline.com

However, fans continued to tune in, and a review by c l lance on imdb.com, in 2005, said “Doogie Houser [Howser], MD. Just the name brings a smile of remembrance to me. In the tradition of such television classics as L.A. LAW, NYPD Blue and Hill Street Blues, Doogie Houser, MD was wonderfully funny with a touch of life. As a 30-something adult when I first watched Doogie in late-night reruns, I was hooked by its humor and wit while watching this “kid” with an adult mind, yet the hormones and maturity of a teenager, grow into independence. Memorable episodes include his first day, the late-night skinny dip (as mentioned by another viewer), the practical joke he played on other hospital staff only to have it ruthlessly reciprocated, and the apartment with his best friend Vinny. There is some risqué humor but it is nothing when compared to today’s standards. I always enjoyed seeing the relationship he had with his dad and mom. I had the entire series recorded but sacrificed them for NFL games. BIG mistake!! Doogie Houser, MD will long be cherished by this now 40 something dad and his now 20 something daughters. I look forward to seeing Doogie’s journal again.”

A lot of us knew Harris better from his role of Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother. During one episode, “The Bracket,” Barney writes in his computerized diary while the theme song for Doogie Howser plays in the background.

UNITED STATES – SEPTEMBER 19: DOOGIE HOWSER, M.D. – Season One – Pilot – 9/19/89, Neil Patrick Harris played 16-year-old child prodigy Douglas “Doogie” Howser, a second-year resident at Eastman Medical Center who zipped through high school in two months, graduated from Princeton at 10, and medical school at 14. At the end of each episode, Doogie entered his experiences in his electronic diary, on his computer. , (Photo by Walt Disney Television via Getty Images Photo Archives/Walt Disney Television via Getty Images)

On September 19, 2019, USA Today did an interview with Harris on the 30^th anniversary of the show and mentioned that upon the death of Steven Bochco, Harris reflected about his time on the show: “I look back on that with fondness. That was a very remarkably wonderful chapter for somebody who had never really been in the entertainment business before.” Doogie might have missed his chance to become an author, but Harris has written a series of kids’ books, The Magic Misfits, as well as an autobiography.

I do remember watching the show during prime time. If I was home, I watched it but it was not a must-see show for me. It was an interesting concept though and seemed realistic enough given the few people who would experience this type of life. I think the bigger issue for me was that the first three years it was on against Night Court, so I probably watched more of the fourth season when it was sandwiched between The Wonder Years and Home Improvement.

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