Doogie Kamealoha, M.D. canceled at Disney+; no season 3 coming
According to a report from TVLine, the Doogie Howser inspired series is officially over, and there is no season 3 currently in the cards. The move comes several months after its most-recent season premiered, and it does cement one thing about the streaming service’s programming strategy — it really is mostly franchises above all else. Think about the end of Big Shot, The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, Turner and Hooch, and the bulk of their other non-Marvel and Star Wars fare. While it may not seem on the surface like Disney+ has a content problem, they do have a reasonable amount here that they need to figure out.
So why cancel this show, provided that they do have a problem with non-franchises? The simple answer comes down to viewership versus budget and clearly, Doogie Kamealoha, M.D. did not draw the audience that they needed in order to justify another season. While a season 3 revival is possible still elsewhere, we would not count on it since Disney+ already was the service with the greatest reason to keep the show around.
We should also note that the cancellation of this show is another significant blow to Hawaii-based television productions. Earlier this year, the news was revealed that Magnum PI will not be returning for a season 6, at least at NBC. If this show and Doogie Kamealoha, M.D. both go, that leaves NCIS: Hawaii as one of the last major big-budget productions to be filmed there year in and year out. Add to this the end of Hawaii Five-0 a few years back and it is clear that the production economy, at least for now, may be changing out there.
Is it still nice that we had a chance to see a couple of seasons of a medical drama like this? Sure, and we hope that it did serve as an inspiration for a lot of young people out there. Still, its cancellation serves as a reminder of how Disney needs to better figure out ways to promote some of their content outside the service, and also stop relying on franchises that come with high price tags. The biggest thing that is giving them leeway right now is that the streamer has such a rich library of past movies and TV shows that it remains valuable some families regardless.
What do you think about Doogie Kamealoha, M.D. being canceled at Disney+?
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(Photo: Disney+.)