Disney+ Breaks Barriers with Doogie Kamealoha: Interviews with Peyton Elizabeth Lee & Kourtney Kang

MIXED ASIAN MEDIA - September 13, 2021

By Alex Chester & Sam Tanabe

CREATIVE DIRECTION & PHOTOGRAPHY: LAUREN NAKAO WINN

STYLE: ALVIN STILLWELL

HAIR & MAKE-UP: WILLOW SNYDER

production assistant: Brian Kim

bts: David Moriya

talent: Peyton Elizabeth Lee & Kourtney Kang

“Have we ever seen this on TV?” a crew member asked Kourtney Kang, Creator/Showrunner/Executive Producer of Doogie Kamealoha, M.D. The two were on set, watching mixed couple Benny and Clara (parents of the Kamealoha household) dance together on the back porch of their Hawaii home in the new Disney+ show, inspired by 1980s medical drama Doogie Howser, M.D. Have we seen this before? It’s certainly a first for API representation on a mainstream media powerhouse like Disney+. It felt sentimental and stirring, watching a family who looked like ours share a tender moment through the laptop monitor. 

Emmy nominee Kang sought to create a show with a family that looked like hers, from Hawaii like hers. She was previously a Writer/Co-Executive Producer and Director on ABC's Fresh Off The Boat and an Executive Producer on CBS's How I Met Your Mother. Peyton Elizabeth Lee stars as Dr. Lahela Kamealoha, a 16-year-old prodigy, juggling a budding medical career and life as a teenager. Peyton is most well known for playing the title character on Disney Channel’s Andi Mack, the highest rated cable television show across all youth demographics.

We got to talk all aspects “Doogie” with Kourtney and Peyton. Set in modern-day Hawaii, Doogie Kamealoha, M.D. breaks major barriers. With a cast and creative team featuring so many mixed API’s, we dove into the nuances of what opportunities the show has to affect mainstream change for the mixed Asian American Pacific Islander Native Hawaiian (AAPINH) community. Is it perfect? No, but it’s a start. Kang acknowledges her desire for a second season that addresses the people and culture of Hawaii in a way only this show can. We were thrilled to speak with Peyton and Kourtney — “mixed Asian to mixed Asian” — and discuss their experiences with the show from the unique and harmonious perspective of Mixed Asian Media.

Alex: Were you familiar with the original Doogie before taking on this role?

Peyton: I actually was not. When I got the audition, I didn't have any real experience with the show, it was on a little before my time. But my parents were big fans of, and right when I got the audition, I sat down and started watching the original. 

Sam: Did you have to put in a lot of research on your own to portray Lahela, the medical professional? Were you nervous about taking on such a knowledgeable medical role?

Peyton: Definitely. I think a lot rested on that, because if you don't buy into the idea of a teenage doctor, the show doesn't work, you know? So there was a lot of preparation and research on my end that had to take place: YouTube, Google, WebMD. We had this incredible doctor on set anytime we were doing any medical scenes. He was there to consult and walk me through the dialogue, procedures, or whatever we were doing. So I not only had memorized the lines, but also knew what I was talking about and doing. I think that adds to the authenticity of it all. 

Sam: We love the nods to the original Doogie. Steph is always coming in through the window to hang out with Lahela. The cold open is similar to the original Doogie Howser’s. Do you make other references to the original throughout the season? 

Kourtney: There are a few storylines that we've touched on from the original and put into this one. Our goal was for folks who love the original to see things that felt familiar, and for folks who never saw the original to be able to sit down and watch it. Something I always remembered from the [original] show is Vinny crawling through the window. I was like, we have to have that. As we were looking for the house, I kept saying, it needs to have a second story window because that's what kind of friend Steph is. It's not as impressive to climb through a window on the first floor. She's the kind of friend that has climbed to the second story. So, I was very excited when we found that beautiful house that became the Kamealoha house.

Alex: You've created an amazing show, filled with representation and diversity. How and why did you come up with the show? 

Kourtney: I grew up watching the original Doogie Howser. I also grew up in the 80s, when there weren't a lot of shows with families that looked like mine. The family in this show is very much based on my real life family.

My dad is Korean, and he grew up in Hawaii. He went to St. Louis High School. My mom is an Irish Catholic lady from upstate Pennsylvania. They met, fell in love, had my two brothers and me, and we ended up moving to Pennsylvania, which is where I basically grew up, but we would go back to Hawaii and visit my grandma and my auntie and all my cousins.

Growing up in Pennsylvania, people would meet me, and I didn't quite make sense. I would get questions like, “where are you from?” I would say, “Hawaii. I was born in Hawaii,” and everybody went, “Ohhh.” One of the things I always loved about being in Hawaii is that I immediately made sense to everyone. They saw me and my family and got it, because there are so many folks who have families like mine there. So I've always wanted to create a show with a family that was inspired by my family.

We took this high concept of the 16-year-old doctor, and we infused it with a lot of my own experiences, as well as the experiences of the cast, writers, and crew — mostly local folks who made sure our story was authentic to this world we created. We all put our fingerprints on it, and it became a show infused with so much love and personal experiences. Hopefully everybody will feel that Aloha spirit.

Sam: What was it like balancing the “heaviness” of a medical drama with the quirky coming of age narrative that Disney+ viewers are expecting to see?

Kourtney: That was one of the things I love most about the original series, is that it had truly dramatic moments and also fun, comedic elements. Being able to have both of those was something that was very important to us. In the pilot, there's something devastating that happens to Lahela, and I think it sets you up for a world where not everything's gonna work out. But because of that, she can lean in more on her family, friends, and the people who love her most. It was a challenge in the beginning, balancing where the dials fall in that, but ultimately it's what made the show so fun to create and do, because you get to play those different moments. 

Alex: Do you have a specific episode that you would say that is literally based on your family?

Kourtney: Not so much a specific episode. I will say there are certain dynamics. The dynamic between Benny and Clara is very much my parents’. There's an uncle John character we'll meet later in the season who's sort of the patriarch of the family. He’s very much based on my real life Uncle John, who has a washing machine that he uses to tenderize his octopus. There were a few folks who came up to me and they were like, “I know someone who has a washing machine to tenderize their octopus.” It's a little bit of a local touch there. The pictures on the stairs [in the Kamealoha home] are of my family. There's my mom and dad's senior pictures, my grandparents, my great-grandparents who came over from Korea, my Irish grandparents. They're very much represented in the show. 

Alex: That's so beautiful. It really is groundbreaking for our community to see this representation on screen. I'm so excited for the younger generation that will grow up with this, and hopefully their narratives about identity and belonging won't be as lonely as, perhaps, ours have been. I think it's going to help heal the community.

Kourtney: I have three girls, and one of the things that makes me very excited about the show is that, growing up, their Doogie is a girl who's from a mixed race family in Hawaii.

Alex: Peyton, has working on the show changed your perspective on community and belonging?

Peyton: I think, in a sense, any person that is non-white has a shared experience. We all have some sort of feeling of being “other,” you know? So, in doing what I do — from the time I started with Andi Mack, into Secret Society, and now with Doogie — it's always been very important to me to portray an authentic version of what it is to be mixed race growing up, you know?

It's always been my dream to be an actor and to be a storyteller. Having the ethnic background that I do, it carries that much more weight. And so I’ve tried as much as I can to use it for good and hopefully inspire young people that look like me to know that they can do anything and can be at the forefront of their own stories. 

Sam: Do you have any specific moments that come to mind that are your favorite Lahela moments or favorite episodes entirely?

Peyton: I love all the episodes, and I think there's something special about each of them. The pilot has a very special place in my heart because it was my first introduction to the show. It was my first introduction to Lahela the character, and I think it does such a great job of setting up the story and introducing you to Lahela, and all the characters, in a way that makes you immediately feel like you know them and relate to them.

Sam: Was there a big emphasis in the writers' room on, and was it important to you to include, a lot of authentic elements of local culture in the show? 

Kourtney: Yes, it absolutely was. That's one of the things that I've sort of always struggled with as a mixed race person, you know, identity and ownership of things. 

Sometimes somebody wants me to do something for an Asian event, and there's sometimes a feeling that I'm not Asian enough. Then there's also a feeling that I'm not quite, you know, white enough to do something else. I also feel that way with my connection to Hawaii sometimes. I'm not Native Hawaiian. I was born there and then basically grew up in Pennsylvania. But I always would go back and visit. My grandma was there, my aunts, my uncles. This family is very much inspired by my family, and we really took great pains to be as accurate and authentic as we could. We had so many great members of our crew who were helpful with that. And every family is different. People have different perspectives, but what we always came back to was what would be the most authentic to this family, to their experience? And what's great is, another family in Hawaii would do it differently, would call it something else, you know? So our hope is that this is the first of many shows that explore different families that are in Hawaii.

I remember feeling with Fresh Off the Boat that everyone was so excited to have a show that explored the Asian experience, but it can't be everything to everyone. That is one story.

Sam: Something you just said resonated with me. My grandparents were from Hawaii. So, I’ve visited, but I grew up on the mainland. It’s this weird balancing act of being Asian, being white, understanding bits of local culture, but not really being a part of it. You're just in the middle all the time.

Kourtney: One of the things about Hawaii that's so great is, it's so Asian friendly. I think we all feel so safe and so welcome there. But you also want to respect the Native Hawaiians. It's theirs. It's theirs, not ours. We were lucky to come and be welcomed, and so it's really important to honor that. We really did, in the show, try to honor that. You know, Jason is Native Hawaiian, Matt Sato, who plays the older brother Kai is Hawaiian, Mapuana is Hawaiian. Several of our key crew and department heads are Native Hawaiian. That said, I still think we can do a better job of it. And season two, I would love to dig more into the Hawaii of it all, you know? Get more into their stories that only this show can tell, because it’s set in Hawaii. We’re only at the tip of the iceberg. I'm proud of the show we did, and I think there's always things that we could do better moving forward. 

Sam: That's the kind of work and storytelling that needs to be done. It's really important, especially for Native Hawaiians. 

Peyton, did you get to learn a lot by being there, filming the show?

Peyton: I personally don’t have any Hawaiian in me. But, because of that, it was very important for me to learn as much as I possibly could and talk to as many local people as possible to bring the story to life in the most truthful way. Being in Hawaii, immersing myself in the culture, researching, and talking to the local cast and crew that we had, I learned a lot and tried to bring their story to life as much as possible.

Alex: I literally texted Sam and was like, “Omg! Lahela has an Asian dad and white mom.” #OneOfUs. This is groundbreaking for the mixed API community, and it's a thrill to see this representation on TV.

Kourtney: It's interesting because even my family’s specific experience is very different from a family where the mom is Asian and the dad is white, or of another ethnicity. I would love for there to be lots of shows that explore these different things and have these different colors. 

We were so excited to have Jason Scott Lee do this with us because he's a local boy, from Hawaii, and he gets that local spirit. Benny was crafted after my own father. It wasn't until we were doing the show that I later realized that the three kids we cast in the show (Peyton, Matt, and Wes) also all come from families where the dad is Asian and the mom is white. So, we all oddly have this same experience. I'm not used to being in an environment where everybody else has that same experience.

Sam: Alex and I also both have Asian dads and white moms. It's amazing you all discovered that and recognized, this is uncommon. And, like you said, even within that group, all of our experiences are still so different. There definitely needs to be more stories out there.

Kourtney: Yes. There's a scene in the second episode where Benny and Clara are slow dancing on the back porch together, and it's this very sweet, romantic scene. Somebody on set asked, “Have we ever seen this on TV?” This might be the first time that this is portrayed in this way. Since a lot of our crew was local folks, who come from families like ours, it was really cool to show.

Peyton: I'm not entirely sure why (and I don't know if I had really realized it until I talked to Kourtney), but usually when there is a biracial, Asian American family, the mom is Asian. It's a very interesting stereotype. There’s definitely a very different dynamic when you have an Asian dad and a white mom. Getting to dive into that, what it really means, and the nuances it brings for the show was really cool for me because it's something I'd never really thought about before. 

Sam: It's really nice to see your show family portrayed on the screen. It's an awesome representation for a lot of people out there who haven't seen that on any sort of mainstream platform before. And like Kourtney emphasized, even though everyone here is of mixed Asian descent, all of our stories are still super different.

Alex: Does Ronny Chieng improv his dialogue or is it scripted? Cause his one liners are *snaps*

Kourtney: We always had scripted lines for Ronny, and then what we would do on set is we have something called “alts.” A lot of times if there's a joke, we'll get a few different versions. So we all have all these jokes for Ronny, and he would always be like, “How about this? How about this joke?” It was really fun to have him do the lines that writers wrote for him and also come up with lines for himself. It was this great collaboration.

Sam: Peyton, do you have a favorite Hawaiian treat or anything you really love from being there?

Peyton: Spam musubi is the world's best kept secret. I mean, it's so funny because the executive producer of our show, he loved it. It was on set every day, and eventually I was like, “Fine, I'm starving. I'll try it.” And from then on, I had one every day. It’s sad being back because it’s harder to find here.

Alex: We have to ask this: boba or Hawaiian shaved ice?

Peyton: Ooh, that's a really good question. You know, for me, I'd have to say boba. 

Sam: Me too! I love it. Can't help it. 

Peyton: It's a food and a drink. Shaved ice is neither, so you know.

*Interviews have been edited for clarity and flow

Doogie Kamealoha M.D. is now streaming on Disney+.