Martin Rabbett
Director
Island Son (1989)
Season 1
Island Son is a CBS television medical drama during its 1989-90 schedule. Island Son marked the return to regular weekly series television of Richard Chamberlain, who had not so appeared since his Dr. Kildare series almost 25 years earlier. In the interim he had enjoyed a somewhat successful career in feature films, and had become widely known as "The King of the Miniseries" due to his success in that format. Chamberlain once again portrayed a dedicated medical doctor, Dr. Daniel Kulani. Kulani was born in Hawaii and practiced on the mainland for many years prior to his return to work at the fictional Kamehameha Medical Center in Honolulu. Kulani's complicated life involved his stressful work environment; his adoptive parents, Tutu and Nana; his 18-year-old son, Sam; and his love interest, high school drama teacher Nina Delaney. Dr. Kulani's complicated life was never resolved to the satisfaction of the viewers because the program was canceled in March 1990.
Released Sept. 19, 1989
Episode 60 min
None+
Genres: Drama
Keywords: tmdb.hawaii, tmdb.doctor, tmdb.hometown, tmdb.medical-drama, imdb.hawaii, imdb.doctor
Production Companies: Lorimar Television, Maili Point Productions
Network: CBS
Country: United States
Languages:
English
S1E1 - Heart and Soul
Daniel witnesses a drunken accident that leaves a little girl severely injured.
Sept. 19, 1989, midnight
S1E2 - Sometimes They're Zebras
Metzger suspects an elderly patient's family of abuse; Daniel's son visits and decides to make it permanent.
Sept. 24, 1989, midnight
S1E3 - Fathers and Sons
Daniel's son falls for a patient facing a fatal prognosis; a resident falters before his prominent mother's determination that he follow her into cardiac medicine.
Sept. 26, 1989, midnight
S1E4 - Gifts
A tourist protests the age of her physician when Caitlin gets her case, and Daniel's budding romance is nipped by illness and her past.
Oct. 3, 1989, midnight
S1E5 - Painkillers
Daniel suspects the new head of cardiology is addicted to pills, and an orderly's illiteracy nearly kills a patient.
Oct. 10, 1989, midnight
S1E6 - Life Sentence
Daniel tries to protect his patient, a convicted rapist, from the media mob surrounding the hospital; Sam falls for a crafty hitchiker.
Oct. 24, 1989, midnight
S1E7 - The State vs. John Kulani
A doctor has Daniel's father arrested for performing a Hawaiian healing ceremony in the hospital; Caitlin worries about a furtive admirer.
Oct. 31, 1989, midnight
S1E8 - Role Models
Fushida becomes a difficult patient when he develops a dangerous infection; Daniel battles to have a patient admitted for critical surgery despite insurance problems; a diabetic friend of Sam's risks his health.
Nov. 7, 1989, midnight
S1E9 - Everyday People
Veronica returns with a proposition, but Daniel's distracted by his patients: a dying talk-show host and a paraplegic fighting to keep his home.
Nov. 14, 1989, midnight
S1E10 - Hihia
Sam is paralyzed with caison disease after lying his way into a deep sea diving job with his uncle, which touches off a bitter fight between the brothers; racism cripples Metzger's romance with a Japanese-American.
Dec. 14, 1989, midnight
S1E11 - The Christmas Story
A group of men dressed as elves are admitted with symptoms of plague; Dr. Fushida is adamant that he wants a natural son despite the diagnosis that a pregnancy would kill his wife.
Dec. 21, 1989, midnight
S1E12 - Falling Stars
Metzger's confidence is shaken when he disastrously misdiagnoses a patient; Daniel tries to reconcile the estranged Fushidas; Sam befriends an elderly man.
Jan. 4, 1990, midnight
S1E13 - Icarus Falling
A pilot refuses to be tested for the source of his blackouts; a teenager resists his girlfriend's decision to put their baby up for adoption.
Jan. 11, 1990, midnight
S1E14 - Mary, Mary Quite Contrary
A teenage volunteer attempts suicide after confiding a terrible secret to Sam. Increasingly unable to cope with terminal cases, Margaret betrays a patient when he returns to the hospital after a recurrence of his cancer.
Feb. 1, 1990, midnight
S1E15 - Janine Returns
Daniel's former wife stirs up trouble when she arrives to celebrate their son's birthday. Parents of a dying infant worry that a doctor whose child has an identical health problem will receive preferential treatment in an organ donor program.
Feb. 8, 1990, midnight
S1E16 - Viruses
Daniel discovers that Tess's little friend is HIV-positive; Margaret tries to help an ailing former movie star.
Feb. 15, 1990, midnight
S1E17 - Moving Targets
A serial killer who targets prostitutes poses a threat to James's fiancé, a former call girl; Fushida's disapproval of Margaret's office romance hurts their working relationship.
Feb. 22, 1990, midnight
S1E18 - Separations
Nina hesitates when Daniel proposes, a man uses his illness to blackmail his daughter, and Caitlin murders a patient when she disagrees with his family's decision to fight his liver disease.
March 29, 1990, midnight
Network: CBS
Episode Runtime: 60 min.
Season Runtime: 60 min.
Released: Sept. 19, 1989
Last Air Date: March 29, 1990, midnight
Status: Ended
Certification: NR
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