Island Son

S01E02: Sometimes They're Zebras

Metzger suspects an elderly patient's family of abuse; Daniel's son visits and decides to make it permanent.

Overview

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.

Episodes

S01E01 Heart and Soul

September 19, 1989 60 min
Daniel witnesses a drunken accident that leaves a little girl severely injured.

S01E02 Sometimes They're Zebras

September 24, 1989 60 min
Metzger suspects an elderly patient's family of abuse; Daniel's son visits and decides to make it permanent.

S01E03 Fathers and Sons

September 26, 1989 60 min
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.

S01E04 Gifts

October 3, 1989 60 min
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.

S01E05 Painkillers

October 10, 1989 60 min
Daniel suspects the new head of cardiology is addicted to pills, and an orderly's illiteracy nearly kills a patient.

S01E06 Life Sentence

October 24, 1989 60 min
Daniel tries to protect his patient, a convicted rapist, from the media mob surrounding the hospital; Sam falls for a crafty hitchiker.

S01E07 The State vs. John Kulani

October 31, 1989 60 min
A doctor has Daniel's father arrested for performing a Hawaiian healing ceremony in the hospital; Caitlin worries about a furtive admirer.

S01E08 Role Models

November 7, 1989 60 min
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.

S01E09 Everyday People

November 14, 1989 60 min
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.

S01E10 Hihia

December 14, 1989 60 min
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.

S01E11 The Christmas Story

December 21, 1989 60 min
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.

S01E12 Falling Stars

January 4, 1990 60 min
Metzger's confidence is shaken when he disastrously misdiagnoses a patient; Daniel tries to reconcile the estranged Fushidas; Sam befriends an elderly man.

S01E13 Icarus Falling

January 11, 1990 60 min
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.

S01E14 Mary, Mary Quite Contrary

February 1, 1990 60 min
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.

S01E15 Janine Returns

February 8, 1990 60 min
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...

S01E16 Viruses

February 15, 1990 60 min
Daniel discovers that Tess's little friend is HIV-positive; Margaret tries to help an ailing former movie star.

S01E17 Moving Targets

February 22, 1990 60 min
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.

S01E18 Separations

March 29, 1990 60 min
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.

Cast

Richard Chamberlain
Richard Chamberlain
William McNamara
William McNamara
Brynn Thayer
Brynn Thayer
Clyde Kusatsu
Clyde Kusatsu
Timothy Carhart
Timothy Carhart
Kwan Hi Lim
Kwan Hi Lim
Ariana Richards
Ariana Richards
Ray Bumatai
Ray Bumatai

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