Season 1 • Episode 18
LatestNina 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.
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.
Acting
Chamberlain's dignified return to weekly TV doctoring.
Production
Honolulu location shooting before it was standard.
Creators
Martin Rabbett, Lane Slate, Judith Paige Mitchell
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Island Son arrived during a brief wave of Hawaii-set medical dramas, capitalizing on Magnum P.I.'s tropical aesthetic but replacing action with bedside manner.
Creator Martin Rabbett was Chamberlain's longtime partner; this was essentially a passion project built around his return to series television.
US
