Doogie Howser, F.B. (First Blogger)?

Here's an item featured in Wonkette ("Politics for People with Dirty Minds"), the politics-gossip blog that also serves as sort of a DC-local blog: in Bathroom Reading, DC-area blogger PR Slave DC posits that 'Doogie Howser, M.D.' was actually the first blogger.

If you remember, each 'Doogie Howser' episode ended with him typing a diary entry on his computer (which, if I recall correctly was an IBM PC clone, with a blue screen with white letters -- your classic WordPerfect style).

The show started in 1989, so there was an Internet (yes, folks, there was an Internet before the World Wide Web -- remember Gopher, newsgroups and telnet?), so it's theoretically possible that he was sharing this thoughts online, not just for himself -- which would make him the first blogger by about 5 years.

The folks over at Retrojunk.com have posted the show's intro on YouTube, where you can hear the dinky synth theme music and everything:

(Speaking of Wonkette, it looks like they've gone over to an open, but moderated comment system. Previously, they'd had a whitelist of invite-only approved commenters. Since they're high-traffic and post a lot of flamebait, they get a lot of foul comments, so they have to do something to prevent comment spam and curb vulgarity -- you know, so people will stay focused on the vulgarity in the blog entries.)

Thanks -- Joe

Tags: doogie howser, wonkette, first blogger

Written by journalseditor Blog about this entry

This entry has 4 comments: (Add your own)

#4 Comment from monponsett
9/8/06 5:04 PM | Permalink

My blog is ostensibly about sports, but I like to take pictures of my dog or the beach here and there. I can remember doing my first Scalzi assignment, and thinking "this kind of isn't a sports blog any more."
#3 Comment from journalseditor Entry Author
9/8/06 2:44 PM | Permalink

Jools -- can't say that I agree with you about blogging about personal daily activity as being a "trap."

People should blog about what they know, though that can also include what they think, not just what they did. Thanks -- Joe
#2 Comment from monponsett
9/8/06 11:11 AM | Permalink

The funny part about Doogie M.D. is that when he saw his first breast, he slit it open with a scalpel.

That can screw a kid up for life.

Had that show run 10 years like M.A.S.H. did, you probably would have seen Doogie robbing graves to build a Howserstein monster.
#1 Comment from joolsinwa
9/7/06 10:01 PM | Permalink

Is true "blogging" the posting of boring mundane daily activity, like so many fall into the trap of doing??

AOL Journals: Magic Smoke Public Journal
Back to Journal	Archives \| Alerts x Entry Alerts Comment Alerts \| Feeds

AOL Journals: Magic Smoke

Doogie Howser, F.B. (First Blogger)?