Growing Pains

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Growing Pains
The cast of Growing Pains.
Genre	Sitcom
Creator(s)	Neal Marlens
Starring	Alan Thicke Joanna Kerns Kirk Cameron Tracey Gold Jeremy Miller Ashley Johnson (seasons 6-7) Leonardo DiCaprio (season 7)
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	166
Production
Executive producer(s)	Neal Marlens (season 1) Mike Sullivan Steve Marshall Dan Guntzelman (seasons 1-6) Dan Wilcox (season 7)
Running time	30 minutes (with commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC
Original run	September 24, 1985 – April 25, 1992
Links

Growing Pains is an American television sitcom that ran on the ABC network from 1985 to 1992.

The show's premise is based around the everyday world of the Seaver family. Dr. Jason Seaver (Alan Thicke), a psychiatrist, works from home because his wife, Maggie Malone Seaver (Joanna Kerns), has gone back to work as a reporter. Jason has to take care of his kids: troublemaker Mike (Kirk Cameron), honors student Carol (Tracey Gold), and rambunctious Ben (Jeremy Miller). From 1990 on, Chrissy Seaver (Ashley Johnson) became a part of the family. Later, Luke Brower (Leonardo DiCaprio) also moved in with the family. The show was relevant in the mid-1980s as women going to work was becoming more and more common, as were stay at home dads.

Contents 1 Episodes 2 Controversies 3 International names 4 Theme song and opening sequences 4.1 Theme song 4.2 Opening sequences 5 Reruns/Syndication 5.1 United States 5.2 International 5.3 Latin America 5.4 Asia 5.5 Europe 6 DVD Releases 7 Self satire 8 Trivia 9 Main cast 9.1 Minor Recurring Characters 9.2 Notable Guest Stars 10 External links

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of Growing Pains episodes

[edit] Controversies

During the 1989–1990 season, Mike's marriage to Julie (played by Julie McCullough) was cancelled when she left him a note saying she could not go through with it. There was a backlash from fans so she appeared in a later episode where she discussed her decision with Mike.

Kirk Cameron had insisted that McCullough be fired for posing for Playboy magazine. Cameron later apologized for his actions (see below). McCullough did not find out she was being dismissed until showing up to film what she thought was a wedding episode.^{[citation needed]}

After Cameron's religious conversion, his beliefs frequently interfered with production of the show. He insisted that no "adult themes" be incorporated into episodes, and he often demanded that entire episodes be re-written when he objected to the content (when one planned episode revolved around Julie giving Mike the key to her apartment, Cameron objected to the sexual connotations, and he forced a new script to be written). According to the Growing Pains episode of E! True Hollywood Story, Cameron at one point went so far as to call the president of ABC on the phone and refer to executive producers Dan Guntzelman, Mike Sullivan and Steve Marshall as pornographers due to the content of some of the episodes. In 1991, after the show's sixth season, the three men quit the show as a result of Cameron's actions and statements.

In 2003, according to the article "The Rebirth of Kirk Cameron" in Christianity Today, Cameron "admits he made some mistakes common to new believers — such as distancing themselves so far from the world that they do no good for anyone ... In time, however, he realized his missteps. In 2000, he rejoined his former cast members for a Growing Pains reunion movie. He stood in front of his TV family and apologized for his behavior. 'I was a 17-year-old guy trying to walk with integrity, knowing that I was walking in the opposite direction from many other people. I didn't have the kind of maturity and graceful way of putting things perhaps that I would now,' he says. Cameron's fellow actors immediately embraced him."

At the beginning of the seventh season, a new character, Luke Brower (played by a then-unknown Leonardo DiCaprio) was introduced in a last-ditch attempt to salvage ratings, but the show was cancelled at the end of the season.

In addition to the problems with Cameron, the show's constant references to Carol Seaver as "fat" (notwithstanding her normal weight and size for her age) took their toll on Tracey Gold. Although it was brushed off as "it's not you, it's the character," the producers were unaware that Gold had a history of eating problems, and the constant insults eventually triggered in Gold a serious case of anorexia nervosa. She was forced to leave the show in January of 1992 and did not return until the two-part final episode, for which she had to leave the hospital where she was still undergoing treatment.

[edit] International names

China: ChengZhang de FanNao (成长的烦恼) - (Growing up's Agony)
France: Quoi de neuf docteur? - (What is new doctor? or What's up doc?)
Germany: Unser lautes Heim - (Our loud home)
Italy: Genitori in blue jeans - (Parents in blue jeans)
Japan: Yukai na Seaver Ke (愉快なシーバー家) - (Happy Seaver's family)
Latin America: Ay! Cómo duele crecer - (Ouch! Growing up hurts)
Spain: Los Problemas Crecen - (Problems grow)

[edit] Theme song and opening sequences

[edit] Theme song

The show's theme song is "As Long as We Got Each Other", written by John Bettis and performed by:
B.J. Thomas (singing solo); Season 1
B.J. Thomas & Jennifer Warnes; Seasons 2, 3, 5, 7
B.J. Thomas & Dusty Springfield; Season 4
Rockapella; Season 6

There were seven versions of this theme song, others included a Halloween-themed version not sung by Thomas or Warnes used in a two-part Halloween episode in 1990. The first three seasons featured an instrumental part at the end of the theme, but in the fourth season, the original last verse of the TV version of the theme song, "Sharing the laughter and love" was added in its place.

[edit] Opening sequences

The season one open featured various works of art closing with a shot of the cast which goes from black and white to color.

The opening credits from seasons two through five featured an opening shot of the cast in front of the house where establishing shots of the Seaver house are used, switching to photos of each cast member from childhood and in Alan Thicke and Joanna Kerns' case, to adulthood, mixed with various episode clips. In all episodes that aired from 1986-1990, the opening sequence ends with a "house gag" immediately after the final episode clip and starting with the fifth season ran while the executive producers names' were listed. The house gag changes from episode to episode, and usually features the cast standing in front of the Seaver house. A typical gag featured all but one member of the cast leaving to go inside the Seaver house with the other leaving seconds later. This was a running visual joke mildly similar to that of the "couch gag" sequences on The Simpsons. Most couch gags last only about ten seconds, but the longest one on record lasted roughly 20 seconds. Certain house gags include:

• Jason starts leaving before the rest of the cast, only to stop and turn back, and the rest of the cast leaves seconds later. (This was the static open for the 1986 and 1987 seasons.)
• In the season four episode "Birth of a Seaver", in which Chrissy is born, the sequence goes as normal, though the clips are abbreviated in the form of the syndication airings while the full theme plays as normal. Near the end of the sequence, a pregnant Maggie realizes and announces to the rest of the family that she is in labor, to which everybody follows and guides Maggie back in the house.
• Near the end of the opening credits in the next episode, fittingly, Carol (Tracey Gold) holds up a sign saying "It's a Girl" which blocks Mike's face.
• Everybody leaves except for Carol. Noticing this, Ben, Mike and Jason then turn back and pick Carol up and take her in the house.
• Everybody leaves to head into the house except for Mike to then which Carol turns back and taps Mike on the shoulder and makes a hand gesture telling him to come in with them.
• The family stands outside in the rain wearing raincoats and carrying umbrellas and they all head towards the house.
• Everyone leave except for Ben, when Mike notices, he comes back whispers something in his ear and they both go into the house.

The opening used in seasons six and seven featured an opening shot of the mantle on the Seaver's fireplace panning over pictures of the cast. The past photos of each cast member were kept but the clips where each cast member's name is overlayed on was replaced with still current photos of each cast member. In this sequence, the male cast members wore tuxedos and the female cast members wore formal dresses. The only exception was Leonardo DiCaprio, whom when he was added to the cast, his photo featured him wearing a hooded shirt and jeans. The end of this sequence feature various still shots of the entire cast trying to get together for their picture, closing to a shot of the pictures on the wall on and above the mantle.

[edit] Reruns/Syndication

[edit] United States

Reruns aired on the Disney Channel from 1997-2001 with the episodes featuring Leonardo DiCaprio given special emphasis in an attempt to draw in preteen crowds who had recently seen him in the 1997 blockbuster Titanic. The cable rights for the show moved to sister network ABC Family, where it ran from 2001 to 2004.

On November 20, 2006, ION Television began running episodes of Growing Pains (albeit with the shortened theme song commonly used for syndication for most episodes), with double runs airing weeknights at 7PM ET/6PM CT. Nick at Nite began airing "Growing Pains" on February 12, 2007, launching with a marathon from 9:00PM ET-1:00AM ET.

[edit] International

[edit] Latin America

Nick at Nite also shows it in Latin America every night at 1:00 A.M, and Thursdays at 10:00 p.m (one hour) ET/PT.

[edit] Asia

China

• This show was dubbed in Chinese by the Shanghai Television in the late 1980s with the title of "ChengZhang de FanNao" (成长的烦恼) (Growing up's Agony). It was very popular at that time. It is becoming popular once again due to the new DVD release in 2006.
• The recent Disney Channel TV show Lizzie McGuire was titled in Chinese as the "New Growing Pains."

Japan

• Growing Pains was dubbed in Japanese, and broadcasted by the NHK of Japan in the name of "Yukai na Seaver Ke(愉快なシーバー家)" (Happy Seaver's family) from 1997 to 2000.

[edit] Europe

Two books published in French exclusively about Growing Pains: Cyrille Rollet, Ph.D (EHESS, Paris),

• Physiologie d'un Sitcom Americain (Voyage au Coeur de Growing Pains), (volume 1) - Physiology of American Sitcom (Travel in the middle of Growing Pains)
• Circulation Culturelle d'un Sitcom Americain (volume 2) - The cultural circulation of an American sitcom

[edit] DVD Releases

On February 7, 2006, Warner Home Video released the complete first season, with the first 22 episodes of the series, on Region 1 DVD. In conjunction with the release, Thicke, Kerns, Gold, and Miller reunited for a CNN Larry King Live interview, which aired on that same date. No information about a second season DVD release has been given.

[edit] Self satire

Growing Pains was unusual because it not only satirized sitcoms, it satirized itself.

• Before appearing on Growing Pains, Alan Thicke hosted a late-night talk show called Thicke of the Night. Joanna Kerns's sister is Olympic swimmer Donna de Varona. In the second season episode "Jason's Rib", Jason asks Mike if he has seen his mom, Maggie. Mike responds, "Tall blonde, looks like Donna de Varona?". Later in the episode, Maggie asks Mike if he had seen his dad, Jason. Mike replies, "Tall man, looks like a talk show host?"
• In an episode guest starring Kirk Cameron's sister Candace Cameron (who played DJ Tanner on Full House), Ben quips, "If his family were on TV, millions of people would watch!"
• At the end the episode "The Home Show," after disaster is averted by the family working together, when the Seavers hosted a very important dinner guest, Jason notes "I had my doubts about this whole episode till then." Earlier in the episode, Jason suggests what would happen if they were on Perfect Strangers instead.
• In one episode (Mike visits his girlfriend from Maui), Carol quips "Mike, show me that smile again" just before the opening theme whose first line is "Show me that smile again".
• Humorous opening themes were produced for Halloween and other events. The episode "All The World Is a Stage" began with Mike and several other people singing the theme song for an audience instead of the usual beginning theme. It showed male and female extras who were playing people in Mike's audience, but with the show's star's names superimposed: "ALAN THICKE (but that's not him)", "JOANNA KERNS (but that's not her)"... "TRACEY GOLD (Nope)"... "ASHLEY JOHNSON (not even close)"
• In the fifth-season episode "Coughing Boy," Mike gives his picture to a talent agent. After Mike leaves his interview, the talent agent looks at his photo and says, "He reminds me of a young Michael J. Fox." During his early teen heartthrob days, Kirk Cameron was hailed as the "young, new Michael J. Fox."
• "Meet the Seavers" was an episode in which Ben awoke as Jeremy Miller, star of the fictional television show Meet the Seavers, providing a satirical behind-the-scenes look at Growing Pains. Some of the show's actual behind-the-scenes staff made on-camera appearances as themselves, notably the script supervisor, Susan Straughn Harris, and Yuh-Tyng Tsuei, a writer on the show, who later wrote for MacGyver.
• In one episode, Ben takes a taxi driven by Alan Hale, the actor who played the Skipper on Gilligan's Island. Ben suggests that the cab driver is, in fact, the Skipper, which leads to a discussion about television shows. The cab driver asks Ben what his favorite programs are, and Ben responds that he likes "ABC's Tuesday-night lineup." He adds that he is especially fond of Who's the Boss?, Moonlighting, and "the program that is on between the two of them, especially the little kid." The reference is, of course, to Growing Pains and the character of Ben.
• In the last episode of the sixth season, Mike and Kate walk out of the wedding chapel very lovingly. The priest looks at them and says "they'll be back." Between the hiatus of the sixth and seventh season, Kirk Cameron and Chelsea Noble, who played Mike and Kate, got married on July 20, 1991.
• In the movie Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers, Jason tells Mike that he should have learned his lesson after 166 episodes. Later in the movie, Maggie says that events tend to occur on Tuesdays at 8:30/7:30 central.
• In the episode "Fish Bait," Jason tells Mike that he comes to him for advice every Wednesday at 8:00/7:00 central.

[edit] Trivia

• Despite the character of Mike being older than Carol, Kirk Cameron is actually one year younger than Tracey Gold.
• When Kirk Cameron got married, he did not invite any of the cast members.
• The last name "Seaver," and the last name of the Seavers' fictional next-door neighbors, "Koosman," were the last names of the 1969 New York Mets number one and number two starting pitchers, Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman.
• The junior high school (Wendell Willkie Jr. High), high school (Thomas Dewey High School), and junior college (Alfred Landon Junior College) that the Seaver children attended were named after three presidential candidates defeated by Franklin D. Roosevelt (Alfred Landon in 1936, Wendell Willkie in 1940, and Thomas Dewey in 1944).
• Actress Tracey Gold was absent for most of the second half of the final season due to her personal struggle with an eating disorder.
• Ben's full name was Benjamin Hubert Horatio Humphrey Seaver. Aside from the comedic effect of three middle names all beginning with an H, Hubert Horatio Humphrey was a real person, a United States Senator and the 38th Vice President of the United States who was the Democratic Party's candidate for President in 1968. In contrast, the full name of Mike's best friend, "Boner," was Richard Milhous Stabone. His character was named after President Richard Milhous Nixon, the man who defeated Hubert Humphrey in the Presidential Election of 1968.
• The character of Chrissy was "jumped" three years in age over the course of only one year to bring more interest to the show and to give the writers more to play with in terms of storylines.
• Elizabeth Ward was cast as the original Carol Anne Seaver, but was replaced by Tracey Gold (who had auditioned for the part but at first didn't get it) after the pilot was shown to test audiences with poor results prior to the network premiere of the show.
• Kirk Cameron insisted on the firing of Julie McCullough after he found out she'd posed nude for Playboy. (She had also posed for Playboy once before, several years before joining the show, and the cast and crew were aware of this when she was brought in.) She was abruptly written out of the show, but fans demanded to know what had happened to her character and she was contractually forced to return for one followup episode.
• ABC ran the final episodes of Growing Pains, Who's the Boss? and MacGyver on the same night.
• Maggie Seaver hums the opening tune to Who's the Boss? at the beginning of the Pilot.
• In the episode, "Carnival," Ben asks his classmate which mother is hers. She responds that her mother is the one "who looks like Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island. The said mother was played by Dawn Wells, best known as Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island.
• At the beginning of the episode, "Bringing Up Baby," Maggie dreams that she comes out of the shower and finds that she's not pregnant. Worried, she wakes up and finds that her pregnancy was not just a dream. The shower dream sequence is a possible nod to Dallas which made a dream out of an entire season after Pamela wakes up to find her supposedly dead husband, Bobby, coming out of the shower.
• As with other classic TV shows, Growing Pains was referenced numerous times on Family Guy. In particular, the episode entitled "The Cleveland-Loretta Quagmire" features Mayor Adam West imitating a Buckingham Palace guard, trying to keep a straight face. But, he thinks of Growing Pains, and of the character Boner, and instantly cracks up.
• The pilot episode of Nobody's Watching also jokes about Growing Pains, in the way one of the main characters of that show is a fan of the show. Alan Thicke, who played Jason Seaver, also appears in the pilot.
• Most years, Growing Pains had Halloween episodes conceptually similar to The Simpsons Halloween episodes:
  • Mike ends up chasing a girl into a mysterious bar. On the stage, Ed Sullivan introduces Liberace and Jimi Hendrix playing a piano-and-guitar duo. Just before they start to play, Liberace points to his candelabra which immediately lights. Spectators include Colonel Sanders and Truman Capote.
• The Willies (IMDB: The Willies) was a B-movie horror-comedy produced by many Growing Pains talent and behind-the-scenes staff. Jeremy Miller (and his little brother Joshua), Kirk Cameron and Tracy Gold all made appearances; Cameron and Gold did so on the Growing Pains set, while Miller was one of the movie's stars. Many frequent Growing Pains guest stars were also cast.
• Jason Seaver's birthday is on February 8
• In an episode of "The Winner", the main character Glen tells his younger neighbor Josh that if he wants to be alone with his mom he will hum the theme to "Growing Pains".
• In one episode Jason says to Luke's father "George this is Doctor Kramer." with the audience laughing after due to it make a reference to "Seinfeld".
• The first episode of season 6 is named after the 1969 film Midnight Cowboy, and features numerous references to the film. The song "Everybody's Talkin'" plays while Mike drives into Manhattan. Mike also sees a poster of the flim in the diner he's attempting sleep in.
• For most of the series, the Seaver's address was 15 Robin Hood Lane. However, during the first season in the episode "The Weekend Fantasy," Jason tells the police that he lives at "15 Robin Lane."

[edit] Main cast

• Alan Thicke as Dr. Jason Roland Seaver
• Joanna Kerns as Margaret Katherine "Maggie" Malone Seaver
• Kirk Cameron as Michael Aaron "Mike" Seaver
• Tracey Gold as Carol Anne Seaver (1985–1991, 1992)
• Jeremy Miller as Benjamin Hubert Horatio Humphrey "Ben" Seaver
• Ashley Johnson as Christine Ellen "Chrissy" Seaver (1990–1992)
• Leonardo DiCaprio as Luke Brower (1991–1992)

[edit] Minor Recurring Characters

• Josh Andrew Koenig as Richard Milhous "Boner" Stabone
• K.C. Martel as Eddie
• Gordon Jump as Ed Malone
• Betty McGuire as Kate Malone
• Chelsea Noble as Kate MacDonald
• Jamie Abbott as Stinky Sullivan
• Julie McCullough as Julie Costello
• Bill Kirchenbauer as Coach Graham Lubbock (1985–1988 on Growing Pains, starred in spinoff Just the Ten of Us)
• Sam Anderson as Principal Willis Dewitt

[edit] Notable Guest Stars

• Matthew Perry (3 episodes)
• Brad Pitt (2 episodes but as different characters)
• Candace Cameron (2 episodes)
• Dana Plato (1 episode)
• Hilary Swank (1 episode)
• Heather Graham (1 episode)
• James T. Callahan (1 episode)
• Dennis Haysbert (1 episode)
• Jenny Lewis (1 episode)
• Kelly Rowan (1 episode)

[edit] External links

• Growing Pains on In2TV
• [1] Growing pains (Chinese)