Growing Pains
How many of you watched Growing Pains? Do you remember the theme song?
Show me that smile again. (Show me that smile)
Don’t waste another minute on your cryin’.
We’re nowhere near the end (nowhere near)
The best is ready to begin.
Oooohhh. As long as we got each other
We got the world spinnin’ right in our hands.
Baby you and me, we gotta be
The luckiest dreamers who never quit dreamin’.
Growing Pains was cute and I watched it once in a while. I don’t think I was really watching any show faithfully during the 80’s except for maybe my soap opera (The Young and the Restless). I had my regular 70’s shows that I would watch each week. There was The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family, Eight is Enough, Emergency with hunky Randy Mantooth, Happy Days, and many others. By the time I got to the 80’s, I had other things on my mind. 🙂
Growing Pains debuted in 1985 and was a cute enough show. My favorite character was Boner just because that was a funny name. The dad was played by Alan Thicke and I always thought he was a bit blah……and hairy. The daughter was played by Tracey Gold and she got picked on a lot by her older brother (Kirk Cameron). Tracey was a beautiful young girl with an eating disorder. I’m thinking Kirk Cameron was probably a dick to her in real life as well. Young Ben Seaver was played by Jeremy Miller. I liked his character. Cute kid. When the show started to suck, they brought in a very young Leo DiCaprio. Not even the great Leo could save the show and it was canceled in 1992.
Trivia
- The Seaver family lived on Long Island in New York. Their exact address was 15 Robin Hood Lane.
- The newspaper that Maggie Seaver worked for was the Long Island Herald.
- Maggie wrote under her maiden name, Maggie Malone.
- Growing Pains produced the spin-off Just the Ten of Us.
- Youngest child Chrissy was born on the episode entitled “Birth of a Seaver” on October 26, 1988. Two years later, Chrissy was seven. How does that work?
- Kirk Cameron played the oldest child, but Tracey Gold is actually a year older.
- Tracey Gold’s first onscreen kiss was with Brad Pitt. I’m sure there are worse jobs.
- Ben’s full name was Benjamin Hubert Horatio Humphrey Seaver. I wonder why his parents hated him.
- Kirk Cameron became all religious after the 88-89 season. When they began the 89-90 season, Kirk had Julie McCullough (his fiancée on the show) written out of the show (aka “fired”) because she posed naked in Playboy.
- Tracey Gold suffered from anorexia and missed most of the final season.
- Kirk Cameron accused three producers of being pornographers. They resigned because they were tired of Kirk. He sounds like a pushy little jerk to me.
- Kirk Cameron met his wife Chelsea Noble when she guest starred on the show.
Guest Stars
There were many guest stars on this show who became pretty big celebrities. Matthew Perry went on to become Chandler Bing on Friends. Jennie Garth was Kelly Taylor on Beverly Hills, 90210. Candace Cameron, who is Kirk’s little sister, guest starred and then went on to become DJ Tanner on Full House. The biggest guest star was probably Brad Pitt. He was on before Leo DiCaprio came on board. Can you imagine having both of those in one episode and what it would cost today to film?
Where Are They Now?
Sadly, Alan Thicke passed away in 2016 of heart related issues. It appears that Joanna Kerns has not been acting much lately. Kirk Cameron is home reading the bible to his six children. He didn’t speak to any of his costars when the show ended. Nice. Tracey Gold is married with four kids and looks beautiful. Jeremy Miller is still acting and currently has some things in post-production. Leo DiCaprio is obviously the most successful to come from this cast. He currently has four movies in development and has made close to 40 others (most very successful) since Growing Pains. He’s a bazillionaire.
Is Growing Pains out in reruns? I don’t recall seeing it at all. I would watch it if it were on, unless Friends was on. That show always win.