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EspañolGROWING PAINS
'''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 fictional Seaver family who reside in Long Island, New York. 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 1988 on, Chrissy Seaver became a part of the family. She was played in her infant stage by twins Kristen and Kelsey Dohring (who alternated). Beginning in the fall of 1990, Chrissy's character age was advanced to 6 years old, whereupon Ashley Johnson took over the role. 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.
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)
International names
China: 成长的烦恼 pinyin:ChengZhang de FanNao - (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)
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 house 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 angrily 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: when he was added to the cast, his photo featured him wearing a hooded shirt and jeans, although for the first few episodes he appeared in the camera would zoom to a wide shot, then his name was displayed). The end of this sequence featured various still shots of the entire cast trying to get together for their picture, closing with a shot of the pictures on the wall on and above the mantle.
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: Seasons 6 and sometimes 7
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.
Episodes
★ Main articles: List of Growing Pains episodes
Decline
At the beginning of the seventh season, a new character, homeless teen Luke Brower (played by a then-unknown Leonardo DiCaprio) was introduced in a last-ditch attempt to salvage ratings, to no avail. ''Growing Pains'' had declined slightly on its established Wednesday time slot in season six, and was moved to Saturday nights in the fall of 1991, to make room for newer comedies. The other long-running show initially affected by this strategy was ''Who's the Boss?'', which also moved to Saturdays. Ratings for both shows plunged to new lows, with insiders stating that ABC was getting rid of both programs by putting them on the "graveyard shift". To diffuse this fact, ABC moved the long-running sitcom ''Perfect Strangers'', a show with reasonably high ratings, to Saturdays in February 1992; its presence helped to launch a new comedy block known as '''I Love Saturday Night'''. This final effort at scheduling had an adverse effect for all three shows, and most of all for new cartoon ''Capitol Critters'', which was cancelled after only two months. By then, ''Growing Pains'' (along with ''Who's the Boss?'') was cancelled.
Controversies
Despite the show's success, there were a few behind-the-scenes controversies.
Kirk Cameron's clashes
During the 1989–1990 season, Mike's wedding 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.
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.
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." Cameron was several years older by then.
Other problems
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.
Reruns/Syndication
United States
ABC aired reruns of the show on its daytime schedule from July 1988 to August 1989. The show originally aired at 11:00am (EST) until January 1989, when with the cancellation of ''Ryan's Hope'' and the expansion of ''Home'' to an hour (from 11:00am-noon), the reruns moved to 12:00pm.
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. It has also aired on ION Television (formerly i).
Nick at Nite began airing "Growing Pains" on February 12, 2007, launching with a marathon from 9:00PM ET-1:00AM ET. They pulled it from the schedule on May 2.
Latin America
Nick at Nite also shows it in Latin America from Monday to Friday at 1:00 A.M, and Saturdays and Sundays at 10:00 pm (one hour) ET/PT.
===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.
===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
DVD Releases==On February 7, 2006, Warner Home Video released the complete first season of ''Growing Pains'' on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time. In conjunction with the release, Thicke, Kerns, Gold, and Miller reunited for a CNN ''Larry King Live'' interview, which aired on that same date.
| DVD Name | Ep # | Release Date |
|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | 22 | February 7 2006 |
Breaking the Fourth Wall
''Growing Pains'' was unusual because it often breached the fourth wall.
★ The Seavers lived at 15 Robin Hood Lane, Huntington, NY 11743. The shows creator Neal Marlens grew up on the affluent Long Island and based the series in his hometown. Robin Hood Lane is fictional but many speculate it maybe based on Robin Lane off of Sweet Hollow Road.
★ 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 this 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." In the season two episode "My Brother, Myself", Ben asks Mike how long puberty lasts. Mike replies by saying "You never know. Sometimes it could last forever. Look at 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 "Double Standard" episode, once Maggie punishes Ben with no TV for a month, the scene cuts to a title card reading "''Growing Pains'' will not be seen for a month...because Ben messed up!" It stays like that for a second, before Maggie states that the punishment starts the next day and we cut back to the scene.
★ 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 '', 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. Also Mike's daughter Michelle says she'd buy the jacket only if Leonardo DiCaprio wore it.
★ In the episode "Fish Bait," Jason tells Mike that he comes to him for advice every Wednesday at 8:00/7:00 central.
Trivia
★ 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).
★ 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.
★ 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.
★ Most years, ''Growing Pains'' had Halloween episodes conceptually similar to ''The Simpsons Halloween episodes'':
★ 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 film in the diner he's attempting sleep in.
Minor Recurring Characters
Guest star Brad Pitt as Jonathon Keith, Ben's idol. Season 4, "Feet of Clay"
★ 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
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)
★ Judith Barsi (1 episode)
Nielsen Ratings
1985-1986 Season: #17
1986-1987 Season: #8
1987-1988 Season: #5
1988-1989 Season: #13
1989-1990 Season: #21
1990-1991 Season: #27
Spinoffs
''Just the Ten of Us'' was an ABC show that had Coach Graham Lubbock, Mike and Carol's gym teacher, moving to California with his large family to teach at an all boys Catholic school after he was fired from Thomas Dewey High School. It was a consistent hit on the Friday lineup, but was abruptly cancelled after three seasons.
External links
★ [1] Growing pains
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