Growing Pains
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- A separate article is about childrens' growing pains.
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Growing Pains was a television sitcom that ran on the American ABC network from 1985 until 1992.
The show was about Dr. Jason Seaver, a psychiatrist who works from home because his wife, Maggie, has gone back to work as a reporter. Jason has to take care of his kids Mike, Carol, and Ben. The show was quite relevant in the mid-1980s as women going to work was becoming more and more common, as were stay-at-home dads. At the beginning of the last season, a new character was introduced, Luke Bower, in an attempt to salvage ratings. The show, however, was cancelled at the end of the season.
The 1989-1990 season was retconned out of existence as a dream of Mike Seaver's after Kirk Cameron insisted Julie McCullough be fired for posing for Playboy magazine. Mr. Cameron later apologized for his actions. The season had ended on a cliffhanger where Mike asked Julie to marry him. Initially the character of Julie abandoned Mike at the altar; there was a backlash by fans and she was brought back later to reconcile. McCullough did not find out she was being fired until showing up to film what she thought was a wedding episode.
Cameron's religious beliefs consistently interfered with production of the show. He insisted that no "adult themes" be incorporated into episodes, at one point even calling several of the producers "pornographers." Three producers quit due to mistreatment by Cameron.
Gold was absent for almost the entire final season of the show due to her struggle with an eating disorder. Additionally the character of Chrissy was "jumped" five years of age over the course of only one actual year to bring more interest to the show and to give the writers more to play with in terms of storylines.
Reruns of the show aired on the Disney Channel at the end of the 1990s.
Main Cast
- Alan Thicke ... Dr. Jason Seaver
- Joanna Kerns ... Margaret "Maggie" Malone Seaver
- Kirk Cameron ... Michael Aaron "Mike" Seaver
- Tracey Gold ... Carol Anne Seaver
- Jeremy Miller ... Benjamin Hubert Horatio Humphrey "Ben" Seaver
- Kirsten Dohring, Kelsey Dohring and Ashley Johnson ... Christine Ellen "Chrissy" Seaver
- Leonardo DiCaprio ... Luke Bower
Minor Recurring Characters
- Josh Andrew Koenig as Richard "Boner" Stabone
- K.C. Martel as Eddie
- Gordon Jump as Ed Malone
- Betty McGuire as Kate Malone
- Chelsea Noble as Kate MacDonald
- Jamie Abbot as Stinky Sullivan
- Julie McCullough as Julie Costello