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Growing Pains

Plot

Debuting September 24, 1985, the weekly, half-hour ABC sitcom Growing Pains was set in Long Island, the home of the Seaver family. Alan Thicke starred as Dr. Jason Seaver, a psychiatrist who had moved his practice from New York City into his home in order to spend more time with his family. The move was largely the idea of Jason's wife, Maggie (Joanna Kerns), a reporter for the "Long Island Herald," who believed that at least one parent should be home at all times to keep an eye on the kids. After a couple of seasons in the newspaper world, Maggie landed a job as a local TV reporter, using her maiden name, Maggie Malone. The original three Seaver children were Mike (Kirk Cameron), 15 years old when the series began; Carol (Tracey Gold), initially age 13; and Ben (Jeremy Miller), aged 9 at the outset. In the series' fourth season, Maggie gave birth to a fourth child, a daughter named Chrissy, who via typical TV-series shorthand turned six years old only two years later, at which point she was played by Ashley Johnson, taking over from twin infants Kirsten and Kelsey Dohring. Described by his dad as "a hormone with feet," oldest son Mike spent most of his high school career trying to impress girls, usually in the company of his best buds Boner (Andrew Koenig) and Eddie (K.C. Martel). When the series' fourth season began, Mike entered junior college, moving out of the Seaver's house -- and into the apartment above the family's garage. At the end of the same season he proposed to Julie Costello (Julie McCullough), who'd been hired as baby Chrissy's nanny, but eventually the couple decided not to wed. The following year Mike began taking acting classes, where he met and fell in love with Kate McDonald (Betty McGuire). In season six Mike moved to New York to pursue an acting career, but by season seven he was back in his garage apartment, even though he'd landed a steady (but not particularly rewarding) role on a daytime soap opera. During his New York stay Mike had briefly taught remedial classes at an inner-city community center. Here he met a 15-year-old homeless kid named Luke Brower (played by a decidedly pre-Titanic Leonardo DiCaprio), who would briefly live with the Seaver family. Meanwhile, overachiever Carol enjoyed her first romance with Bobby (Kevin Gerard Wixted), a fellow high school freshman whom she was tutoring. In the series' fifth season, Carol went to work for a publishing company, hoping to earn enough money to attend Columbia University, which she did the following year. By the final season, Carol was studying abroad in London, a plot development created to compensate for the fact that actress Tracey Gold had been forced to drop out of the series due to her debilitating struggle with anorexia. As for Ben, he established himself as the family's prime troublemaker early on. As he grew older, Ben began to emulate older brother Mike, especially in his tireless pursuit of the opposite sex. His best friends included Stinky and Vito, played respectively by Jamie Abbott and Kenny Morrison. Among the series' recurring characters were Gordon Jump and Betty McGuire as Maggie's parents Ed and Kate; Jane Powell as Jason's widowed mom Irma; Robert Rockwell as Irma's new husband, Wally; and Bill Kirchenbauer as local high school athletic coach Graham Lubbock. In 1987, Lubbock would be spun off into his own weekly comedy series, Just the Ten of Us. Growing Pains' theme song was "As Long as We Got Each Other," sung by B.J. Thomas and Jennifer Warnes. Created by Neal Marlens, Growing Pains ended its ABC run on August 27, 1992. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Credit

Dan Guntzelman - Executive Producer, Steve Marshall - Executive Producer, Neal Marlens - Executive Producer, Mike Sullivan - Executive Producer, Neal Marlens - Show Creator

Episodes

Growing Pains: Season 01 (1985)
As season one of Growing Pains gets under way, Long Island housewife Maggie Seaver (Joanna Kerns) lands a job as a reporter for a local newspaper. Since it has always been the Seavers' philosophy that at least one parent should always be home to look after youngsters Mike (Kirk Cameron), Carol (Tracey Gold), and Ben (Jeremy Miller), Maggie's husband Dr. Jason Seaver (Alan Thicke) obligingly moves his psychiatric practice out of his New York offices and into his own home. The family's first crisis takes place smack-dab in the middle of the opening episode, when Mike is arrested for underage driving. In later trials and tribulations, Jason exhibits jealousy when Maggie is required to work after hours with her male colleagues; Mike and Ben get in trouble for betting on horse races; and Carol despairs when her parents are deemed "unacceptable" to chaperone her school dance. Mike's buddy Boner (Andrew Koenig) makes his first appearance this season in the episode "Dirt Bike," while another best friend, Eddie, is introduced in "The Reputation." And in the later episode "Be a Man," Gordon Jump and Betty McGuire are seen for the first time in the roles of Maggie's parents Ed and Kate Malone. Among the well-known actors making season one guest appearances are Dana Plato as Mike's girlfriend Lisa in "Mike's Madonna Story"; Ami Dolenz as another of Mike's dates, this one named Linda, in "Slice of Life"; Dennis Haysbert, playing a cop in "Weekend Fantasy," Dan Lauria as the ruthless new coach of Ben's ice hockey team in "First Blood"; and the delightful Annette Funicello as a middle-aged suburban mom in "The Seavers vs. the Cleavers." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Growing Pains: Season 02 (1986)
Season two of Growing Pains serves up 22 new episodes featuring the Seaver clan of Long Island: stay-at-home psychiatrist Jason Seaver (Alan Thicke), suburban-newspaper reporter Maggie Seaver (Joanna Kerns), and their children Mike (Kirk Cameron), Carol (Tracey Gold), and Ben (Jeremy Miller). In the season opener "Jason and the Cruisers," Maggie reorganizes Jason's college rock band to help him get over his middle-age angst. The next episode, "Fast Times at Dewey High," introduces Bill Kirchenbauer as Coach Lubbock, a recurring character who would ultimately graduate to stardom in his own spin-off sitcom Just the Ten of Us. In the same episode, freshman Carol begins her on-and-off relationship with fellow student Bobby (Kevin Gerard Wixted). Not surprisingly, the season has its share of crises, some amusing, others less so. Sensitive Carol raises over two grand on her own so that she can have cosmetic surgery; Mike continues prowling around for eligible girls, with a success rate of about 50-50; and elementary schooler Ben must deal with such standard exigencies as tough teachers and brutish bullies. Arguably the biggest crisis to arise from the season occurs when a nonplussed Carol discovers that both of her parents had previously been married to other people. This year's guest-star roster includes Hallie Todd as a homeless girl befriended by Ben; Renée Estevez as an assistant teacher who expects certain -- er -- favors from Mike in exchange for giving him a passing grade; Kristy Swanson as one of the guests at a party attended by Mike, who learns to his chagrin that he is expected to snort cocaine to pass the "cool" test; former Gilligan's Island damsel Dawn Wells as a bidder in a carnival auction scene; and Candace Cameron, sister of series star Kirk Cameron, as a young student whose school video report yields surprising results. In the season finale, Maggie is offered a major job at a prestigious magazine by a man whom nervous Jason knows to be a flagrant womanizer -- but is unable to warn his wife because of doctor-patient confidentiality! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Growing Pains: Season 03 (1987)
Laid-back psychiatrist Jason Seaver (Alan Thicke) is still conducting his business from his Long Island home as Growing Pains launches its second season, but Jason's wife Maggie undergoes a radical change of scenery when she leaves her job at the "Long Island Herald" behind to accept a post as TV reporter for local outlet Channel 19 -- appearing under her maiden name, Maggie Malone. The season opens with what must have once been a carved-in-stone requirement on TV sitcoms: a family vacation to Hawaii (taped on location on the island of Maui), which of course is plagued with all sorts of farcical misfortunes. In another standard-issue TV comedy device, the later two-part episode "The Obscure Objects of Our Desire" uses a spring-housecleaning session as an excuse for an economical "clip show," featuring highlights from seasons one and two. And still another two-parter "How the West Was Won," serves as a springboard for Growing Pains recurring character Coach Lubbock's (Bill Kirchenbauer) new spin-off sitcom Just the Ten of Us, introducing several of that series' future regulars. On the "Look who that is!" guest-star scene this season, Heather Graham shows up as Cindy, one of Mike Seaver's (Kirk Cameron) fellow students; Brad Pitt plays transfer student Jeffrey, for whom Mike's sister Carol (Tracey Gold) briefly ditches her erstwhile boyfriend Bobby (Kevin Gerard Wixted). And Gilligan's Island alumnus Alan Hale Jr. is seen as a mysterious cabdriver in a fantasy episode wherein youngest Seaver kid Ben (Jeremy Miller) imagines that he has been replaced in his own home by another Ben Seaver. Season three concludes with Mike graduating from high school -- and a disgruntled Carol losing a long-standing bet that he'd never make it! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Growing Pains: Season 04 (1988)
The number of children in the Seaver family increases from three to four in season four of Growing Pains, as mom Maggie (Joanna Kerns) takes a brief leave from her TV reporting job to deliver a baby daughter named Chrissy (played by twin infants Kirsten and Kelsey Dohring). While Maggie's hubby Jason (Alan Thicke) and older children Mike (Kirk Cameron) and Carol (Tracey Gold) are delighted with this new arrival, youngest son Ben (Jeremy Miller) is put out that Chrissy had the bad timing to arrive on his own birthday. Elsewhere this season, Mike begins attending junior college, in the process moving out of the Seaver house -- and into the apartment just above the family's garage. He has good reason to stick around -- his parents have hired pretty 19-year-old Julie Costello (Julie McCullough) as Chrissy's nanny. Another character introduced this season is Jason's widowed mother, Irma (Jane Powell), who has become engaged to a guy named Wally (Robert Rockwell) -- a fact that Jason takes some time getting used to, especially since his father has been dead for only a year. Later on, the vivacious Irma has a memorable run-in with Maggie's more conservative parents Ed (Gordon Jump) and Kate (Betty McGuire). Guest stars during season four include Kirk Cameron's real-life sister Candace Cameron, somewhat ironically cast as Ben's party date; Jenny Lewis, as another of Ben's female acquaintance; Matthew Perry as a good-looking high-schooler whom Carol briefly falls for -- and who is ultimately involved in a tragic drunk driving accident; and Brad Pitt, who'd guested as another student a few seasons earlier, this time playing Ben's rock star idol Jonathan Keith in the appropriately titled episode "Feet of Clay." Closing the season is the two-parter "The Looove Boat," wherein the family attends Irma and Wally's marriage on an ocean cruise, an event that ends with a considerable amount of chaos -- and on a more upbeat note, with Mike proposing to Julie Costello. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Growing Pains: Season 05 (1989)
As season five of Growing Pains gets under way, neither psychiatrist Jason Seaver (Alan Thicke) nor his TV-journalist wife Maggie (Joanna Kerns) are pleased that their son Mike (Kirk Cameron) has become engaged to Julie (Julie McCullough), the young woman whom the Seavers had hired as nanny for their infant daughter, Chrissy. As it turns out, the elder Seavers had nothing to worry about -- after considerable rumination, Mike and Julie decide to break off the engagement. Later on, Mike will begin attending acting classes, where he will meet and fall for fellow student Kate Malone (Chelsea Noble). In other developments this season, a crisis developments when Maggie gets promoted to head of the Channel 19 news team, meaning that Jason won't be able to accept a job at a prestigious Manhattan clinic; Mike manages to land a small part on a popular TV show, but his euphoria is short-lived when his appearance is cut to virtually nothing; and after failing to qualify for a summer semester at Columbia University, Mike's sister Carol (Tracey Gold) takes a job with a publishing company -- which, ironically, may force her to bypass her second opportunity to attend Columbia. In the season finale, Jason seriously contemplates a radical change in his lifestyle when he inherits a mountain cabin in Colorado. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Growing Pains: Season 06 (1990)
Season six of Growing Pains begins with 21-year-old Mike Seaver (Kirk Cameron) moving to New York to pursue an acting career, an action staunchly opposed by his parents, psychiatrist Jason (Alan Thicke) and TV journalist Maggie (Joanna Kerns). More family fireworks ensue when Mike's sister Carol (Tracey Gold), upset that her parents' problems with her brother have caused them to neglect her needs, defiantly moves out of the house as well -- only to briefly end up sharing an apartment with Mike! In a later three-part episode, Mike takes a temp job at a travel agency, where he arranges for his parents to vacation in Paris, where Maggie comes down with appendicitis. Meanwhile, youngest Seaver son Ben (Jeremy Miller) shows every sign of emulating his older brother Mike in his pursuit of pretty girls. Ben will ultimately be center of attention in a fantasy episode in which he imagines that his family is starring in a "typical" sitcom, Meet the Seavers. And in a less lighthearted development, Maggie's father Ed (Gordon Jump) passes away. Through that peculiar brand of chronological magic that occurs only in TV sitcoms, the Seavers' baby daughter, Chrissy, born a scant two seasons earlier, is now six years old, with Ashley Johnson taking over the role from twin infants (Kirsten and Kelsey Dohring). The "new" Chrissy makes her mark in the episode wherein she creates an imaginary friend who most decidedly does not meet with her mom's approval. Guest stars appearing this season include Jamie Luner as a horror-story heroine in the episode "Happy Halloween," Heather Langenkamp as Mike's vacation sweetheart in "Let's Go Europe," and singer Jerry Vale as himself in "Divorce Story." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Growing Pains: Season 07 (1991)
A new production staff is at the helm as Growing Pains launches its seventh and final season. The most significant development this year occurs when aspiring actor Mike Seaver (Kirk Cameron) returns to his family's Long Island home accompanied by 15-year-old homeless youngster Luke Brower, played by none other than Leonardo DiCaprio). Mike had met Luke while temporarily teaching at the inner-city Community Health Center, and felt that the boy could benefit by living in a loving and supportive family situation. Luke does his best to fit in with the Seavers, but he has serious honesty and behavior issues to deal with -- not to mention the unexpected return of his irresponsible father, George (Gary Grubbs). Mike himself has managed to land a role on the daytime soap opera "Big City Secrets," somewhat justifying his decision to pursue a show-business career to his doubting parents Jason (Alan Thicke and Maggie (Joanna Kerns) -- even though his TV character, "Strong Waverly," spends most of his time in a coma with no lines to speak. As for the other Seaver youngsters, 7-year-old Chrissy (Ashley Johnson) is now regularly attending school, making an effort to follow the rather dubious social and academic advice dispensed by her 16-year-old brother Ben (Jeremy Miller). Meanwhile, oldest daughter Carol takes leave of Columbia University to study abroad in London. This plot development was necessitated by the ongoing serious health problems of actress Tracey Gold, whose battle with anorexia had forced her to drop out of the series. Both Carol and Gold's absence were touchingly acknowledged in an episode wherein Ben cheers up his absent sister by sending her a family video that he has filmed. Of the season's guest stars, special attention should be paid to the actress playing the haughty Sasha Serotsky in the episode "Menage a Luke." Yes, it is Hilary Swank, long before either one of her two Oscar-winning film performances. The series ends with the two-part "The Last Picture Show," as the Seaver family prepares to move to Washington so that Maggie can accept a job as media-relations director for a prominent senator -- and in what is almost an afterthought, Mike finally proposes to his erstwhile girlfriend Kate Malone. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi