Growing Pains : Synopsis, Pictures, Photos, Trivia, Filming Locations

Installed in the suburbs of New York, the psychiatrist Jason Seaver receives his patients at home. Having his office in his house allows him to be closer to his children Mike, Carol and Ben ... and especially to ward off all their nonsense.

His wife Maggie is a reporter for a local television from Long Island and is therefore less present for his children.

The elder, Mike, gives them a lot of a hard time. Drown, he knows all the strings to get out of the most delusional confusion.

Carol is the opposite of his brother: studious, cynical and serious. It is not to be outdone when it comes to making Mike's valves.

Ben, to the great despair of his parents, follows the traces of Mike and not Carol. Las, less gifted for pranks but just as interested in girls, he always gets fucked ...

Family sitcom whose primary goal is to entertain the spectators, what of nine doctor? Nevertheless addressed less light themes over time such as suicide, racism, sexuality or even drugs ... A pleasant surprise in the often watered down the 80s.

Also note, the arrival in reinforcement of an unknown young actor in the role of a child in difficulty, Luke, taken care of by the Seaver family, once Mike left the family home: Leonardo DiCaprio.

Growing Breads is an American television series which was broadcast between 1985 and 1992. The series follows the life of the Seaver family, which is made up of parents, Jason and Maggie, and their three children: Mike, Carol and Ben. Jason is a psychologist who works at home to be able to take care of his children. Maggie, on the other hand, is a housewife who takes care of the house and the children.

Their eldest son, Mike, is a popular and sporting teenager who has to face the pressure of adolescent life, especially in terms of romantic relationships and career choice. Her sister, Carol, is a shy and studious teenager who tries to find her place in the world. Their younger brother, Ben, is an energetic and clumsy boy who likes to have fun and create trouble.

Over the episodes, the Seaver family must face challenges and problems typical of everyday life, such as academic difficulties, complicated family relationships and health problems. The characters grow and evolve over the series, learning precious lessons on love, friendship and life in general.

In addition to members of the Seaver family, the series includes a wide range of secondary characters, including Mike's best friend, Boner, and the family's neighbor, Dr. Hoover, who is often involved in the adventures of the Seaver family . The series was acclaimed by criticism and won numerous prizes, including five Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards.

In 1990, the producers chose to "leap" the character of Chrissy five years, and she suddenly became seven years-old.

Jeremy Miller's character Ben Seaver has the middle names, "Hubert Horatio Humphrey" in honor of the famous senator from Minnesota.

The Family's last name was Seaver and they had neighbors named Koosman. Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman were teammates on the New York Mets during the '60s and '70s. The show takes place on Long Island so it's likely that the creators were Mets fans.

Between the 88-89 season cliffhanger and 89-90 season premiere, 'Kirk Cameron' had a religious awakening and demanded that 'Julie McCollough' 's character of Mike's fiancee be written out of the show because of McCollough's real-life Playboy Magazine past.

Producers had to seriously re-tailor the show to better include other cast members after the network complained that the pilot too heavily focused on the Mike character.

'Leonardo Dicaprio' was brought on in a last ditch effort to pump new life into the show and appeal to the teenage fan base, but alas, the show performed poorly, Dicaprio's character dropped, and the show cancelled.

Alan Thicke was predominantly known as a Canadian talk show host before the role of Jason on the show. Most involved with the production did not want him, but when no one reading for the part fit the bill, Thicke was auditioned and hired.

Kirk Cameron was so intent keeping the show devoid of adult themes that he phoned the president of ABC and accused producers Guntzelman, Marshall and Sullivan of being "pornographers". The three then resigned from the show, having had enough of Cameron's shenanigans.

'Matthew Perry' appeared in the 88-89 season as Carol's boyfriend, Sandy. After a handful of episodes Perry is killed off by having his character die from injuries sustained from a drunk-driving accident.

Actor Jamie Abbott, who portrayed Ben's best friend "Stinky Sullivan", was first featured on the show as another character which was a bully of Ben's.

Tracey Gold (Carol) suffered from severe anorexia and missed most of the show's final season. Pay close attention to the final episode and you will notice Gold does not take one bite of the pizza she is holding.

Cameron met his future wife Chelsea Noble, who played Kate, on the show.

Julie McCullough, who played Kirk Cameron's love interest Julie Costello during the fourth season, was abruptly fired from the show at the start of filming for the episode "Mike and Julie's Wedding" (in which her character would have married Mike Seaver). When she arrived for filming, she was given a new script, in which Julie left Mike at the altar. While no official reason was given to McCullough, it was common knowledge that Kirk Cameron had demanded that she be fired from the series. Cameron, who had become a born again Christian several years earlier, disliked McCullough because the actress had posed in Playboy months before being hired, and demanded her firing as a condition of his signing a new contract. This caused a huge backlash among fans of the series, forcing the show's producers to bring a reluctant McCullough (who had wanted nothing more to do with the show and Kirk Cameron) back in a hastily written episode to give the Julie character proper send-off.

Three versions of the theme song were sung: the first season featured a female vocal only, sung by Dusty Springfield; the second season through fifth and then seventh featured B.J. Thomas and Jennifer Warnes; and season six featured an a capella chorus.

The video portion of the theme featured five different variations; season 1 had Renaissance art with the cast's names superimposed; season 2 had clips of season 1; season three showed real-life photos of the cast when they were younger, and always had Thicke standing alone at the end of the song, then running to catch up with other cast members; season four and five had a different cast member linger in front of the camera before running for other cast members; seasons six and seven featured a professional family photo before and after the credits.

Growing Pains ran for seven seasons, beginning on September 24th, 1985 and ending on April 24th, 1992. 165 episodes

Julie McCollough was unaware of her firing as she was handed the script just moments after showing up on-set. She found it difficult to do a follow-up episode a year later, as her character makes good with Mike, when in real-life she resented Cameron for having her fired.

The character Jason Seaver was ranked #37 in TV Guide's list of the "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time" (20 June 2004 issue).

Maura Tierney admitted to having been fired from the show.

The show was originally supposed to air an episode arc in and around Europe, but the idea was later scrapped when 'Kirk Cameron' expressed a fear of flying.

Filming locations:

• Burbank, California, USA.
• Columbia/Warner Bros. Ranch, Burbank, California, USA (studio).
• John Marshall High School - 3939 Tracy Street, Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California, USA (Thomas E. Dewey High School).
• Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank Studios, Burbank, California, USA.

• Creation date: 2003/07/01 by abdest