The 1980s/early 1990s were awash in fairly awful "family" sitcoms, each one more progressively dreadful. Growing Pains is a perfect example. The 1980s brought us Family Ties, a tepid family sitcom headlined and built around familiar face Meredith Baxter Birney as the mother. As often happened, the producers/network threw Birney under the bus and switched the focus to up-and-coming actor Michael J. Fox, whose Alex Keaton was supposed to be a comical caricature of greed but instead became a hero to a nation of rising greed merchants. As imitation is purportedly the sincerest form of flattery, ABC immediately followed suit with their own carbon copy - Growing Pains.This time the focus was supposed to be Alan Thicke as the dad. Thicke was a likable, if exceedingly bland personality whose late night talk show Thicke of the Night had just tanked. Joanna Kerns joined him as the second half of the perplexed, slightly liberal couple with three smart-mouthed, precocious kids (were there any other kind in sitcoms?), played by Kirk Cameron, Tracy Gold and Jeremy Miller. Much as with FT, the producers/network did not waste time to immediately shift the focus to Cameron as the eldest son, whose mischief was supposed to galvanize each episode and allow it to end with one of those tired parental chats. Also as with FT, Gold and Miller were relegated to background status in favor of the what ABC hoped would be their breakout star in Cameron.Looking back with hindsight being 20/20, Growing Pains is little more than a third rate Family Ties rip-off with a criminally overused laugh track, a dearth of actual laughs and is remembered as nothing more than the dubious starting point for current acting legend Leonardo DiCaprio, who was added in the final season to try to boost flagging ratings, and in being the source that inflicted the sublimely talentless Kirk Cameron on an unwitting nation. At one point, they tried to spin off Bill Kirchenbauer who had a recurring role as a coach into his own sitcom Just the Ten of Us, which had the distinction of being dramatically worse than Growing Pains.Watching GP now is almost unendurable with its sanitized comedy, its saccharine sweetness and its pervasive canned laughter. Thicke and Kearns try really hard, but they were never the point of this show. Even a talent like DiCaprio could not make much of a dent. The biggest problems rest with the producers and Cameron. One can easily understand them wanting to re-create Michael J. Fox's success, but the focus shifted to Fox when he proved to be a scene-stealer and then later took that charisma to the big screen. Cameron is decidedly charisma free. The writers give him all of the best lines/plots (such as they are), but he is such a proverbial lightweight that they just thud around him. Like Michael J. Fox on FT or not, he was definitely talented and charismatic - two descriptors that are not in the same area code with Cameron. A herculean effort was made to turn Cameron into a teenybopper idol, but the most remarkable thing about him is how asexual he comes off in the show. His prankster Mike is almost devoid of any sexual attraction and his acting is relegated to an arrogant, self-satisfied smirk, which seems to be tattooed across his countenance and impossible to remove.Oddly, the most interesting thing about GP is how its backstage antics seemed infinitely more fascinating than what appeared in front of the camera. The producers not only had their hands full with the impossible task of trying to make the show funny and turn Cameron, who they had doubled down on into a star (fat chance!), but they also had to cope with Cameron's fundamentalist evangelical religious tantrums, which apparently resulted in him antagonizing other cast members, his insistence on scrubbing or altogether abandoning any edgy story lines (the closest this show got to edgy humor was naming Cameron's best friend Boner), and forbidding any provocative romances on the show. In a highly publicized and controversially costly event, Julie McCullough was brought on as Cameron's on screen girlfriend and the story arc was to have them married by the end of the season. McCullough proved to be popular, but midway through the story arc Cameron discovered she had once posed nude for Playboy and demanded her immediate firing lest his virtue be compromised by working in close proximity to her (you know, girl cooties or something). Producers folded like a cheap suit and the ratings began to tank. In a frantic last ditch effort, DiCaprio was later brought in to hopefully ease the headache-inducing Cameron out the door, but the damage was done.Truthfully the series did not have an abundance to offer at that point - it did not have much from the start. The show itself never developed the following of Family Ties in repeats and is only scantly remembered by most 80s TV fans, usually with a bit of prompting. Alan Thicke begat the criminally horrid singer Robin Thicke, DiCaprio has become a big screen sensation and perennial Oscar contender and Cameron has pretty much taken the path of most grade Z talent whose undeserved time in the sun has waned - he found deeper religious conviction and appears in increasingly more preposterous, badly done Christian-produced fodder and in laughable debates trying to convince non-Christians that there is a God because a banana fits comfortably in your hand.

During the Eighties this show spawned the most popular teen idol of the decade. Given some of Kirk Cameron's recent activities and statements it's almost impossible to review this show with any degree of objectivity, especially for a gay individual. But no reason to take it out on the rest of the cast who've made it abundantly clear they do not support Kirk at all in his endeavors.Alan Thicke plays a psychiatrist and Joanna Kerns plays a newscaster who are raising three kids, Kirk Cameron, Tracey Gold, and Jeremy Miller. The only thing unusual here is that Thicke had his office in a wing of the house so he was a stay at home dad while mom went to work. And her work was on television every night. It was an interesting twist on the usual situation family comedy. Neither of the parents were idiots, the kids had problems dating from The Life Of Riley to Good Luck Charlie.It was said that when Kirk got religion in the second year he proved more difficult than your average teen idol with substance abuse problems. His character started as a cut up and prankster, but story lines proved difficult because of his religion. But the folks at ABC had to knuckle under to him.You might have respected Kirk Cameron for sticking to principle even though they were unpopular. Principle turned into narrow minded bigotry when he got Julie McCullough fired who was playing a girl friend for a bit because McCullough did a Playboy spread. That was a hint of what was to come. Seven years of Growing Pains and like most teen idols Cameron tried, but couldn't sustain his career. He's doing the Christian circuit with a vengeance now.It always bothered me that with so many gay people behind the camera in so many occupations how anyone in show business can be homophobic. Still Kirk has managed and I doubt there will be another Growing Pains reunion film.

Thank you Nick At Nite for re-running popular sitcoms. Particularly, family sit-coms."Growing Pains" truly displays the life of a family; in this case, an all American family.To be honest, the teenagers' situations are very realistic and have the occasional and important dramatic situations.Kirk Cameron stole the show with his on-screen charm and good looks. The boy was talented really.Alan Thicke was also good in his role as the care loving father. Joanna Kerns and Jeremy Miller were not that important characters in my opinion but were very good. Tracey Gold also delivered a good performance but always gave me the impression that she was a sad girl.Anyways, this is a t.v. series that is part of my childhood and will stay with many generations.Cheesy and kitschy by today's standards but worths a watch if you have the humor to watch family sit-coms and some dramatic situations.

o my goodness its funny how a certain show from along time ago can bring back memory's of a certain time in your life and this show brings back my pre teen years i loved this show exspecialy Kurt Cameron he was definitely my first crush!! when i was younger i grew up in a dysfunctional family and watching this show was definitely an exscape for me i truly enjoyed every episode and used to tape the show and will definitely order the DVD growing pains i send my love to the cast of growing pains and which there where more pictures on the web site and information and up dates on the pepole!!!karina714-812-8063 call me so someone can send me a picture of one of my favorite shows cast!