'Growing Pains' Cast Reunites to Share Favorite Moments from Show
For many families sharing one television in the mid-80’s, a weekly dose of “Growing Pains” was a highlight. The hit show ran from 1985-1992, giving Americans seven fun-filled years of watching the beloved Seaver family live, laugh, and love together.
The cast was slammed with grief in Dec. 2016 after the sudden death of patriarch Alan Thicke, who played the infamous Dr. Jason Seaver on the show. Thicke’s colleagues still miss him, and no doubt always will.
In March, the “Today Show” caught up with the three oldest Seaver children, Kirk Cameron, Tracey Gold and Jeremy Miller. The trio enjoyed reminiscing about their favorite show moments, of course, many of them revolving around the late Thicke.
“Any of my favorite moments of Alan were usually when he was losing his mind over something we had done, usually something Kirk had done,” laughed Miller, who played little brother Ben. Cameron, who played big brother Mike, agreed, adding that his character was “usually the instigation of his madness.”
As far as favorite episodes go, Gold, who played the brainy Carol, remembered when the Seaver children were subjected to the embarrassment of their parents chaperoning a school dance. But it turned out Dr. and Mrs. Seaver had some serious dance floor moves, wowing the crowd on the dance floor.
Another favorite episode was when Carol thought she needed a nose job. Usually the brunt of her brother Mike’s cruel jokes, it ended up being Mike who talked her out of changing her face.
“It was Mike who was always telling her how horrible she is, how ugly she is, like brothers do with sisters,” Cameron recalled. “And in that moment there was this touching thing where he’s like, ‘You’re actually really pretty; I just can’t tell you that because you’re my sister.'”
“And he was the one that actually made her feel like, ‘I’m beautiful just the way I am,'” Cameron said. “It was a touching, great brother-sister moment.”
The cast enjoyed hosting a slew of celebrities over the years, including big names like Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio. “Brad Pitt was one of the nicest guys, hands down,” Miller recalled.
Fans are still fond of the show, decades after it ended, which Gold attributes to the true family feeling the cast had when they came together.
“I think it’s just the group of people they cast and got together, and we really felt like a family, and I think it translated through the screen,” Gold explained.
“The way the family was written really was the type of family most people dreamed of having,” Miller chimed in.
“But I think the true family feeling that we had was what people could really see and relate to.”
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