GROWING PAINS

What do Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Hilary Swank all have in common? Well, besides being famous movie stars? The answer is they all shared screen time with the Seaver family on Growing Pains. From 1985 to 1992 Maggie and Jason Seaver worked their parenting magic on Mike, Carol and Ben (and eventually Chrissy and adopted Luke) in front of millions of fans.

Notable for ever-changing opening sequences and occasionally breaking the fourth wall, Growing Pains broke the top ten for two of its seasons and never left the top 30 shows before its departure. The show was also noted for its portrayal of working mothers, while dad held down the homefront (albeit from his home-based office).

The show also saw ups and downs for the actors involved. Tracey Gold had to leave the series to be treated for anorexia. Teen idol Kirk Cameron became a born-again Christian, and started butting heads with producers over script content. Of course it wasn’t all bad – Cameron did meet his future wife, Chelsea Noble, when she played his girlfriend on the show.