‘Growing Pains’ Cast To Reunite On Reality Show
Just last week we were talking about The Wonder Years reunion, and now it looks like there was somewhat of a reunion for the cast of Growing Pains.
For his reality show, Unusually Thicke, Alan Thicke, the patriarch of the fictional Seaver family, tried to organize an impromptu Growing Pains reunion with the rest of the Seavers. Unfortunately for Alan, not everyone was thrilled with the idea of appearing on a reality show. This is either incredibly sad or pretty funny, depending on how you look at it.
Hoping for a Growing Pains reunion and probably a ratings bump in his show, Thicke threw a barbecue at his house, which just so happened to be catered by Jeremy Miller. For those who are not in the know, Miller played Alan Thicke’s youngest son Ben on the series Growing Pains.
In the end, his mid-season finale wound up being a well-intentioned failure of a reunion, with Thicke, Miller, and some how John Stamos be worked in even though he was from a different family sitcom.
Kirk Cameron, who played Mike Seaver on the show, didn’t show up for the Growing Pains reunion, and the rest of the cast, including Joanna Kerns, Tracey Gold, Ashley Johnson and Leonardo DiCaprio, weren’t up for being filmed on Thicke’s show.
The most interesting part of the ill-fated nostalgic Growing Pains reunion came from Stamos. During the episode, John proposed a Growing Pains reboot, suggesting that he should play Cameron’s role Mike Seaver. Stamos added that zombies, vampires, and gay people would be important in the mix. Because you know, gay people really fit in with mythical creatures like zombies and vampires.
The whole episode was centered around a Growing Pains theme. Earlier in the episode, Thicke’s agent suggested that he should write a Growing Pains parenting book. In a scene that looks entirely scripted, Thicke’s agent tells the actor that a Growing Pains parent book would be the perfect opportunity for a relaunch. The book would act as a parenting manual from Dr. Seaver aka Alan Thicke.
To that Thicke says, “I think there’s a Growing Pains feature film. We relaunch Growing Pains with a parenting book, and then we get my big enchilada — the movie. We’re having our annual barbecue at the ranch next week, and I’ll run it by them.”
From the looks of the low head count at the barbecue, Thicke’s dreams might have been prematurely dashed, or perhaps this is an inception-level performance within a performance, and this is how Thicke will slowly integrate Growing Pains back into relevancy.
[Image via ABC Studios]
