blow-you-away fabulous, he had enormous humor, enormous charm. When he finished, he looked at me and asked, “Is this supposed to be a comedy or what?” The entire room broke into laughter. The moment he left the room, we all looked at each other and said, “Teen idol.” People get skeptical when they hear that. But I say to them that if you don’t have an instinct in a moment like that, you are in the wrong business. As we talked further about him, we quipped about his question: “Yeah, he may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he sounds like our Mike—clueless and adorable, charming and endearing.”
Mike Sullivan, Executive Producer of
Growing Pains
I was happy and all, but her interruption caught me off-guard and Pinky cornered my Pac-Man before I could eat a power pellet.
Making the Show
Because I had been on the show
Two Marriages
, I had experienced life on a series. It wasn’t all that new to me, though I played a bigger role in
Growing Pains
and, of course, one was a comedy and the other a drama. I was looking forward to it. You couldn’t beat the steady work—and
no more auditions!
Of course, I would see a lot less of my friends, but I figured a comedy would be a lot of fun. At 14, I was ready for this new adventure, however long it lasted.
I knew that booking a pilot is only the first step to stardom—the network has a strong say in the final casting. It’s a challenge to create a convincing “family” by throwing a group of strangers together. Actors have to possess that over-used adjective,
chemistry
. The children should at least resemble the actors playing their parents. (Whether I look more like Joanna Kerns or Alan Thicke, that’s a puzzler TV historians can debate for centuries to come.)
Reading in front of the network bigwigs is much more intimidating than reading for the casting director. The room was bigger and we performed the audition on a stage. Thanks to the invention of shoulder pads, there were a lot of broad-shouldered suits scrutinizing us. Comedy is serious business.
The network picked up the pilot and we taped it, but in test screenings, the show didn’t rate very well. Viewers weren’t fond of the original Carol, and didn’t like some of the banter between the parents. They felt it was mean-spirited, and
Roseanne
hadn’t yet “set the Barr” for mean.
In response, Mike Sullivan put together an introductory piece to make the family more likeable. He also reworked the banter and cut together a little dual narration to show before the credits. They hired Tracey Gold to replace the original actress and we re-shot the scenes with her as Carol.
When the studio re-tested the show,
Growing Pains
was the top pilot for that season.
All-Star Cast
Alan
When I heard Alan Thicke would play Jason Seaver, I was excited. I knew he’d been a Canadian talk show host so I presumed he would be the star of our show. He was
the
name that would sell the show. (Though he had just experienced a disaster as host of
Thicke of the Night
, a late-night chat-fest that was supposed to take on Johnny Carson.)
I liked Alan immediately. He was funny, smart and witty—three traits that make it easy to comically play off someone else. Playing opposite someone as gifted as Alan made it easier for me to become Mike Seaver.
Alan was always extremely generous with his compliments about fellow cast members. Once in an interview he said, “Successful family shows need someone with that magic—the look that has the chance to take the country by storm. Michael J. Fox did that. Kirk seemed to have that. I thought,
This is a good rocket to hitch my star to
.” 1
Joanna
Joanna Kerns became my second mom.
TV Guide
once had a cover shot of me, my mom and Joanna (who resembles my mom a lot) with the caption, “My Two Moms.” They were holding flowers and I was the proud son.
I looked up to Joanna from the start. She was an experienced actress who had been in many movies. And she
Mike Sullivan, Executive Producer of
Growing Pains
I was happy and all, but her interruption caught me off-guard and Pinky cornered my Pac-Man before I could eat a power pellet.
Making the Show
Because I had been on the show
Two Marriages
, I had experienced life on a series. It wasn’t all that new to me, though I played a bigger role in
Growing Pains
and, of course, one was a comedy and the other a drama. I was looking forward to it. You couldn’t beat the steady work—and
no more auditions!
Of course, I would see a lot less of my friends, but I figured a comedy would be a lot of fun. At 14, I was ready for this new adventure, however long it lasted.
I knew that booking a pilot is only the first step to stardom—the network has a strong say in the final casting. It’s a challenge to create a convincing “family” by throwing a group of strangers together. Actors have to possess that over-used adjective,
chemistry
. The children should at least resemble the actors playing their parents. (Whether I look more like Joanna Kerns or Alan Thicke, that’s a puzzler TV historians can debate for centuries to come.)
Reading in front of the network bigwigs is much more intimidating than reading for the casting director. The room was bigger and we performed the audition on a stage. Thanks to the invention of shoulder pads, there were a lot of broad-shouldered suits scrutinizing us. Comedy is serious business.
The network picked up the pilot and we taped it, but in test screenings, the show didn’t rate very well. Viewers weren’t fond of the original Carol, and didn’t like some of the banter between the parents. They felt it was mean-spirited, and
Roseanne
hadn’t yet “set the Barr” for mean.
In response, Mike Sullivan put together an introductory piece to make the family more likeable. He also reworked the banter and cut together a little dual narration to show before the credits. They hired Tracey Gold to replace the original actress and we re-shot the scenes with her as Carol.
When the studio re-tested the show,
Growing Pains
was the top pilot for that season.
All-Star Cast
Alan
When I heard Alan Thicke would play Jason Seaver, I was excited. I knew he’d been a Canadian talk show host so I presumed he would be the star of our show. He was
the
name that would sell the show. (Though he had just experienced a disaster as host of
Thicke of the Night
, a late-night chat-fest that was supposed to take on Johnny Carson.)
I liked Alan immediately. He was funny, smart and witty—three traits that make it easy to comically play off someone else. Playing opposite someone as gifted as Alan made it easier for me to become Mike Seaver.
Alan was always extremely generous with his compliments about fellow cast members. Once in an interview he said, “Successful family shows need someone with that magic—the look that has the chance to take the country by storm. Michael J. Fox did that. Kirk seemed to have that. I thought,
This is a good rocket to hitch my star to
.” 1
Joanna
Joanna Kerns became my second mom.
TV Guide
once had a cover shot of me, my mom and Joanna (who resembles my mom a lot) with the caption, “My Two Moms.” They were holding flowers and I was the proud son.
I looked up to Joanna from the start. She was an experienced actress who had been in many movies. And she
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