Growing Pains: Season 01  (1985)

Theatrical Release Information:
Growing Pains: Season 01

As season one of Growing Pains gets under way, Long Island housewife Maggie Seaver (Joanna Kerns) lands a job as a reporter for a local newspaper. Since it has always been the Seavers' philosophy that at least one parent should always be home to look after youngsters Mike (Kirk Cameron), Carol (Tracey Gold), and Ben (Jeremy Miller), Maggie's husband Dr. Jason Seaver (Alan Thicke) obligingly moves his psychiatric practice out of his New York offices and into his own home. The family's first crisis takes place smack-dab in the middle of the opening episode, when Mike is arrested for underage driving. In later trials and tribulations, Jason exhibits jealousy when Maggie is required to work after hours with her male colleagues; Mike and Ben get in trouble for betting on horse races; and Carol despairs when her parents are deemed "unacceptable" to chaperone her school dance. Mike's buddy Boner (Andrew Koenig) makes his first appearance this season in the episode "Dirt Bike," while another best friend, Eddie, is introduced in "The Reputation." And in the later episode "Be a Man," Gordon Jump and Betty McGuire are seen for the first time in the roles of Maggie's parents Ed and Kate Malone. Among the well-known actors making season one guest appearances are Dana Plato as Mike's girlfriend Lisa in "Mike's Madonna Story"; Ami Dolenz as another of Mike's dates, this one named Linda, in "Slice of Life"; Dennis Haysbert, playing a cop in "Weekend Fantasy," Dan Lauria as the ruthless new coach of Ben's ice hockey team in "First Blood"; and the delightful Annette Funicello as a middle-aged suburban mom in "The Seavers vs. the Cleavers." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide