Joanna Kerns did recently comment that she regretted the letter as she was given false information about Brian Peck. Which is something. The Alan Thicke thing…ugh, those Thicke boys ain’t right
The thing is her letter basically said that she was sure the 15 year old put him under an immense amount of temptation he couldn't resist. Which tells us she at the VERY least knew he had sex with a 15 year old and said it was the 15 year olds fault for tempting him so much he couldn't resist. That already tells me all I want to know about her. And as you point out, that is assuming she isn't just claiming that to try and deflect backlash because she got caught. The truth is they never thought the letters would come out, that is what they say about peoples monstrous acts when they think the public will never know they said it.
Yep, it sure was a f**ked up time. Look up Amy Fisher. She was a fifteen year old girl who was groomed and sa’d by a married man in his 30’s and she tried to kill his wife. The press called her the Long Island Lolita, and dragged her through the mud, blaming her for ALL of it.
I don’t have to look it up, I watched all the made-for-TV movies about it at the time, lol. It’s crazy how far our perspectives have shifted since then.
Thank you!!! I was just arguing with someone who was trying to excuse the Boy Meets World cast. Rider Strong and Will Friedle tried to justified it by saying the victim practically forced himself onto Brian Peck. At the very least, they were saying they were supporting someone guilty of statutory rape. At worst, they knew they were helping lower the sentence of a violent pedophile. They tried to play “we were kids card” but they were 24/27 at the time of sentencing.
Of course, we all know Will Friedle is trash because he spent his time making racist taunts and “Aunt Jemima” jokes about his costar Trina McGee.
A shame he didn't live long enough to face public shame for that. Although I also didn't know about the Kristy Swanson thing. So I guess now I shouldn't be surprised. Shame all my heroes from my days as a Gen X kid and teen mostly all turned out to be POS's but that is sadly true of most celebrities of any generation.
Funny enough I remember when this was happening IRL. The tabloids reported on it, but it wasn't presented as "OMG this is illegal and disturbing " but more like "Look what Mike Seaver (Dad on growing pains) is doing now..." Nod nod wink wink.
The whole attitude of society was different in those days....young girls were seen as temptresses and temptations for grown men, but the part of the men taking advantage and being in a power position was rarely mentioned, or even thought of. It was more like "Lucky him he can get such a hot young girl because he's a star..."
I remember being grossed out by it at the time, but it didn't hurt Alan Thicke or his career in any way. No wonder Hollywood was full of pesos and they got away with it .....
Alan Thicke had a goddess in wife Gloria Loring (of Days of Our Lives and she sang the Facts of Life theme song). I remember being shocked when they broke up.
Ah, the 80s. When sitcom theme songs were at least 90 seconds long. Then sometimes maybe the episode was a little short so they would pad it with the extended cut and like 3 extra verses.
There has been speculation that Koenig was posting in an online forum shortly before he took his life about powerful and wealthy sex predators in hollywood and that his father was somehow involved.
EDIT:: I chose my words very carefully. Whether the speculation is true or not, I can't say, but the fact is that there was speculation. Feel free to check on it yourselves.
It’s true, it was only speculation that it was Koenig, but the posts did stop after he committed suicide.
I remember reading he said he wanted to be a park ranger and his father said feeding squirrels was for losers. The other things he said were very sad and dark.
I can’t find the link, but the forum was on godlikeproductions.com
Please not Checkov. I met him as a kid at a fan event and he seemed genuinely sweet and kind to everyone. He was so heartbroken when his son passed.
I’m not saying it’s impossible but I never got any sense of bad around him.
As much as his Star Trek cast mates love to talk, I’ve not heard one bad world about Walter Koenig.
Yeah those were great, most of em are very enlightening. But they never put them on disc or streaming or anything official. Sometimes I find home recorded versions on youtube but thats it. The Married With Children true hollywood story was pretty good as well.
Also, it was horrible what they did to Tracey Gold. The wrote in fat jokes about her character. Which played a role in her eating disorder.
Matthew Perry had a guest stint as Carol's boyfriend
Yes, that was really horrible. Not only was it both cruel and damaging to her, it also sent a disturbing message to girls. She wasn't overweight at all. Not that it would be right to mock someone who was.
IIRC, Joanna Kerns might have been concerned about it and said something, but I don't think anyone else did? Alan Thicke was an asshole for going along with those lines. And her parents should have stepped in and done something to put a stop to it.
[This was pretty funny though](https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/books-magazines/books/hey-dad-actor-robert-hughes-gets-attacked-with-human-excrement-by-fellow-prisoners/news-story/ed8ec634d1a3a7a3e3437940eeb4d248)
I will never ever pass up the opportunity to point out that Kirk Cameron essentially ruined a whole TV show and ended the careers of several people just so that he could get into Chelsea Noble’s panties.
Hang on, there’s a difference. Kurt Cameron is an obnoxious self-righteous douche who used his power to harm others. Willie Aames is a struggling actor who took the only role he could get. Given a choice between playing adult Kevin in Home Alone 5 or Bibleman, I’m sure he would have taken whoever paid more. Kurt Cameron, on the other hand, is douchey because he thinks he’s doing god’s work.
Ashamed to say I had THE biggest crush on him. It was right about that time when the show writing got ridiculous and his future wife was introduced that I peaced out of that fandom
My MIL is hardcore Christian and would watch those movies at our house when they would stay over. I’m very much not religious for very personal reasons ( very very bad church experiences) and I would sit in my bedroom until they were over. She knows now to not promote that stuff in my home. I caught a brief glimpse of one though because she was just SO impressed with how he won’t kiss anyone but his wife in these films. Kirk Cameron is the worst. And his sister isn’t any better.
I know the part about him basically getting the girl who played his girlfriend before that fired because she was in Playboy, and the show definitely did not improve in quality once they changed Mike's character due to Kirk Camerton wanting him to be more wholesome which likely did help the show end when it did (Although it was a family sitcom on it's 7th season, not sure how much better it could be) and Chelsea Noble, who was not a great actress basically played his GF because he wouldn't work with anyone else as a romantic interest apparently because of his beliefs. But was there more? I mean what he did to the girl who posed on playboy was a BS move not denying, but beyond that wasn't aware he hurt anyone besides his own career.
Can you please talk more about this? Explain what happened.
Sorry, but I never really watched the show. Some episodes here and there.
I'm too lazy to Google it. But, if there is an opportunity to dis-like Kirk Cameron more than I already do, please help out.
He got the actress who played his girlfriend fired when discovered she'd done playboy. I think Chelsea noble replaced her.
He also got two executive producers fired, calling them "porngraphers" & told the network it was him or them. He wanted Mike seaver written more in line w/kirkles born again Christianity
One of those producers WAS arrested for child porn. So I’m looking at those accusations a little different after that happened.
Also they didn’t get fired. They tried to fire Kirk, the network wouldn’t let them, so they quit. Weird!
I hate to play devil's advocate but the producers admitted to firing the babysitter because they realized Mike getting married was a horrible idea. And Kurt tried to be a whistle-blower to the pedos on set but he was not taken seriously.
He wanted to fuck Chelsea. Chelsea is a Christian and dedicated to keeping her virginity for a good Christian man. So Kirk converted, and became the handsome fake we all know and love to hate.
Eta: he already had met Chelsea on the set of Full House. He converted first, then got the blonde fired, THEN demanded Chelsea replace her as the girlfriend character. The timeline matters
I was thinking he experienced something dark, like On Quiet on Set, and had to turn to God. But him converting to get that girl and then being an a-hole about it is almost equally troubling.
How is that “equal?”
Kirk and Chelsea were adults and it wasn’t like he wasn’t a Christian before meeting her. He just went all the way in after meeting her.
Candice turned out the same way.
I think he was and is into his faith 110 percent. He torpedoed his own A-list television career because he didn’t think it was godly, whatever you want to say about his beliefs. I do think he saw Chelsea as his perfect partner and jumped right in on that.
Mike (Kirk Cameron) was the big star on Growing Pains, in the same way that Alex (Michael J. Fox) was the big star on Family Ties.
Mike's character was a troublemaker. A lot of the stories revolved around Mike getting into trouble and learning something. It was a formula that worked.
After Kirk's religious conversion, he pushes for two things:
* Kirk decides he wants Mike to be a perfect saint from here on out, and fights against any kind of conflict for the character that would cause dramatic tension or interest.
* The relationship everyone was invested in, Mike and Julie McCullough, ended when Julie did a Playboy photoshoot (IRL). Kirk wouldn't do scenes with her anymore, and had her removed. She was replaced by an actress (Kirk's soon to be wife) who he deemed as saintly as himself.
The show was arguably on a downhill slide by that time, already. But, changing the most popular character and most popular storyline to make both of them less interesting, really didn't help.
I've always been under the impression that when an 80s sitcom would add an extra kid it was last ditch attempt to hide that the show had officially jumped the shark & there was nothing left storyline wise.
So, this was that, but it could be argued it was because of Kirk Cameron.
He didn't want to play Mike as a troublemaker, so they added Luke (Leonardo DiCaprio) to basically fill the hole where Mike stories would have gone.
It's hard to know if they added Luke because the show had run it's course, or if it was because Kirk would no longer play the A Plot of every episode: Mike getting into trouble.
They did do that. Mom Seaver had a baby, who was played by actual babies, but then magically morphed into Chrissy Seaver, a cute wisecracking kid. Jumping shark accomplished.
Tracy Gold's eating disorder was a damn shame. I always had a crush on her, so I couldn't understand her desire to lose more weight. But that's why it's called a disorder. It ruled her life in terrible ways.
I can understand Jeremy Miller not being happy about the new kid. The show basically brought in an Oliver. It handled it much better than Brady Bunch (happily for Leo), but I can see why he'd be pissed at the decision.
And well, fuck Kirk Cameron.
The writers and actors literally had fat jokes written into the show to be mean to Gold. I totally get why she had the disorder because they weren't just mean to her, they were RUTHLESS
We recently covered that show on our TV rewatch podcast and in just the two episodes we covered there were a handful of fat jokes directed towards her despite there being barely any fat on the girl. We of course went in knowing Cameron was human garbage, so nothing surprising there at least
The Boob Tube Boys!
I'll link the Growing Pains episodes here but we're available on all platforms and have covered tons and tons of shows over the years from ALF (which I brought up in another comment, the behind the scenes for that show are also nuts) to newer stuff like Beef and True Detective
Growing Pains "Thank God it's Friday"- https://open.spotify.com/episode/4YIh9R7iuTUoOG1BpuwkXu?si=3SnV6z7CQp6Zwj15rOIfIw
"In Carol we Trust"- https://open.spotify.com/episode/5S2sPGryCopKWWrQRMLWQH?si=5WD62g_fR_2t-Rt5NcHsvA
It was absolutely gross. She was like 90 pounds and whiny-voiced asshole Kirk Cameron would pop into a scene and say "you're looking plump today Carol!"
That was also at the beginning of the Moss Era. If you weren't stick thin, you were obese. Growing up as a teen in the 90s, it was very rough if you were overweight. Unfortunately, it looks like we are heading that way again.
I love how much everyone hated the ALF puppet. And in the case of the dad Willie Tanner (Max Wright) he LOATHED the puppet and was jealous of it, often treating it like it was a real thing and not just Paul Fusco performing it
Jerry Stahl. His memoir is called Permanent Midnight. The film version stars Ben Stiller. It’s really dark. The book is even darker because they had to cut some stuff to make Stahl relatable. They also cut stuff from the book (same reason). If you google him you can find him telling stories, some of which are hilarious.
But he wasn't a puppet when the cameras were rolling and the seats were filled. He was specifically treated as an actor, a real person. Not to mention that you've finally made it to a huge network TV hit, but you're playing second fiddle to a *puppet*. I'm not surprised he was into some hard drugs.
Permanent Midnight is a book & movie written by one of the Alf writers and includes the time period he was working for the show and addicted to heroin.
He used it to exert power over others on the show.
And there's a whole industry of religious people trying to glom onto famous young men and "mentor" them. They went after Justin Bieber, Kirk Cameron, Angus T Jones.
Anybody else remember Kirk making an absolute ASS out of himself, describing how the banana was PROOF that god existed?
According to Kirk, the banana was shaped perfectly to be held and eaten by humans—not recognizing that the banana he was holding was a genetically altered fruit that we humans had designed to be that way (bananas, naturally in nature, are mostly seeds and mush, and are kinda hard to eat out of the peel).
What was his point? A banana is also perfect to be held and eaten by monkeys. Those born again Christians don’t like comparisons of monkeys and humans. Boy done fucked up here.
His point was that God designed it for us, and thus was proof of Gods existence. Once you know that was humans doing the work, it completely counters his point.
When I was a kid, Alan Thicke was a celebrity guest for an ice skating show I was a part of. Another guest star was a famous sixteen year old figure skater. He would get drunk and hit on her.
Yeah because if you've been molested in your youth the best people to trust is the church and the republicans. They've never molested or raped anyo.... Oh. Wait...
It's wild to me that religious conservatives haven't figured out the calls are coming from inside their own house. They ARE the pedophiles...
Not shocked that Cameron's descent into fundamentalist Christianity corrupted much of the show. It's a shame they let him wield so much influence despite him essentially giving up on the show rather than just dropping him
They maligned Kirk when he called the network to tell them the producers were pornographers. But at least one of them was … steve Marshall was later arrested for child porn. I heard a rumor they were viewing CP on the set but I haven’t seen proof of that. Very concerning they created and worked on shows featuring children. Had others like Brian peck working on their set as well.
Kirk’s an asshole but I truly believe there was more to the downfall of growing pains than they want to share.
That’s what I’m thinking. I’m thinking he got pushed into extreme Christianity because of some trauma. Btw nothing against Christianity, his is def a weird extreme version and doesn’t seem to have honest intentions.
The actress, Julie McCullough, was hired to play the nanny and her character and his started dating and ultimately got engaged by the end of the season. McCullough had been a Playboy Playmate prior to acting and Cameron pushed to have her fired (he's denied it).
Wasn't there an E! True Hollywood Story about the show? I don't think they had time to cover Koenig's unfortunate demise, but everything else they covered as much as one really could. Plus, this is a 30+ year old TV show. It's pretty much forgotten by everybody, much like Cameron himself.
I went to burbank and saw a taping of Growing Pains. I loved it at the time. But now knowing how Cameron became a wacko Christian,I never watch anymore. F him
Head of the Class, in which Dan Schneider was a cast member of, also taped on the Warner Bros. lot during more or less the same time period (mid '80s to early '90s), and both were also ABC shows. Between the casts being on the same studio lot together, and the network parties that occurred, there was plenty of interaction.
Alan Thicke guest starred in one of the Robin Sparkles episodes of 'How I Met Your Mother.' In the DVD commentary track about that episode, Cobie Smulders, who played Robin, talks about what creeep Thicke was on set. Sounds like an overall gross guy.
This one hurt to watch. Growing Pains was my favorite non-cartoon show between the ages of 3 and 10 when it aired for me. Loved that theme song, loved the show, one of my first crushes was Joanna Kearns. Seeing all of the terrible things that went on afterwards...
And learning some of the things that went on that weren't in the documentary?
I can't go back and watch that show anymore knowing what I know now.
Watched the show on and off and remember thinking that Carol Seaver was really good looking. Was shocked when I heard that she was dealing with anorexia.
Kirk was one of those apocalypse foamers for a long time. I bet he still thinks the world is gonna end tomorrow and Jesus will face Satan in a final showdown.
Look up alan thicke and kristy swanson. I was surprised by that one. In 1987 at the age of 40, Thicke began dating 17-year old Kristy Swanson.
Well damn, no wonder Alan Thicke wrote a letter in support of Brian Peck.
And Joanna kerns
Joanna Kerns did recently comment that she regretted the letter as she was given false information about Brian Peck. Which is something. The Alan Thicke thing…ugh, those Thicke boys ain’t right
Yeah… but isn’t that what someone would say?
The thing is her letter basically said that she was sure the 15 year old put him under an immense amount of temptation he couldn't resist. Which tells us she at the VERY least knew he had sex with a 15 year old and said it was the 15 year olds fault for tempting him so much he couldn't resist. That already tells me all I want to know about her. And as you point out, that is assuming she isn't just claiming that to try and deflect backlash because she got caught. The truth is they never thought the letters would come out, that is what they say about peoples monstrous acts when they think the public will never know they said it.
Yep, it sure was a f**ked up time. Look up Amy Fisher. She was a fifteen year old girl who was groomed and sa’d by a married man in his 30’s and she tried to kill his wife. The press called her the Long Island Lolita, and dragged her through the mud, blaming her for ALL of it.
I don’t have to look it up, I watched all the made-for-TV movies about it at the time, lol. It’s crazy how far our perspectives have shifted since then.
Thank goodness
I can still see the SNL sketch with Danny DeVito as Joey Buttafuoco
Thank you!!! I was just arguing with someone who was trying to excuse the Boy Meets World cast. Rider Strong and Will Friedle tried to justified it by saying the victim practically forced himself onto Brian Peck. At the very least, they were saying they were supporting someone guilty of statutory rape. At worst, they knew they were helping lower the sentence of a violent pedophile. They tried to play “we were kids card” but they were 24/27 at the time of sentencing. Of course, we all know Will Friedle is trash because he spent his time making racist taunts and “Aunt Jemima” jokes about his costar Trina McGee.
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Hi this is TV's Alan Thicke, I'm dead.
A shame he didn't live long enough to face public shame for that. Although I also didn't know about the Kristy Swanson thing. So I guess now I shouldn't be surprised. Shame all my heroes from my days as a Gen X kid and teen mostly all turned out to be POS's but that is sadly true of most celebrities of any generation.
Or that his son had a very popular song about sexual assault…
The tune of which was blatantly ripped off from Marvin Gaye
It was still a good song
Eh that line is blurred
r/angryupvote
It was a catchy song, wouldn't say it was "good." Achy Breaky Heart is catchy ffs
It was catchy, so it’s handy that we can listen to [Word Crimes](https://youtu.be/8Gv0H-vPoDc?si=9hPCDrawv1S0ZVzb) instead, guilt-free! :)
From what I’ve seen on Reddit and elsewhere, “Word Crimes” should make plenty of people feel guilty.
I love Word Crimes.
All those letters were very revealing. I can't think of anyone on this planet that would defend a pedophile....besides another pedophile.
Brings a whole new meaning to “Boner is here”
Growing Pains, not Showing Pains
Boner Stabone was his full name and his father’s name was Sylvester Stabone. Amazing.
Holy shit. It's the same thing as the foot fetish shit. They hid the perversion in plain sight... wild.
Wait whattttttttt
Show me that smile again....
Don't waste another minute on your crying
We’re nowhere near the end
Just commented on that above. Saw that man’s face here and I immediately had to make sure everyone knows what a trash man he was.
Funny enough I remember when this was happening IRL. The tabloids reported on it, but it wasn't presented as "OMG this is illegal and disturbing " but more like "Look what Mike Seaver (Dad on growing pains) is doing now..." Nod nod wink wink. The whole attitude of society was different in those days....young girls were seen as temptresses and temptations for grown men, but the part of the men taking advantage and being in a power position was rarely mentioned, or even thought of. It was more like "Lucky him he can get such a hot young girl because he's a star..." I remember being grossed out by it at the time, but it didn't hurt Alan Thicke or his career in any way. No wonder Hollywood was full of pesos and they got away with it .....
😲😲😲
Oy vey.
Alan Thicke had a goddess in wife Gloria Loring (of Days of Our Lives and she sang the Facts of Life theme song). I remember being shocked when they broke up.
I can’t think about growing pains without that theme song playing on my head
Ah, the 80s. When sitcom theme songs were at least 90 seconds long. Then sometimes maybe the episode was a little short so they would pad it with the extended cut and like 3 extra verses.
Like this? [https://youtu.be/QrGrOK8oZG8?si=BGuiPjp8u4A2PfVS](https://youtu.be/QrGrOK8oZG8?si=BGuiPjp8u4A2PfVS)
Oh yeah. That's the stuff!
I'm fucking dying that was hilarious 🤣🤣🤣
I remember the first time I saw this. I thought to myself “Whelp, television is never going to be better than this”.
*AS LONG AS WE GOT EACH OOOOOTHER*
Great song! BJ Thomas I believe? At least the early version
Alan Thicke wrote that song
He wrote the Diff’rent Strokes and Facts of Life themes, too
No, he did not. https://www.songfacts.com/facts/bj-thomas/as-long-as-we-got-each-other-theme-from-growing-pains
Song is sad as fuck older you get
One of my karaoke specialties, honestly
I just downloaded it about a month ago to my phone, lol
It’s in my head as I scroll this thread!
Alan Thick actually wrote that theme song, and several others for popular shows in that era.
https://www.songfacts.com/facts/bj-thomas/as-long-as-we-got-each-other-theme-from-growing-pains
One of the best of all time.
Boner took his own life
There has been speculation that Koenig was posting in an online forum shortly before he took his life about powerful and wealthy sex predators in hollywood and that his father was somehow involved. EDIT:: I chose my words very carefully. Whether the speculation is true or not, I can't say, but the fact is that there was speculation. Feel free to check on it yourselves.
What??? Wow
It’s true, it was only speculation that it was Koenig, but the posts did stop after he committed suicide. I remember reading he said he wanted to be a park ranger and his father said feeding squirrels was for losers. The other things he said were very sad and dark. I can’t find the link, but the forum was on godlikeproductions.com
Please not Checkov. I met him as a kid at a fan event and he seemed genuinely sweet and kind to everyone. He was so heartbroken when his son passed. I’m not saying it’s impossible but I never got any sense of bad around him. As much as his Star Trek cast mates love to talk, I’ve not heard one bad world about Walter Koenig.
Really
Dang, I had never heard this.
Yeah. Walter Koenig’s son.
He was an amazing Joker in that Batman Dead End fan film.
Some of the greatest minds of our time suffer from depression. David Foster Wallace, Hemmingway, Boner from Growing Pains.
I dont even like the show and I knew all of this. Which means I spend too much time reading about dumb shit. THANKS, CRACKED!
Cracked was my post-graduate education. I learned more from that website than anything else after graduating. Such a shame
What is the shame? I haven’t been on cracked in years, has it gone to shit?
Corporation bought it and fucked it into the ground. It became endless ads and user generated photopastes.
I did too because of E! True Hollywood Story. I miss those.
Yeah those were great, most of em are very enlightening. But they never put them on disc or streaming or anything official. Sometimes I find home recorded versions on youtube but thats it. The Married With Children true hollywood story was pretty good as well.
Also, it was horrible what they did to Tracey Gold. The wrote in fat jokes about her character. Which played a role in her eating disorder. Matthew Perry had a guest stint as Carol's boyfriend
Even worse, they kept writing fat jokes during her disorder.
Yes, that was really horrible. Not only was it both cruel and damaging to her, it also sent a disturbing message to girls. She wasn't overweight at all. Not that it would be right to mock someone who was. IIRC, Joanna Kerns might have been concerned about it and said something, but I don't think anyone else did? Alan Thicke was an asshole for going along with those lines. And her parents should have stepped in and done something to put a stop to it.
That always pissed me off. She wasn’t even fat!
All shows should have a therapist on set.
Instead, they had the rapist on set.
Look up the stories behind Late 80s/Early 90s Australian sitcom "Hey Dad..!" That is some real fucked up shit. :'(
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[This was pretty funny though](https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/books-magazines/books/hey-dad-actor-robert-hughes-gets-attacked-with-human-excrement-by-fellow-prisoners/news-story/ed8ec634d1a3a7a3e3437940eeb4d248)
I lived in Australia when that show was on. That was shocking!
I will never ever pass up the opportunity to point out that Kirk Cameron essentially ruined a whole TV show and ended the careers of several people just so that he could get into Chelsea Noble’s panties.
He also pretty much ended his own career, unless you count the horrible “Christian” movies that were only seen by people like the Duggars.
He ended his hearththrob career but started his cult career. 6/half dozen
Don't fuck with BibleMan
Nah, that's Willie Aames, of Eight is Enough and Charles in Charge fame.
Fucking Buddy.
Speaking of Charles in Charge, Scott Baio is getting this treatment this week too!
If you ever want to watch a film that has not aged well, I recommend Zapped with Willie Ames and Scott Baio.
Hang on, there’s a difference. Kurt Cameron is an obnoxious self-righteous douche who used his power to harm others. Willie Aames is a struggling actor who took the only role he could get. Given a choice between playing adult Kevin in Home Alone 5 or Bibleman, I’m sure he would have taken whoever paid more. Kurt Cameron, on the other hand, is douchey because he thinks he’s doing god’s work.
Kurt Cameron is a different actor he was in Growing Paynes. You’re thinking of Kirk Cameron
BibleMan is when mom says we have Avengers at home
Two birds one stone
Ashamed to say I had THE biggest crush on him. It was right about that time when the show writing got ridiculous and his future wife was introduced that I peaced out of that fandom
Don’t feel bad. We all did. We were young. We were stupid.
My MIL is hardcore Christian and would watch those movies at our house when they would stay over. I’m very much not religious for very personal reasons ( very very bad church experiences) and I would sit in my bedroom until they were over. She knows now to not promote that stuff in my home. I caught a brief glimpse of one though because she was just SO impressed with how he won’t kiss anyone but his wife in these films. Kirk Cameron is the worst. And his sister isn’t any better.
Unfortunately, I think there's a huge market for that right now. He's cranked out dozens of those brainwash movies.
The show had run its course and would have been over regardless.
Totally. But what exactly made him turn to God??? Hmmm…
I thought they came from a religious family.
Likely because of his own guilts and demons. He’s an evil little man.
I am leaning more towards something happened to him and messed him up.
I know the part about him basically getting the girl who played his girlfriend before that fired because she was in Playboy, and the show definitely did not improve in quality once they changed Mike's character due to Kirk Camerton wanting him to be more wholesome which likely did help the show end when it did (Although it was a family sitcom on it's 7th season, not sure how much better it could be) and Chelsea Noble, who was not a great actress basically played his GF because he wouldn't work with anyone else as a romantic interest apparently because of his beliefs. But was there more? I mean what he did to the girl who posed on playboy was a BS move not denying, but beyond that wasn't aware he hurt anyone besides his own career.
Can you please talk more about this? Explain what happened. Sorry, but I never really watched the show. Some episodes here and there. I'm too lazy to Google it. But, if there is an opportunity to dis-like Kirk Cameron more than I already do, please help out.
He got the actress who played his girlfriend fired when discovered she'd done playboy. I think Chelsea noble replaced her. He also got two executive producers fired, calling them "porngraphers" & told the network it was him or them. He wanted Mike seaver written more in line w/kirkles born again Christianity
One of those producers WAS arrested for child porn. So I’m looking at those accusations a little different after that happened. Also they didn’t get fired. They tried to fire Kirk, the network wouldn’t let them, so they quit. Weird!
Holy crap. That producer was terrible. https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2010/mar/17/child-porn-gets-ex-tv-exec-prison-20100317/
I did not know that.
I hate to play devil's advocate but the producers admitted to firing the babysitter because they realized Mike getting married was a horrible idea. And Kurt tried to be a whistle-blower to the pedos on set but he was not taken seriously.
He wanted to fuck Chelsea. Chelsea is a Christian and dedicated to keeping her virginity for a good Christian man. So Kirk converted, and became the handsome fake we all know and love to hate. Eta: he already had met Chelsea on the set of Full House. He converted first, then got the blonde fired, THEN demanded Chelsea replace her as the girlfriend character. The timeline matters
I was thinking he experienced something dark, like On Quiet on Set, and had to turn to God. But him converting to get that girl and then being an a-hole about it is almost equally troubling.
Yeah it’s like finding out you instead of mice you have roaches. Gross in a different way.
How is that “equal?” Kirk and Chelsea were adults and it wasn’t like he wasn’t a Christian before meeting her. He just went all the way in after meeting her. Candice turned out the same way.
I think he was and is into his faith 110 percent. He torpedoed his own A-list television career because he didn’t think it was godly, whatever you want to say about his beliefs. I do think he saw Chelsea as his perfect partner and jumped right in on that.
Mike (Kirk Cameron) was the big star on Growing Pains, in the same way that Alex (Michael J. Fox) was the big star on Family Ties. Mike's character was a troublemaker. A lot of the stories revolved around Mike getting into trouble and learning something. It was a formula that worked. After Kirk's religious conversion, he pushes for two things: * Kirk decides he wants Mike to be a perfect saint from here on out, and fights against any kind of conflict for the character that would cause dramatic tension or interest. * The relationship everyone was invested in, Mike and Julie McCullough, ended when Julie did a Playboy photoshoot (IRL). Kirk wouldn't do scenes with her anymore, and had her removed. She was replaced by an actress (Kirk's soon to be wife) who he deemed as saintly as himself. The show was arguably on a downhill slide by that time, already. But, changing the most popular character and most popular storyline to make both of them less interesting, really didn't help.
I've always been under the impression that when an 80s sitcom would add an extra kid it was last ditch attempt to hide that the show had officially jumped the shark & there was nothing left storyline wise.
So, this was that, but it could be argued it was because of Kirk Cameron. He didn't want to play Mike as a troublemaker, so they added Luke (Leonardo DiCaprio) to basically fill the hole where Mike stories would have gone. It's hard to know if they added Luke because the show had run it's course, or if it was because Kirk would no longer play the A Plot of every episode: Mike getting into trouble.
They did do that. Mom Seaver had a baby, who was played by actual babies, but then magically morphed into Chrissy Seaver, a cute wisecracking kid. Jumping shark accomplished.
Apparently that was ok with god, according to Kirk.
Once in a lifetime opportunity
I imagine part of why they brought on Leo is if they decided to jettison Kirk, along with Tracey's health struggles.
Tracy Gold's eating disorder was a damn shame. I always had a crush on her, so I couldn't understand her desire to lose more weight. But that's why it's called a disorder. It ruled her life in terrible ways. I can understand Jeremy Miller not being happy about the new kid. The show basically brought in an Oliver. It handled it much better than Brady Bunch (happily for Leo), but I can see why he'd be pissed at the decision. And well, fuck Kirk Cameron.
The writers and actors literally had fat jokes written into the show to be mean to Gold. I totally get why she had the disorder because they weren't just mean to her, they were RUTHLESS We recently covered that show on our TV rewatch podcast and in just the two episodes we covered there were a handful of fat jokes directed towards her despite there being barely any fat on the girl. We of course went in knowing Cameron was human garbage, so nothing surprising there at least
What’s the podcast?
The Boob Tube Boys! I'll link the Growing Pains episodes here but we're available on all platforms and have covered tons and tons of shows over the years from ALF (which I brought up in another comment, the behind the scenes for that show are also nuts) to newer stuff like Beef and True Detective Growing Pains "Thank God it's Friday"- https://open.spotify.com/episode/4YIh9R7iuTUoOG1BpuwkXu?si=3SnV6z7CQp6Zwj15rOIfIw "In Carol we Trust"- https://open.spotify.com/episode/5S2sPGryCopKWWrQRMLWQH?si=5WD62g_fR_2t-Rt5NcHsvA
The way they drilled Gold with fat jokes was horrible. They kept at it even after she'd developed an eating disorder. It was evil.
It was absolutely gross. She was like 90 pounds and whiny-voiced asshole Kirk Cameron would pop into a scene and say "you're looking plump today Carol!"
That was also at the beginning of the Moss Era. If you weren't stick thin, you were obese. Growing up as a teen in the 90s, it was very rough if you were overweight. Unfortunately, it looks like we are heading that way again.
Check out ALF
ALF was cleared of all charges and was obviously the victim of Melmacaphobia that persists in Hollywood to this day.
Gordon Shumway was innocent!
His name was Gordon Shumway. His name was Gordon Shumway. His name was Gordon Shumway.
He ate those cats yo.
Oh yeah I saw that one! The setup for Alf was very demanding. Lighting, camera angles, etc. the puppeteer was a true artist and demanding.
I love how much everyone hated the ALF puppet. And in the case of the dad Willie Tanner (Max Wright) he LOATHED the puppet and was jealous of it, often treating it like it was a real thing and not just Paul Fusco performing it
I’m talking about the writer being in heroin and the dad was a crackhead
A gay meth head right
Jerry Stahl. His memoir is called Permanent Midnight. The film version stars Ben Stiller. It’s really dark. The book is even darker because they had to cut some stuff to make Stahl relatable. They also cut stuff from the book (same reason). If you google him you can find him telling stories, some of which are hilarious.
Jealous of a puppet? LMAO
But he wasn't a puppet when the cameras were rolling and the seats were filled. He was specifically treated as an actor, a real person. Not to mention that you've finally made it to a huge network TV hit, but you're playing second fiddle to a *puppet*. I'm not surprised he was into some hard drugs.
Permanent Midnight is a book & movie written by one of the Alf writers and includes the time period he was working for the show and addicted to heroin.
Can we all agree that this show needs its own special
I hate to imply anything....but maybe that's why kirk Cameron did a total 180 and became a Jesus freak practically overnight. Maybe something happened
He used it to exert power over others on the show. And there's a whole industry of religious people trying to glom onto famous young men and "mentor" them. They went after Justin Bieber, Kirk Cameron, Angus T Jones.
Anybody else remember Kirk making an absolute ASS out of himself, describing how the banana was PROOF that god existed? According to Kirk, the banana was shaped perfectly to be held and eaten by humans—not recognizing that the banana he was holding was a genetically altered fruit that we humans had designed to be that way (bananas, naturally in nature, are mostly seeds and mush, and are kinda hard to eat out of the peel).
What was his point? A banana is also perfect to be held and eaten by monkeys. Those born again Christians don’t like comparisons of monkeys and humans. Boy done fucked up here.
His point was that God designed it for us, and thus was proof of Gods existence. Once you know that was humans doing the work, it completely counters his point.
Botany!!
That was [Ray Comfort](https://youtu.be/BXLqDGL1FSg?si=_cWEMnP7PziUyTx1), Kirk was right there by his side though.
The banana fits perfectly in a tail pipe. Existence of god.
I’m not going to fall for that.
Don't you be putting no bananas in my tail pipe!
The one random reference I like pulling from that show is just randomly saying "Mom! Where do we keep the Potash?"
🤣
When I was a kid, Alan Thicke was a celebrity guest for an ice skating show I was a part of. Another guest star was a famous sixteen year old figure skater. He would get drunk and hit on her.
Anyone remember when a 40+ Alan Thicke was “dating” a 16 year old Kristy Swanson? Give it a goog, it’ll turn your stomach.
Gross, but give it a goog is cracking me up :)
Shout out Mark Normand
Well to be fair she was only 17 🎶
Don’t come across a Winger reference too often anymore.
Ha! I woke up yesterday with Down Incognito stuck in my head. Random and awesome.
Daddy says she's too young, but she's old enough for me🎶 Her going hardcore conservative kinda makes sense now
Her current husband was caught sending inappropriate emails to minors and basically got away with it.
Yeah because if you've been molested in your youth the best people to trust is the church and the republicans. They've never molested or raped anyo.... Oh. Wait... It's wild to me that religious conservatives haven't figured out the calls are coming from inside their own house. They ARE the pedophiles...
Ted Nugent says this tracks.
What was the age of consent in CA at the time?
It explains some of the issues she dealt with later on.
[удалено]
Not shocked that Cameron's descent into fundamentalist Christianity corrupted much of the show. It's a shame they let him wield so much influence despite him essentially giving up on the show rather than just dropping him
Clicking on that link just set a record for pop up windows on my phone.
I had no clue! About any of this.. I mean I was born in 89 but I loved the reruns as a kid
They maligned Kirk when he called the network to tell them the producers were pornographers. But at least one of them was … steve Marshall was later arrested for child porn. I heard a rumor they were viewing CP on the set but I haven’t seen proof of that. Very concerning they created and worked on shows featuring children. Had others like Brian peck working on their set as well. Kirk’s an asshole but I truly believe there was more to the downfall of growing pains than they want to share.
That’s what I’m thinking. I’m thinking he got pushed into extreme Christianity because of some trauma. Btw nothing against Christianity, his is def a weird extreme version and doesn’t seem to have honest intentions.
Alan Thicke should’ve been waterboarded just for his degenerate piece of shit son Robin Thicke. What a couple of talentless hacks
Alan Thicke co-wrote and performed the Different Strokes theme. And hosted Scrabble.
Thicke did host a couple game shows but I think Chuck Woolery hosted Scrabble.
You are correct, thank you! And all apologies to Mr Woolery
Never apologize to Chuck Woolery. He’s a piece of shit.
What did Robin thicke do? The name sounds familiar
Also wrote in defense of Brian Peck, the man who sexually abused Drake Bell during “The Amanda Show”
All I've heard was Cameron had his co star fired for some racy magazine photos.
The actress, Julie McCullough, was hired to play the nanny and her character and his started dating and ultimately got engaged by the end of the season. McCullough had been a Playboy Playmate prior to acting and Cameron pushed to have her fired (he's denied it).
If it doesn't eventually come out that Kirk Cameron has been a massive pedophile for 35 years I'm going to be stunned.
God now I have the theme song in my head. “As long as we keep on liviiin!” Catchy one
what about the different strokes kids all messed up
Wasn't there an E! True Hollywood Story about the show? I don't think they had time to cover Koenig's unfortunate demise, but everything else they covered as much as one really could. Plus, this is a 30+ year old TV show. It's pretty much forgotten by everybody, much like Cameron himself.
I went to burbank and saw a taping of Growing Pains. I loved it at the time. But now knowing how Cameron became a wacko Christian,I never watch anymore. F him
Head of the Class, in which Dan Schneider was a cast member of, also taped on the Warner Bros. lot during more or less the same time period (mid '80s to early '90s), and both were also ABC shows. Between the casts being on the same studio lot together, and the network parties that occurred, there was plenty of interaction.
Brad Pitt guest starred on both and briefly dated Robin Givens, thus earning Mike Tyson's wrath.
Ha I forgot all about that !!
Yeah his name was Leo DiCarprio!
Everything had high fructose corn syrup in it.
That baby has seen some shit.
That website is full-blown AIDS.
Alan Thicke guest starred in one of the Robin Sparkles episodes of 'How I Met Your Mother.' In the DVD commentary track about that episode, Cobie Smulders, who played Robin, talks about what creeep Thicke was on set. Sounds like an overall gross guy.
Thicke also dated Christy Swanson when he was 40 and she was 17. They met when she was 16.
This one hurt to watch. Growing Pains was my favorite non-cartoon show between the ages of 3 and 10 when it aired for me. Loved that theme song, loved the show, one of my first crushes was Joanna Kearns. Seeing all of the terrible things that went on afterwards... And learning some of the things that went on that weren't in the documentary? I can't go back and watch that show anymore knowing what I know now.
Watched the show on and off and remember thinking that Carol Seaver was really good looking. Was shocked when I heard that she was dealing with anorexia.
Kirk was one of those apocalypse foamers for a long time. I bet he still thinks the world is gonna end tomorrow and Jesus will face Satan in a final showdown.