We're Nowhere Near the End

Because we still have to wait another two weeks for season 2 of Growing Pains to be released, I decided that now would be a good time to rewatch the season 1 DVDs so that we can be prepared for the season 2 release.

A good reason to release multiple seasons of ANY show on DVD is that the first season usually isn't the best of the lot. The first four episodes of GP are a little rough. You can tell that the actors haven't totally figured out their characters and the cast hasn't fully meshed just yet. At times I was wondering if Growing Pains was Joanna Kerns' first professional acting job.

A few observations from the first disc of season 1:
I didn't know huge oversized clothing was so fashionable for women in 1985. Because Maggie and Carol could wear bedsheets in some of those episodes and they would have been more form-fitting than some of the outfits they had on.

A bit of false doctrine was refuted in episode 4. A few websites, Wikipedia and their ilk, proclaim that Ben Seaver's full name is Benjamin Hubert Horatio Humphrey Seaver. They think it's that because of an episode in a later season when Jason is angry and calls him by that moniker. I knew it was not correct, because who has three middle names like that, but I didn't have a reference. Now I do, as it is clearly stated in this episode that his middle name is just Humphrey. Still not a very good middle name, but at least correct.

The scene stealer in these early episodes is Mr. Simmons, the journalism teacher, who finds fault with Carol's overdescriptive reporting. "I forgot who I was talking to. Your writing is replete with stinkiosity." Great job by that guy.

One of the early guest stars of the series is the late Dana Plato, of Diff'rent Strokes fame. She plays a Madonnaphile who wants to "not watch TV" with Mike while his parents are out. I went online to figure out what their respective ages were when the episode was filmed. She would have been about 21, and Kirk Cameron about 15. Yeah, okay. So that kissing must have been awkward, for one or both of them. It may have even scarred Kirk for life, because he now apparently will only kiss his wife on-screen. Anyways, watching that episode made me want to look into Diff'rent Strokes on DVD.

Added to the long list of tv/movie ideas which couldn't be reused in 2010 is episode 7 - Weekend Fantasy, where Jason and Maggie hurry back from a weekend getaway to Vermont because the kids aren't answering the phone back at home at 10 PM. (SPOILER ALERT - they were down at a neighbors having a bundt and watching vacation slides) In 2010, at least Mike and Carol and maybe even Ben have cell phones, so that episode is over in like seven and a half minutes.