Pilot is the first episode in the first season of the ABC sitcom Growing Pains. It aired on the twenty-fourth of September in 1985.
Summary[]
The upwardly mobile, suburban Seaver family experiences some growing pains when Maggie Seaver returns to work as a newspaper reporter, Jason Seaver moves his psychiatric practice into the home, and 15-year-old son Mike asks for more freedom and gets it.
Mike convinces Jason to let him go to an under- 20 dance club called "The House of Sweat" with his older friend Jerry 'dog killer' Dellish, who has a car. Mike is put in jail for underage driving in the parking lot of "The House of Sweat” and for causing $350 in damages after sideswiping a police car.
Cast[]
Mistakes[]
- Mike's hair length changes across scenes. His hair is noticeably longer and more curly in some scenes (those with Tracey Gold) than in others. This occurs because they re-shot the scenes with Tracey Gold to replace the scenes with Elizabeth Ward, who played Carol in the unaired pilot.
- Jason tells Mike about taking him to the Mets home opener when Mike was three weeks old. That means Mike was born in March 1970. Jason says that Donn Clendenon won the game in the 12th inning. Clendenon did play for the Mets during that time, but the home opener did not end as Jason described.
Trivia[]
- In the opening scene, while Maggie is cooking at the stove, she’s humming the theme song from “Who’s the Boss”.
- Carol mentions that “The House of Sweat” is on Jericho Turnpike, a real highway that runs the length of Long Island.
- Ben is watching TV at breakfast, and he comments on Phyllis George’s performance. She had a short stint on the CBS Morning Show in 1985.
- Elizabeth Ward can be seen 'loitering' in the background at the police station.
Funny Moments[]
- Ben comes back into the kitchen upset about how Jason bandaged his elbow. Jason must have done it like a doctor would because Ben says: “It was all so clinical.”
- Nice callback of the joke about Jason not being ready for total responsibility (let alone Mike not being ready).
- In the closing tag, the kids sing to their parents “Moon River”, based apparently on Jason’s amorous actions the night before (or on the stories Jason had told Mike).
Gallery []
