Kirk Cameron DID NOT get Julie McCullough Fired. Haters Made Up that Lie About Him.

[andress_jade]

Originally Posted by rusty spike

He should have left the show if he didn't agree with the writers and producers rather than having a tantrum. Usually when a person changes religions, philosophies or belief systems, the person becomes better (usually noticeable by his/her close friends). That wasn't the case here. It seems that Kirk became some sort of monster who was unrecognizable to people that worked with him.

He's long since apologized for his behavior and realized he was being difficult. They have all forgiven him and are close again. He's even on board with Tracey and Jeremy for a reboot of the show to honor Alan Thicke's memory. He took Alan's death pretty hard, as they all did but he said that Alan was like a father to him, always giving him advice. He had nothing but good things to say about Alan.
Kirk is a good Christian man who made mistakes in his past but has owned up to them. People may not agree with his beliefs but I admire him for standing up for his beliefs and loving God. It's better than drugs and crime.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by rusty spike

He should have left the show if he didn't agree with the writers and producers rather than having a tantrum.

Yeah, unfortunately that didn't happen. Instead, Julie and the producers had to leave the show, forced out of a show they had helped make successful.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by rusty spike

Usually when a person changes religions, philosophies or belief systems, the person becomes better (usually noticeable by his/her close friends). That wasn't the case here. It seems that Kirk became some sort of monster who was unrecognizable to people that worked with him.

Yeah, it really is sad, because Kirk had been such a likeable teenager; finding God really destroyed his professional life and his relationships with a number of cast and crew.

Julie shares her side in the E True Hollywood Story.

[opus]

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by opus

[icecream]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

Yeah, unfortunately that didn't happen. Instead, Julie and the producers had to leave the show, forced out of a show they had helped make successful.

Growing Pains was successful long before Julie's first episode and still did well enough to continue three seasons after she was fired. While I liked her character Julie was a very small part of the show's popularity. And the producers weren't forced out, they chose to leave. They were the ones who fired Julie never having intended for her to be a regular in the first place, not Kirk Cameron.

[andress_jade]

Originally Posted by catsrule

Growing Pains was successful long before Julie's first episode and still did well enough to continue three seasons after she was fired. While I liked her character Julie was a very small part of the show's popularity. And the producers weren't forced out, they chose to leave. They were the ones who fired Julie never having intended for her to be a regular in the first place, not Kirk Cameron.

Thank you!!! I completely 100% agree with you! I tried to explain it myself but you did it so much better and got your point across. You're awesome!

[icecream]

Originally Posted by andress_jade

Thank you!!! I completely 100% agree with you! I tried to explain it myself but you did it so much better and got your point across. You're awesome!

Thanks! I take it from your profile picture that season 6 is your favorite?

[andress_jade]

Originally Posted by catsrule

Thanks! I take it from your profile picture that season 6 is your favorite?

One of my favorites, yes but I mostly just like the picture.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by catsrule

Growing Pains was successful long before Julie's first episode and still did well enough to continue three seasons after she was fired.

But that's not really true, is it? Julie made three appearances in Season Five, including as late as episode 18. The ratings plummeted from 17.6 million viewers with Julie, to just 8.6 million viewers in Season Seven with Kate, tied for 75th place with shows that were quickly cancelled.

While I liked her character Julie was a very small part of the show's popularity.

I don't know that I'd say "very small". They lost more than half of their audience after Julie left.

And the producers weren't forced out, they chose to leave.

After being accused of being "pornographers" by a 17-year-old Christian know-it-all star of the show, who called up the President of ABC to file a complaint. Who wouldn't leave, in that kind of environment?

Kirk Cameron gave Christians a very bad reputation with his antics on the set of Growing Pains.

[icecream]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

But that's not really true, is it? Julie made three appearances in Season Five, including as late as episode 18. The ratings plummeted from 17.6 million viewers with Julie, to just 8.6 million viewers in Season Seven with Kate, tied for 75th place with shows that were quickly cancelled.



I don't know that I'd say "very small". They lost more than half of their audience after Julie left.

Season 5 was just three appearances, one of which was the season premiere wrapping up the previous season finale story line. Obviously most of season 5 did just fine without Julie. You don't mention season 6 at all. Julie was gone then, and Kate was also recurring that season. The audience drop didn't happen until the final season, when it was moved to Saturdays. Season 6 Growing Pains obviously still did well enough for renewal one more time. And you are conveniently forgetting Growing Pains was a hit long before Julie ever appeared on the show. She didn't start recurring until season 4, so I still say she was a very small part of the show's overall popularity.

[icecream]

Regardless of how Kirk Cameron handled things on the show, he did not get Julie fired. That was solely the producers' decision, they never intended for her to be a regular.

[andress_jade]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

But that's not really true, is it? Julie made three appearances in Season Five, including as late as episode 18. The ratings plummeted from 17.6 million viewers with Julie, to just 8.6 million viewers in Season Seven with Kate, tied for 75th place with shows that were quickly cancelled.



I don't know that I'd say "very small". They lost more than half of their audience after Julie left.



After being accused of being "pornographers" by a 17-year-old Christian know-it-all star of the show, who called up the President of ABC to file a complaint. Who wouldn't leave, in that kind of environment?

Kirk Cameron gave Christians a very bad reputation with his antics on the set of Growing Pains.

What is your freaking obsession with Julie? The show was good before she appeared and after she left. Believe me, she was only a very minor character on the show and was never meant to be long term. Julie's appearances on the show or lack thereof had no bearing on the show whatsoever.
It seems like all you're doing is coming on this board to bash Kirk Cameron and to put Julie on a pedestal like she's some kind of saint.
I liked Julie on the show, she was funny, sweet and cute but she was only a minor character and really added nothing to the show. If Kirk said he didn't get her fired, he didn't get her fired. You weren't there so you don't know what really happened.
One of the producers that quit was a pornographer AND a pedophile!!! So Kirk was correct about that! So please get over yourself.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by catsrule

Season 5 was just three appearances, one of which was the season premiere wrapping up the previous season finale story line. Obviously most of season 5 did just fine without Julie. You don't mention season 6 at all. Julie was gone then, and Kate was also recurring that season. The audience drop didn't happen until the final season, when it was moved to Saturdays.

Not true. The show went from #13 in the annual Nielsen Ratings in Season 4 to #27 in Season 6.

And you are conveniently forgetting Growing Pains was a hit long before Julie ever appeared on the show.

I didn't forget that at all. The show was a genuine hit before Kirk Cameron found God, and through his antics, the "pornographer" producers left, and Julie got canned. You don't really think it's a coincidence that Kirk's real-life girlfriend just happened to be the best actress to fill the position of replacement girlfriend, do you?

[RetroGuy2000]

Oh, you're back in the conversation, Jade? I hadn't responded to your last post because you said you were tired of the conversation, and just wanted to "agree to disagree". I was trying to be kind, and let you have the last word in the conversation between us. But as you are now responding to my comments to others, I feel it's quite necessary to respond. Please don't respond to this post and then tell me you're tired of the conversation again. Either participate, or don't, but don't tell me you're done with the conversation, and then reply to my comments to other people.

Originally Posted by andress_jade

Julie's appearances on the show or lack thereof had no bearing on the show whatsoever.

The ratings simply don't bear that out, Jade. #13 under Julie, #75 under Kate, Julie's replacement.

Everyone remembers what happened, even The Huffington Post. Decades later, people still remember what Kirk did, and he didn't even try to deny it in the E! True Hollywood Story. His denial was made decades later, and is now believed by people who think Kirk Cameron "haters" made the story up years later. But those of us who were around in 1989 remember the story, we remember who said what, and who didn't even try to deny it at the time.

It seems like all you're doing is coming on this board to bash Kirk Cameron and to put Julie on a pedestal like she's some kind of saint.

No, I'm in this thread to respond to a post which was started with the false claim that Kirk Cameron "haters" made up a lie that he had Julie McCullough fired. Kirk Cameron didn't have haters when this story broke in Fall 1989: he had only recently become Born Again. No-one beyond the set and his church even knew of Kirk's religious conversion. The news stories from 1989 demonstrate that this was already something the producers were eager to quash: the image of an out-of-control child star demanding that one actress he worked with be fired so the job could be given to his real-life girlfriend, and the producers capitulating to his demands to placate him. I know you can understand why the executive producers of a TV show would not want that kind of bad publicity reflecting on their show.

If Kirk said he didn't get her fired, he didn't get her fired.

Kirk's own actions on the show, where he repeatedly embarrassed, hurt, or caused problems for other cast and crew on the set because they weren't following his chosen path, demonstrate otherwise.

One of the producers that quit was a pornographer AND a pedophile!!! So Kirk was correct about that!

Kirk called "the producers", plural, pornographers, in a call to the President of ABC. And he did it as a response to them writing scenes in Growing Pains that he objected to. There were no "pornographic" scenes in Growing Pains, as you very well know. It was a family show with good moral values: the characters are often tempted to do the wrong thing, but they always find their way back to better behavior, sharing the laughter and love. Kirk was emphatically not correct to call the producers "pornographers", and your excusing that behavior is horrifying. Think how horrified you would be if one of your co-workers called your boss' boss to complain that you and two of your fellow co-workers were "pornographers", and thereby damaged your reputation. You wouldn't want to work with that person anymore, I bet. You might even choose to leave your job and start afresh somewhere else.

And you would be horrified if, decades later, people were publicly justifying that employee's accusations against you because of what one of your co-workers had done, and because they're the same religion as the employee who made the false accusation against you.