Why does "Growing Pains" always seem to do poorly in syndication & DVD sales

[TMC]

I know that UP (formally GMC) has recently picked the show up, but other wise, Growing Pains seems to have had rather sporadic runs in syndication (at least since it stopped airing on the Disney Channel in 2001). For example, GP pretty much bombed out during its run on Nick @ Nite.

Is it because the show is simply "too dated" and/or a product of its time, is it because the show really "wasn't that great" to begin with, is simply the dissonance of Kirk Cameron growing up to be a smug and hateful religious zealot (which in the process severely altered the quality/content of Growing Pains in its latter years), is it because there were way too many drastic changes to handle (or a combination of them all)?

[robyrob]

all of the above - who would want to watch the show now knowing how someone has basically turned it into a weapon to push his personal political agenda and ridiculous crusade against humanity.

[Mace Dolex]

As a kid I could never get into it, to me it seemed like a clone of another show I hated which was Family Ties.

I've noticed that most shows starring kids and/or teenagers just don't age well.

[icecream]

Kirk Cameron is not hateful or smug, he is someone with high moral standards who I applaud for standing by them. Now Alan Thicke is the Growing Pains cast member who I don't think much of their personal life, his reality show on TVGN looked really trashy and he came off as a sleazebag. However I still like his Jason Seaver character on Growing Pains and that doesn't stop me from enjoying the show. I would think the Kirk Cameron haters could do the same.

[mets82]

CatsRule, I agree with you. I mean everytime I see GP now all I can really think of is what Kirk Cameron says. He entitled to his opinion and I still watch the show.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by catsrule

Kirk Cameron is not hateful or smug, he is someone with high moral standards who I applaud for standing by them. Now Alan Thicke is the Growing Pains cast member who I don't think much of their personal life, his reality show on TVGN looked really trashy and he came off as a sleazebag. However I still like his Jason Seaver character on Growing Pains and that doesn't stop me from enjoying the show. I would think the Kirk Cameron haters could do the same.

Kirk Cameron's problem is that after his "awakening", he just about proceeded to alienate himself from just about everybody else who worked on and participated in Growing Pains. He became extremely judgmental (e.g. Julie McCullough) and controlling. Kirk could no longer play anybody except "himself", hence why Mike Seaver had to become "responsible" (when Carol was suppose to be the "responsible" and "smart" one among the kids) by suddenly becoming a teacher and was overall, blanded out towards the end. Quite frankly, if you can't segregate your personal convictions w/ the character that you signed up to play (w/o forcing the writers to retrofit it in order to suit whatever mood you're in at the time), then you shouldn't be an actor in the first place.

I'm not going to fault Kirk Cameron for having high moral standards, the problem is that what is considered offensive is really subjective. For example, not everybody thinks that what Kirk complained about in another wise non-smutty show like Growing Pains was remotely offensive to the point, in which it's a moral panic issue. Kirk Cameron strikes me as somebody who is really hyper-emotional and narrow-minded.

I'm not going to get into Alan Thicke's personal life because unlike his TV son, he didn't as far as we know, didn't wreck havoc on the set of GP. At least, he seemed to be professional and otherwise, well liked by his co-workers unlike Kirk.

[Vahan]

According to Kirk Cameron, he expected everyone have Christian beliefs.

He believed that any Atheist is a danger to this country.

[visaman666]

How many "family" shows do well in syndication, really? Family Ties, Who's The Boss, Mr. Belvedere? The only show that has done well is Good Times, just because it was so different from what was on at the time, and still is.

[BigManMike]

I've never even seen Growing Pains and if it continues to bomb in syndication and is never completed on DVD I probably never will. The only way I could possibly see it is if one day Antenna TV picks it up and doesn't give it the Benson treatment.

[Mr. Television]

It has nothing to do with Kirk Cameron. Most of the family shows from the 80's besides TCS bombed in syndication. If I stopped watching a show because I did not like one of the actors, I wouldn't be watching much tv.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by visaman666

How many "family" shows do well in syndication, really? Family Ties, Who's The Boss, Mr. Belvedere? The only show that has done well is Good Times, just because it was so different from what was on at the time, and still is.

I can't really speak "thoroughly" right now regarding those other shows (other than saying that they were simply "products of their time") that you mentioned since that's pretty much an entirely different subject.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...o/LiveActionTV

Similarly, the "Working Class Family" Sitcom died sometime in The Nineties. This can probably be attributed to the increased number of Americans attending college, the rise in niche entertainment rendering the "everyman" of such shows obsolete, the rise in post-modern sitcoms like Seinfeld and How I Met Your Mother, and shows like The Simpsons and Married... with Children making it almost impossible to take such shows seriously anymore.

The traditional "family sitcom", in general, died out for the same reasons, along with many of the tropes associated with such shows being rendered obsolete in recent decades.

[TMC]

I think that a one problem w/ Growing Pains besides the stuff already mentioned, is that there really wasn't a whole lot to make it stand-out on its own. Even Family Ties (for which GP has more than often, been compared to had the "unique" premise of ex-hippie, liberal parents, who grew up in the 1960s raising a yuppie, Richard Nixon-loving Republican son in 1980s America under Ronald Reagan). My point is that GP wasn't exactly a revolutionary, cutting edge or groundbreaking show, it was just on at the "right place at the right time". GP isn't even a "guilty pleasure" type of show like Full House, which featured Kirk Cameron's little sister.

In all seriousness, other than the theme song, the controversy surrounding Kirk Cameron's on-set behavior (and to a lesser extent, Tracey Gold's eating disorder), and the fact that Robin Thicke's dad was on it, is there anything else about Growing Pains to take from (i.e. what exactly was Growing Pains about beside it being another '80s era family sitcom like Family Ties and The Cosby Show)? I don't even though that Leonardo DiCaprio's time on it comes close (not even as "old shame") since that came well after the show went into decline.

[Blackout]

what channel is it on now

[visaman666]

Growing pains was the white version of The Cosby Show, that's all it had for it really. Father was a doctor (Psychologist) who worked at home. Wife was a career woman (TV Journalist), oldest son was a good natured smart aleck and so on.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by visaman666

Growing pains was the white version of The Cosby Show, that's all it had for it really. Father was a doctor (Psychologist) who worked at home. Wife was a career woman (TV Journalist), oldest son was a good natured smart aleck and so on.

It also could be considered ABC's answer to Family Ties w/ some slight inversions. Like Family Ties, Steven Keaton, Maggie Seaver works in the media (in FT's case, the manager of a public TV station). Like FT, GP introduces a fourth child (Andrew and Chrissy respectively), who magically ages by about five years a season later. Like FT, GP provided an early appearance for a future Friends star (Courteney Cox as Lauren, Alex's girlfriend post his split w/ Ellen, who was played by Michael J. Fox's eventual real life wife, Tracey Pollen and Matthew Perry as Sandy, Carol's boyfriend who died while drunk driving), both FT and GP had the third youngest children (Jennifer and Ben respectively), unfortunately, go through "rough spots" while when they entered puberty/became high schoolers.