Why was Elizabeth Ward replaced by Tracey Gold as Carol

[TMC]

Ward was supposedly dumped because test audiences weren't reacting well to her.





I'm going to go out on a limb and say that perhaps it was hard to believe that Elizabeth Ward could be Joanna Kerns' daughter. I know that this is going to sound cruel, but Ward has a decidedly awkward and gawky look about her while Tracey Gold has a more accessible, "she's pretty but still in a cute, girl next door way" feel to her appearance.

[andress_jade]

Originally Posted by TMC

Ward was supposedly dumped because test audiences weren't reacting well to her.





I'm going to go out on a limb and say that perhaps it was hard to believe that Elizabeth Ward could be Joanna Kerns' daughter. I know that this is going to sound cruel, but Ward has a decidedly awkward and gawky look about her while Tracey Gold has a more accessible, "she's pretty but still in a cute, girl next door way" feel to her appearance.

I do agree with you on the whole look thing with Elizabeth and Tracey. Tracey was more believable as Joanna's daughter. She even looks like Joanna's daughter Ashley. Tracey looks like a child of Joanna and Alan. Both Kirk and Tracey's fathers have dark hair. They did an amazing casting job because they look like a real family. Kirk Cameron's mom, Barbara Cameron has blonde hair as does Tracey Gold's mom so it was very believable that Joanna could be their mother.

Another interesting bit of trivia is that Kirk's mom had him when she was 20 years old and Maggie, Joanna's character had Mike at 20 as well. I thought that was awesome.

[Mace Dolex]

Did Kirk Cameron's hair go from feathery to curly during the course of the show?

[TMC]

Originally Posted by Mace Dolex

Did Kirk Cameron's hair go from feathery to curly during the course of the show?

I know that they partially reshot the pilot when Tracey Gold was brought in to replace Elizabeth Ward. Just about the rest of the footage comes from what they originally had with Elizabeth Ward. If you look really closely, you can see Elizabeth on the far right just as the Seavers are leaving the jail cell area after bailing Mike out.

[Heenan Fan]

Because Elizabeth Ward fell off the top of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down. Tracey Gold could still play the nerd too, but by season 3 she was fine. Ward was never gonna draw in the horny teenage boys like Tracey eventually did. Don't kill the messenger.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by andress_jade

I do agree with you on the whole look thing with Elizabeth and Tracey. Tracey was more believable as Joanna's daughter. She even looks like Joanna's daughter Ashley. Tracey looks like a child of Joanna and Alan. Both Kirk and Tracey's fathers have dark hair. They did an amazing casting job because they look like a real family. Kirk Cameron's mom, Barbara Cameron has blonde hair as does Tracey Gold's mom so it was very believable that Joanna could be their mother.

Another interesting bit of trivia is that Kirk's mom had him when she was 20 years old and Maggie, Joanna's character had Mike at 20 as well. I thought that was awesome.

I always thought that Tracey Gold looked her prettiest on Growing Pains when she had the long, big, curly hair, which I assume was around the third and/or fourth season (circa 1988):

[icecream]

Poor girl never stuck with any other roles either. She is not listed in my primetime directory index.

[icecream]

Originally Posted by Heenan Fan

Because Elizabeth Ward fell off the top of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down.

Harsh! Ugly actors and actresses still get jobs. Ugly no talent hack David Spade had two long running sitcoms and was sadly John Ritter's main replacement on another. Johnny Galecki was a good straight man foil for Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory, and was also a regular on Roseanne. Speaking of Roseanne, not only is she an ugly person inside and out, she has one of the most repulsive voices ever. Jorja Fox was/is a regular, even a fan favorite on CSI and CSI: Vegas. Richie's girlfriend/wife Lori Beth on Happy Days and Gidget's best friend Larue were very much on the plain side. Female lead on The Listener had an ugly hairstyle when she started in season 2. Besides, Elizabeth is pretty in the picture where she is wearing a tie and smiling, more so than sullen Tracey. Like TMC said, Tracey peaked when she had longer and really curly hair in later seasons.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by icecream

Ugly no talent hack David Spade had two long running sitcoms

I don't know about "ugly", but David Spade definitely has a lack of talent.


Also, Tracy Gold was beautiful during the middle seasons of the show, and I was so sad to see her go through anorexia.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by icecream

Poor girl never stuck with any other roles either. She is not listed in my primetime directory index.

The Growing Pains Wiki has a "present day" photo of Elizabeth Ward. When I went on her IMDb page, it didn't list her date of birth.

However, when I Googled her, it said that she was born on April 3, 1960 and is therefore, 63 years old now. That would mean that she would've been 25 years old when Growing Pains debuted. It would also mean, that Elizabeth in real life would only be about seven years younger than her on-screen mother, Joanna Kerns, who was born in 1953.

In comparison, Tracey Gold was born in 1969 and is currently 54 years of age. That would also mean that Tracey in real life, was only about 16 years old in 1985, when Growing Pains started.

[DJM77]

Originally Posted by TMC

The Growing Pains Wiki has a "present day" photo of Elizabeth Ward. When I went on her IMDb page, it didn't list her date of birth.

However, when I Googled her, it said that she was born on April 3, 1960 and is therefore, 63 years old now. That would mean that she would've been 25 years old when Growing Pains debuted. It would also mean, that Elizabeth in real life would only be about seven years younger than her on-screen mother, Joanna Kerns, who was born in 1953.

In comparison, Tracey Gold was born in 1969 and is currently 54 years of age. That would also mean that Tracey in real life, was only about 16 years old in 1985, when Growing Pains started.

I find it hard to believe that Elizabeth Ward was born in 1960.

[paul.austin]

Yeah, no way is Liz a 25-year-old woman in that 1985 pic.

By the way, i learned the hard way what shites school kids can be - I have left hemiparesis and a bunch of other problems from my mother's mutated genes (my sister Jacqueline (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/...nessa-melville) died of a brain tumor at ten months old in 1975 because of that life sentence that all of Mum's children got)

[TMC]

Originally Posted by DJM77

I find it hard to believe that Elizabeth Ward was born in 1960.

I did start to question myself, if I read what I read correctly. But also, keep in mind, that it isn't uncommon for actors to be cast as teenagers despite being much older in real life. Michael J. Fox for example was I want to say, 22-23 when he started working on Family Ties even though his character, Alex P. Keaton, was about 16-17 years old in the first season. But because of his short-stature, babyface, and high-pitched sounding voice, you could actually believe that he was a lot younger than he actually was.

I of course, don't know if this was truly the case for Elizabeth Ward, but it's also not uncommon for actors to either lie about their ages or not disclose their ages period.

[paul.austin]

to see my point about Elizabeth Ward, compare the character "Jenny Joyce" from Derry Girls when her actress was an actual teenage schoolgirl with "Jenny Joyce" when she is an adult teen on DG:

[Edward216]

Good choice. Because I've always thought that Kirk Cameron, Tracey Gold, and Jeremy Miller really do like they could be real life siblings. Elizabeth Ward doesn't look at all like she could be Kirk Cameron's or Jeremy Miller's sister.

Ed.