Growing Pains was a sitcom that ran from 1985 to 1992, and was part of a wave of sitcoms about family life. The show starred Alan Thicke and Joanna Kerns as Jason and Maggie Seaver. They live with their 4 kids: Mike, Carol, Ben, and Chrissy. During the final season, a young Leonardo DiCaprio joined the cast as homeless teen Luke moved in with the Seaver Family. After the show’s run, the cast reunited for two made-for-tv movies. They returned in 2000 for The Growing Pains Movie and 2004 for The Return Of The Seavers. The show was filmed at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank.
The Seaver family lives in a typical suburban house on Long Island. Unlike many sitcoms that use real houses for their establishing shots, Growing Pains used a house on the Warner Bros. backlot. This allowed them to use the house for various exterior shots throughout the series. The house is located on WB’s Midwest Street. The opening credits features the cast posing in front of the house.
The show used Soundstage 2, now home to the Ellen DeGeneres Show. In the season 6 episode “Meet the Seavers”, Ben imagines that’s he’s actually an actor and his family is just a sitcom family. This mirrored the cast’s real lives outside the show. This episode gives us a glimpse at the soundstage and the sets.
