Growing Pains The Movie

When the Seaver family reunites in Washington, D.C., to celebrate Jason (Alan Thicke) and Maggie's (Joanna Kerns) 30th wedding anniversary, Maggie startles everyone when she announces her plans to run for Congress. Jason asks Mike (Kirk Cameron), now a fast-talking advertising executive; Carol (Tracey Gold), a savvy corporate attorney; and Ben (Jeremy Miller), a pool cleaner in Beverly Hills trying to recover from his failed dot.com business venture, to move back to Long Island and spearhead Maggie's campaign. The only sibling still living at home, Chrissy (Ashley Johnson) prepares to reign as valedictorian of her high school class. Can Jason charm his grown-up brood into running Maggie's campaign? Can the family pull together one more time -- without killing anyone -- before Election Day comes?

Originally telecast from 1985 to 1992, the popular sitcom GROWING PAINS briefly roared back into life with this made-for-TV movie. The proceedings commence with Dr. Jason Seaver (Alan Thicke, who also coproduced the film) offering a capsule summary of what has been going on with himself and his family since the cancellation of their series. Then the story segues into an amusingly complicated tale of romance and politics, as Jason's wife Maggie (Joanna Kerns), fired by her politician boss, decides to run against her ex-employer in an upcoming primary. The fun really begins when Jason and Maggie's daughter Carol (Tracey Gold), now a high-profile attorney, falls in love with the rival politico's campaign manager. Meanwhile, Carol's brother Mike (Kirk Cameron) continues seeking out his true place in the world, and younger sister Chrissy (Ashley Johnson) has a few problems of her own sustaining her high GPA in school. THE GROWING PAINS MOVIE first aired on November 5, 2000, as a two-hour episode of ABC's THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISNEY anthology.