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Private Notes
Scenes from the Growing Pains original unaired pilot, which featured Elizabeth Ward as Carol Seaver, prior to the role being recast and given to Tracey Gold.
Created just for the Season One DVD, "Seaver Family Reunion: S'mores and More" brings together the first-season main cast with writer/producer Tim O'Donnell for a half-hour backyard campfire chat about the show, while they toast marshmallows and make s'mores. Presented in letterboxed widescreen, it's one of the better informal retrospectives done for TV DVDs, thanks to the unique concept. It is, though, entirely positive, with some prime apple polishing, and no mention at all of what Cameron did behind the scenes.
This movie takes place eight years after the Growing Pains series finale where the Seavers are in their new house. Mike finally married and adopted children, all adopted from countries around the world. Mike is successful in advertising. Carol is a successful lawyer on Wall Street. Ben cleans out swimming pools. And Chrissy is a 17-year-old kid about to graduate from high school with a smoking habit that she stops at the end of the film. Maggie gets fired from her job as a press rep for a senator, and runs against him for the job at her grandchild's suggestion. Carol acts as her campaign manager where she first clashes with, then falls for, the single father running the opponent's campaign, which leads to confusion and chaos.
Now that Seaver children are out of the house, the Seaver parents, Jason and Maggie, attempt to sell their house, because they want to retire. They both have their own idea about what they want to do after the sale; Jason wants to buy an RV and travel the country, but Maggie wants to purchase an Italian villa. Ben is the real estate agent who is closing the sale, much to the delight of his new boss. Mike and Carol, however, are very much against it, and have both returned to the Seaver house, each with issues in their own lives that they are trying to sort out. On top of all this, Chrissy has also returned to the Seaver house, looking for a place to come to after having been evicted from her apartment.
