Alan Thicke still stays in touch with his fellow Growing Pains cast members and says that his new show, Unusually Thicke, is in many ways a lot like that classic sitcom. Airing on TVGN on Wednesday nights, Unusually Thicke features Alan’s real life family including his younger wife Tanya and sons Carter and Brennan along with an occasional appearance by Robin (singer of “Blurred Lines”). Most of the series takes place at Thicke’s home in Santa Barbara and features the actor/writer just trying to relax away from the hustle of life in Hollywood.
“Alan’s real-life persona is just as likable, engaging and funny as the television characters he’s played over the years, and we’re excited to bring viewers an original reality sitcom featuring his real-life modern family,” stated Brad Schwartz, President, Entertainment and Media, TVGN. “This is Alan Thicke in the role of his life.”
Sitting down for a brief chat at the summer 2014 Television Critics Association press day, I asked Thicke about being back as the star of a new comedy series:
Are there some storylines on Unusually Thicke that are so incredible you just couldn’t make them up?
Alan Thicke: “Yeah. Her mother being thrown in jail for murder in Bolivia last year was extravagant. We did one where I was offered a male enhancement pill – the commercial where I’d become the face of a male enhancement product. [Carter] getting invited to a prom by a guy, and that’s a bit of a twist on stuff that already happened where Taylor Swift gets a prom invitation from a high school kid and actually goes. There’s been quite a bit of that…this just takes it to a whole other level.”
Is this an opportunity for you to deliver any fatherly wisdom that Growing Pains was famous for but in a reality context?
Alan Thicke: “I think a lot of our story could very well have taken place on Growing Pains. We have the classical sitcom format but with real people. That’s what makes this a bit of a different hybrid. But our stories could be told on Modern Family or Growing Pains, the way they’re structured and they way the plot unfolds, and the message or the moral, if you will. There’s at least a subtext of that in pretty much every episode.
We’re trying for a happy ending so that means resolution, automatically.”
How long were the cameras with you?
Alan Thicke: “It wasn’t too intrusive. You know, although we’re not scripted we are at least structured. We would know that we were going to do a certain scene and then we would be at our house or somewhere else to do those scenes. It wasn’t a question of ad-libbing where they follow you around in your underwear and wait for something fabulous to happen. I know that works for some shows, but I never had the confidence to think we were that interesting. We better have a plan. We always went with a plan and that helped us structure the time.”
