Leonardo DiCaprio Was Allowed To Leave His Sitcom To Shoot His First Major Movie

Of the many useful terms gifted to us by "The Simpsons," few have proven as invaluable as the Poochie. The trope, of course, gets its name from the notorious talking dog with "attitude" on the in-universe "Simpsons" cartoon, "The Itchy & Scratchy Show" (itself, shockingly, not inspired by "Tom and Jerry"). It's since come to refer to any self-evident "hip" character who's cynically introduced to goose a show's waning popularity. In the case of Poochie, he's so despised that he's abruptly dismissed from "Itchy & Scratchy" with a title card proclaiming that he died while traveling to his home planet.

That's only a slight parody of what actually happened with Leonardo DiCaprio's Poochie-esque character, Luke Brower, on "Growing Pains." Created by Neal Marlens, ABC's long-lived sitcom followed the Seaver family after their matriarch, Maggie (Joanna Kerns), resumed her journalism career, leaving her husband, Jason (Alan Thicke), to continue his psychiatric practice at home while dealing with their children's endless shenanigans. So far as 1980s-born (and very white and straight) small screen comedies go, it was hokey yet wholesome. And much like Maggie and Jason's himbo horndog oldest son, Mike (Kirk Cameron), it could even surprise you with its thoughtfulness. (Yes, I'm aware Cameron himself is a homophobic clown car, but his show was a childhood staple for millennials like myself.)

By 1991, though, "Growing Pains" was entering its seventh season and rapidly shedding viewers. So, recognizing his heartthrob potential, the show's creatives recruited a then unknown DiCaprio to play the troubled, too-cool-for-school teen Luke, hoping that he would attract more eyes. He did not, and this failed gambit might've prevented him from shooting his first major movie, "This Boy's Life," had Thicke not convinced his bosses to let the wonderkid pursue his passion before the show was fully over.

Like Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence endured the rite of passage of playing a teen on a sitcom — in her case, "The Bill Engvall Show" — prior to becoming an Oscar-winning superstar. Naturally, then, the "Don't Look Up" co-stars reflected on their humble network comedy beginnings while interviewing one another in 2025 for Variety.

As Lawrence recalled, she watched "Growing Pains" basically "every day" while growing up. (Again, it was a millennial thing.) She also wasn't flustered by DiCaprio being unfamiliar with her own sitcom, quipping that she reckoned nobody's watched it "except me and my parents." Luckily, the show had concluded before she started filming her breakout role in director Debra Granik's coming-of-age drama "Winter's Bone."

In DiCaprio's case, however, the timing wasn't as clean. Though he'd already appeared in "Critters 3," director Michael Caton-Jones' own coming-of-age flick, "The Boy's Life," was the actor's first earnest vehicle. As he told Lawrence:

"I did one year on 'Growing Pains,' then I got the movie 'This Boy's Life,' which was my first starring role. They were so incredibly awesome to me because I think that we were going to do another year on 'Growing Pains,' and the late great Alan Thicke and everyone got together and said, 'Let the kid go do this.' It was a really an amazing moment."

It's a touching story, for sure, although it's unclear if "Growing Pains" would've indeed continued for "another year" otherwise. By most accounts, ABC was preparing to call it a day on the Seavers' misadventures by that point anyway. Regardless, DiCaprio went off to become an A-lister, and Luke vanished after reconciling with his estranged father prior to the show's final few episodes. We'll just assume he made it home safely.