Having been on the show since day one, JOHN MCCOOK (Eric) can remember his beginnings with a smile and a sense of humor. "When we started the show, we put gray [in my hair]," admits John. "We made sure that this was the dad, this was the mom, these are the kids, especially in the first few years, and we still do it to a fault on the show. You have to make these things clear if it's not clear in the scene. One of the ways you do it is by putting gray in the hair of the guy who's standing next to his oldest son who's only seven years younger than he is. Then it was such a pain that we decided to stop doing it. It was fine because I had enough salt and pepper in my hair anyway. And as it turns out, I'm just the right age to play the character now."