Step by Step (TV series)

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Step by Step
Opening Titles
Genre	Sitcom
Creator(s)	William Bickley Michael Warren
Developer(s)	Thomas L. Miller Robert L. Boyett
Starring	Patrick Duffy Suzanne Somers Brandon Call Staci Keanan Angela Watson Christine Lakin Christopher Castile Josh Byrne Sasha Mitchell Patrika Darbo Peggy Rea Jason Marsden Bronson Pinchot Emily Mae Young Alexandra Adi Jeff Juday
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	160
Production
Executive producer(s)	Thomas L. Miller Robert L. Boyett William Bickley Michael Warren Alan Eisenstock & Larry Mintz (season 1) Ross Brown (seasons 2-7) Bob Rosenfarb (seasons 4-7)
Running time	approx. 0:23 (per episode)
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC, CBS
Original run	September 20, 1991 – June 26, 1998
Links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Step by Step was an American television sitcom which was aired on ABC from September 20, 1991 to August 15, 1997 and with a network change moved to CBS from September 19, 1997 to June 26, 1998.

[edit] Overview

The premise of the show, which was set in Port Washington, Wisconsin, is about rebuilding one's life one step at a time after things have fallen apart. Frank Lambert, a divorced contractor who had custody of his three children, impulsively marries Carol Foster, a widowed beautician who had three children of her own. Both residents of Port Washington, the two met while vacationing separately in Jamaica. Their children, needless to say, were surprised and angered when they learned of the marriage.

Carol's children were 16-year-old daughter Dana, who was smart but tried to be perfect; 14-year-old Karen, an aspiring model who was very vain; and Mark, an 11-year-old nerd who was into computers. Frank, meanwhile, was the father of 15-year-old John Thomas (aka J.T.), a slacker; Alicia (who always went by Al), an 11-year-old tomboyish all-American girl; and 7-year-old Brendan, a shy, carefree youngster. Carol took Frank's last name, though her children kept the Foster surname.

Stories depicted typical situations of a new family trying to get to know each other and become friends. That was often easier said than done, especially in the case of J.T. and Dana who could barely stand each other. In many ways, however, many of the situations mirrored that of The Brady Bunch.

The title of the show has a double meaning. One meaning deals with main idea of the show, which is getting married again after a divorce/death of a spouse and putting your life back together. The other meaning is that every member of the family is step to half of the rest of the family, such as stepbrother, stepmother, stepsister, stepfather, stepdaughter, and stepson.

Step by Step cast photo (1994)

The show's biggest change came in 1995, when Carol announced she was pregnant. In the 1994-1995 season finale, she gave birth to Lilly, the only kid to take both the Foster and Lambert surnames. Like Chrissy Seaver, Nicky Banks, and Andrew Keaton, Lilly (Emily Mae Young) was suddenly aged five years after one season as a newborn infant. This change was also very reminiscent of the Brady Brunch, who also suddenly featured a cute child actor Cousin Oliver, in response to sagging ratings.

The show lasted for seven seasons and the main cast changed as the storyline progressed. Frank's nephew, Cody, whom J.T. idolized and Dana liked even less than J.T., left Port Washington in 1996 to travel the world (series star Sasha Mitchell, whose character became a major character during the second season, was forced out following allegations of domestic abuse). Mitchell returns in the 1998 back in the money episode. In 1997, J.T.'s friend Rich Halke (Jason Marsden, who became a permanent fixture in the opening credits) moved in with the family after becoming Dana's boyfriend; also during that time, Al took a serious interest in acting.

Along with Family Matters, Step by Step moved to CBS in the fall of 1997, as that network attempted to build its own Friday night lineup of family-friendly situation comedies called the CBS Block Party. The ratings, which had been declining for several seasons, continued to fall and the show ended its run in July 1998. There was no official series finale, though the last show was about Frank and Carol considering selling the house.

Josh Byrne (Brendan Lambert) appeared less and less as the show moved on (especially after Lilly was born). When the show moved from ABC to CBS, his character was ultimately discontinued and he was dropped from the show without a single bit of explanation of Brendan's absence. This was yet another occurrence of the infamous Miller-Boyett Chuck Cunningham Syndrome, in which various members of the producers' sitcom families have disappeared without explanation. It began with the character of Chuck Cunningham on Happy Days (played by Gavan O'Herilhy and then Randolph Roberts), who was written off without reason, and again with Judy Winslow on Family Matters (Jaimee Foxworth), who made her last appearance at the end of the show's fourth season by going up to her bedroom - "and never coming back down". Still, there was no valid reason as to why Foxworth's character did not remain with the show.

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of Step by Step episodes

[edit] Theme song and opening credits

The theme to Step by Step is called "Second Time Around", written by Jesse Frederick and Bennett Salvay (who wrote the themes to other Miller-Boyett series including Full House and Family Matters) and was performed by Jesse Frederick and Theresa James. As the seasons progressed, the theme song and opening credits became shorter. The full opening sequence used in the first season only, lasted 1 minute and 46 seconds. Starting with the second season, the fourth verse and a portion of the sixth verse were cut and the guitar portion of the beginning of the theme was taken out in the fourth season.

The scenes comprising the opening credits were filmed at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California. A CGI ocean is inserted into space where the park's parking lot would be as the camera pans away from the park. [1] The closest real theme park near Port Washington would be Six Flags Great America in Gurnee Illinois, an hour and a half drive.

The first three seasons, the credits started with the family van passing behind a sign that said "Port Washington, Wisconsin. Population: 9,338." That was cut out after season three and after that, the sequence started with the roller coaster zooming down the track toward the camera. The opening sequence featured the Lambert-Fosters at an amusement park (J.T. playing a test your strength game, Al and Karen sliding into a ball pit, etc.). The names of most of the cast slid from both sides of the screen (though some slid from one side). In the first three seasons near the end of the sequence it featured the entire family except for Mark and (Ivy or Cody) on a roller coaster before cutting to a shot of the coaster as the camera zooms out with the producer credits shown. Another part of the sequence cut was when Carol and Frank were standing on a bridge next to a water coaster and they get splashed as it comes down the slide.

By the sixth season (the show's final season on ABC), the theme song was completely scrapped. The names of cast members and the producers' names were shown in the opening teaser. However, when the show was moved to CBS for its seventh and final season, along with Family Matters, the opening theme song was back, only this time with all but the fifth verse and part of the sixth verse left. This sequence featured the amusement park but the cast were shown in still pictures on a picture reel, like one from a photo booth. The only producer credits in this sequence were that of Thomas Miller and Robert Boyett.

[edit] Syndication history and Current Airings

Prior to and after the show's end in 1997, the sitcom has continued to live on in syndication, even to this day. Step by Step was first shown on various local stations across the nation until 2000. Later that year, ABC Family picked the show up. Currently, Step by Step still airs on ABC Family with airings of 2 episodes per weekday. ABC Family airs the sitcom at 2:00PM and 2:30PM ET/PT, as well as weekends at 8:00 and 8:30AM ET/PT.

[edit] DVD releases

The Step by Step Television Favorites DVD set.

Warner Bros. Television released a Television Favorites 1-disc DVD set of Step by Step on June 27, 2006, containing six episodes.

[edit] Trivia

In two episodes, there is a duo of male actors who resemble the cartoon characters Beavis and Butt-Head and act like them too. Some like to consider this a live-version cameo of the "actual" characters.

• Steve Urkel from Family Matters makes two guest appearances on the show: one in the show's first season and the second on the show's last season.
• The name of Jason Marsden's character Rich Halke was actually taken from a crew member on the series. The real Rich Halke (also credited as Richard P. Halke) worked as a writer and story editor on the series in seasons two and three.
• The Bakers (Carol's sister and mother) from the first season were written out because of a focus group's findings about the audience interest in those two characters.
• Cody, played by Sasha Mitchell, was written out of the show in 1996 because Disney, who had purchased ABC from Capital Cities Communications that year, wanted to distance themselves from the arrest of Mitchell on domestic violence charges by his wife. Mitchell would later be acquitted of those charges.^{[citation needed]}
• An episode in the final season shows Al in a play. Frank gives her advice for remembering lines and refers to the two main guys in "Dallas" hiding their lines in different places on set. Patrick Duffy (Frank), played one of the "guys" on Dallas.
• Both Patrick Duffy and Sasha Mitchell previously worked together on Dallas, in fact playing uncle and nephew on both shows (as Bobby Ewing and James Beaumont, respectively).
• Patrick Duffy agreed to continue doing "Dallas" as long as Lorimar promised to give him a show after Dallas ended. This was that show.
• In an attempt to keep the comic relief of Cody around after Sasha Mitchell left the show, writers added three characters: Rich Halke (Dana's boyfriend and J.T.'s best friend, introduced in 1995), Jean-Luc (played by Bronson Pinchot, Carol's hairsylist partner whose role should remind people slightly of his role in the movie Beverly Hills Cop; he was a fixture in the 1996-97 season), and Flash (a klutzy employee of Frank's, played by Jeff Juday, who only appeared a few times in the 1995-96 season). Out of these three characters, Rich was the only one to stay around after one season, and had his actor's name (Jason Marsden) billed into the main starring credits at the beginning of the 1996-97 season. Cody was brought back to the show for the final few episodes in a last ditch attempt to boost ratings), but it was too late.
• Some episodes focused on Cody having to use his surprising martial arts ability to help someone out in a situation. Sasha Mitchell was once a world champion kickboxer and is a black belt in Taekwondo, not to mention playing David Sloan in three of the Kickboxer movies of the early 1990's.
• In the opening sequence two brown haired children are seen. This could be explained by the fact that Christopher Castile was the second actor picked to play Mark Foster, and that a previous child actor was dismissed.
• Dave Coulier was rumored to be ready to join the show as Suzanne Somers brother after Sasha Mitchell ran into legal trouble.
• In the Season 2 episode "The Boss" where Karen and JT get jobs at a 50's style cafe, Carol says the place reminds her of American Graffiti, and Frank quotes that he'd love to meet "the blonde in the Thunderbird," referencing to Suzanne Somers' minor role in the film