Step by Step (TV series)

Step by Step
Genre	Family sitcom
Created by	William Bickley Michael Warren
Developed by	Thomas L. Miller Robert L. Boyett
Starring	Patrick Duffy Suzanne Somers Staci Keanan Brandon Call Angela Watson Christine Lakin Patrika Darbo Christopher Castile Josh Byrne Peggy Rea Sasha Mitchell Kristina Meyering Lauren Meyering Emily Mae Young Jason Marsden Bronson Pinchot
Theme music composer	Jesse Frederick & Bennett Salvay
Opening theme	"Second Time Around", performed by Jesse Frederick and Teresa James
Ending theme	"Second Time Around" (instrumental) (season 1, used sporadically afterwards)
Composer(s)	Jesse Frederick & Bennett Salvay (both; seasons 1–2) Gary Boren (seasons 3–5) Steven Chesne (seasons 3–7)
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	7
No. of episodes	160 (list of episodes)
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 6–7)
Location(s)	Sony Pictures Studios Culver City, California (1991–1993) Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, California (1993–1998)
Camera setup	Film; Multi-camera
Running time	Approx. 23 minutes (per episode)
Production company(s)	Bickley-Warren Productions Miller-Boyett Productions Lorimar Television (1991–1993) Warner Bros. Television (1993–1998)
Distributor	Warner Bros. Television Distribution
Release
Original network	ABC (1991–1997), CBS (1997–1998)
Picture format	480i (SDTV)
Original release	September 20, 1991 – June 26, 1998

Step by Step is an American television sitcom that aired for seven seasons, originally running on ABC as part of its TGIF Friday night lineup from September 20, 1991, to August 15, 1997, and then moved to CBS where it aired from September 19, 1997 to June 26, 1998. It starred Patrick Duffy and Suzanne Somers as two single parents (each with three children), who spontaneously get married after meeting one another during a vacation, resulting in them becoming the heads of a large blended family.

Premise

Set in a substantially fictionalized version of Port Washington, Wisconsin, the series begins with Frank Lambert, a divorced contractor with three children, John Thomas (who went by the nickname J.T.), Alicia (who went by the nickname, Al, in accordance to her tomboyish personality), and Brendan, and Carol Foster, a divorced beautician who also has three children, Dana, Karen, and Mark. Both resided in Port Washington with their children, but met while vacationing separately in Jamaica, where they impulsively get married after a whirlwind courtship.

Their children are surprised and angered when they learn of the marriage, after Frank accidentally blurts out what was supposed to be a secret between him and Carol to J.T. when he makes a snide remark about Carol at a barbecue to introduce each other's children to one another. Stories in each episode depicted typical situations of a new blended family, and their differences causing arguments and resentments between them, over time though they eventually grew to tolerate and develop loyalty to one another.

During the series' seven-season run, the main cast changed as the storyline progressed. Frank's nephew, Cody Lambert, was introduced early in the first season as a recurring character (becoming a series regular in the second season) and lived in his van in the driveway; he then left the series in 1996. In the 1994–95 season finale, Carol gave birth to a daughter named Lily. Like many other sitcom babies, she was suddenly aged five years in the sixth season, after having spent the entire fifth season depicted as a baby. In the sixth season, J.T.'s friend, Rich Halke, moved in with him and the family after becoming Dana's boyfriend. Meanwhile J.T. meets Samantha, the woman of his dreams, and they date off and on for the sixth and seventh seasons. Also in the sixth season Carol got a partner, Jean-Luc Rieupeyroux, at her hair salon. In the seventh season Brendan is written out of the show as is Jean-Luc.

Characters

Cast of Step by Step (seasons 2–5)

Foster family

• Carol Foster-Lambert (née Williams) (Suzanne Somers) – the matriarch of the Foster family, who works as a beautician and runs a hair salon out of a room in her house (which is located next to the kitchen), originally with the cooperation of her mother, Ivy, and sister, Penny. Eventually, with Frank's help, she opens a bigger studio at a stand-alone location in the sixth season.
• Dana Foster (Staci Keanan) – Dana is the eldest child in the Foster family. She is depicted as a smart, wisecracking feminist. She is often seen being openly hostile to the Lamberts, particularly J.T., (with whom she frequently trades barbs regarding his hormonal tendencies with girls, his lack of intelligence and his poor hygiene), Frank (due partly to his perceived "caveman" behavior), and Cody (who has an unrequited crush on her, despite being technically related to her as an in-law). She and J.T. generally do not get along.
• Karen Foster (Angela Watson) – Karen is the middle child in the Foster family. She is an aspiring model and sometimes a country singer, and is portrayed as vain and not very bright, but with frequent moments of level-headedness.
• Mark Foster (Christopher Castile) – Mark is the youngest child in the Foster family. He is into computers and academics.

Lambert family

• Frank Lambert (Patrick Duffy) – Frank is the patriarch of the Lambert family, and works as a contractor with his own company. He is laidback and an avid sports fan, particularly of the Green Bay Packers.
• John Thomas "J.T." Lambert (Brandon Call) – J.T. is the oldest child in the Lambert family. He is depicted as a slacker, is into sports (like his father, he is a Packers fan), and is portrayed as academically challenged, which is later attributed to dyslexia. He resents his new stepfamily, particularly Dana, whom he often calls "Barky" and also trades other various insults at her expense.
• Alicia "Al" Lambert (Christine Lakin) – Al is the middle child in the Lambert family. She is depicted as a tomboyish all-American girl, who later matured and softened. She is typically addressed by her nickname, the more masculine name "Al", and is rarely referred to as "Alicia". Several episodes during the seventh season centered on her newfound interest in acting. She is openly hostile towards her stepfamily.
• Brendan Lambert (Josh Byrne) – Brendan is the youngest child in the Lambert family. He is portrayed as a shy, carefree youngster, and one of the most accepting of his new stepfamily. He appeared less and less as the show progressed, especially after Lily was introduced in the season four episode "A Foster/Lambert Production". When the show moved from ABC to CBS, he was written out of the series; the producers later admitted in a TV Guide interview that despite his absence, the Lamberts would still refer to their "seven children", making him an unseen character for the final season. Actor Josh Byrne appeared on the sitcoms Who's The Boss? and The Family Man.^[1] He portrays the younger version of Billy Crystal's character in Mr. Saturday Night, which also features Jason Marsden, who appears in later run of the series.
• Cody Lambert (Sasha Mitchell) – Frank's nephew, who appears as a recurring cast member in the first season, then is upgraded to a regular character in the second season. Sporting a crew cut and a Valley teen accent and vocabulary (such Valley-isms as "dude" and "cheesed off"), he often shows maturity and intelligence belying his dimwitted nature. He lived in his van in the driveway. He was written out of the series after the fifth season after legal problems that began with Mitchell's 1995 arrest on accusations of domestic violence by his first wife, Jeannette Robbins,^[2][3][4] charges which were later dropped and he was cleared of wrongdoing. He returned as a guest star for one episode in the seventh season.

Others

• Penny Baker (Patrika Darbo; season 1) – Carol's man-hungry sister; she was written out of the series after the first season.
• Ivy Baker (Peggy Rea; season 1) – Carol's outspoken mother; she was written out of the series after the first season.
• Lily Foster-Lambert (Lauren Meyering and Kristina Meyering; seasons 4–5), (Emily Mae Young; seasons 6–7) – Lily is Frank and Carol's biological child, who is introduced in the season four episode "A Foster/Lambert Production". Originally depicted as a baby, her age is retconned to five in the sixth season after she is SORASed. For her age she is very smart and is always asking questions of everyone.
• Rich Halke (Jason Marsden; 1 appearance in season 3, seasons 5–7) – Rich is J.T.'s best friend. He is depicted as being both a slacker and a seriously devoted person. He later began dating Dana (to the others' dismay) in the sixth season. He was named after Richard P. Halke, who served a member of the series' writing staff from seasons one through three, and served as a story editor during the third one. In his one appearance in the latter he plays a guy named Doug.
• Jake "Flash" Gordon (Jeff Juday; season 5) – Flash (only appears in 4 episodes) is a goofy, but well-meaning handyman hired by Frank towards the end of the fifth season. He joined the family on their trip to Walt Disney World, where he attempted to visit every attraction. At the very end of season, Frank and Carol invited him to move in with them, which he accepted. Afterwards, he was never mentioned again. According to Jeff Juday, he was written in as a replacement for Cody.^[5] The following season, Flash was replaced by Jean-Luc.
• Jean-Luc Rieupeyroux (Bronson Pinchot; season 6) – Jean-Luc is a male beautician, and serves as Carol's business partner. He was brought in to take the place of Cody on the series, but disappeared when Bronson Pinchot took the title role in the short-lived CBS sitcom Meego (which aired alongside Step by Step when the latter moved to CBS for its seventh season in 1997).
• Samantha Milano (Alexandra Adi; seasons 6–7) – Samantha is J.T.'s one-time girlfriend, who was introduced at the very end of the season six episode "The "L" Word". They date off and on for 2 seasons. She worked as a mechanic in a garage.

Episodes

Production

The series was created and executive produced by William Bickley and Michael Warren, and developed and executive produced by Thomas L. Miller and Robert L. Boyett.^[6] It was produced by Bickley-Warren Productions, Miller-Boyett Productions and Lorimar Television (the latter doing so from 1991 to 1993, when Warner Bros. Television assumed production responsibilities for it and Lorimar's other television series after shared corporate parent Time Warner consolidated the two production companies). The casting of Patrick Duffy fulfilled a contractual obligation that Lorimar made to give him a new show after his previous series, Dallas (which was also produced by Lorimar), had ended its run. It was created off of the idea of combining two of the most popular television stars from the 1970s known for their good looks (Duffy and Somers) to star as parents to attract adult viewers, with current teen celebrities (Staci Keanan from My Two Dads and Going Places, Brandon Call from Baywatch and Sasha Mitchell from Dallas) to star as their children to attract children and teen viewers.

Staci Keanan and Christopher Castile had previously appeared on the Miller-Boyett-produced ABC sitcom Going Places, which debuted the season prior to Step By Step, playing characters with no familial relation (Keanan – who played Lindsay Bowen, the teenage neighbor of the show's adult characters – as a series regular, Castile as a recurring character). Keanan was the first of the two Going Places stars to be cast on Step By Step in the spring of 1991. Castile, who had played gawky child Sam Roberts on Going Places, brought the same character traits to the Mark Foster role, which was speculated to be Miller-Boyett's continued attempt to give the Family Matters character Steve Urkel a white counterpart. In a similar instance of hiring actors over from their other TV series, the producers also cast Josh Byrne as Brendan Lambert on Step By Step, after he had just finished a supporting role as Patrick Kozak on Miller-Boyett's single-season CBS sitcom The Family Man.

When the series was casting its characters, child actor Jarrett Lennon originally landed the role of Mark Foster. Lennon had been chosen by the producers after guest starring in the last original episode of the Miller-Boyett series The Hogan Family, which was produced in late 1990. After shooting the original (unaired) pilot for Step By Step, Lennon was dismissed from the role of Mark, and the producers later replaced him with Castile (who had blonde hair like on-screen mother Somers, as opposed to Lennon having brown hair). Most of Lennon's pilot scenes were reshot with Castile, but during the first season, footage of Lennon remained in the show's opening title sequence. Lennon only appeared in wide shots with the Lambert/Foster family or, in the case of Suzanne Somers' credit scene, fleetingly appearing at the bottom of camera view as the kids huddled around Somers. All traces of Lennon were edited out by the second season. In 1996, these two actors had the tables turned on each other; Castile served as the original voice of Eugene Horowitz on the Nickelodeon animated series Hey Arnold!, but after a few episodes was replaced by Lennon, who voiced Eugene for the remainder of the show's first season.

Going Places creators Robert Griffard and Howard Adler would end up employed with Step By Step as co-executive producers and members of its writing staff until the show's fifth season; Adler and Griffard later wrote an additional episode of the show as freelancers in the seventh season. Patrick Duffy directed several episodes, starting with the second season. The house shown in establishing shots for scenes set at the Lambert-Foster home is located at 2011 Fletcher Avenue in South Pasadena, California, although the series was actually filmed at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California.

ABC chose to delay the series' sixth season to the 1996–97 mid-season (premiering in March 1997), in order to make room on that season's fall schedule for freshman sitcoms Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Clueless, which joined established series Family Matters and Boy Meets World on the TGIF lineup; the network canceled it after six seasons in May 1997, due to declining ratings. CBS concurrently reached a deal with Miller-Boyett Productions to acquire the rights to it and Family Matters from ABC, as that network attempted to build its own Friday night lineup of family-friendly situation comedies for the fall of 1997, called the "CBS Block Party".^[7] The series' ratings, which had been declining for several seasons, continued to erode, and the show ended its run in June 1998. It ended without an official series finale, although the last episode centered on Frank and Carol considering selling the house.

Theme song and title sequence

The series' theme song "Second Time Around" was written and composed by Jesse Frederick and Bennett Salvay (both wrote the themes for other sitcoms produced by Miller-Boyett Productions such as Full House, Perfect Strangers, and Family Matters), and was performed by Frederick and Teresa James. The full 87-second version of it was only used during the first season. It was routinely edited over the following three seasons to allow additional time for scenes: the fourth verse was removed and the chorus was truncated in the second season edit, the kid chorus accompanying Jesse Frederick during the chorus' lyrics was removed in the version used during the third season, and the edit heard during most of the fourth season and the entire fifth season (which lasted for only 65 seconds) eliminated the electric guitar/drum/symphonic instrumental at the beginning.

The theme song and title sequence were dropped entirely for the sixth season, relegating the credits for the show's main cast and principal producers to appearing over each episode's cold open (which was preceded for the final two seasons by an abbreviated opening bumper featuring the family applauding as Lily blows out the candles on her birthday cake). The theme song was brought back for the seventh season, upon the show's move from ABC to CBS, although it was edited down to include only the chorus and the closing instrumental flourish (restoring the original longer symphonic instrumental heard in the original long version, and the edits used for the second and third seasons).

The amusement park seen in the opening credits is depicted as being located along the shores of Lake Michigan in Wisconsin (no amusement park exists there). The one used is actually Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, located miles inland from the Pacific Ocean. The body of water depicted in the opening and closing credit sequences (the latter being seen on in season one) located next to the roller coaster – which is digitally inserted into that particular excerpt – is placed over what in actuality is the parking lot of Six Flags Magic Mountain.

Syndication

In September 1995, Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution began distributing the series for broadcast in off-network syndication.

ABC Family was the first to acquire cable television rights to the series, and it became one of the cable channel's longest-running off-network syndicated programs in its history. Reruns began airing on there in 2001 (on what was then known as Fox Family), airing in various timeslots during its run ranging from late afternoon to the morning hours. On March 26, 2010, ABC Family's contract expired after less than nine years.^[8]

The series returned to U.S. syndication on October 7, 2013, when the Hub Network began airing reruns;^[9] the network dropped it on October 12, 2014 as part of a change in the focus.

In Australia, Step by Step aired on the Seven Network from 1991 to 1995 and on the Nine Network from 1996 to 2000. In 2011, Step by Step was acquired by 7TWO. In 2015, 111 Greats started airing the whole series.

DVD releases

Warner Home Video released a six-episode Television Favorites collection on DVD on June 27, 2006.^[10] Much like other television shows from it, the Step by Step edition has gone out of print. There are no current plans by Warner Home Video, Shout! Factory or Mill Creek Entertainment for complete season releases. Episodes are also not currently available on iTunes, Hulu, or wbshop.com at this time.

Reception

Reviewing the pilot episode, Jean Rosenbluth of Variety wrote that, despite being an unoriginal clone of The Brady Bunch, it is a "modestly amusing, occasionally heartwarming show".^[11]

References

External links

• Step by Step on IMDb
• Step by Step at TV.com
• Step by Step at epguides.com