Step by Step (TV series)

Premise

Set in a substantially fictionalized version of the city of Port Washington, Wisconsin, the series begins with Frank Lambert, a divorced contractor with three children – sons John Thomas (who went by the nickname J.T.), Brendan and daughter Alicia (who went by the nickname, Al) – and Carol Foster, a divorced beautician who also has three children – daughters Dana, Karen and son Mark, who were all residents of Port Washington WI, 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 the family 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 season two) and lived in his van in the family's driveway; he then left the series in 1996. In the 1994–95 season finale, Carol gave birth to a daughter named Lilly. Like many other sitcom babies, Lilly was suddenly aged five years in the sixth season, after having spent the entire fifth season depicted as a baby. In the show's sixth season, J.T.'s friend Rich Halke moved in with J.T. and the family after becoming Dana's boyfriend. Meanwhile J.T. meets the woman of his dreams Samantha (known as Sam) and they date off and on for seasons six and seven. Also in season six Carol gets a partner, Jean-Luc Rieupeyroux, at her hair salon. In season seven son Brendan is written out of the show as is Jean-Luc.

Foster family

Lambert family

Others

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. The series was produced by Bickley-Warren Productions, Miller-Boyett Productions and Lorimar Television (the latter producing the show from 1991 to 1993, when the show became produced by Warner Bros. Television after it absorbed Lorimar). The casting of Patrick Duffy fulfilled a contractual obligation that Lorimar made to give him a new show after his previous series, the 1978–1991 serial drama Dallas (which was also produced by Lorimar), had ended its run. The show 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 (Keanan from My Two Dads and Going Places, Call from Baywatch and 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 (Keanan 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 Step By Step 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 Step By Step's 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 the show as co-executive producers and members of its writing staff until the fifth season of Step By Step; Adler and Griffard later wrote an episode as freelancers in the seventh season. Patrick Duffy directed several episodes of the series, 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 canceled the series after six seasons in 1997, due to declining ratings; the network had delayed the show's fifth season to mid-season (premiering in March 1997). 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 show's ratings, which had been declining for several seasons, continued to fall, and the show ended its run in June 1998. Step by Step had no official series finale, although the series' last episode centered on Frank and Carol considering selling the house.

The show's theme song "Second Time Around" was written and composed by Jesse Frederick and Bennett Salvay (both of whom wrote the themes for other sitcoms produced by Miller-Boyett Productions such as Full House, Perfect Strangers and Family Matters); the theme was performed by Frederick and Teresa James. Only the first season of the series used the full 87-second version of the theme, with the song becoming progressively shorter during the subsequent seasons until it was reduced to 65 seconds during the fourth season. The season two edit of the theme removed the fourth verse and truncated the chorus, the kid chorus accompanying Jesse Frederick was cut by the third season, followed by season four with the removal of the electric guitar riff at the beginning of the song. The theme was dropped entirely for the sixth season, although it was restored upon the show's move from ABC to CBS for its seventh and final season in the form of an edited version that included only the chorus and the instrumental portion at the end of the theme (restoring the original longer symphonic instrumental heard in the original long version and the season two and three edits).

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 that is located on the shores of this lake in Wisconsin). The amusement park 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 rollercoaster at the park – 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 Step by Step 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 the channel 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.

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

In Australia, Step by Step aired on the Seven Network from 1991 to 1994 and on the Nine Network from 1994 to 2004. In 2011, Step by Step was acquired by 7TWO in 2015, 111 Greats will show it from 2 March 2015.

DVD releases

On June 27, 2006, Warner Home Video issued a six-episode "Television Favorites" collection of the series on DVD. Similar to other TV shows in the "Television Favorites" series, the "Step by Step" edition is now out of print. As of now, Warner Home Video, Shout! Factory, and Mill Creek Entertainment have not announced any intentions to release the complete seasons. Furthermore, episodes of the series are presently not accessible on iTunes, Hulu, or through the wbshop.com.

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".