AutumnColorsღ

I couldnt find any thread of this show so I decided to start one up.

Storyline: Frank (Patrick Duffy of Dallas) was a freewheeling, divorced contractor who had impetuosly married widowed beautician Carol (Suzanne Somers of Three's Company) when they met during seperate vacations in Jamaica. They flew home to Port Washington, Wisconsin, where they both lived, told their kids-his three and her three - and all of the problems of a merged family began. She orderly, he was chaotic. The kids eyed each suspiciously. Hers were teenager Dana (the oldest), as compulsively neat as her mom, middle sis Karen, a budding fashion plate and young worrier Mark. Franks were teenager J.T. (short for John Thomas), a cool customer, preteen Al, into insects and animals, and carefree Brendan. Working with Carol in her beauty shop next door were her mother Ivy and sister Penny. Cody was Frank's spaced-out 19-year-old nephew, who nutty schemes and obsessions kept everyone in an uproar but who was really smarter than he seemed


Cast:

Alexandra Adi - Samantha Milano (Season 6)
Josh Byrne - Brendan Lambert (Season 1 - Season 6)
Patrika Darbo - Penny Baker (Season 1)
Jeff Juday - Jake "Flash" Gordon (Season 6)
Christine Lakin - Alicia 'Al' Lambert
Jason Marsden - Rich Halke (Season 6+)
Sasha Mitchell - Cody Lambert (Season 1 - Season 5)
Bronson Pinchot - Jean-Luc Rieupeyroux (Season 6)
Peggy Rea - Ivy Baker (Season 1)
Emily Mae Young - Lilly Foster Lambert (Season 6 - Season 7)
Patrick Duffy - Frank Lambert
Suzanne Somers - Carol Foster Lambert
Brandon Call - JT Lambert
Staci Keanan - Dana Foster
Angela Watson - Karen Foster
Christopher Castile - Mark Foster


I use to watch this show all the time growing up. I loved the characters TJ, Rich, and JT.

Anyone else heard or watched this show?

Wildfire Girl

Thought we had a thread for this show too, but I couldn't even find it. Ah well.

UnsilentMajorty

I used to work on Step-By-Step in a limited capacity.

The show had a fantastic cast... Even Sasha Mitchell who had all of those off-screen problems with his wife (and those allegations of abuse by his wife were not true; he is a very kind and loving father and she was just crazy; he now has full custody of his four kids last I heard).

They were all professionals, but really enjoyed working with one another and I think you can tell when you watch the episodes.

Patrick Duffy really surprised everyone in that he is more known for his dramatic and campy roles (Bobby on Dallas; Man from Atlantis), but is a fantastic comedian and isn't afraid to just "go" with a funny scene, no matter how outrageous or unrealistic.

Suzanne Summers was the same way. She was actually the oldest one of the cast, but you'd never know it. She had more energy and spunk that even the younger cast members sometimes.

All of the "kids" were professionals as well and did their job to a tee. They were also pretty nice off-screen too for the most part.

The only one you really "hear" from since the show went off the air is Staci Keanan (Dana) in that she just appeared in a short film and did a lot of theater (her roots) while attending UCLA to get her Art History degree between when the show was canceled up to now.

Brandon Call (JT) was shot serveral times on different occassions for unknown reasons. He survived and is the father of two now, I think.

Angela Watson (Karen) formed a foundation that helps child actors monitor their money since her dad spent all of her SBS earnings leaving her with almost nothing at the end of it all. It's sad, but it is a reality and now she is dedicated to making sure it doesn't happen to other young actors as well.

Everyone else is either finishing college, or dropped out of the spotlight completely (like Christopher Castile (Mark)).

Workin on SBS was some of the best days of my life

Wildfire Girl

Wow. It truly sounds like you had a marvelous time.

XxDreamer

I love Step by Step. I didn't watch it when it aired but I've watched the re-runs on ABC Family for the past few years, and I love this show. It never fails to crack me up and the cast was awesome.

AutumnColorsღ

UnsilentMajorty- Wow! I would of loved to be working on the set where they were at. I heard a few things about Sasha Mitchell and Im really glad that he has full custody of his kids.


XxDreamer- Me too! Ive been catching up on a few epsiodes I missed on ABC Family.


Omg, Im glad that he is alright!

PHMustang2000

I think I saw Brandan on season 3 of The Dead Zone as a cop but he didn't have any lines, just a filler. I think that was him anyway. Anyone know if SBS will ever be released on DVD?

AutumnColorsღ

Im pretty sure they might! Or at least I hope so

What was everyone's favorite couple? Personally I liked Dana and Rich together.

Melis

Loved SBS. Dana and Rich were my fave, too, although I liked JT and Sam as well.

I saw the actress who played Al on Boston Public a few seasons back.

AutumnColorsღ

Melis- I wish I could meet a famous celebrity. The only celebrity I met was the old Phillip from Days of our lives

Melis

I didn't meet her. I just meant that I saw her on that show. Sorry for the confustion. I wish I could meet a celeb, too.

UnsilentMajorty

Christine Lakin (Al) was the second most popular actress according to fans when I was on the show.

It went Staci, Christine, Alexandra (Sam), and Angela as far as younger fans were concerned (which is why Susanne isn't on the list).

Back in the mid-to-late '90s, when the show was popular, there was a huge internet fanbase for SBS, and I remember they even invited some of the fans who maintained fan websites to the tapings of the shows to show their appreciation specifically to those fans that helped keep the show on the air in the later years with internet driven viewership campaigns.

They'd give them free tours of the Warner Brother's lot, signed scripts from the episode taping they attended and some extra backstage time with the stars after the show to make the package complete.

It really made these kids lives to know that people in Hollywood really appreciated them watching the show.

I'm glad the producers went out of their way to reach out to their fanbase because these were not a Warner Brothers Studio sponsored events. These were strictly SBS events specifically for their fans to show their appreciation.

What is funny is that this trend then started applying to other youth based shows like Roswell -- Which I was also involved in -- Buffy, Gilmore Girls, etc.

AutumnColorsღ

Melis- :d'oh: It's okay, I just read it wrong

UnsilentMajorty- Ok, Im officialy jealous. Buffy and Gilmore Girls is another one of my favorite shows. Do you know what Jason Marsden aka Rich is doing in his life now?

starsprite

I loved this show until Cody left
Jean-Luc just made it go downhill.


Heh I used to have such a crush on Brandon Call lol.

Step by step, day by daaayyyy

Subject

UnsilentMajorty -That's a amazing. I think I remember you saying that you were a part of the show a long time ago but I wasn't sure.

Dana and Al were my fav two characters. Christine looks like a friend of mine. Staci's character Dana reminds me of a girl whom I had crush on. Expect she has blonde hair and my crush was a redhead.

I'm watching an older episode of the show right now on abcfamily. Frank and Carol are trying to have some alone time. Dana thinks that Rich is cheating and it turns out that he is taking dance lessons.

The cast for this show was great. One of the best family cast I've ever seen. They all seemed to really click together.