My 90's and 2000's Experience: Watching Step by Step For the First Time

 Hey everyone, how were your weekends? Mine was pretty good. It was quiet, but I wasn't bored. In fact, I actually had a few laughs last night. I watched the TGIF series Step by Step for the first time last night on DVD. So I decided to sit down and write about my experience watching the show for the first time. I'm not only going to be talking about my previous history with the show, but talking about how I watched the show last night, AND I'll be going over the episodes I watched. So let's get into it.

As I mentioned last week in part two of my TGIF overview post, I didn't remember watching Step by Step when I was a kid. So watching the episodes that I watched last night, that held true. However, I do remember seeing commercials for it on TV during Full House, Family Matters, and the summer reruns of the first season of Sabrina the Teenage Witch in 1997, before Step by Step moved over to CBS (along with Family Matters) for its final season in the 1997-1998 broadcast season. Mainly because of Patrick Duffy and Suzanne Somers, not because of any of the kids on the show. So that's my very brief history with the show.

Step by Step is about a blended family who come together when Frank, played by Patrick Duffy (Dallas), and Carol, played by Suzanne Somers (Three's Company) get married while on vacation in Jamaica. The basic premise is similar to The Brady Bunch but produced and set in the 90's, rather than the 70's. However, because it was made in the 90's, the writers could place the six (eventually seven) children, and even the adults, into more serious situations. The episodes usually end with Frank and Carol in bed about to have sex, or getting things ready for the next day, with Carol making some sort of chart, graph, or schedule for the family to stay organized.

Speaking of the family, the kids are Al, played by Christine Lakin, Dana, played by Staci Keanan (My Two Dads), J.T., played by Brandon Call, Mark, played by Christopher Castile (Beethoven and Beethoven's 2nd), Brendan, played by Josh Byrne, and Karen, played by Angela Watson. Al, J.T., and Brendan are Frank's kids, and Dana, Karen, and Mark are Carol's kids. There's also other family members who appear throughout the show, with Carol's sister, Penny, played by Patrika Darbo, and their mom, Ivy, played by Peggy Rea, who had played Lulu Hogg, the wife of Boss Hogg (Sorrell Booke), and the sister of Rosco (James Best), on The Dukes of Hazzard for most of that show's run from 1979 to 1985, appear in the first season only, and Frank's nephew, Cody, played by Sasha Mitchell, appearing in seasons 1-5. Oh, and then there's the youngest child of Frank and Carol, Lilly, who was born at the end of season 4.

Because the show was produced by Miller-Boyett Productions, the same company that produced Full House and Family Matters, and would go on to produce Fuller House from 2016-2020, Step by Step shares alot of similarities with those other shows in terms of its writing, the way the episodes are structured, and the show's music score. And because the show was produced by the same company who produced Family Matters and aired on ABC at 8:30 pm, right after Family Matters, for the show's first two seasons, before it got moved to 9 pm to make room for Boy Meets World, Steve Urkel, played by Jaleel White, guest stars in season 1, episode 2, "The Dance". Unfortunately, this episode isn't on the DVD I have, but I'd love to track that episode down sometime, just because I loved Urkel on Family Matters and his guest appearance on Full House in that show's fourth season. 

When I was out of the city with Brad to surprise our pal, Jonathan, we went to a store called Chumleigh's. It's a second hand media store, similar to Odds & Sods here in Ottawa, except Chumleigh's sells books, video games, and VHS tapes, in addition to CDs, DVDs, and Blu-rays. While we were there I found the 2006 DVD release, Television Favorites: Step by Step. This was the first ever DVD release for the series, and the only one until the individual season sets were released as Manufacture-on-Demand releases by Warner Archive Collection from 2018 to 2020, and the complete series set was released in 2023. 

So this 2006 release contains six episodes, as sort of a sampler release for people to buy to see if they like the show if they've never seen it before. Which is a good idea, especially in 2006 when one DVD box set for a season of television could be anywhere between $50 and $100 depending on the popularity of the show. So because of how pricey it could be to blind buy an entire season of a series you've never seen before, sampler discs like this were a great idea. Not every studio did them mind you, mostly because many studios never quite embraced releasing TV shows on DVD, the way others did. Warner Bros. was one of the major proponents of TV shows on DVD, as they began releasing their then modern shows like Smallville, One Tree Hill, and The O.C. as soon as the first seasons of those shows ended, as well as their classic shows like The Dukes of Hazzard, Batman: The Animated Series, and Friends pretty early on in the 2000's.

The episodes on this disc are "Pilot" (season 1, episode 1), "Rules of the House" (season 1, episode 3), "J.T.'s World" (season 2, episode 4), "Christmas Story" (season 3, episode 11), "I'll Be Home for Christmas" (season 4, episode 12), and "Your Cheatin' Heart" (season 7, episode 3). So there's a decent variety of episodes, though I am surprised that the series finale wasn't included given that the pilot episode was included. 

You all know how I feel about pilot episodes of a TV show that are simply called "Pilot", so I won't go over that again, but obviously I wasn't impressed that an early 90's sitcom would have a pilot episode called "Pilot". This episode does a great job at introducing all of the characters and telling the audience who they are as people. Carol actually reminds me of my own mom when it comes to her organizational skills, and her desire to keep the family organized. We'll see more of this in the next episode I'll be talking about. I also love Al and Dana as characters though both Karen and J.T. feel a bit too shallow for my taste, and neither Mark nor Brendan actually get very much screen time in this episode. Frank is your typical late 80's/early 90's sitcom dad, which is fine.

Staci Keanan and Christine Lakin have a podcast where they watch and talk about every episode of Step by Step. I listened to the first episode of the podcast, and apparently the opening title sequence was filmed at Six Flags Magic Mountain, which I've been to. They didn't say when exactly the opening title sequence was filmed, but given that the show debuted on September 20th, 1991, I'd say it was filmed either in late 1990 or early 1991. Regardless, it was about two years before I went to Magic Mountain on January 30th, 1993.

 "Rules of the House" is another great episode. One of the things I love about this show is that, despite being a network show and being a sitcom, it didn't shy away from showing the kids not getting along with each other. Not just in the usual sibling way that you'd see on Full House, but even J.T., Al, and Brendan don't get along with Dana, Karen, and Mark and it sticks beyond just these early episodes. Step by Step basically gave us what we never got with Star Trek: Voyager since the writers resolved the issues of blending the Starfleet and Maquis crews together. Again, Carol very much reminded me of my own mom in this episode. Though we never had family meetings when I was growing up. My parents usually decided on the rules and then told my siblings and I those rules, expecting us to follow them, as they were raised by their parents.

 "J.T.'s World" was my introduction to Cody Lambert, Frank's nephew. Cody reminds me of George (Giancarlo Caltabiano) from the 1998-2001 YTV sitcom, Radio Active. Both characters are really strange characters, though unlike George who is just out there, Cody has moments where he's really smart and really wise, often setting the other characters straight when they screw up and he notices. This episode is an homage to Wayne's World, which Paramount Pictures had just released earlier in 1992, several months before this episode aired and had just been released on VHS only two months prior to this episode's debut.

In this episode J.T. gets his own Public Access TV show, and produces it with Al, Mark, and Brendan as his production crew, and Cody as his on camera partner. Their relationship is strained when Lisa, a girl that J.T. likes, ends up falling for Cody instead. Lisa was played by Elizabeth Berkley, who played Jessie Spano on Saved by the Bell, which was still hugely popular and on the air at the time this episode aired in 1992. 

I always find it strange when a compilation of TV show episodes gets released on VHS or DVD, and a Christmas episode is included. Mainly because alot of people don't like to watch Christmas themed episodes except at Christmastime. Personally, I don't mind watching Christmas episodes anytime of the year, especially because alot of shows have Christmas episodes every season and if I'm watching a full season of a show, I don't like skipping an episode simply because it's a Christmas episode and I'm not necessarily watching the show at Christmastime. Though I do try to watch Christmas themed episodes at Christmastime in addition to the Christmas specials and movies that I watch during that time of year.

In "Christmas Story" Frank and Carol are arrested after they break into a toy store, that Frank had the key for as he'd been remodeling it recently, on Christmas Eve. They'd forgotten to buy stocking stuffers for the kids, and a train set that Brendan had asked for for Christmas. The deputy who arrests Frank and Carol was played by Don Knotts, and the officer is named Fief, as a nod to his character from The Andy Griffith Show, Deputy Barney Fife, which is cool. This episode is also an example of Cody being wise and setting the kids straight when they're so blinded by Christmas greed, they fail to realize that Frank and Carol are gone. 

In "I'll Be Home for Christmas", J.T. feels he is too old to celebrate Christmas with the family and he goes on a ski trip with some friends. Meanwhile Carol's grumpy aunt, Edna, comes to visit for the holidays, making the rest of the family miserable. Once again, Cody saves the day by telling Frank that he needs to be more forthcoming when it comes to J.T. My favourite part of this episode, aside from Cody and seeing the development of the bond between Carol's kids, and Franks kids, is Doris Roberts as Aunt Edna.

I loved watching Everybody Loves Raymond when I was in high school because of Doris, who played Ray's mom, Marie, and Peter Boyle, who played Ray's dad, Frank. So to see Doris in an earlier role (Raymond began in 1996 and this episode aired in 1994) was a surprise. A fun surprise too, because she worked really well with the main cast.

 The final episode on this disc is season 7, episode 3, "Your Cheatin' Heart". While it's not as good as the other episodes in this set, it's still really good. Rich, played by Jason Marsden (Max in A Goofy Movie) tries to surprise Dana, who is in a serious relationship with him, by secretly taking dance lessons for a wedding they're going to. But, he ends up breaking several dates with Dana to do so. Naturally, Karen and Al get involved and convince Dana that Rich is cheating on her. This episode is the most I've seen of Karen in this entire batch of episodes after the pilot, so it was nice to see her more involved in this episode. The character of Lilly seemed to be the writers's attempt at having a Michelle type character on the show. Unlike Full House though, which practically became the Michelle show by the end of it, Lilly was introduced too late in the series to have much of an effect on Step by Step in the way Michelle had. Mostly because Michelle was on Full House from the very beginning while Lilly wasn't born until the end of season 4, and didn't get main cast status until season 6.

I am very glad I finally got to see Step by Step after all these years. It wasn't a show I ever saw in reruns, and of course I didn't watch it during its original run in the 90's. Sure, it was only six episodes, with two of them being Christmas themed episodes, but they were really good episodes, and I enjoyed watching them. I found myself laughing several times. The show also doesn't feel as preachy as Full House does, which is good. Yet, it's still a show that kids can watch alongside their parents. 

I think that's going to be it for me for today. I've got two more blog posts for you this week possibly. I'm currently reading Star Wars: A New Dawn by John Jackson Miller as the friend I visited last week lent it to me, and I'm about halfway through the book right now. So that discussion is gonna happen sometime this week. But also, this Saturday is the 25th anniversary of the publication of Vector Prime by R.A. Salvatore, which was the first book in the New Jedi Order series which ran from 1999 to 2003, and essentially began the modern era of Star Wars book publishing, where there's a less cheesy tone to the novels being published. So I'll be doing a post talking about that book on Friday. Until then have a great rest of your day and I will talk to you all later. Take care.