Step by Step

Step by Step was created by William Bickley and Michael Warren for ABC's TGIF Friday-night lineup, and developed by Thomas L. Miller and Robert L. Boyett of Miller-Boyett Productions. It premiered September 20, 1991. Frank Lambert (Patrick Duffy), a divorced contractor, and Carol Foster (Suzanne Somers), a widowed salon owner, marry in Jamaica after a whirlwind courtship and plan to keep it quiet, until Frank lets it slip to his son at the barbecue meant to introduce the kids. Her children, Dana (Staci Keanan), Karen (Angela Watson) and Mark (Christopher Castile, who was also Ted in Beethoven), and his, J.T. (Brandon Call), Al (Christine Lakin) and Brendan (Josh Byrne), resent one another at first and slowly become loyal to one another. Frank's nephew Cody (Sasha Mitchell) lives in a van in the driveway. The show is set in Port Washington, Wisconsin, but the opening credits, with the family at a lakeside amusement park, were shot at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, with a coastline digitally added to the parking lot in the aerial shots.

Critics hated the pilot. Howard Rosenberg of the Los Angeles Times called it "plain awful" and Matt Roush of USA Today called it "demonically slick junk food." Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker later wrote that it was generally regarded as a copy of The Brady Bunch and otherwise ignored. Variety's Jean Rosenbluth was kinder, conceding it was no Shakespeare, "but neither was The Brady Bunch." Keanan's wisecracking drew praise even in the pans. Brady Bunch creator Sherwood Schwartz said he once considered suing, complaining that they "stole my show" and objecting to ads that sold it as a "Brady Bunch for the 1990s."

In 1996 ABC held the sixth season until March 1997 to make room for Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Clueless, then canceled the show in May 1997 on declining ratings. CBS picked it up, along with Family Matters, for its new "CBS Block Party" Friday lineup, but the ratings kept falling, and Step by Step ended in June 1998 after 160 episodes with no real finale. According to Keanan and Lakin, it was supposed to end with Dana's wedding to Rich (Jason Marsden) at the house.