Frank's good work results in him being offered an expensive house at cost. Everybody is happy about the move except Lilly, who reacts by getting into trouble up at school. It turns out that she is ...
Frank and Carol are arrested by a know-it-all Barney Fife-type deputy on Christmas Eve when they are accused of being burglars.
Carol and Frank go to a baby playtime class and find out they are the oldest parents there, which they find unsettling. JT thinks that two men would never fall out over a woman but Dana is determined...
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Title: Step by Step (1991–1998)
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Frank Lambert is a construction worker and a single father of 3 kids: J.T., Alicia "Al", and Brendan. Carol Foster, a beautician, also has 3 children: Dana, Karen, and Mark. After Frank and Carol run into each other on vacation and spontaneously get married, they and their children (who appeared to have known and hated each other) have to learn to live together and love each other. It's not easy, but they are trying to do this step by step. Written by Boris Shafir <shafir@hsi.com>
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"Step By Step" gets my vote for the Worst Sitcom of All Time. The premise was stolen blatantly from The Brady Bunch- and ostensibly it was a family show- but the devil is in the details, and this production was surely supervised by Satan himself.
Divorced woman with children marries divorced man with children. They all move in together to form... what? A happy family? Not really, as the house is anything but a healthy, loving atmosphere. In fact there was an undercurrent of hatred, and intolerance, and general perversion. Mom and Dad are constantly trying to sneak away from the kids for sex. Many episodes were built around the recurring "Battle Of The Sexes" theme, in which the sisters would gang up against the brothers and try to humiliate the others.
This might be tolerable if the show were populated by attractive, likable actors but the kids were downright nauseating. The two oldest sons looked Tolkien creatures- stunted dwarf-boys who never passed puberty. The youngest was Bookish Genius (AKA The Nerd) straight out of central casting. He looked like neither his parents nor his siblings. The producers weren't even trying.
Then there was Staci Keanan, a pretty little cupcake who looked like a porn star in training. She was allowed to wear her hair bleached-blond for most of the series, in spite of the fact that everyone knew she was brunette. This killed off ANY reality and proved to be a major distraction- why would a girl as good-looking and sophisticated as she be home all the time bickering with her brothers?
To make things worse, since the majority of the "kids" were in early-to-late adolescence, there was a sexual undertone to all that they did. Not only that but for the first time in a family sitcom, many of the jokes were based on inappropriate sexual inferences and innuendo. Guys crowing to their gorgeous half-sister about what they did on their dates? Girls making nasty comments about their brother's sexual incompetence? It's about as heartwarming as having the local pedophile over for chicken dinner.
And then there was Cody, a hilarious "breakout" character if you happened to be a semi-retarded thirteen year-old girl, but nauseating to everyone else. This guy was Keanu-Lite, and about as original as a paper plate. He would show up, look stupid, stretch the word "Dude" to seven syllables and get a rousing standing O from the [non-existent] studio audience. This is the worst of what television has to offer.
I was just a boy when the show premiered and not quite as verbose as I am today; even then I sensed something was wrong with the show and watched as little as possible. Many of my parent's friends refused to let them watch the show because they felt it was "sick." In retrospect I see they were right. The re-runs are on today so you don't have to take my word for it. But bring a moist towelette and a change of pants... you're going to need it.