The Good

An improbable setup actually creates a show with some heart.

The Bad

No Special Features.

I had heard about Step by Step when it was originally on TV, but that was at a time in my life when I was a TV snob so I didn't pay any attention to it. Now, years later, I was given the opportunity to review Step by Step: TV Favorites and I jumped at the chance.

This show focuses on Carol Foster (Suzanne Somers) and Frank Lambert (Patrick Duffy). These two characters met, married impulsively and then told their children that they were now one big happy family. As you can guess, things didn't go so well and when you add that each person brought three kids into this equation, it seems like an anti-The Brady Bunch recipe for disaster. Comprised of six episodes from this show's seven year run, I was quite impressed with how well done Step by Step was.

Features

No Extras came with this DVD.

Video

Standard Version presented in a format preserving the aspect ratio of it's original television exhibition. With episodes taken from Seasons 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7, I found it interesting to be able to document how the look and times change. The 1990s seemed to have a lot of holdovers from the 1980s, and this show more than captured that aspect. As it is a fairly recent show, the compression has done a nice job of preserving it.

Audio

Dolby Digital - English: Stereo. Close Captioned. Okay, so the writing on this show isn't the greatest, but it sure was nice seeing Suzanne Somers and Patrick Duffy back on the big screen. While the audio was of the standard sitcom variety (meaning that there was nothing too special about it), it did manage to stand out in how it underscored the actions of the characters.

Package

The blended family is on display inside a TV screen on this front cover. The back features a description of this show, a shot of Duffy and Somers, an episode listing, a cast list and technical specs. Inside, we get a color layout behind a clear plastic cover which again lists out the disc's episodes.

Final Word

Man, I must've been really out of it during the 1990s because I didn't first hear about this show until 1997. I would have thought I would have caught an episode of Step by Step at some point during that decade but it never happened. It's easy to see why this show stayed on as long as it did. The comedy is lighthearted, but at the same time an updated version of the The Brady Bunch has some very interesting possibilities. While this show was light in tone, it dealt with real family issues in a humorous way without ever denying the fact that this was a blended family.

Step by Step was released .