Characters / Step by Step

The Characters from Step by Step.

The Parents

Frank Lambert

Portrayed by: Patrick Duffy

• Beware the Nice Ones: He's usually laidback...except in his Papa Wolf moments.
• Bumbling Dad: Sometimes, but he was also a Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass.
• Butt-Monkey: Sometimes.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Phlegmatic.
• Happily Married: To Carol.
• Papa Wolf: In one episode a sneaky advertiser had videotaped her daughter in a beach scene, telling her and the girls that they were taping a suntan lotion commercial but instead it is for a 1-900 sex hotline; Frank is outraged and, during his visit with the producer, hangs him from a tall-story window and threatens to drop him unless he confesses and pulls the commercial off the air. He also has acted as protector to Dana several times, usually only after several acts of being the Bumbling Dad before playing things straight. (Although he would have stood up for Karen, usually those situations were left to Cody.)
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: Both he and Carol are this, but Frank does everything in his power to make sure they have alone time with each other.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Frank is generally a pretty laidback, cautious, and quiet fellow, whereas his brother Richard is something of an oblivious Control Freak for every situation he encounters and won't take no for an answer.
• Smart Ball: He's pretty good at being a father in general, if with the occasional Bumbling Dad moment, but he is surprisingly competent when coming up with punishments on the fly.

Carol Foster-Lambert

Portrayed by: Suzanne Somers

• Control Freak: At times she can be controlling when it comes to her children and their lives. It's also lampshaded that Dana inherited her own control freak tendencies from her.
• Dumb Blonde: Avoided, she can be flighty at times, yet she is a capable woman who has raised 3 children by herself and runs her own business.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Sanguine.
• Happily Married: To Frank.
• Hypocrite: She blasts Frank for his sexism/chauvinism in not wanting to hire a female construction worker. Then when he does and she turns out to be absolutely gorgeous, now she's just as upset about that, despite the woman's competency and that she never makes any attempt at stealing Frank.
• Mama Bear: Don't mess with her family, even teachers and bullies' parents aren't spared.
• My Beloved Smother: Has her moments, especially to Dana and Mark.
• Nervous Wreck: At her worst. Her pregnancy in season 4 turns her into such a neurotic mess that she needs therapy.
• The Perfectionist: Discussed many times in several episodes, especially during her pregnancy.

Foster Family

Dana Foster

Portrayed by: Staci Keanan

• Allegedly Dateless: Although J.T. is usually the only one who makes fun of her for being dateless. Dana attracts numerous boys throughout the show.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: JT and Dana have an interesting dynamic as step-siblings, constantly insulting each other, but by the later seasons it is obvious they do care about one another. In a final season episode, she goes as far as to willingly help him get back together with Sam.
• Book Smart: She's a hard-working and brilliant student although, as lampshaded by her mother, she also has enough common sense to be Street Smart too, unlike her nerdy brother Mark.
• Break the Haughty: Often happens to her. In one episode Frank's dimwitted nephew Cody gets a higher SAT score than Dana, which caused her no small amount of distress. In another one her professor gives her a D and calls her paper "supercilious crap".
• Character Development: Dating Rich mellowed out her character to be less of a Straw Feminist to encourage rather than expectedly nag Rich into applying himself.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: She has her moments when dating Rich. When an old female friend returns to town and starts hanging out with him, Dana struggles to adopt more of Rich's interests so that she can stay close by him. When Rich secretly takes dance lessons and gets Mistaken for Cheating, Dana breaks down the door to the woman's house and screams about being betrayed.
• Cool Big Sis: Despite being her opposite, she gets along quite well with her younger sister Karen and rarely looks down on her.
• Deadpan Snarker: Her defining trait. She snarks all the time, with J.T being her favorite "victim".
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Especially towards Rich, she goes from hating him, to Slap-Slap-Kiss, and eventualy to have a loving relationship with him. Also towards Cody, but in a platonic way, as she warms up to him more as the show goes on.
• Disappeared Dad: Carol's first husband has died about two years before the series, leaving behind the couple's three children.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The Responsible to both Karen and JT's foolish.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Melancholic
• Generation Xerox: She's a perfectionist just like her mother Carol.
• Go-Getter Girl: An ambitious overachiever who wants to be the best at everything, especially academics. Considering her attitude sometimes she borders on Academic Alpha Bitch.
• Gone Horribly Right: Getting Rich to apply himself gets him a better grade than her.
• Insufferable Genius: She's brilliant, obviously, has a smug and conceited attitude, and and tends to belittle anyone who is not as smart as her, especially the Lamberts.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She can be very rude and arrogant, but deeply cares for her family. She was even instrumental in getting J.T. back together with Sam in the last season.
• Like Mother, Like Daughter: Besides hair tint, she and Carol share similar tempers and perfectionist instincts.
• Not So Above It All: While her main interests are school and career, she's shown to be just as boy-crazy as Karen (and later seasons Al) many times.
• Official Couple: With Rich in the last two seasons.
• The Perfectionist: Very much so.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: With Rich, much to J.T.'s horror.
• The Snark Knight: She never bothers to hide her disdain for people she dislikes.
• Soapbox Sadie: A proud feminist and openly becomes an activist in one episode.
• Straw Feminist: This was basically her schtick. One time she tried to get a full-blown feminist group going, but it was derailed by Cody's hotness. She mellowed down a bit from this after beginning to date Rich.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Usually The Snark Knight, but she shows her warm and friendly side several times.
• Tsundere: The Harsh type, but with many sympathetic moments.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With J.T. and Cody.

Karen Foster

Portrayed by: Angela Watson

• Attention Whore: Due to her vanity, she likes to make everything about hersef.
• Brainless Beauty: Karen is outright described as being very beautiful by everyone in-universe, but she's shallow and not very bright.
• Bratty Teenage Daughter: In one episode she forces her mother to accompany her to a store, while Karen spends the entire day trying on dresses.
• Cool Big Sis: Not originally, but becomes this to Al in later seasons. She becomes her close confidant and they start to refer each other as "my sister" rather than "my stepsister".
• Disappeared Dad: Carol's first husband has died about two years before the series, leaving behind the couple's three children.
• The Ditz: She's basically Hilary Banks, without being rich.
• Dude Magnet: She's totally aware of her popularity with boys and really enjoys it.
• Everyone Has Standards: Every so often, she finds there are lines she won't cross, such as appealing to openly lecherous judges to win a Beauty Contest. On another occasion, she went out on a date with a geeky student to secure his deciding vote for homecoming queen, but when he tried to kiss her against her wishes, she immediately slapped him.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The Foolish to Dana's Responsible.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Sanguine
• Head-Turning Beauty: Apparently every boy in her school drools over Karen.
• Informed Attractiveness: People on the show talked about Karen as if she was the hottest girl in the world. While very pretty, she wasn't significantly more attractive than Dana, Al, or even Carol.
• Innocently Insensitive: Generally fails to grasp how her narcissism often irritates the rest of the family.
• Lovable Alpha Bitch: Karen is the most beautiful and popular girl in her school, and she's generally vain, ditzy, and extremely shallow, but she means well and is the sweetest of the three girls (compared to Al and Dana).
• Narcissist: Openly admires herself and her beauty.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: It is strongly implied that occasionally, she's not as clueless as she appears to be with a lot of her ditziness being just an act to pull off some Batman Gambit by getting others to underestimate her.
• Proud Beauty: Beautiful? Check. Dude Magnet? Check. Vain and narcissistic? Check.
• The Resenter: Is very displeased in "Pretty Woman" when she gets passed over for a modeling job in favor of Al (who didn't even audition). This gets magnified when Carol mediates the fighting by treating them equally instead of giving the biological daughter preferential treatment over the stepsibling. She goes as far as to try to psych Al out ahead of the photoshoot so that she'll screw up. Seeing Al a bundle of nerves, though, causes Karen to feel guilty and be more supportive instead (which ends up being the start of their relationship becoming much closer as the series goes on).
• Smarter Than They Look: While not on an academic level as Dana, there were shades that her overall ditzy persona hid that she was a lot smarter and wiser underneath. It may have been intentional though.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Girly Girl to Al's Tomboy.
• Valley Girl: She's not particularly rich, but otherwise fits the stereotype perfectly.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Al, especially early on. Even in the later seasons, when they are best friends, they occasionally fight over guys.

Mark Foster

Portrayed by: Christopher Castile

• Advertised Extra: In season 7 he's credited as a main character but he only appears in 8 out of 19 episodes and is largely Out of Focus in most of them.
• Always Second Best: To the point where he's positively ecstatic over Dana getting a D on a college paper, as he feels that finally means he is the smartest one in the family.
• Book Smart: When it comes to academics, he's as brilliant as Dana. Unlike Dana, he doesn't have much common sense and has No Social Skills, especially in early seasons.
• Butt-Monkey: Gets pushed around a lot by his stepsiblings in the early years.
• Demoted to Extra: In the last two seasons (especially the final one) although, unlike Brendan, he continues to appear sporadically until the end of the series.
• Disappeared Dad: Carol's first husband has died about two years before the series, leaving behind the couple's three children.

• Geek Physiques: Of the skinny geek variety.
• Hormone-Addled Teenager: Once he hit puberty he starts lusting after girls, along with equally hormone-addled friends.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Feminine Boy to Al's Masculine Girl.
• Nerd Glasses: He's a science-oriented nerd who wears big glasses (similar to Steve Urkel's glasses).
• Resentful Outnumbered Sibling: Downplayed. He doesn't express any real frustration with being the only male Foster, but he does take to Frank much faster than his sisters do out of need for a male role model. As he once says to Frank, he was raised by women and wants a better handle on how guys interact. He also spends a good bit of time doing activities with Cody and treats him like a surrogate older brother.
• Strong Girl, Smart Guy: Smart Guy to Al's Strong Girl. The contrast is especially prominent in early seasons, where Cute Bruiser Al is often a foil to wimpy Child Prodigy Mark.
• Teen Genius: It is revealed in one episode that Mark's IQ is 187.

Lambert Family

John Thomas "J.T." Lambert

Portrayed by: Brandon Call

• Allegedly Dateless: Considered by everyone a dumbass who can't get girls. Despite this he still does manage to attract quite a few girls throughout the show, including his Hot Teacher.
• Beta Couple: With Sam, in the last two seasons.
• Big Brother Instinct: Towards Al.
• Big Brother Worship: Big Cousin Worship for Cody. In one of the early episodes, he refers to him as "the coolest guy in the world". But much like J.T.'s own immaturity eventually alienated Al, so too did Cody revealing his more sensitive and moralistic side start to alienate him in turn. Case in point: one episode ended with Cody lecturing the kids to act their age after walking into a Foster vs. Lambert food fight, J.T.'s response is to declare that everyone is sick of his acting as voice of reason and switches the fight to Everyone vs. Cody.^note It quickly switches back after Cody joins the fight on the Lambert camp, but the point that J.T. was actively willing to pelt his "favorite" cousin still stands.
• Book Dumb: This is later attributed to dyslexia.
• Butt-Monkey: Tends to be mocked or humiliated more frequently than any other character.
• Casanova Wannabe: Tries desperately to impress girls, but his attempts are often pretty unsuccessful.
• Chick Magnet: J.T. was originally supposed to be this, if his roles in the episodes "Frank and Son", "Home Alone" and "Bully for Mark" are anything to go by.^note "The New Car" doesn't count as the girl outright stated she was only interested in the vehicle in question. Then big cousin Cody came along, quickly proved to be the bigger catch with the audience, and it all went downhill from "Daddy's Girl" onward.
• Childish Older Sibling: Mostly in later seasons, his younger sister Al is smarter and more mature than him. This only happens after Al's Character Development, and it's the reason why her Big Brother Worship disappears.
• Cool Big Bro: Al and Brendan look up to him in early seasons. Averted in later seasons, as Al doesn't really think he's cool anymore (quite the opposite) and she gets along better with Dana and Karen.
• Disappointing Older Sibling: He starts off as a Cool Big Bro to the younger Lamberts and is only disliked by the Fosters, but becomes everyone's Butt-Monkey in later seasons. In the last few seasons, even Al (his younger sister who used to admire him) finds him annoying and stupid.
• Dumbass Teenage Son: He's this in the eyes of everyone in his family and often proves to be one, especially due to his slacker tendencies and hormonal tendencies with girls.
• Dumb Jock: It becomes a plot point in the episode "To B or Not to Be".
• Foil: The main foil to Dana, since they are the same age, but have opposite personalities. They always argue and exchange insults, but deep down, they care for each other.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The Foolish to Dana's Responsible.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Choleric.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Rich, in later seasons. And to an extent, with Cody in early seasons (until Cody gets Put on a Bus ).
• Hidden Depths: He occasionally shows unexpected talents, though he always goes back being a loser in following episodes.
  • In a season 3 episode, he's excellent at mechanics, much to Dana's shock. This contradicts the season 7 episode where he works at Sam's garage and is a terrible mechanic.
  • In another season 3 episode, "Birth of a Salesman", he's such a good salesman that he thinks of it as a possible career choice. This is never mentioned again.
• Hormone-Addled Teenager: So much.
• Jerk Jock: To an extent. His favorite target of abuse is his stepsister Dana, whom he often calls "Barky" and also trades other various insults at her expense.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's not that bad anyway. He gets plenty of Pet the Dog moments, like when he comforts Dana after a boy ditches her, and also has other Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other moments with Dana.
• Knight Templar Big Brother: He beats up Rich when he learns the latter is taking Al to the drive in.
• "L" Is for "Dyslexia": "Hey great news everyone, I have dyslexia!"
• Missing Mom: Frank's first wife has left him and her children, disappearing and having no apparent contact with any of them.
• Only Known by Initials: J.T.'s real name isn't even revealed until Season 3, specifically the episode "Hog Wild". Presumably he considers it too formal for his carefree, laid-back demeanor.
• The Slacker: He really doesn't care much about school or work.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Chocolate milk, preferred straight out of the bottle & carton. It's apparently a family recipe.
• The Un-Favourite: Seems to be this in later seasons, part of his Butt-Monkey status.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Dana, at their best. He once pointed out to Carol that if he really hated Dana as much as he claims to, he'd just avoid her. He really sees the constant insults as a form of affection, as well as a challenge to try to top each other.

Alicia "Al" Lambert

Portrayed by: Christine Lakin

• Badass Adorable: Much stronger than she looks.
• Big Brother Worship: For JT in the first few seasons. Completely inverted in later seasons: she thinks JT is an annoying idiot and makes fun of him just as much as Dana.
• Bratty Teenage Daughter: In later seasons, she's boy-crazy and often acts like Karen, in a Those Two Girls duo.
• Character Development: The only character with a real development, actually, as she gradually evolves into a totally different person.
• Cute Bruiser: When she was a tough girl in the early episodes, apparently able to beat up people older than her.
• Daddy's Girl: Due to being Frank's only daughter.
• Deadpan Snarker: Easily the snarkiest character on the show, after Dana.
• Enfant Terrible: In an unaired scene from the pilot, Al threatened to murder Dana in her sleep with rattlesnake venom if she touched any of her possessions-with the same conditions presumed to also apply to Karen. Then there's Mark. Poor Mark.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Choleric
• Girliness Upgrade:
  • She was originally an athletic tomboy with doesn't care about her looks, but becomes more feminine and boy-crazy as time goes by, as Christine Lakin entered puberty and the producers wanted to take advantage of her physical attractiveness.
  • Her interest in sports is very much forgotten onscreen by midway through the series. In the final season, she states that she was always overshadowed by Dana being "the smart one" and Karen being "the pretty one", and her acting talent is the only thing she excels at. That fact that she used to be "the strong/athletic one" (pretty much her entire character in early seasons) is not even mentioned.
• Hidden Depths: Her acting talent revealed in the final season, which allowed her to star in a Hollywood movie. It provides the plot of at the least three episodes.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's hot-tempered, rude, and rebellious, but she does have a moral center. Although she continues to be self-assured in later episodes, the negative aspects were toned down somewhat in later seasons
• Little Miss Badass: Especially in early seasons.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Masculine Girl to Mark's Feminine Boy.
• Missing Mom: Frank's first wife has left him and her children, disappearing and having no apparent contact with any of them.
• One of the Boys: Very much so in the early episodes, due to being the only daughter of a single father with two brothers & her interest in sports (as well as the apparent lack of girls-only teams in Port Washington).
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Al is only ever called by her full name in the pilot, and even then only by the doctor overseeing her appendicitis operation. Presumably she considers it too feminine for her and fears not being taken seriously because of it. That said, she still insists on only being called "Al" even after she otherwise softens herself.
• Only Sane Woman: More evident when she gets out of her aggressive tomboy phase, in later seasons. Especially in her trio with Dana and Karen, she's by far the most normal and levelheaded. It's also lampshaded in season 6 that she's the only Lambert sibling who is not an idiot.
• Raised by Dudes: Growing up in a house with a dad who owns a construction company, a Jerk Jock older brother, and a fart humor loving younger one, she became very much a tomboy who had trouble getting along with girls her age and got into fights fairly often.
• She's All Grown Up: From a somewhat cute tomboyish pre-teen to a stunningly attractive young woman. J.T has a hard time accepting this with season 5 onwards. Most male viewers consider her the hottest girl on the show.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: And how. J.T. was even surprised when his friend Rich was attracted to her in one episode.
• Strong Girl, Smart Guy: Strong Girl to Mark's Smart Guy. The contrast is especially prominent in early seasons, where Cute Bruiser Al is often a foil to wimpy Child Prodigy Mark.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Tomboy to Karen's Girly Girl. Before her Girliness Upgrade, anyway.
• Tomboyish Name: Al is short for Alicia.
• Took a Level in Kindness: She becomes much less aggressive in later seasons. She used to be openly hostile to Dana and Karen, but in later episodes she always hangs out with them.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Karen and, to a lesser extent, Dana.

Brendan Lambert

Portrayed by: Josh Byrne

• Advertised Extra: Before season 7, he is credited as a main character but he gets much less focus than all his siblings and is rarely involved in the plot of the episodes. In season 6, where Brendan is a teenager, he's mostly used as a Living Prop.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: He disappears in season 7 and is removed from the opening credits, although Frank mentions his "seven children" in a season 7 episode, implying Brendan still exists somewhere.
• Deadpan Snarker: Was reduced to delivering snarky one-liners in season 6.
• Demoted to Extra: He wasn't given much to do during the first 5 seasons (he only gets A Day in the Limelight in about two episodes), but at least he was usually included in the scenes involving the entire family. As of season 6 he was almost out of the picture, before being eliminated completely in season 7.
• Flat Character: We have Dana the sassy Go-Getter Girl, Karen the ditzy bimbo, Mark the Stereotypical Nerd, JT the Book Dumb slacker, Al the spunky tomboy and Brendan who was... the youngest one. And after Lilly's birth, not even that.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Phlegmatic
• The Generic Guy: So generic, that he does not show up in the final season, and the family dynamic is not affected at all.
• Missing Mom: Frank's first wife has left him and her children, disappearing and having no apparent contact with any of them.

Cody Lambert

Portrayed by: Sasha Mitchell

• The Ace: He can come out on top at just about anything. He is a Chick Magnet, has many hidden talents, is usually the one who saves the day, solves all the family problems, gives useful advice to everyone, and is adored by everyone except Dana (who cares for him too, deep down).
• Beware the Silly Ones: Cody is such a friendly, goofy guy, but he also knows kickboxing... very well.
• Big Brother Mentor: To J.T. and, sometimes, Mark. Also qualifies as an Eccentric Mentor
• Breakout Character: Definitely. In the same way Steve Urkel was for Family Matters.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Despite being an eccentric weirdo, he's usually competent at whatever he does.
• The Bus Came Back: In one episode of season 7.
• Catchphrase: "Dude!"
• Chick Magnet: Very popular with girls, although he has a crush on Dana who isn't interested in him at all.
• Cloudcuckoolander: The king of this trope. He is highly eccentric and lives in a van.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Thanks to his kickboxing skills.
• Did Not Get the Girl: He never gets together with Dana, and the fact that she is his step-cousin doesn't help. He eventually starts treating her like a sister.
• Dogged Nice Guy: in early episodes he's nice to Dana because he has a crush on her.
• Drop-In Character: Technically, he lives at the same address, but he lives in his van.
• Dumbass Has a Point: He sometimes did have good advice, it becomes sort of a Running Gag.
• Erudite Stoner: He often shows maturity and intelligence behind his eccentric Cloudcuckoolander nature.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Sanguine
• Freudian Excuse:
  • A lot of Cody's firm belief in the importance of family can be traced back to his own parents always being off working when he was growing up.
  • His father, Richard, was something of a Control Freak. Cody doesn't begrudge him, but he's clearly at his happiest when he can live his life how he wants to. Frank points out that Cody would rather live in a van in the driveway than live at Richard's house.
• Fun Personified: He's an easygoing and goofy guy, despite his age.
• Genius Ditz: By many accounts he's dumb, but he also happened to outscore Dana on the SAT and often becomes the voice of reason in family crises.
• Hidden Depths: Among his many skills is kick-boxing, though he openly has no idea how he learned it in the first place.
• Hopeless Suitor: He hits on Dana in early seasons, but she constantly rejects him.
• Manchild: Cody is actually an adult but he doesn't really act like one.
• The Nicknamer: In general, but most notably toward stepcousins Dana ("Danaburger") and Karen ("Kare Bear"). Cody considers each of these as an Affectionate Nickname-but Dana openly thinks otherwise while Karen is seemingly neutral.
• Nice Guy: Very friendly and easygoing and often acts as a Big Brother Mentor to all the siblings.
• Papa Wolf:
  • On one episode Dana goes to one of the toughest bars in town against her stepfather's orders and gets in trouble. Whereupon Frank and Cody, come to rescue her jointly beat up every ruffian there in a Bar Brawl and take her home.
  • Cody may have gotten on Dana's last nerves in the episode where he had a premonition that she needed to be protected from a guy. After she basically tells him to get out of her life, he refuses to do so and saves her from a legitimate attacker.
  • In the episode where he takes Karen to a party at a frat house. Although Cody had earlier scoffed at Dana's suspicion that the frat brothers would try to take advantage of Karen, he is not pleased when Karen declines an offer of sex and is immediately taunted by all the boys for being a "virgin." The physically larger Cody confronts Karen's tormentor and indignantly demands: "What's wrong with being a virgin? I'm a virgin!"
• Parental Neglect: Growing up, his parents were always busy with work and thus missing the big moments in his life. He took to George (the local ice cream man) and Marge as surrogate parental figures and stayed in touch with them well-into adulthood.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: In season 2.
• Put on a Bus: He disappears late into Season 5, initially without explanation (actor Sasha Mitchell was accused of domestic abuse - though this turned out to be unfounded).
• The Runaway: Several episodes indicate that Cody ran away from home halfway through high school due to a combination of his father unfairly pressuring him to join his real estate company and being a self-admitted social outcast. Fortunately, the three years spent living on the road between then and the start of the series presumably saw Cody teach himself demolition, martial arts and enough social graces to gain his aforementioned Chick Magnet status. All in all, pretty good for someone of his eccentric nature and limited booksmarts.
• Sarcasm-Blind: Constantly, especially when talking to Dana.
• Simple-Minded Wisdom: For all his eccentricities, he often demonstrates a great deal of common sense and cautions the others on what they're doing. As the seasons go on, he's quick to point out that any ongoing antagonism between his cousins and stepcousins is needlessly petty.
• Stranger in a Familiar Land: Briefly touched on when The Bus Came Back, as he comments on Dana and Rich's relationship, Mark's growth spurt, and Lilly's Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome.
• Surfer Dude: He has a Valley teen accent and vocabulary (such Valley-isms as "dude" and "cheesed off").
• Totally Radical: Look at his Catchphrase.
• Unexpected Virgin: Freely admits in "Virgin Territory" that he is just that, which everyone is surprised by, due to his very healthy dating life and how most guys his age casually sleep around. Cody says he's saving himself for the right girl, though he admits it's not always easy to ignore temptation.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: He takes an executive position in "Great Expectations" at his father Richard's real estate company. He hates it since it's so different from the kind of work he likes and his general style, but he tries to stick it out because he thinks it would make the old man proud of him. Cody eventually cracks, though by that time, Richard has talked to Frank and already taken stock of the situation.

Other Characters

Other Characters

Penny and Ivy Baker

Portrayed by: Patrika Darbo and Peggy Rea

• Abhorrent Admirer: Penny to Frank, despite being married to her sister.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: They are just written out after season 1.
• Obnoxious In-Laws: To Frank.
• The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter: It's clear where Penny has inherited her weight and style from, yet Ivy also has Carol as a daughter.

Lilly Foster-Lambert

Portrayed by: Emily Mae Young

• Adorably Precocious Child: She's noted to be very smart for her age.
• Cousin Oliver: The introduction of baby Lilly in season 4.
• It Runs in the Family: She got into a fight with classmates that wouldn't let her play with them and, when told by Carol to think about her actions, muses she should've hit them even harder than she did. Carol is disturbed by this, but Al is quite amused and says she and her brothers got aggressive at that age, too.
  Al: God, I love that kid!
• Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome: Lilly aged from an infant to a walking, talking preschooler in between seasons. This was lampshaded in Season 7 when Cody returned, as he says she was a baby when he left.

Rich Halke

Portrayed by: Jason Marsden

• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Initially with Dana, but unlike most examples, it led to mutual Character Development and a solid relationship.
• Book Dumb: The reason why he needs to be tutored by Dana.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: "Making the Grade" shows he could've rivaled Dana at college, if he applied himself more often rather than goof off. He even got a better grade on the big test than she did. He makes more of an effort to apply himself going forward to keep her happy.
• Divergent Character Evolution: Was essentially "J.T. #2" until dating Dana, who encourages him to apply himself more to his studies. This not only sticks, but to the extent he realizes how much he's outgrown J.T. though remains friends with him.
• The Drag-Along: Being "J.T. #2" meant he didn't need much coaxing for a Zany Scheme, but the Character Development he got from his relationship with Dana turned him into this. On one occasion, J.T. and Rich hard up for money ahead of a ski trip vacation with their girlfriends and the only option for quick cash is auditioning to be male strippers. J.T. is all in and has to literally drag Rich down to the venue.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Phlegmatic
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With J.T. in later seasons. They (usually) get along because they are very similar.
• Hidden Depths: He's a decent pool player. He also proves to be quite gifted at making pottery.
• Mistaken for Cheating: On one occasion, he starts coming up with excuses for why he can't make time for Dana, and he's later seen dancing with another woman. When Dana finally confronts him, it turns out he was taking dance lessons so that he wouldn't embarrass her at an upcoming wedding reception.
• Official Couple: With Dana, starting in early season 6. They are still dating by the end of the show.
• Opposites Attract: With Dana. Dana is very smart and serious and Rich is not all that different from J.T.. They even mention the trope name when they discuss why they get together.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: In season 6.
• Remember the New Guy?: He never appears before season 5 (although Rich's actor played JT's friend "Doug" in one of the early episodes) but he and J.T. act like they have always been best friends.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: With Dana, in the episode where they hook up for the first time. It was actually insult-insult-kiss.
• The Slacker: Initially, but grows out of due to Dana's influence.
• That Came Out Wrong: Has a tendency to fall into this, such as when Frank questioned why he was holding a pair of Dana's panties. She had simply dropped them while doing laundry, and he was returning them to her, but his brief attempt to explain himself makes it sound like they had sex. His attempts to clarify led to digging himself even deeper, to the point where he just opted to let Frank return the panties and walked away as quickly as possible.

Samantha "Sam" Milano

Portrayed by: Alexandra Adi

• Always Someone Better: There's one episode where she seems to always beat her boyfriend JT at everything. Surprisingly, JT's issue with it isn't that he wants to feel superior over her, it is that he feels like he doesn't deserve her, which she points out couldn't be further from the truth.
• Beta Couple: With J.T.
• Cute Bruiser: A pretty girl, but also very strong and tough.
• Deadpan Snarker: She can be this in response to JT's antics.
• The Lad-ette: She's interested in sports and is great at every manly thing.
• Tomboy: A new tomboyish female character introduced after Al's Girliness Upgrade.
• Tomboyish Name: She's first mentioned by JT who heard about a guy named "Sam", the best mechanic in town...
• Wrench Wench: She works as a mechanic in a garage.

Jean-Luc Rieupeyroux

Portrayed by: Bronson Pinchot

• And Starring: "And Bronson Pinchot as Jean-Luc".
• Camp Straight: A flamboyant male hairdresser with an exaggerated french accent but he is portrayed as a womanizer who comes on to at least one woman in every episode he appears in.
• Contrasting Replacement Character: To Cody. They're both very quirky and have a knack for demonstrating useful skills and imparting lessons, but Jean-Luc is Carol's business partner rather than a relation in the extended family. He also lacks many of the common interests and sensibilities that Cody shared with Frank, making their interactions more strained.
• Expy: The character is basically a combination of Pinchot's two most well known characters: Serge from Beverly Hills Cop and Balki from Perfect Strangers.
• Funny Foreigner: A French eccentric guy.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Spends a lot of time playing games with Lilly.
• Shoo Out the New Guy: He was brought in to take the place of Cody's character on the series. He disappears after the end of season 6, and doesn't show up in the final season.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Cody.
• That Came Out Wrong: His catchphrase (along with his daughter) anytime he says something that could be taken the wrong way.