Trivia / Step by Step

• Career Resurrection: The series was this for Suzanne Somers after spending most of The '80s in a career slump following her being fired from Three's Company in a salary dispute.
• Channel Hop: Along with Family Matters, the show moved from ABC to CBS in 1997, to anchor a new TGIF-type programming block called "CBS Block Party." Both sitcoms lasted only a year on their new network.
• Contractual Obligation Project: When Patrick Duffy returned to Dallas in 1986, he stipulated in his contract that once the series ended, series producer Lorimar would be obligated to cast him in another show. Dallas ended in 1991, and Lorimar fulfilled the contract by casting Duffy on this show.
• Creator Backlash: Brady creator Sherwood Schwartz was so incensed when he learned about the show that he considered suing the producers. Fortunately, his legal team decided that any such suit would have been unsustainable in court.
  • Brady matriarch Florence Henderson also had some choice words to say about it, particularly regarding Somers' explanation of the two series' differences.
• Directed by Cast Member: Patrick Duffy directed 49 episodes.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: Up until 2018, the only DVD release of the series was a six-episode set in 2006. The last time it aired in America was years ago on The Hub (now Discovery Family), though Hulu acquired streaming rights for the show. In June 2018, the Warner Archive Collection released season One on DVD, and is expected to release the remaining six in the future.
• The Other Marty: Mark Foster was played by Jarrett Lennon (rather than Christopher Castile) in the unaired pilot; he remained in parts of the original intro used in season 1 and afterwards.
  • Funnily enough, history repeated itself (though in reverse) half a decade later when Lennon replaced Castile as the voice of Eugene halfway through the first season of Hey Arnold!.
• Out of Order:
  • The season 6 premiere was aired as the last episode of that season, leading to inadvertent Chuck Cunningham Syndrome and Remember the New Guy? situations, as Cody's absence and Jean-Luc's presence went unexplained for the entire year.
  • "The "L" Word" features an appearance by Sam at the house during the end credits scene. The very next episode to premiere is "She's the One" (her actual introduction).
  • The second-to-last aired episode of season 6, "The Kissing Game", features J.T. dating a different girl named Gessica.^note That's not a typo, her name is actually spelled this way in the credits. It's clearly supposed to take place somewhere between "Crazy Love" (the aired season premiere) and the aforementioned "She's the One" (as Dana and Rich are already dating by this episode). Watching in broadcast order makes it look like J.T. spent an entire episode cheating on Sam without her ever even finding out about the supposed affair. Not that he or anyone else escaped being caught for their other misdeeds in that episode.
• Role-Ending Misdemeanor: Sasha Mitchell was accused of domestic violence by his wife and the network forced the show to write Cody out, bringing in Frank's hyperactive employee Flash as a replacement character for the remainder of the season, and then Jean-Luc for the next season. Mitchell was able to resolve his legal troubles and Cody came back for an episode in the last season.
• What Could Have Been: According to Tony Goldmark in his commentary on his review of Some Jerk with a Camera that talks about the Disney World two parter, the crew of the show asked both him and his grandmother if they wanted to be extras during the Flash running scene. But they rejected it as that would've required waiting for two hours, and they had other plans at the time. Goldmark somewhat regretted it as he would've pointed out in the review.