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Generation In-Between: A Xennial Podcast
Xennial co-hosts Dani and Katie talk about their analog childhoods, digital adulthoods and everything in between. If you love 1980's and 1990's pop culture content, this is the podcast for you!
Generation In-Between: A Xennial Podcast
TGIF Series: Step By Step, Revisited
Did you ever watch The Brady Bunch and think, "Gee, I wish there was a 90's reboot!"?
Are you team JT or team Dana?
If you love sitcom theme songs that happen at unidentified theme parks, then you'll love this installment of our TGIF Series all about the fully-90's show Step By Step.
Join us as we delve into this sitcom that was fully a product of its time, between the stars, the storylines and the general Miller-Boyettness of it all.
Don't miss any of our TGIF Series episodes!
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Do you think the second time around is one of the best TV theme song bangers of our lifetime?
SPEAKER_01:Do you remember wondering how all them kids could possibly live under the same roof with a cousin living in the driveway?
SPEAKER_03:If you stuck around for the second hour of the popular TGIF block to see the shenanigans of Stacey Keenan, Sasha Mitchell, and Suzanne Summers, you might be a Xennial who watched step by step, and at least this week, so are we.
SPEAKER_01:Hi, I'm Katie. And I'm Danny, and you are listening to Generation in Between, a Xennial podcast. Hello Pod hat.
SPEAKER_02:It's a podcast.
SPEAKER_01:Podcast where we remember, revisit, and sometimes relearn all kinds of things about being 80s kids and 90s teens. And today we're gonna continue our rewatch series on the popular Friday Night Network block on ABC T G I F.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, we're talking about step by step, which is another Miller Boyette production that saw a long run. This one's a little different from the ones we've done so far: Full House, Perfect Strangers, and Family Matters. This one started in the 90s and ended in the 90s. 91. So it was like a later ad. It's interesting because, and you probably noticed it when we rewatched, it really does pull from the formulaic of those three shows specifically. Like the oddball like neighbor character that comes in, and then like the multi-generational thing and the teens versus parents, and I don't know, and the moral lesson at the end, and yeah, stuff like that. And living in a big house, although full house was San Francisco, but like basically in suburbia somewhere, that kind of feel. Yeah. But anyway, um, although I guess Larry and Balkie lived in an apartment for part of their run. They sure did. But then they lived in a house in Suburbia. But then they did. Well, speaking of perfect strangers, we had a little bit of a text conversation the day that it came out. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Do you want to talk about that with listeners for a few?
SPEAKER_01:So the day it came out was Monday. Uh, whatever day, what date was that?
SPEAKER_03:We should probably um 29, 28, 27, 26th. 26th. January 26.
SPEAKER_01:January 26th, Monday. We record a week before episodes are released. When uh, as y'all know, there was a lot of things that happened over the weekend um prior to our episode releasing in Minnesota, as well as lots of things continuing to happen in our country. Um, with I won't go into specific details. Y'all already know what I'm talking about, with um ice agents, et cetera, and awful things continuing to happen and dehumanization of people. And um, we're not gonna get into weeds with that because this podcast is supposed to be a break and an entertainment. But what I texted Katie, I was said, oh my gosh, like, are we being totally tone deaf releasing this episode on Perfect Strangers, which is a TV show about an immigrant living in our country on like at this time, is this like so not okay? And so we texted about it back and forth, and we were like, let's just leave it. And a friend of ours actually said to us later that day, because we saw each other, she said, Well, y'all's podcast is is supposed to be like entertainment, and like that show was of its time, and so we left it, but we did want to take a second, and it would be we just felt like it would be really what's the right word, insensitive of us not to address that head on in this episode to say that we um we do not take anything that's happening in our country lightly, and we're not ignoring it. Trust us that we are doing um speaking up and advocating for things in our in our lives personally, but we want this podcast to continue to be a break from the heaviness, um, even though things will come up that we talk about. But um, this is an entertainment podcast, and that does not by any means mean we are ignoring anything very real and very relevant about that is happening in our country.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that's exactly it. You said it exactly right. And no one reached out to say as much, but we wanted to just get ahead of that so you know it was a thought on our mind. And and we did record it not before like all the unrest started, but before some some major events happened.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_03:Uh, but we wanted to to release it. So if nothing else, maybe you have a comparison point to how how maybe as a culture we were looking at immigration then. That's not why we did it, but that is a way you could take that episode, or you're just like, oh yeah, I remember Balkie, he was funny. Oh yeah, dance of joy, and you can just take a break from everything. Yeah, yeah. So we just wanted to address that here. And if you have any other concerns about it or want to talk to us about it, you can definitely reach out to us on social or on our email, and we'll be happy to have a conversation. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And you know that our podcast believes that human rights are A plus number one important, and we will always stand on the side of treating other humans um justly and fairly, and we do not support. Well, I can't think of the right way to say this. Um no, I mean, I will be direct and say myself, we do not support any mistreatment of humanity ever. So this country, unfortunately, since the beginning of it, has dehumanized and mistreated humans for of all kinds of people groups since we were originated. So this is not new, right? And it's still remains to be awful. And unfortunately, we're in 2026. Um, so keep on speaking up, everyone. Um, the time is always right to do the right thing. Remember that. Protect your fellow humans.
SPEAKER_03:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01:All right.
SPEAKER_03:All right. Well, today, uh show not about immigration at all.
SPEAKER_01:No, so here we go. We're gonna switch gears now completely back to our um mindless consider this a hard break.
SPEAKER_03:A hard break. Um with no good segue. There's there isn't. So we are gonna talk about step-by-step before we get started. Did you watch the show when it originally aired?
SPEAKER_01:I did, I guess, because I remember some of it, but then like I we'll get into it more because we rewatched some episodes. I really don't like this show. I don't either. I we're gonna agree on that, yeah. I was like, I remember watching it back in the day. Um, mostly because I remember Dana from my two dads, Stacey Keenan. That's what pulled me into that show. But like, I don't know how long I watched it for or whatever, because I was like, I don't I do not like this. Nobody is likable on that show to me.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. No, I didn't enjoy it either on the rewatch, and it really did feel like pulling, especially because we're freshly re-watching and re-looking into some of these shows of the time, the sitcoms that were popular. It did really feel like just pulling from all different places. I know a little further back, the Brady Bunch, and like it didn't feel even though it was its own show, it didn't feel super original. The characters didn't feel original to me. Yeah, it felt like they were pulled from other places. Um, and uh most of the kid actors I thought did a pretty good job. I I didn't really enjoy Suzanne Summers acting or Patrick Duffy's acting. I didn't think their chemistry, I don't know. I just I didn't enjoy re-watching these as much. And we'll get into that. We'll get into that later. But yeah, for now, let's hear some of the things. Okay, so in case you aren't aware, or even if you I would say, or even if you are, I'm gonna tell you. Even if you are, let's have a refresh. Step by step is an American television sitcom created by William Bickley and Michael Warren for ABC's TGIF Friday Night Lineup. It's set in Port Washington, Wisconsin. So another Midwest show. And follows single parents, Frank Lambert and Carol Foster, played by Patrick Duffy and Suzanne Summers. They each have three children and they get married and form a blended family in spite of their children's mutual resentment. Dun dun dun. Whoa.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, somebody's phone is going crazy. Make sure it's nothing wrong. I think it's my let me go. I got yourself off, but it's not me. And watch a piece on Dum Grip text. Yes, it is.
SPEAKER_03:There you go. You turn that off, girl.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I was worried because I'm like, oh god, last time I ignored something like that, there was something wrong. Yeah, there was.
SPEAKER_03:No, you gotta check it out. Everything's fine, guys. So it aired from September 20th, 1991 to August 15th, 1997, and then had its final season on CBS's blockboard 97 to 1998. And over the span of that time, there won 160 half-hour episodes over seven seasons.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, too many.
SPEAKER_03:So many. So we're gonna talk about the cast a little more in depth. But the co-stars on the show Stacey Keenan, Angela Watson, Christopher Castile as Carol's children, Dana Karen, and Mark, Brandon Call, Christine Lakin, and Josh Byrne as Frank's children, JT Al and Brendan, and then Sasha Mitchell as Frank's nephew Cody. And I liked him the best out of everybody. I loved him. He has an interesting question mark problematic part. We'll have to talk about it. Oh, okay. I'm not sure. Okay. We'll see what you think. Okay. And you two listeners. And then they had um a girl they added at the end because every sitcom of the day had to have a baby eventually. Um, who was a who was a baby in season five. She was born at the end of season five. Uh-huh. Is that right? And a baby in season, no, end of season four, baby in season five, came back as like an eight-year-old in season six and seven. They just hired like an old one. She was not eight. They said she was supposed to be ten. I was like, no. Wait. She was like four years old. No, because she was going back and forth to school. I know, but she was there's no way there's a huge age gap. I know not much. That that child was like I thought she was like in kindergarten five.
SPEAKER_01:Kindergarten.
SPEAKER_03:Which is still a jump, but I would have said like five and kid was not eight years old. Because I was even like, unless the actress was ten.
SPEAKER_01:No way. You don't think because I was like, no way is that little bitty kid old enough to be going to school? Yeah. She look no. I don't know.
SPEAKER_03:I don't know. But she was at it at the end. Um, the series is often described as a copy of the Brady Bunch because of its similar premise. Well, I mean, yeah. Yes.
SPEAKER_01:They didn't mean on vacation and get married on vacation.
SPEAKER_03:Right. And like blended families happen.
SPEAKER_01:I just yeah. We'll talk about that in a second.
SPEAKER_03:I'm trying to jump ahead. Um so I just I already told you the premise, but they, as you just mentioned, I didn't say that in their the first episode, which we watched, which we'll talk about, is Frank and Carol coming back from separate trips to Jamaica, and you learn quickly that they got married while they were there, and they're trying to figure out how to tell their kids in their family.
SPEAKER_01:That is so fucking crazy. And I'm sorry, you are an irresponsible parent. You got three first of all, Frank then left three kids alone up in his apartment for a week while he's traveling around in Jamaica, and they were not old enough to be alone.
SPEAKER_03:No, none of them were even like older teenage.
SPEAKER_01:I was like, I mean, I know it's the 90s.
SPEAKER_03:It's the 90s.
SPEAKER_01:Listen.
SPEAKER_03:A week. Yeah. And then at least in Carol's case, well, they had her mom and her sister are there.
SPEAKER_01:We're there and like checking in or whatever. But like I was like, okay, whatever. Like me and meanwhile, you did that. Then while you're there, you get married. Don't even tell nobody when you come back. And then you'd be like, oh, we're all moving in together. You are so irresponsible, sir, and ma'am. Yeah. That was a lot. Also, that is crazy. Especially like, I feel bad for well, you and Brant could probably relate to this. When you have relationships and you already have children from a previous relationship, you gotta like, it takes a while to kind of get like introduce the new person and yeah, get that dynamic happening.
SPEAKER_03:You can't just throw it in there. I mean, just from a safety perspective, that's what I mean. Like having a grown man and teen, at least one teen boy moving into your house. Right. That you don't know. I don't know. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Well, also, also, did you notice how they I think they must have like threw this in there later in the plot line? All right, we're already talking about the first episode, but it's the it's the basis of the whole show, so it's fine. Did you notice how they were like, oh, well, I've already been cutting your hair for three months. Who knew we were gonna be in Jamaica? So they were trying to be like, oh, well, they already kind of knew each other.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, did you notice that?
SPEAKER_01:I did notice that, but it wasn't until like later in the episode, like it wasn't right away, right? So I'm like, they must have thrown that in there to be like, okay, they weren't complete strangers, right?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, because the mom and the aunt knew him right when he came in to the salon, right? Yeah, but still guys, still guys, and the mom and the aunt were gone after the first season, right? What? Yeah, they they just didn't renew their contracts. Bad writing, bad writing. And I thought because what's funny is when I watched that first episode and I watched the intro music, I was like, oh, I forgot about those two. I know I forgot about them. And then I was like, oh, that's why. Because I They were barely in it. They said bye. They were barely there. Um, all right. So the theme song is called Second Time Around. It was written and composed by Jesse Frederick and Bennett Salvay, who are the same duo behind other memorable TGIF themed songs like the Full House theme and Family Matters.
SPEAKER_01:Well, see, now we're figuring out this mystery because we talked about that on The Perfect Strangers.
SPEAKER_03:Yep.
SPEAKER_01:The the theme song six. Of course, I remember this one too.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, it does. And the vocals are actually performed by Jesse Frederick and Teresa James. She didn't help write it, but Jesse Frederick wrote it. So that like raspy, yeah, that raspy voice is him. I'm pretty sure he sings the Family Matters one too. They sound those voices sound very familiar. And Full House, maybe. And maybe Full House too. It's a similar voice. Have to look. Interesting. But they wrote some good earworms.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, also that intro. Why are they at Amusement Park? I don't know. I always liked that intro, though. I mean, okay, it's cute.
SPEAKER_03:I don't know. I was like, that's weird, but I think they're at Six Flags because there's a Six Flags Great America, like at the Illinois border near Wisconsin. And they're from Wisconsin, that I I would go to as a kid and a teen, and I think that's the park they're at for that recording. I was wondering.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. All right. So let's talk about the cast then, and this will reveal some things as we go. All right. So Patrick Duffy. Yep. Dallas. Yep. He was born in 1949 in Montana. And he is widely known for his role as Bobby Ewing on Dallas. He actually reprised that role on the continuation of Dallas, which ran on TNT from 2012 to 2014, which I vaguely remember. I do not. And then not too long, he was on Dallas till 91. Step by step came out right after that. 91 to 98. Um, and then he was also on the bold and the beautiful 2006 to 2011, and then he came back in uh 2022 for some episodes. On on the soap? The bold and the beautiful, the soap opera. Yeah. Hey, keep it up, actually. So he actually has a degree in drama. He got it from the University of Washington. He ruptured both of his vocal cords.
SPEAKER_01:Oh my god, I'm so sorry, I've been there during his senior year of college.
SPEAKER_03:How? I don't know. I assume singing, but maybe it was acting. Yeah. I don't know. Screaming. So then he ended up working as like a sign language interpreter for ballet, opera, and orchestra companies in Washington for a while. That's cool. Yeah. So he did that for a while. And he also, I don't mean to laugh, but he taught mime and movement classes during this period.
SPEAKER_01:Well, you know, listen, as somebody who had vocal cord surgery, you can't talk. You know who else I was talking to? I talked to Mel about this because she also had she didn't have surgery, but she had to go on vocal rest for like almost a year when she worked at Disney. Wow. And she worked like the rides and stuff, and they wouldn't give her time off. So she had to wear like a wipey board. Because this was before we had iPads and all the things. She said she had to wear it around her neck. But so you can't speak at all because your vocal cords, like any kind of it's like the if you don't know the science pine vocal cords, Katie obviously does because she's a voice teacher. They're muscles, and when they when they move together, if you strain your vocal cords, it's like it's like getting bruises. Like when you're horse, it's like you have bruises. Well, if you keep on when they're already bruised, you will they will harden. And this is like elementary explanation. This is nothing science, FYI. And sometimes they they make these nodules, and in his case, that was probably like something he probably already had that, and then he had something else to make it push, push. And then I don't know, did he have surgery or you don't know?
SPEAKER_03:No, he just healed from it.
SPEAKER_01:So the way the only way to heal vocal, any kind of vocal thing is complete vocal rest. Even whispering is worse for your voice. You can breath talk, but they don't even want there's no way to heal it without complete rest. Depending on how severe it is, depends on how long you have to do it. So I had vocal rest one time for like eight weeks. Yeah. Okay. This after my surgery, it was four months. And I mean, you can't make a sound. So something like that for him was probably close to a year or longer. Probably. And you can't make a sound. And like the the thing is, if you keep on when you already have nodules or something and you keep talking and you don't have complete vocal rest, you're eventually gonna make them worse and you're gonna mess your voice up forever. And um, so you have to be serious about it. So I can see like he wants to keep acting, right? He wants to keep performing. What a great combination to still be on vocal rest and mime and do sign language, and you're also helping other people when you're doing sign language. So, like, good friend.
SPEAKER_03:It's pretty smart as well. I think that's very smart. I think it's really smart. And also, miming is harder than you think. Oh, I the only reason I said I don't mean to laugh, it's just because like I knew he couldn't talk. Right. So it was like smart to like be a mime. Yeah, no, miming that seems super hard because I feel like I rely on my words so much for acting and things like that. I do think it's tough.
SPEAKER_01:I do think it's a I I don't remember where I did it was like a workshop or like something. I don't or a class. I don't remember where I took like a miming thing, but I think it's really good for actors because then you you really have to learn how your body has to act just as much as your mouth. Right. So like not just your face, but like how you get messed, especially if you want to do any kind of comedic acting, because you have to physical comedy is what I'm saying. Yeah. But um, I do think it's good for actors to have mime classes, and it's like it's it's an art. Like you have to be trained in how to mime. It's like clowning, right?
SPEAKER_03:I mean, yeah, yeah. There's an actual way to do it, right? To to do it successfully.
SPEAKER_01:Like people always be silly and be like doing the whole like it's it's a lot more than that. Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_03:Well, I think he was really resourceful figuring all these things out, and then once he was healed, he actually appeared in a Taco Bell commercial from the 70s. He was an employee describing an intorrito. Oh man, I know. We need to go to Taco Bell one day. We do. How about today?
SPEAKER_01:Okay, right now. We'll be right back. Um you got a busy day. I don't know if Taco Bell is what you need to have when you have a busy day. That's true.
SPEAKER_03:Maybe the end of my day when I can go home. So he landed a TV role in 1977 on the short-lived television series Man from Atlantis. Never heard of it, never heard of that, but he had to swim in it. And this is important because his sister was like a champion Olympic level swimmer. Whoa. And so she like helped train him, and that helped him get that part. Wow. Look, I did not know he had all these talents. Yeah, this is crazy, right? This is all before God.
SPEAKER_01:If anybody ever said I had to swim good for a roll, I'm out. I I am the listen, I am the worst swimmer. I am so bad. I tried to be on swim team one time when I was a kid. Girl, what was I doing? I don't know. It was so bad.
SPEAKER_03:I feel like you can't be bad at swimming, though. Oh, yes. As long as you know the strokes.
SPEAKER_01:Girl, no, yeah, I promise.
SPEAKER_03:Keep going.
SPEAKER_01:No, and I listen, I am a petite person and I feel like it's hard, it's hard because you have to go like think about like the way my body's built compared to like Michael Phelps. Okay, he's got them long arms. Do you know how hard you have to work to be as fast as somebody with long limbs? Yeah, but you don't have to be fast to be a good swimmer.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, you do.
SPEAKER_03:Oh. You do. It's all timed. I know, but I mean, like on a swim team, yeah. But you could swim now to I mean, I can swim to survive.
SPEAKER_01:But I'm not Well, let's hope it doesn't come to that. I am not, I can tread water for a really long time. I'm good at that. Me too. But like you tell me to do laughs, like seriously, my kids even laugh at me in the pool, like, oh my god, mom. What is that? I going side to side. I I'm telling y'all, my athletic ability.
SPEAKER_03:I'm gonna just take your word on it. I'm gonna believe you. All right. So that show was only on for one season, but right after that got canceled, he got the big break on Dallas. And of course, the world the show became a worldwide success. He actually left the show in 85. I don't know if you remember this. I mean, we were young, but if just like over talking about it, his character was killed off. Yeah. But he I guess he left because he thought maybe there could be other career paths for him, but nothing really panned out. So he actually returned to the show a year later in that famous shower scene that rendered the entire season before just a dream. Yeah. Yeah. So that's how they brought him back.
SPEAKER_01:That's like in the pop cultures, I guess.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. It's kind of like, okay, what? Yeah. I remember that, and everybody was shocked.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, because they well, they were shocked when he was killed, and then all of a sudden he was back, and it was like, just kidding, none of that happened.
SPEAKER_01:What? Now that to be his creative writing. That's pretty creative. And it was on for like five more seasons after that. Right. Because then they had the Who Shot Jr nonsense. Or was that the same season? That was the same season. Yeah, that was the same season.
SPEAKER_03:So that was actually on until 1991. And then he appeared in a couple knots landing episodes. And then he started directly filming uh step by step. Wow, what a career. Um, no, that's not right. That's 10 years earlier. Look, I didn't even notice. No, no, that's right, because it ended in 91. Sorry. Yeah. So look at me. I'm just like, whatever, whatever, Matt. No, no, that's true. That's true. Whatever, Matt. Um, so also, on top of everything else that he does, he also is a singer. And he had a even after all his vocal stuff in 1983, he had a hit in Europe with the song Together We're Strong, a duet with a French female singer named Morel Matteo. And the singer reached number five in the Netherlands in 1983. Okay, Patrick Duffy. So this is a man of many talents.
SPEAKER_01:I I do love a good comeback story after like some crazy stuff. Like he couldn't probably talk for a really long time now. Then he was singing in Europe. Then he was singing in Europe.
SPEAKER_03:Look at that. Charting in Europe. So remember how I told you there's gonna be some like kind of interesting things coming up in the this is number one. All right, Patrick Duffy. On November 18th, 1986, both of his parents were murdered. Whoa, that's at a tavern. I knew you were going to Vermont. I can't not tell you this. I can't be like, he's a mime, and then not tell you what happened to his parents. You're right. Um, and he was in a tavern killed by two young men who were during an armed robbery. Oh my god, that's so. So they were just like patrons. Uh, they did catch them, Kenneth Miller and Sean Wentz, and they were teenagers at the time. That poor parents. I know. And they were sentenced to 75 years in prison, but um Miller was granted parole in 2007, and Wentz was granted parole in 2015. So they're both out of parole. Because they were so young, probably. Yeah, because you figure that was in '86. So they were in prison a pretty long time, but they're out now. That's it. That's so tragic. It's awful. And like that would have been like right in the middle of his like starting Dallas stardom and everything. Crazy. Imagine getting oh, don't imagine. Oh, I don't like that. We're moving on. We're moving on. We're gonna move on to Suzanne Summers. Um, oh, and by the way, Patrick Dovey still alive and out there. He does occasional guest star roles and things like that. Um, but you know, getting up there in age, pretty much retired from acting.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:All right, Suzanne Summers was born in 1946 in San Bruno, California. She did pass away in October of 2023 at the age of 76. I forgot she passed away. I did too. I totally forgot. She's passed away, yep, from breast cancer complications. And she's most known for her roles of Chrissy Snow on Three's Company and Carol Foster Lambert on Step by Step. She also wrote more than 25 books, including two autobiographies, four diet books. Oh, I know. And a book of poetry. Oh. Yeah, which comes into play. She got range. Which comes into play. Okay. Here in a minute. She was also well known for advertising the Thighmaster. Oh, yeah, I've had one. Her mother, Marian Elizabeth, was medical secretary, and her father, Francis Mahoney, loaded cases of beer onto boxcars and was also a gardener.
SPEAKER_02:That was him. That was his job. He was like a beer, like shock or something, like for a distributor or something.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, for a distributor. I guess that's a good one. I just like how you worded that. I was like, I just think that's kind of cool. Although he ends up not being cool, so we can't like him. Don't like him. I well, I okay. Stop.
SPEAKER_02:Stop right there. Say it how you worded that was really funny.
SPEAKER_03:According to um interviews she's done in her autobiography, Suzanne Summers said her father was an alcoholic and was abusive.
SPEAKER_01:Oh.
SPEAKER_03:As a kid, there were a few times she thought he was gonna kill her. Oh my god. Yeah. So really bad. She attended Mercy High School in Burlingame, California. She had trouble with schoolwork because of dyslexia. Also, her father's all-night rages. She would often fall asleep at class. She was expelled at the age of 14 for writing sexually suggestive notes to a boy that she never sent. What do you think about that? They expelled her? I guess so. I don't know how sexually explicit they were. Oh my god.
SPEAKER_01:Well, y'all remember my whole life. I was like, I wonder what she thinks. I think that's ridiculous. I think it was a Catholic school. So that's probably part of it. I mean, how did they find them? I don't know. It was just her own stuff. Yeah. I mean, see, like, what does that mean? Like, sexually explicit. And also, were they threatening? Like, what were they like? Was it like her writing a romance novel, including like school in it? I think I would like to, I would like to know about that. Cause I think that's kind of excessive.
SPEAKER_03:I'm sure she wrote more about it in her autobiography. But also, if you're 14 and you're doing that, we know from our lens now that she was abused.
SPEAKER_01:You wonder, like well, but even but also just biology. When you're 14, your hormones are wonky. True.
SPEAKER_03:I mean how you feel. And and it says they were never sent. So I'm like, so it's like her personal writings? Right. What? I'm confused.
SPEAKER_01:Like that did happen. Like a like a teacher found them or something. But that's what I'm saying. Like, even if it wasn't like I if there was like threatening things to somebody else, or like sexual assault overtones, then maybe you need to look into that. But expelling her. If it's just like women shouldn't be writing about that stuff, you're expelled. Yeah, yeah. That now that's ridiculous.
SPEAKER_03:But but I don't know which it is.
SPEAKER_01:To be honest, in the time it was, it probably was full of oh my god, girls aren't supposed to think like this. Right.
SPEAKER_03:You need to be punished.
SPEAKER_01:Something wrong with you. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:We don't want you here. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Especially if it was a Catholic school.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. So she ended up going to the public high school Capuccino High School in San Bruno. And she actually won the Best Doll Award for her role in the senior musical Guys and Dolls. Cute. She helped organize her seniors, her class is senior ball. In her autobiography, she says at age 17, her father ripped off her prom dress, told her she was nothing, and she responded by hitting him in the head with a tennis racket.
SPEAKER_01:Don't blame her.
SPEAKER_03:Nope. Girl, get you out of there as fast as you can. She ended up going to San Francisco College for Women, which was run by the Catholic Society of the Sacred Order. So I'm guessing she's Catholic. Yeah. She must be.
SPEAKER_01:I it doesn't say that in there, but like, can you go to a Catholic school if you're not Catholic, college-wise?
SPEAKER_03:Um, definitely now you can. I don't know about back then, because this was in around 1965. But she had to withdraw because she learned she was pregnant. Oh, at age 19. She married her child's father, Bruce Summers, and they were like on hard times, like didn't have a lot of money. She ended up getting arrested for check fraud and um her car was impounded.
SPEAKER_01:Damn.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. So hard times. So she started because she has somewhat of a performing and acting background, she started looking for ways to perform more. And this is also when she started writing poetry. So she appeared on a few local game shows, and because of her poetry question mark, she got asked to be on the tonight show with Johnny Carson. Oh, you think it's because of how she looks? Maybe. Maybe her problems aren't quite good.
SPEAKER_01:Listen, I don't know. Being what society considers attractive helps you.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And look, she's had some shit go down, so I'm happy for her to like any way to like elevate herself, you can't say I mean, as much as I hate that, it's true.
SPEAKER_01:What's I mean, society tells us what is supposed to be attractive and those people succeed. But sometimes people are smart. Like it sounds like she was pretty smart with it. And I was like, Well, I'm not just this, but if I have to use that to get to where I want you to listen to my poetry, I'm gonna use it. Yep.
SPEAKER_03:And it's a good thing she did that because she was noticed by ABC president Fred Silverman on that appearance, and they were desperately trying to find a Chrissy for Three's company.
SPEAKER_01:She was so funny on that show. So good. So funny.
SPEAKER_03:So good. They had already cast this is funny. So her name's Suzanne Summers, they had cast an actress named Suzanne Zanor and another one named Susan Lanier.
SPEAKER_01:That's hilarious.
SPEAKER_03:And they had recorded the pilot twice already.
SPEAKER_01:Oh.
SPEAKER_03:And neither one was like working out.
SPEAKER_01:Man, we were just talking about that on every episode how they record pilots. Like, I just think of those poor actresses. Like, I know these.
SPEAKER_03:Don't worry about it. And so he saw her on there and had her come in and screen read for the show, and she was hired. So, of course, her role there, right? She she was very funny, but they cast her kind of like as a little bit ditzy, a little bit flaky, um, a little bit of like a quote unquote dumb blonde kind of thing. That was like her always her joke. Uh, she made$3,500 per episode, which was the same as Joyce DeWitt. But how much did John Ritter make?$150,000 an episode. Bullshit. Is that not insane? Patriarchy bullshit. And it was an instant hit because of John Ritter, but because of those ladies too.
SPEAKER_01:But like, yes, but there was, and I mean, hello, Mr. and Mrs. Roper. They were also hilarious. So good. Like, okay, John Ritter's funny, but like everyone else was too.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and like you proved you you had to have the right Chrissy. You went through two that weren't. Right. So she must be helping the show. Fucking crazy. It wasn't until its fifth season that Summers demanded an increase to$150,000 an episode, equal to what Ritter was making. Yeah. And comparable to the salaries of other male sitcom stars at the time. And her and DeWitt were paid the same. She got$5,000 more an episode and got fired. Like that's when she left the show. Wow. I remember there was some kind of drama with that.
SPEAKER_01:I can't remember what.
SPEAKER_03:Ugh. And she ended up suing them, but like the court she got a little more, but the courts kind of sided. And then it it made her the way that the media portrayed her look like she's difficult to work with. Right. And studios don't want to hire her.
SPEAKER_01:That happens to women all the time. I know. It happens to women athletes.
SPEAKER_03:And I don't think she's wrong. She's not wrong. It's the exact same show. Correct. That you're making all this advertising money on, all these things. Especially after five seasons.
SPEAKER_01:Right. That's nuts. I mean, it happens like it happens to women athletes too. Yep. Where they're like, we deserve to be paid as much, or even most of the time, it's not even as much, just more than we get paid as male athletes do. And they're like, meh. Right. Yeah. They, I mean the people in charge.
SPEAKER_03:The people in charge. Not not everybody in society.
SPEAKER_01:But that's bullshit.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. So that's infuriating. That's infuriating. Also infuriating. Uh, so in the 70s, before she was famous, she took some nude pictures with a photographer who took them, signed rights for whatever he was gonna use them for, he never used them. He sold them to Playboy in 1980. They published them without her consent. Well, but she gave the if she signed away her rights, then that's on her. She tried to sue them unsuccessfully. But by then she had like at least one kid, maybe two by then, and small kids. So she was upset about it. I know.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, I mean valid, but also if you signed, you took pictures and said these are now yours.
SPEAKER_03:And that's it. And that's happened to other. I'm trying to think of who else that happened to. There's another straw, it'll come to me probably during this recording. But then the Playboy came back to her in 1984 and asked to pose for a new one. Did she? She did. All right. Got paid for it. So then she was diagnosed with breast cancer the first time in 2000. She did undergo a lumbectomy, but she refused chemotherapy. And things start to go a little haywire here because she was a loud proponent of alternative cancer treatments. Yeah. So much so that she was denounced by the American Cancer Society. Wow. They had to come out and be like, don't listen to her.
SPEAKER_01:Wow.
SPEAKER_03:Um, she also was anti-fluoride.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:She called it a toxic byproduct of aluminum. In 2013, she suggested that Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook shooter, may have been driven to commit it because of the level of toxins in his diet and exposure to household cleaners. Wow. So that's just a lot of misinformation and dangerous rhetoric right there.
SPEAKER_01:That is exactly what that is.
SPEAKER_03:So she like survived the first breast cancer and all of that, but she did end up dying from it in 2023. 2020 or 23 years later. It was one day before her 77th birthday. Um, and the breast cancer had returned one year earlier.
SPEAKER_01:Well, and I mean, that's not like we're not saying it came back because she didn't do chemotherapy. Because we don't know. We don't know cancer, the science of cancer is forever changing and to and fro, and everybody's bodies are different.
SPEAKER_03:And I think, and and I was talking to my husband about this this morning because I was chatting about it, and I said cancer treatment is so personalized. Like if you don't want to have chemotherapy or radiation, then don't. You should not have to. That's your right. You get to decide. But I think it's hard when you have like a very famous face saying the things that she was saying. It's the same with like vaccines and autism and the whole Jenny McCarthy thing. You know, it's just it's it's a lot based on not science.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and you're entitled. I mean, listen, if you're whoever you are, you're allowed to say your opinions. I mean, and if you believe that and you've done research, you know, you can find research for both sides of everything now, I feel like. So for sure.
SPEAKER_04:For sure.
SPEAKER_01:You know, you believe what you believe, and that's great. Um, the I think the problem arises when you try and make everybody else believe what you believe. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Like you can have your opinions and say, I believe that this is what I and I'm gonna do this and that. Great. But when you try and push it on everybody else, like saying, Well, you're the devil because you're getting chemotherapy for your stage three breast cancer, like that's not okay.
SPEAKER_03:That's not okay.
SPEAKER_01:And it's also not okay to flip it the other way and say, Well, you're a moron for not totally taking chemo.
SPEAKER_03:It's everyone's own like body autonomy and that's the thing, like to do.
SPEAKER_01:It's your body you get to choose.
SPEAKER_03:I don't, I mean, I don't know if I would do like chemotherapy or radio. It depends, but like I would. I've seen too much.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, I've had way too many people in my family have cancer, and I've seen them fight it different ways, and I would take the medicine. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely, because I mean I've seen it save people's lives. Yeah. I mean, my sister-in-law's one, she had breast cancer in her early 30s. Wow. And I mean, she's been in remission since I mean forever. Yeah, like going on almost 20 years in a couple years, so like that's in a few years. Saved her life. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's it literally saved her life. And uh, I don't I don't know. So me either.
SPEAKER_03:All right. Well, we're gonna move on from her to Stacy Keenan. Yay! Her real name is Anastasia Love Sigorski. Okay, she was born in 1975 in Los Angeles, and she's known professionally as Stacy Keenan. And as you mentioned before, step by step, she was Nicole Bradford on the NBC sitcom My Two Dads. She had the best room. Oh, I know. Oh, there her room was so cool, and their apartment was so cool. Oh good. I know. And that ran from 87 to 1990. But she actually started her acting career around age five in print radio and TV. She was on commercials for My Little Pony, Burger King, and Hershey's Kisses. I know she's so cute. She's so cute. Uh, she moved with her mother and sister to New York City around that time, and she was in 1987's mini-series, I'll I'll Take Manhattan, which I don't know any. Don't know what that is.
SPEAKER_01:I don't know.
SPEAKER_03:But it was in '87. Okay. Okay. Um, and then in 2013, she was actually admitted to the state bar of Can of Kansas. What? No, of California. And she currently practices law under her birth name. Get out of here. She's a lawyer now. Well, so she was really smart, just like Dana on the show. She actually was really smart. And the one episode we watched where she was running for student government president, I was like, oh, this is weird. Because she ends up being like a lawyer later. Not weird, but I was like, being a that's not a kind of. You're like, you're you're debating and being like a leader. I don't know. It's just it gave me lawyer vibes. How about that? It gave me lawyer vibes, but I guess she always did. And she basically retired from acting when step-by-step ended. You're gonna find that with a lot of these kids. And I don't know if it's just because they made so much money or what, because I couldn't find anything that was like bad about their time at the show, other than just like the pressures of being a child actor. But almost a good amount of them just were like when the show ended, they were like, well, I'm gonna do this thing now or that thing now. And they didn't return to acting. Not all of them, but some of them. And she was one. Well, it is like a weird time of your life. Yeah, yeah. And at that height of that 90s sitcom, too, they probably made good money.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Because child actors had enough protections at that point that they were probably making a decent amount that like you could just be like, Well, I'm gonna take my money and go do something else.
SPEAKER_01:Well, and also, I mean, we don't know if if they got pushed into that when they were kids. True. Yeah, like I think about Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen all the time because they left and I mean they were babies when they start like they didn't choose it at all.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_01:So who knows if those kids because how much how much can you really decide when you're like though those two of the youngest, they were little when they started the first season. You can't say, I mean, like, I wanted to do 80,000 jobs when I was five. Oh, me too. I wanted to be a dentist, a paleontologist. Nobody's gonna be like, here you go, do that.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_01:Like you can't, you can't dis you can't be like, I want to be an actor. Well, sure, great, but you're five.
SPEAKER_03:Right. Then what?
SPEAKER_01:So what if they changed their mind?
SPEAKER_03:Like that's their parents wanting them. Sounds like they did. Most of them just kind of changed their minds. Good. Uh, she does have a rewatch podcast for step by step with co-star Christine Lakin, who played Al, and it's called Keenan and Lakin Give You Deja Vu.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, that's hilarious.
SPEAKER_03:And I I actually want to listen to that. I found that kind of toward the end of my research, which was weird because one of the cast members I was researching, they're like, in an interview on this podcast, and I was like, What podcast is that? And I was like, Oh, okay. So then I looked into that a little bit, but they re-watch and talk about their memories from the show, and they have them on, and they have stars from other cute like 90s sitcoms and stuff on. A lot of a lot of older sitcoms do that.
SPEAKER_01:There's a Save by the Bell one, there's a Boy Meets World one, there's like there's a bunch of them.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Smart. Smart. I mean, we're here talking about the show. I know. So you might as well hear it from the people that did it. Bring us on as a guest, but also us. But we should hear it from us too.
SPEAKER_01:You don't want us on there because we didn't like the show, so it's fine. Sorry. Nowadays.
SPEAKER_03:We like you guys though. Stacy Keene. Of course. And Christine Lakin, yes. All right. So then we got we have Karen, who was the um secondborn of Carol, Angela Watson. She was born in 1975 in Illinois, and she hit the model and pageant circle as a kid. You can tell. And it's like kind of her character of the show, too. And this was really her first and only main role in anything. I was gonna say, I don't remember her from anything else. A little bit of controversy though, when the show ended, it was revealed that she had been manipulated by a production partner. So I don't know if that's like a parent or an agent who mismanaged her earnings from the show.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, that's unfortunate.
SPEAKER_03:So she founded cast Child Actors Supporting Themselves to help other young performers protect their finances. Good for her. Still in existence. She got married. She had her first and only child at age 48. What? Yep. 48. And he was born with a congenital heart defect, but had a bunch of surgeries and surgery. Survived and is like doing fine.
SPEAKER_01:Wow.
SPEAKER_03:I know. I can't imagine. That's like five years away from me.
SPEAKER_01:I can't imagine now, let alone that's three years for me. But like, listen, the funny thing that I just thought about was oh my god, if I had a baby at 48, that would be so crazy because Cooper, my youngest, turns 18 when I turn 50 the same year. So he'll graduate from high school when I turn 50.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, that's cute.
SPEAKER_01:So like Hello?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Like I'd be I'm like getting kids out the door at 50, not having I wonder though.
SPEAKER_03:I wonder though, because like if you've never had kids, I you've lived so much life. You you've gotten to live so much life. So much life. So it's just sort of reversed. Like in our brains, it's like, okay, we've done the child rearing, we've done the pregnancies, we've done all the things, we're gonna get them to adulthood, and then like we're still young enough and healthy enough to have a little bit of our freedom back and a little bit of life back. Have more money. Have more money. So she kind of probably just did it in reverse. Yeah. And I mean, listen, that's whatever. Do what you need to do. Oh, yeah. Like for me, no. But like for her, yeah, sure. Seems like they're doing fine.
SPEAKER_01:Oh my gosh. I would, I don't I know. Mm-mm. My body wouldn't be able to do it anymore.
SPEAKER_03:But you go, Angela Watson.
SPEAKER_01:You go get it, girl.
SPEAKER_03:So then we have Mark, Christopher. It is so itchy.
SPEAKER_01:I don't know what's going on.
SPEAKER_03:Really? It's it's well, the air is dry. I know.
SPEAKER_01:I think that's what it is. I keep messing with my head. Okay, sorry, go ahead.
SPEAKER_03:It's cold in Florida, you guys. Stupid. It's freezing, and so it's warm inside. We had to turn our heat on, so everything's dry.
SPEAKER_01:Well, and everybody everywhere else is just like it is not cold in Florida, people.
SPEAKER_03:Everyone's like skin and chapp lips freezing in a blanket for nine months. So Mark, uh, Carol's youngest son. He was born in 1980, and he's well known for yay! Oh, he's your age. Yeah. He's well known for his roles. He was also Ted Newton in The Beethoven and Beethoven's seconds. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then he was the voice of Zachary Sellers and Nick Mulligan on a Focus on the Family Adventures in Odyssey, which was a series. And then he was also the voice of Eugene Horowitz in Hey Arnold. Oh, hey Arnold. Yeah. So he did lots of fun stuff. He retired from acting when step-by-step ended, and he went on to earn a bachelor's and master's degree in political science from California State University. And he currently teaches political science at Biola University in La Merida, California. And he's a history teacher at a high school.
SPEAKER_01:You just said he he teaches out of college and a high school.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I mean, you can teach at a college part-time. Like you can teach political science. He does both? Sounds like it. Yeah. He teaches U.S. history. That's too many jobs. That's too many jobs. Now it doesn't say anything on here about him getting married and having kids, so maybe he just fills his time with teaching. That's like he likes it. That's like uh Carl Winslow. Yeah, it is like Carl Winslow. Minus the teaching part. There's nothing wrong with it. Nobody has to get married. Oh, absolutely. Nothing wrong with that. So maybe that's just like what he likes to do at this time. I mean, you know. Yeah. And nothing too controversial about him. So then we have Brandon Call, who's JT on the show. That's Frank's oldest son. He got on my nerves the most. Not so much in the later one.
SPEAKER_01:No, still did.
SPEAKER_03:He still got on your nerves. I thought he got a little more mature as it went on, but I don't know. He also doesn't act anymore, but he began acting as a child in 1984. He was had guest spots on Simon and Simon. Oh yeah. I remember that show. And something called Hotel.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, what a creative name for a show. Hotel.
SPEAKER_03:Hotel.
SPEAKER_02:Not even like Sunset Hotel. Or yeah, number one hotel. It makes me think of this place I like to order food called number one Chinese. Number one hotel. It's called number one Chinese.
SPEAKER_00:That's a restaurant here in town. Oh, that's genius. It's so good. Number one Chinese.
SPEAKER_03:It comes up first on a Google search. Oh my god, I love that. It's over here on the beach. It's really good. It's over, yeah, it's over by Walmart.
SPEAKER_01:See, that's why I don't know. It's good. It's a whole different world over here.
SPEAKER_03:But number one hotel. No, just kidding. Number one hotel. Hotel, period.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:All right. So he had a film debut voicing fairy number one in Disney's The Black Cauldron. Oh what? He was in the Black Cauldron. He was fairy number one. Oh, that's such a good movie. Yes, that is a really good one. He also landed a recurring role that same year, '85, in the NBC soap opera Santa Barbara. Oh, yeah. My mom used to watch that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Or my grandma.
SPEAKER_03:My grandma. He actually earned two young artist awards for that role. Yeah. Which are Emmys for Daytime TV. Well, get it. Get it, little guy. Uh, he guest heard on two episodes of Sain Elsewhere. And then he was also cast as Hobie Buchanan on the first season of Baywatch. Oh, right. Yeah. He was Hobie. Hobie. But then that other kid came about. He was only on it for one season. Yeah. Yeah. I used to watch Baywatch. That's probably one we need to revisit. It is, definitely. It is. So, and then in 1991, he was cast as JT. After taping an episode. Okay, so remember, I said there's gonna be a lot of weird intersecting things. Here's another one that happened to this man, Brandon Call. After taping an episode of Step by Step, September 3rd, 1996, he got into a traffic dispute while driving home. He was shot in both arms. What? By Tommy Eugene Lewis, treated at UCA Medical Center and ended up making a full recovery. Whoa. It's a road rage. That is so crazy. Isn't that crazy? Yeah. And the guy like went to prison and stuff. Whoa. Oh my god, shot in both arms? Yeah. Jeez. And it's also like arm, like maybe maybe because he went like to defend himself, maybe. I'm like, why arms of all things in twice? I don't know. So that was an interesting one. But he came back to the show and it was like in the news and everything, but I think I don't remember that either. I was like, what is this? But yeah, wild. All right. So let's move on to Al Christine Lakin. She was born in 1979. Also got her start acting in commercials. And then she was Young Rose in the American Civil War drama The Rose and the Jackal, which was a movie. I'm like, what is this? What are all these shows I've never heard of? I don't know. Uh okay. And then she was on step by step. She was pretty young when that show came on, like 10 or 11. When it was canceled in 1998, she was on one episode of Seventh Heaven, and then she continued to appear in a string of television movies. I don't remember this at all. You'll have to tell me. This is in 2008, so we're going into the 2000s for this one. She starred alongside Paris Hilton in the movie The Hottie and the Naughty. Oh my god, I don't. It required extensive makeup to make her appear ugly. So I guess Paris was the hottie and she was the naughty.
SPEAKER_01:What?
SPEAKER_03:And naughty is N-O-T-T-I-E, by the way. I'm not saying naughty. I'm saying naughty. Hottie naughty.
SPEAKER_01:I have never heard of naughty. Me either. But that is so 90. What what year?
SPEAKER_03:2008. Oh. Oh, yeah, it's out of Paris Hilton. She wasn't 90. So that was like a she was at the height of a lot of things. Oh my god. That's hilarious. Surprisingly, I think you'll be surprised. The film met dismal reviews. Well, with a title like that, how could that happen? How could that happen? In 2010, she became Craig Kilborne's sidekick on the Kilborn file.
SPEAKER_01:I don't know what that means.
SPEAKER_03:He called her um his Huckleberry friend, a reference to his favorite movie, Breakfast at Tiffany's. So I guess they're friends. I don't know. In addition, she is an accomplished audiobook. She started that in 2013. She's also voiced the character Jane from The Walking Dead season two in the video game, and its sequel, The Walking Dead and New Frontier. Was she in The Walking Dead? No. Oh. She just voiced that character in the video game. And then she's also the voice of the news anchor Joyce Kinney in Family Guy. Well, look at that. Yeah. I had to like think about it for a second, then I was like, okay, I can kind of see her and hear her.
SPEAKER_01:I was never a Family Guy person.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. I have a lot of show. When it's on. I don't like go out of my way. Because I watched it.
SPEAKER_01:Number one, it's a cartoon, so shocker.
SPEAKER_03:It does make me laugh, I will say. Okay. I do giggle at that show. So Katie does look. I think I think that I think that Peter is so funny. Which one is that? He's the dad. Oh. I just I can't with him.
SPEAKER_01:He's so funny. I've never gotten to I would I never got into Family Guy. I was a Simpsons person. I love Simpsons. I will watch Simpsons whenever it's on. Family Guy was never for me. And King of the Hill, not for me. Oh, I don't like King of the Hill either. Yeah. Family Guy, not for me.
SPEAKER_03:And I mean Stewie's okay. Like most people think Stewie and Brian, the dog, are like really funny.
SPEAKER_02:But like, and I do love dogs, you know.
SPEAKER_03:I'm surprised you don't like the dog. I do, but I like I watch it for Peter.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:He's so just ridiculous. All right. So it can't. Maybe you only like cartoons with like funny middle-aged dad characters.
SPEAKER_03:I guess so, because I like the Simpsons too, but I don't like King of the Hill.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that one. So maybe not.
SPEAKER_03:There's no rhyme or reason to the cartoons that I'm doing.
SPEAKER_01:I see this. I see this.
SPEAKER_03:We could try to explain it all day and not reach the answer. We still have to do a Beaves and Butthead episode. That would be fun. Yeah, that's coming. That's coming. So she later starred on the pop series, Pop the Network, Hollywood Darlings, which I've never seen, but she starred alongside 1990s child stars, Jody Sweeton, and Beverly Mitchell. Is it like a reality show? Maybe. But it says star. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01:It could have been a star on reality shows because they're not really reality shows. That's true. And they're all blonde.
SPEAKER_03:Her, Jody, and Beverly Mitchell. Yeah. Yeah, they're all blonde. Okay. We oh, she's so many people on this show. I know. I was like, and I'm glad I got a lot of the like quote unquote like controversy and tea in the character descriptions. Because I was like, this is gonna be forever. Forever. Um, she's also directed a lot, uh, Christine Lakin. Ten episodes of ABC's The Goldbergs, three episodes of the Goldberg spin-off schooled, and three episodes of the 2021 Apple TV original series Puppy Place. That sounds like something you would like. I don't know what that is, but it sounds great.
SPEAKER_01:Gotta check it out. Puppy. Oh, speaking of puppies, my sister got a new puppy.
SPEAKER_03:I know he's so cute.
SPEAKER_01:She is so cute. Oh, yeah, yeah. Forgot it's a girl. And she keeps sending me all these pictures. I'm like, well, she's cute, even though you know I don't like dogs. And she's like, well, this is your niece, and you have to love her. Oh, I mean, fair. I was like, I will show Katie the pictures and she will appreciate. So before I leave today, you have more. I have more. I've only seen two. One, there's one of her cuddled up by the fireplace with her little pet. Yes. And then have you seen her with her pink leash? No. Okay.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:You're excited about that.
SPEAKER_03:I cannot wait. I have a pink leash for my little papillon, and it's the cutest thing I've ever seen. Yeah, you're gonna be so excited. Okay, I can't wait. Um, all right, Christine Lacon, let's let's finish her out. She's married to Brandon Gralt and has two kids. All right. Ta-da. So she's one that's like kind of stayed in Hollywood a little, but kind of not. She's got her toe in. Yeah, she's got her toe in. Just enough. Just enough. Josh Byrne, who played the youngest kid. Oh my god, what was his name on the show? Brandon. Brandon. Sorry. I thought it was Brandon. Brandon. Boop.
SPEAKER_01:I think you're right. It's Brendan. I think it's Brendan. Whatever.
SPEAKER_03:He was born in 1984 in Los Angeles, and he's obviously known for step by step. He was also on Who's the Boss? Who was he on that show? I have no idea. Oh, okay. I didn't look it up. And the family man, which was in 1990. So who's the boss? He would have been a baby. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Who was he? He must have been a baby on the show. Was there a baby at any point that someone had on Who's the Boss? Did she have a baby? Maybe she did. The late what's her face? Judith Light.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Maybe, maybe. Did they have a baby together?
SPEAKER_03:It feels like they probably did. Well, but I don't know for sure.
SPEAKER_01:I should have looked that up. Except when we don't know what we're talking about. But he would have been a baby. So he was on a baby on Mr. Boss on some level.
SPEAKER_03:And then the Family Man would have been the year before he started Step by Step. So he was young for that. He did retire from acting after the show. He finished regular school. And he appeared on the podcast of Christine Lakin and Stacey Keenan and talked about what he does now. He works for an action figure and statuette manufacturer. Okay, that's fun. Called Sideshow Collectibles. And he does Renaissance Fair Performing. Oh my God. Is this guy not the coolest?
SPEAKER_01:Okay, that's so that's like I feel like he could be a friend of ours. I know. It's so great.
SPEAKER_03:It's so great. I feel like I know somebody who does those things. Yeah, it's like, wow, you were a child star, but you're just like us. Yeah. I love it. I love it so much. Ren Fair. And that's it on him. Okay. So then Sasha Mitchell, who played Frank's nephew, Cody Lambert. Yes. He was the one that lived in a van in the driveway. He came in during the second season. He was actually born in 1967 in Los Angeles. And he was also Patrick Duffy's nephew on Dallas. Oh, that's funny. He was on that show too. That's hilarious. Isn't that crazy? Is that how he got this job, maybe? Probably, but he was also the star of the kickboxer movie franchise. Did you ever watch those? No. Those debuted in 91. There was one in 91, 92, 93. Okay. And he was like the main star of that. He's also guest starred in Jag, NYPD Blue, and ER. Okay. All right. There's a lot of tea happening. This is the one that I was like, there's a few question marks surrounding. I'm ready. Okay. He married someone named Jeanette Robbins, and police were called to the couple's home in 1996 to investigate reports of domestic abuse.
SPEAKER_01:Oh no.
SPEAKER_03:Mitchell, the guy, was convicted of misdemeanor battery, spouseful abuse, and child endangerment. Stemming from an altercation with his wife. He was given three years probation, had to come serve community service. He was fired from the show. He violated his parole. Oh my god. Probation? Okay, this isn't a question mark. This is bad. There's more. There's more. That is bad. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail because he um violated his probation. In 2002, so several years later, he spoke of the incident in a couple different interviews, saying that his wife um was a substance user at the time and that he was actually just protecting his children from her. She was addicted to drugs at the time of his arrest. And uh several years later, as things shake shook out, he was actually awarded full custody of their kids, all four of them. And his ex-wife has limited visitation. So some people are like, uh did she call the cops and he got arrested, but like you know, was he the instigator? Like what happened, you know? And I guess I would have to see like a full police report to know. But he's saying he didn't like I guess what he's saying is he didn't if he pushed her, if whatever, it was because she was like attacking their children.
SPEAKER_01:And there was no investigation into her, not at the time. He said this later. But how come he got in trouble for child endangerment? I don't know. Because here's my thing like if she was having substance abuse stuff, wouldn't he push for them to investigate her too? You would think so.
SPEAKER_03:And maybe they did. Maybe they did. I mean, eventually he got full custody of their kids. Yeah, that's wild. So someone somewhere took a look at her. Ugh. And then he hasn't been really on the scene since. Ooh. Question mark. Then they had four kids. Oh my. Four children. Um poor babies. I know. Um, so then when he left the show, Bronson Pincho came on for season six. And we saw him. We saw him in one briefly. He was just there for the five years. Briefly, but they actually brought him in as like an another character for those final two seasons. He is Carol's business partner. I was wondering who he was when he just whisked in and then left. I was like, what? At first I was like, wait, is he supposed to be Valky? Like, what's the one?
SPEAKER_01:I know, because he sounded the same a little bit. And then I was like, oh wait, no, he's supposed to be French. And then I was like, wait a minute. And then he was gone.
SPEAKER_03:And I was like, uh Yeah, so he was kind of supposed to be that like replacement for maybe the outlandish kind of side, funny side character, but his character wasn't like well received or anything. He stayed on until they're like, What is Balkie doing?
unknown:Right?
SPEAKER_01:Charlotte. It's the hit well, that's his character and Beverly Hull's cop, too. They're probably like, what's he?
SPEAKER_03:It was like a combo of both. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Like just putting those two characters together.
SPEAKER_03:Surge. And then Lily Foster Lambert, which is the child that Carol and Frank have as a baby, was portrayed by twins Lauren Meyring and Christina Meyring. And then um, it says as a 10-year-old, but again, we don't know. I don't think she's supposed to be 10. She had a freaking like stuffed bunny on her back. She was in kindergarten. Yeah, maybe. Let's just say she was five. But that was played by someone named Emily Mae Young, and that was during uh seasons six, seven, and eight. Okay. Final season. I didn't love that little actress. I didn't either. I don't know why. And maybe it was just the ones we watched, because we saw her in two of them, right? I think she was in two, definitely in the series finale, and then I think she was in one before that, too. Um, she yeah, I didn't I didn't love her either. Yeah, I don't know why. I was just like, I did like how Al loved her so much. The one we watched where she um was getting in trouble at school. Well, she loved her when she was being a problem. I know, but I thought that was fun. I thought that was fun. I was like, Al is like, oh, it's little me. And she even says she goes, Oh, it's that Lambert side. Oh, yeah, true. I thought it was funny. And then in season one, Carol Foster's mother was played by Ivy Baker, or was named Ivy Baker, played by Peggy Ray, and sister Penny Baker, played by Patrika Darbo. And they were main characters in that first season, and then they just vanished. That's so sad without a word. No explanation on the actual show itself, but producers said they weren't considered integral to the show and they wanted more screen time for Sasha Mitchell. Well, yeah, it happens. That is all I have on uh Step by Step. There's a lot going on with uh these people. There's a lot of people, a lot of people. So you figure a lot going on in the Hollywood scene. All right, so let's talk about the episodes we watched. Okay. Um I realize I mislabeled one or two, so we're we're gonna see if we ended up watching the same one so what are you talking about? You mislabeled. Um I did it which one was it?
SPEAKER_01:I did with the number you just gave me you did the numbers. I did the numbers. Yeah, you just did titles.
SPEAKER_03:Then we're good. Oh, I didn't give you titles?
SPEAKER_01:No, you just gave me numbers.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, good. Then we're fine. I put the wrong title next to the wrong number, I think. So I ended up watching both, just in case. Oh, well, I just gave the I just have the numbers. If we get to one, I'm like, did you watch this one? You're like, no, then we'll just skip over it. All I got is numbers. All right, and I had to pay for these fuckers.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I was I could not find them anywhere. I was like texting Katie, like, hello, these are not on anywhere free. Like, I am not okay with this, and I had to pay for that each one on YouTube. Bye-bye,$15.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. And then we should have bought them under generation in between, so we could have both watched them. I was going to, but then like, I was already logged in on my TV, and I was like, Yeah, that's true.
SPEAKER_01:And so then I was like, I'll just send her, I'll just tell her to log in under mine, and then I forgot. That's okay. So I just paid for them on YouTube. I'm good. Katie's just like, I will whisk away money.
SPEAKER_02:I don't care. Um, if it's easier, I'm there. I mean, it's not that much money.
SPEAKER_01:I get it. But I just it's the whole thing it's annoying. The whole fact of the matter of I pay for all these streaming things, and I still have to pay. That's what it is. It makes me mad. That's annoying. We're about to get rid of so much stuff, including Amazon Prime, because they are the devil and awful, and we're about to just be done with it. And like just done. Done. We're about to be done with lots of stuff because everything's a problem.
SPEAKER_03:Everything is a problem.
SPEAKER_01:And I'm tired of giving money to problems.
SPEAKER_03:Including some of these episodes are a problem. And we paid for them. Wow, look at us. Okay, so season one, episode one, the pilot. We both watched this. While vacationing in the Caribbean, Frank and Carol marry, and when they return, they have to deal with conflicts between their children. Okay, the premise of this show is creepy to me. Yeah. I don't like it. It's creepy. Yeah. That you just, I mean, supposedly they knew each other for three months, but Yeah. And then don't they say in the episode that he like followed her to Jamaica? Yes! He's like, Oh yeah, your sister told me you'd be there. Yeah. When? And what that's like. That's what I mean. He's like, you followed me. And he's like, well, no, I went by myself.
SPEAKER_01:No, that's fucking creepy. You went by yourself to stalk a lady. Again, stalking. And they got married. And we're supposed to think that this is this is why we all have problems of our generation. We're supposed to think this is romantic. It's creepy.
SPEAKER_03:It's creepy and not great.
SPEAKER_01:I also wrote, All these kids are kind of unlikable.
SPEAKER_03:They are. Like they're all kind of unlikable. And I think maybe what they were trying to accomplish is like modern kids with a little bit of edge.
SPEAKER_01:But that's there's you can have edge and not be unlikable. I agree. I liked Dana mostly. I mean, but they're mean to each other. They're just mean.
SPEAKER_03:They're all mean to each other.
SPEAKER_01:They're just all mean. And they're mean to their parents. I always liked Al. But also mean.
SPEAKER_03:Also mean.
SPEAKER_01:Like, I just I wrote that down. And then I wrote, of course, they have the dad's house being like a total.
SPEAKER_03:I said the same thing, dad's house, you.
SPEAKER_01:But that's like that irritated Troy when he walked in. He's like, why is the dad's house a mess? Yeah. And the mom's because hello, mess is not um for gender, guys. It's not. And I know plenty of sloppy ass women, and I know plenty of neat ass men.
SPEAKER_03:A hundred percent. Come to my house and you will see that. All of it. Messy woman. Oh, no, messy woman, neat man. Like, that is it. That's period. Dot. Like every time I see a meme that's like, she's messy, but she's kind.
SPEAKER_02:Or like anything like that. Like from waitress or like a lyric, I'll be like, it's me.
SPEAKER_01:Do you know what I said to my husband the other day? One of my like this makes him so I leave cabinets open all the time. Oh yeah. That's like an ADD thing, which I didn't know until like recent years. And uh, you know, our phones listen to us. So I was on YouTube, uh not YouTube, I was on Instagram yesterday, and in my feed was this comedian, and it was like a little clip, and it said, if you really love closing cabinets all the time, you have to marry somebody with ADD. I sent it to Troy and he's like, Oh my god, yes. Like, and so we were like, he got home and I was like, Oh, did you like that me, my son, and that funny? Blah, blah, blah. And he's like, Danny, in the closet right now, every single drawer of your dresser is open. I was like, It is like I am so bad about it. Like, I've I need to like record myself because I'll be in the kitchen and I don't know why I do this. It's not, and I try to consciously be like, Yeah, close the things, right? Close the cabinets.
SPEAKER_03:I just don't. I do the same thing. Yeah, it's I do the same thing. It's it's relentless. It's like I'm I think for me, it's because I'm already doing the next thing as I walk away. But that's an ADD thing. It is, it is. I mean, that's literally but in but like you, I have to be like, wait, finish the this thing.
SPEAKER_01:But I seriously don't ever do that. No, I don't either.
SPEAKER_03:I don't know if there's hope for us at this point.
SPEAKER_01:But you know what's interesting is that like I am super, I am not messy. I am pretty organized and neat. But the reason why is because of my anxiety. Even though so that combat is, you know, we're a bundle mess.
SPEAKER_03:We're a bundle of all sorts of things. Everybody is, everybody's having the dad's house be so nasty. And also, like, not just the dad, like the kids are capable, they can do dishes, they can clean up while their dad's gone for a week. So, like, we have his kids aren't capable, but her kids are. Right, yeah, I didn't like that. But then she also has like her mom and sister in the mix, so I don't know. It just Yeah, but that wasn't a fair right. I didn't I didn't think that was fair to the dad or the kids.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And then I said following her on vacation. Oh, and I just said gender stereotypes right away. Right away. Right away. Like just him being whatever and her having to like be the mom when Al doesn't feel good.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and like dads can be nurturing too, everyone. Yeah, you don't well, first of all, you don't nurturing has nothing to do with any gender.
SPEAKER_03:Right.
SPEAKER_01:But he's like, Oh, I'm so glad you were there because her appendix would have burst.
SPEAKER_03:It's like, and I'm like, look, I would have sent my kid to school and their appendix would have burst. You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_01:Like, listen, if it was I will say in my house, Caden would have had an a burst appendix if it wasn't for me. Because Troy Troy's Troy's advice when you're not feeling well is drink some water and lay down.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, most of the time that will help.
SPEAKER_01:Except, but to be fair, I think the reason why I pick up on stuff is because I am when they were younger, because this was years ago. Not so much now, but when they were younger, I was the one with them all the time. True, true. So I could pick up on things a little bit.
SPEAKER_02:If things were off, right?
SPEAKER_01:Now it's a little, we're pretty equal, you know. Like right. So, but when they were younger, I could pick up on that. And I was like, no, something's wrong. And sure enough, sure enough. I remember texting him from the from the hospital. I was like, Well, guess what? Surgery about to start. And then Troy's appendix almost burst recently. Yeah, last year. Like, remember you just gonna say, drink some water? And Caden goes, Caden goes, but we got over last one. It was like, did you tell dad to drink some water and lie down?
SPEAKER_03:Oh my god. Well, that was like, um, you know, when my kids were smaller, they would get more fevers than they do now. And if one of them got sick. So it was someone always had a fever.
SPEAKER_02:And I was a lot of fever I would get a little like about it. Oh, someone's always sick.
SPEAKER_03:Someone always has a fever. And it's not their fault or anything, but I would just get irritated to the point that Brandon would be like, well, honey, they like can't help it if they're sick. But it's overwhelming. And I would feel overwhelmed by it. So we went on a trip and we got up super early to leave. We were driving all the way to Indiana. It was like a 20-hour drive. And I woke up that morning feeling off, but it was also like 5 a.m. and all these things. So we get in the car, and I'm not kidding. I was sick the whole trip. Oh, we're driving, and I'm like, my ears are my head hurts. And friend's like, You're burning up. And I'm he's like, I think you have a fever. I was like, is that what it feels like? Because it'd been so long. Had you never had a fever? I'd been so long.
SPEAKER_01:Oh my god, I had every sickness my kids had.
SPEAKER_03:And I was like, This is what they feel like. Yeah, I would always be like, just like, just like drink something and lay down. Like, honestly, or like you and Troy, man. Take it, take some type kids' Tylenol. Like, and I would like, we got to the hotel that night, and I just like dived into bed and was like, Oh, no one talked to me, no one touched me. Like, yeah, it was it was karmic. It was karmic. I was very sick. Is karmic a word? Karmic. Yeah, it is. It's an adjective. Okay. Karmic. Like karmic retribution. Oh, well, that would be fancy.
SPEAKER_01:Let's keep going. All right. So I put I always thought that it was cool how her salon was connected to her house. Yeah. That part's neat.
SPEAKER_03:I like that part too.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, kind of not the best security-wise, but whatever.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Because anyone could just and then she'd go in to get coffee from her actual kitchen. Right. Also, I thought it was cute.
SPEAKER_01:The first episode, I was like, oh my God, Suzanne Summers looks like Rhonda.
SPEAKER_03:She does look like Ronda.
SPEAKER_01:I know. Or Rhonda looks like her or whatever.
SPEAKER_03:Right? Yeah, I totally see.
SPEAKER_01:I was like, oh my God, that how have I never realized that? So I gotta make sure I tell Rhonda. Also, when she's like, we have breakfast as a family every morning. I'm like, who does that?
SPEAKER_03:Well, and like, first of all, not all of them are going to the same school. That's what I'm saying. Nobody is on the same morning schedule. No one's on the same morning schedule, usually. But she was like, we have breakfast as a school. I was like, okay, well, good for you. Nobody else can do that. You have a 10-foot commute to work into your garage. Literally. But yes. Um, okay, that's all I had on that one.
SPEAKER_01:Me too.
SPEAKER_03:All right. So the next one. Did you watch the one um about the biker bar? Or is this the extra one I watched? Okay. Turning the page. Nothing about it.
SPEAKER_01:Season one, episode 14.
SPEAKER_03:Home alone.
SPEAKER_01:I don't know. I didn't write the titles. I just did the numbers.
SPEAKER_03:When Frank and Carol leave Dana in charge of the children for the weekend, a quiet evening with a few friends quickly turns into an unruly party. Is this uh yes? You watch the one I watched. Okay, perfect. I didn't write titles. I wrote down the number. I wrote the episode number, season one, episode 14, and I wrote just for kicks. That's the wrong episode name. That's actually episode eight. So to be safe, I watched it. We always got some nonsense. But it's okay. We won't talk about that one. Okay. Home alone. So I just read the summary. Just they go away for romantic weekends. Which, okay.
SPEAKER_01:They were like, it's our first time alone since we got married. I was like, bitch, it's been a few months.
SPEAKER_02:Like, I try a try 20 years.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. You know, like, I do not feel bad for you. Like you're brand new, married, and you're like, we haven't been alone in months. Okay. What about Jamaica? Okay.
SPEAKER_03:Come on. Let's go let's calm down.
SPEAKER_01:And then I said they got way bigger uh by the end of the first season. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Like that was a huge grow up over the course of a season. I thought it was cute when Mark, when Mark was on their like phone calling people for a payment book. Yeah. And look, how sweet is Cody? He's like, he's like, I can invite two friends over, but I only have one. Cody's like, I'll be your number two. He's like, you're not my number one. He's like, cool, you know, like he's just so sweet. But I thought it was fun when he was like calling people for a little address book.
SPEAKER_01:Um, and then Patrick Duffy throws his back out. Okay, by the way, there's a lot of sex in this show to be a family sitcom. I noticed that every episode.
SPEAKER_03:They really push the like um romantic, I don't know if it's even romantic, the sexual attraction of the two of them.
SPEAKER_01:Which is fine, but it's supposed to be a family, like yeah, it's like Kubrick walked in on a few, and I was like, oh, this is awkward.
SPEAKER_03:Like when she's putting on the negligent negligee. Neglige. That might be a thing. I don't know. Neglige. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, like stuff like that. Well, I'm saying for the time, especially. Yes, I agree. Like, but also they pushed it a lot. Like they were always, I guess they're newlyweds, so fine. I think that's the point.
SPEAKER_03:Like still that they're like madly in love, but yet their family is like a handful. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01:There's a lot of sex in it for a family sitcom.
SPEAKER_03:I think so too.
SPEAKER_01:A lot of. Well, it was the 90s. I mean, but I don't remember there being that much sex in like perfect strangers or family matters. I mean, Jesse and Rebecca were a little bit whatever.
SPEAKER_03:They weren't like, let me put on a negligee. I guess not. I mean, I remember as a kid when they were talking about the honeymoon, and he's like, Oh, we took our camcorder, and she's like, We only recorded outdoor activities only. You remember this? I remember this as a kid being like, what does that mean? And it stuck with me. I'm just saying, there were some things on there too. Isn't that wild? Oh my god, that's so funny. Remember that.
SPEAKER_02:Why would you record inside anyway? Like, hello, you're in Hawaii.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:Moving on.
SPEAKER_01:Uh anyway. I was very sheltered. So they throw a party. My sister, did I ever tell you about my sister throwing a big party? I don't know, maybe. Yeah, it went really bad. I won't go into all the details of how Wonky it went. So we lived around the corner from our high school. Okay. My sister's seven years old and me. My parents, this is when they were still married, so I was like young. They were actually driving to Tallahassee for a Florida State alumni thing. Okay. And they were driving, which is pretty far from where so they were going away for the weekend. We were staying at, I was staying at a family friend's house. My sister was staying at like a friend's like a friend's house for the weekend. And but there was a football game. So my sister left her window unlocked, and she was a freshman in high school.
SPEAKER_03:Oh my god.
SPEAKER_01:So they went to the football game, quote. What ended up happening was she snuck back into the house and bitted all these people in. And as you know uh from TV shows, this really does happen. One person told another person it ended up being a crazy out of control party. Somebody stole my dad's car. What? They trashed our house. Yeah. Uh the cops came. My sister, well, it ended up, my sister ended up being in the hospital, so it was not good. She was fine, but it ended up getting really out of control. And I my parents had to come home, and they drove home in the middle of the night. I remember being picked up, and I was so confused. And we go back to my house.
SPEAKER_03:And you were like, What?
SPEAKER_01:And my room was trashed, like there were stuffed animals all over the place, and like, yeah, it was stories. So this is like this can happen in real life, guys. Yeah, they they found my dad's car, but yeah, somebody stole my dad's car.
SPEAKER_03:Oh my god.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, there was shit thrown in our pool, like yikes. It got out of control, and then my sister freaked out. I mean, she was and then what do you do?
SPEAKER_03:You're like over you're 14 and your house is full of people. Like, there's at that point, there's not a whole lot you can do.
SPEAKER_01:Right. Like Dana was overwhelmed and like, what do you do? Exactly. Yeah. Exactly.
SPEAKER_03:Anyway, well, in addition to that, JT gets stuck in the chimney. But they somehow got him out. That made me think of Gremlins where her dad died in the chimney. I know. And they're like, oh, let's start a fire in the fire. And like, first of all, y'all have never had a fire in this fireplace before or after this. But the time that JT's stuck in there, we're gonna start a fire. So stupid. But luckily he spoke up and he did not have the fate of the dad in Kremlins. Um, and then I said the kids aren't really in trouble. I know! Did you notice that? Like, excuse me. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:No.
SPEAKER_03:Like they were just like, Yeah, well, you guys should have known better.
SPEAKER_01:Blah blah blah. We're gonna go have sex upstairs, huh?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Basically.
SPEAKER_03:That's it. That's it. They were like, well, it's dark here. Or what did she say? Something like that. And then his back was suddenly fine again.
SPEAKER_01:Because he the kid jumped off the stairs and caught him. You're right. And it's pretty sure the opposite would happen.
SPEAKER_03:You'd just go crumbling to the floor. Yes. I would. Yeah. But that was okay. That's what it was.
SPEAKER_01:Speaking of, almost I hurt my back last night because we did a new combo in my musical theater fitness class. Yeah. And it had some popping in there. Uh-oh. Look out. You got to do extra stretching when you're 45 and you do some booty pops. I'm just saying. Okay. I came on. I was like, God, my like my lower back is killing me. And Troy's like, what did you do? I was like, well. They're like, let me show you.
SPEAKER_03:But I don't want to re-injure myself.
SPEAKER_01:Also, do you know what else I did? Sarah's gonna love this. We've given her so many shout-outs. I had to restart an entire song because I it's got everything out of order. She's like, stop. No, no, no. And so it's funny because there's this one part of a song that I it's so much fun and we all love it. And in my brain, we've done the song like a hundred times. And I just, this is ADD again. I wasn't concentrated. I don't know. I was on autopilot and I started doing the step. And I look at Sarah in the mirror and she shakes her head no at me. And I was like, oh, wait, that's not it. Let's get back on track. And then I did it again. And so we're like dying. And there were new people in class. Oh my god. And they were like, what is happening? I was like, we have to start over. So I had to restart the whole song because I was like, I cannot keep going. 20 years ago, I would have been so upset. And nowadays it was like, whatever. Who cares?
SPEAKER_03:It's not that deep. I mean, being on this podcast is an example of messing things up constantly and just being like, well, we're back again for another week. Nothing is edited.
SPEAKER_02:I was like, we are getting this choreography right. Let me tell you.
SPEAKER_01:But it was Sarah, her look at me was like, she like dead eye looked me and was like, no, that's wrong. And it was so cute because like other people who come, like Angie and a bunch of other people who come and Aaron, who come regularly, knew that that was wrong, but they were just following me. Like they were not gonna call me out. But Sarah had no problem. She was like, mm-mm. Angie's like, I was just going along with it. She's like, I'm just moving, moving and grooving.
SPEAKER_03:Anyway. Oh my god, I love it. We gotta get through this. So the next one, season two, episode nine The Making of the President.
SPEAKER_01:All I wrote for this whole episode was all these kids really act like jerks. Al threatens violence, Dana insults, and JT is a bully.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that's all I wrote. I didn't like it at all. This wasn't a good episode. Hated it. So Dana and JT go against each other for student government president. Yeah. And JT ends up winning. But then it's too much work. And gives it to Dana. Gives it to Dana. But yeah, I as a step parent, I didn't like pitting how quick Frank and Carol were to kind of side with their own kids. Yeah. I didn't like how she's like, well, we're gonna beat you. And then they'd be like, oh, just kidding. We want everyone to win. And I'm like, no, but like you're showing your true colours. Right. Like you're you're claiming that you want everyone to be combined and balanced, and we're a couple seasons in now, but you're clearly showing you don't feel that way. And I didn't like that because I felt like in a lot of ways this show was showing, like, hey, combined families and stepparents and yada yada. And then that was just like a bad yeah. Like, I didn't like it. We can move on from that one. Yeah, we were like, we hated it. Bye-bye. Okay. Season three, episode five, Trading Places. I kind of like this one. To say family argument, Frank and Carol agree to portray the teenagers for a weekend while Dana and JT portray the parents.
SPEAKER_01:I put those teens would not willingly do all that housework. No.
SPEAKER_03:No way. No way. I loved when she was making food and everyone hated like what she was making though.
SPEAKER_01:So so real.
SPEAKER_03:Just because I was like, yes. Yeah. Like and she did say she's like, if you don't like what I made, you can make your own dinner. But then the one kid just ate Brendan or whatever, ate so many snacks.
SPEAKER_01:I never say that because that's exactly what happens. Yeah. You eat what I eat or you don't eat. Yeah, that's better.
SPEAKER_03:But yeah, so and then all that laundry. I've I really felt that. We have so much.
SPEAKER_01:I can't even imagine how much laundry you have.
SPEAKER_03:So much. And then the towels, and then in the summer when we're in the pool and the towels, just no. I can't. It's too much. It's too much. Cannot imagine. So yeah, I did think it was funny that JT like called someone on the phone over the algebra problems. No. And he's like, I just want to check my answers. What'd you get for number one? Yes, we used to do that. I know. I mean, it felt like realistic in a way. Oh, yeah. For the time. Um, and they had a General Schwartzkopf uh reference. They also had a Mr. Wizard reference.
SPEAKER_01:Do you remember Mr. Wizard on Nickelodeon? Oh, oh my gosh, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Um I I I did say, and I said this to my husband on the way over because we I was talking about how I didn't like the show that much, but that that particular episode really kind of touched on something that I think of of a lot because I think of, oh my gosh, it's so hard to be an adult and as a parent. But I try to put myself in my kids' shoes too and remember that it's also hard to be a kid and a teen. Like that doesn't mean like you can take your parents for granted, which is what JT and Dana were doing and be brats. But I try to think, like, I never try to be like, yeah, but what I'm doing is so much harder, and they just have it easy and they don't know because it it's relative. Yeah. And when you're going through that stuff, when when you are almost an adult, and like in my house, like three of my kids have their driver's license, but they don't have a car available to them all the time. And that's frustrating. It is, you know, it's like, well, they can't afford to buy one, and we can't afford to have three cars for three teenagers and ours. So we all do the best we can, and for the most part, they're gracious about that. But I get that occasionally you're like, and my kids are so close in age. Well, wait, she gets to drive to that thing. I was gonna drive to this thing, you know? And so I try to remember to not discount their feelings to the best of my ability. Yes.
SPEAKER_01:I always tell my kids, oh, it's hard, but you don't get to be an ass. I don't care. Exactly. Exactly.
SPEAKER_03:You can't act like a brat. No, but I'm never gonna be like, oh, just wait till you're 40 and then you have to do all this. So I literally say that sometimes. Oh no, I don't say that. I don't know why. I just am like because you're a better parent than me.
SPEAKER_02:No, no, I'm not. I mean, get out of here.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I think sometimes what when it is get said is when they're acting so put out from like, sure, hey, take the trash out. And they're like literally sitting there watching TV. Sure. And they're like, uh, and it's like, we're literally in here. I just cooked you food and now I'm cleaning it up. You can take the trash out. Absolutely. That's when it gets said.
SPEAKER_03:Every now and then the one that I'll go to is if I'll be like, okay, like help me do these dishes or put these away or straighten up in here if I get any attitude. I'm like, you're saying I should do it by myself. Right. And that's not right. I don't appreciate that. And that's not respectful. You're saying that this is you shouldn't have to do all these things for the family. Only I should. Right. Oh, yeah, I say the same thing. And and they're usually like, eh, okay, you know. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:That's usually, yeah, because I'll be like, um, because I do not work full-time, I do most of like the housework and the air and running and all that because I'm there. Sure. Right. So I will like I always tell my kids, well, Caden's out of the house now, but like, your job is to maintain all the stuff I do. Like, that's so easy. Like, I am scrubbing floors, I am scrubbing toilets, I am scrubbing because I'm there, right? Yeah, so all you have to do is maintain it. Don't make a mess. Clean it. When you don't, that means you don't care that it's gonna cost me extra work. Yeah. Means you don't care. That's true. That that's what it's saying to me. Like, you don't pick up your fucking clothes off the floor because you're tired and the lamper's five feet away. Yeah, that then that is leaving it for somebody else to take care of. Right. And that is just like you said, that means that you think your time is more important than somebody else's. And that's not how we operate. Nope. So that's when I do I do now. Granted, it is hard to be a kid. It's a hard, hard, and they have a lot different struggles than we had. Yes.
SPEAKER_03:And it is things we don't understand or comprehend.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And I mean, you know, I I've had my middle schooler be like, you just don't understand. I'm like, yeah, you're right, I don't. I don't. But it's never okay to be a jerk. It's not okay for me to be a jerk either.
SPEAKER_03:Right. It goes both ways. Right.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:It's yeah, I agree with you. Anyway. Anyway, I thought the tra I thought the trading places one was okay. Okay. It was fine. Um, okay, so then let's move on to season six. We really growing up. You don't have anything before that, right? No. Season six, episode nine. I was like, oh, didn't I miss it? Balkie, Balky's there. Locket man, which is a funny name. Frank goes through a midlife crisis. Dana is not pleased with Rich's gift to her. Now Rich is her boyfriend who's now part of the cast. Yeah. So yeah, Bronson Pinchot comes in and he's Carol's business partner now because Sasha Mitchell is gone. And he was only there for like a second. Yes. And the baby that was a baby in season five is now at least pre-K kindergarten age in season six. She was born just uh, well, at the end of two seasons before. And Dana's now in college, and the little girl's name, the babyslash toddler, is Lily.
SPEAKER_01:I wrote, like, okay, I noticed Suzanne Summers had the Rachel cut. She did. She did. She did. And then I said, What is this living situation? It took me forever to figure out how JT and Rich were living. I was like, why is Dana like in there? And why is there a sink? Like, what is happening? So I think. Because he says it in the final episode when they're not. That's when I figured it out. It's her old salon. Yes.
SPEAKER_03:So she quit doing hair? I guess so.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:Maybe when she got pregnant, I don't know. Maybe that was it. Maybe that was it. And so yeah, they live there. So it's it's it's Dana's boyfriend and JT that live there. And Dana, I think, still lives in the house or maybe somewhere else, but she was visiting her boyfriend when she was at their place.
SPEAKER_01:Also, speaking of sex in the episode, they sure showed her tongue all up in his ear.
SPEAKER_02:I was like, oh, well, okay. I guess they're grown-ass adults, but I know. But I was like, it's like that's a little bit more.
SPEAKER_01:ABC families. Yeah. Tongue, like literal seeing the tongue in the ear. I was like, wow. All right. We're really going for it. Also going for it.
SPEAKER_03:JT's girlfriend was in Can't Harley Wait.
unknown:Yes.
SPEAKER_03:Did you know? Yes. Um, Alexandra Addy is her name. Yeah. You know what her name on the show was though? Her character name? Sam Milano. Is wasn't Alyssa Milano's name on Who's the Boss? Sam? Yeah. I just thought I was like, that's gotta be a reference.
SPEAKER_01:And then I thought of Cheers, Sam alone.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, that's it. Maybe it's a reference to both of them. Uh, but yeah, she was great. I I I thought, I mean, the midlife crisis thing is just so I know. And they they didn't even like go like he rode a motorcycle, he dressed in leather, dyed his hair. He dyed his hair. I was like, okay, like this isn't even very interesting. But I also thought it was very trivial trivializing.
SPEAKER_01:I do, because I don't think a midlife crisis is that cut and dry. And it kind of trickles in, guys.
SPEAKER_03:It trickles in. I've I've been watching The Crown for forever. I know. So I don't know if you've ever seen the one where I've watched the whole thing. Okay, when Philip is watching the astronauts. Oh yeah. I just watched that one the other day. And he's I wouldn't say midlife crisis, but he's having like a moment because he he's a pilot and he's seeing this amazing thing they did, and he's starting to question his own life. And his decision. And he mentions his age or whatever. And that show did it amazingly well because it was more about like the introspection and the like the what ifs and sort of the jealousy of younger people who are doing things you never got the chance to do and you really can't now. Like that'd be like, I mean, I'm not jealous of these people, go them, but that'd be like me like seeing like Broadway people and being like, Oh, I'll never do it because I never will, but like because of my age and my life choices, but like doesn't mean I'm not good. So, anyway, all that to say, I felt like this episode was very like almost like making fun of men that feel that way.
SPEAKER_01:And I'm not just men either, and then all it took for him to be over it was for his wife to be like, I'm still attracted to you.
unknown:Right.
SPEAKER_01:She's not thought that was dumb when she's like, When I see you out gardening with your shirt off, it takes my breath away. I was like, Oh my god. Okay, a man wrote that, a man wrote that totally.
SPEAKER_03:Although there is a little joke in our house because I rarely like comment on my husband like any way that would like be flirtatious or whatever, especially like rarely in general. I think that's just our purpose. Definitely not in front of the kids, and he'll like comment on me, and the kids will be like, oh shut up, I'll play gross or whatever. But I never say anything. But there was one time.
SPEAKER_02:There's one time, and I'll tell you what, my kids have hung on to it all these years.
SPEAKER_03:Because they haven't heard it, though, is my husband. Um, he's like, I have to hold on to that one. Write it down, record it. So I would be like that too, because I also am like that. And I was sitting at my desk, and at the time it faced out into the front yard. And as a joke, some of my kids were in the room. I was like, man, there's like this really hot guy mowing our lawn. We got like a really hot gardener, and they're like, What? And they walk over, and it's my husband mowing the grass. So he comes in and they're like, Dad, guess what happened today? Mom saw a really hot guy doing the lawn, and they like that it was like so funny. Um, oh, that one's fine. I'm not gonna worry about it though. Um, and so he'll they'll still be like, Mom, remember that time? You called dad hot. That one that one time that you it was a hot gardener, but it was actually dad. So when she was like, with your gardening, you're hot. I was like, Well, oh, I love that. Okay. That's great. There's great the one time. God bless. Um, but you know what I thought too? You know how yeah, she I guess now that you say that she had the Rachel Cut, but I was like, they're talking about him aging, but they they're putting her in pigtails. Do you know what I mean? Like, I don't know. They were kind of infant. Yeah, it was it was a weird toxic masculinity. My wife is hot and young. I don't know. I know. It was throwing me off. I didn't like it.
SPEAKER_01:I wrote the other thing I wrote was the Sonny and Cher scene at the end. What?
SPEAKER_03:That was Stacey Keenan and him, but it was weird. And she had a great voice. Yeah, but only thing I could think is they just did it because they can both sing. I know, but it was weird. It was weird. It was weird. All right, season finale or series finale. I have no notes. I have a couple empty page. You're like, I have no words. I just watched it. I just was like, I just I was so ready to be done. The premise is they're gonna move into a bigger house. And then, oh, guess what happens at the end, guys? They want to keep their old house, they don't move like every other show at the end. Yeah, they're like, we're gonna do this big life change. Just kidding. No, we're not, or they're having a baby in a hot air balloon. Those are the only two endings that are possible for these shows, okay? Um, but yeah, and and did you notice Brendan wasn't on the show? The little one on um Oh yeah. He didn't come back for the final season when they moved to CBS.
SPEAKER_01:How they explain that?
SPEAKER_03:They didn't. He just did like Judy, he just wasn't there. In Family Matters, he just goes to her room and then never returns. He was just not there. That's wild. Yeah. They don't mention it, nothing. I did think it was funny when they were in like this modern house, like the muscle. Oh, I know. And the refrigerator was talking and stuff, and they're like, it's like the Jetson. And I was like, Oh, this is so great. Oh, but then I was gonna ask you, would you move?
SPEAKER_01:Girl, I moved all the time. So, like for me, that's not like I mean, like nicer, better house. This is the longest we've ever been in a house. So, what would it take for you to leave the house you're in now? Uh, put me, give me some beachside uh living. Okay. I don't I don't have like I I don't particularly like love our house. I just I hate moving because we had to do it so much. It's a pain. But I have no problem moving once like once Cooper's done. Once you guys can have something smaller too, just give me a little bit more. And I I I am not about having to have a big house. Like so, yeah, I don't and my kids don't have an emotional attachment to the house because we've moved.
SPEAKER_03:That's a good point. So, like, it's not for us, it's different than like your kids, who right. I I mean I've thought about it before, like just in general. I'm like, oh, what if like my book does really well or whatever? And I'm always I've my husband and I haven't talked about like would we move? Because our house more than anything, yes, it's small for the amount of people in it, but my kids are getting to the age where they're moving out, so it seems kind of silly to get a bigger house now, so I don't think we would, but our house is older and there's just it's just so much work all the time. Everything is old that I'm like, I would move into like a similar sized home or maybe even smaller. If the kids were older, that was newer that I didn't have to do so much work on. Yeah, and eventually I would love to just like live in a condo. Yeah, that's my dream, period. I'm close to the beach, or like where I can see the beach, and nothing. I mean, obviously, I can't do that with three dogs and five children, four still at home. I mean, you could, but that would not be the happiness level you want. That would be bad. We need a little space to move at the moment.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I, if it whenever it's just Troy and I, like, I want to make sure there's at least a room for the kids to visit. Totally. Um, but I have like this is not our forever house. I don't think we'll ever have like a forever house because that's just not in my and and you know, I think I hated moving constantly just because it's a pain in the ass. But um, like I don't like, I don't like I like our house. It's a good house. Yeah. But I'm not like, oh, it's the best thing. Right. It's my dream.
SPEAKER_03:I think when eventually we leave our house, if that ever is, because my husband will say, Well, we'll still need the room because the kids will come back and eventually they'll have kids, and we, you know, but kind of like you said, I'm like, the chances of them all being around at the same time, maybe on the holidays, but let's just rent everybody a condo to stay. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01:Like it's doable. And like I always tell, I like because my best friend Amor and I talk about this a lot, because she has a big house. They have three, three girls and they have a big house. And she's like, well, we just want someplace for them to come back to. Like, well, because they're gonna move. They are going to move, and they are talking about that. Like, what do we, you know, their oldest is gone now, and they're like, What do how big we want a house for them to come back to? I'm like, yeah, but I guess in my brain, I want my kids as adults not ever to feel like they have to come back to me. I want them to build their own traditions and we'll go to them. Like that too. They need to build a home where they are with their person or people or whoever. We'll go to them. You know, I mean, granted, come visit us, be home whenever you want. Of course.
SPEAKER_03:But actually, as they're younger, younger adults.
SPEAKER_01:To me, it's more important for them to have their own space and start creating their own traditions. And I want them to feel like they can be in their place for Christmas. You don't have to come back to me. I will, we will come to you because we will have nothing but time once Troy retires. So we will come to you. And or if you don't want us to, no, we'll put a lot of time. Yeah, we'll go on a cruise. It's fine. It's fine.
SPEAKER_02:We'll do our own thing. We'll come see you when you want us.
SPEAKER_03:I think since I have five, that's what I worry about. That like I can't be five places at Christmas. I can't be five places at the end.
SPEAKER_01:No, but maybe you'll have one kit. Maybe you'll have two that are in the same area. Right.
SPEAKER_03:Or I keep telling them all just to come back here, but I don't know if they're gonna listen, girl.
SPEAKER_01:They're not gonna do that.
SPEAKER_03:I'm like, look, and they shouldn't. There's a house for sale around the corner. They're like, No, let them be in their heads.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, if they do fine. Caden has it said in his brain he wants to go back and live in the Midwest because it's cheaper. He's not wrong. It is cheaper. He's not wrong. And I'm like, have you forgotten how cold it is? And you don't like the cold? I think he's forgotten. It's been a few years. I guess we'll see what he does. I know. But I'm like, well, I'll visit you twice a year, not in the winter.
SPEAKER_03:Or he'll try it and be like, never mind. Look, you don't have to like you just said you don't have to stay anywhere forever or for any amount of time.
SPEAKER_01:And I mean, if you have the ability to move and travel, because not everybody can, you know.
SPEAKER_03:Right.
SPEAKER_01:Like it costs a lot of money.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, a lot of people stay stuck where they are because of that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you know, I mean, it costs a lot of money and you gotta have a job and like 100%.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, like we we talk about like if we ever sold our house, what we could get, even like out in the country here, right? Like we could get three, three times the house, you know, and newer. But we're like, but then we gotta, you know, you're paying for lifestyle too. And in our case, our kids go to really good public schools that don't cost us anything. So now you're rolling the dice with schools, and you know, so eventually, but I I think when and if we ever leave our house, I will be sad. Well, that's okay. Think of that for this that's okay. Or I'll be like, get me out of this hellhole, praise the Lord. Or it'll be both, or it'll be both.
SPEAKER_01:It'll be both. A little bit of relief, a little bit of like, oh. Every time we've moved, I've been happy and sad at the same time. Not because of the house, just because you have memories in that location, especially when you're a military family. Like you know your house is temporary, right? Like you like you know that going in. So you don't really get that's hooked on a house. That's true, and but you still have memories that you make there, of course, and times, you know, friends you make while you're there, and you know, kids grow up while you're there.
SPEAKER_03:But you'll probably feel both. Yeah, you're probably right. You'd be feel you feel awesome. Well, we talked about time longest. So there was a lot like about family dynamics and stuff like that. So we had to like, and then there was a lot of tea with these kick these cats freaking members. It's not like perfect strangers where we're talking about like four people, two to four people.
SPEAKER_01:The girlfriends, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I probably talked about what, 10 people? I know.
SPEAKER_01:I meant to look at more about um Bronson Pen show and I forgot. That's okay. We still can. I mean, there was enough problems with this. I don't know.
SPEAKER_03:All right, we'll decide to talk about it. But we'll let you guys go while we figure that out. So please leave us review wherever you're listening, share us with your friends, and we'll see you next time on Generation in Between. Bye.
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