Phaneron

24th Mar 2025

Step by Step (1991)

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Question: Is it ever explained where the kids' other parent is? I remember Carol saying she and Frank both came from failed marriages, which means they weren't widows.

Answer: I could be mistaken, but when the series debuted, its premise was something along the lines of "A divorced contractor and a widowed beautician impulsively marry." If that is true, then the Foster children's father is dead. As for Frank, it could be that his wife was an unfit mother and is therefore not in her children's lives. Perhaps the writers felt addressing these issues would lead to more questions, or at the least require characters to bring up the unseen parents more in conversation, so perhaps they felt it was just better to never talk about them at all and let any discussions about them remain off-screen.

Phaneron

9th Jan 2019

Step by Step (1991)

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Question: Who is the brunette kid in the yellow shirt in the beginning? It's supposed to be Marc but it's not.

Answer: From what I've read, the kid in question was the original actor cast to play Mark and was intended be closer in age to Brendan. For whatever reason, they recast the role with Christopher Castile and didn't bother removing the original actor from the beginning of the opening credits. I guess they figured people would just assume the kid was one of Brendan's friends.

Phaneron

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