Heavy/Getty Suzanne Somers.
Suzanne Somers’ longtime costar opened up about working with her, and he hinted at talk of a reboot of their ABC sitcom before her death in October 2023. Somers, 76, died following a decades-long battle with breast cancer.
The actress and “Dancing with the Stars” alum starred in the sitcoms “Three’s Company” and “Step by Step,” the latter in which she played busy mom Carol Lambert-Foster opposite Patrick Duffy. With six kids between the two leads, “Step by Step” was an updated “Brady Bunch.” The series was TGIF gold on ABC’s schedule and ran for seven seasons from 1991 to 1997.
In an interview on the “Behind the Velvet Rope With David Yontef” podcast that aired on December 20, 2023, Duffy was asked whether there had ever been talk of a reboot of their beloved 1990s comedy series.
“The short answer is yes,” Duffy told Yontef in the interview, which was taped before Somers’ death. “Always, when it’s been brought up is why, you know, do we do it just because somebody might watch it? You know, because they watch the original ‘Step By Step?’”
Duffy noted that the child actors on the show have all aged out, so the pilot would have had to focus on why they were all back home. “So, what brings everybody back to the fold for some reason? You know, is it just Suzanne and myself in a senior assisted living situation where they come there and, then there’s, why do they come back?” he asked. “So, there’s a lot of things, other than the fact I would do it in a heartbeat, just to work with Suzanne, again, absolutely would. But, you know, you have to have the right product. It has to be on the page.”
At the time the interview was taped, Duffy also joked that Somers had “better” want to do it “if she wants her second husband to be happy.”
Patrick Duffy Once Cast Doubt on a ‘Step by Step’ Reboot
Duffy and Somers co-starred as parents of the blended Lambert family from 1991 to 1998. Fifteen years after the series ended, Duffy told E! News he was down for a reboot.
“We all were a very close and loving family off-camera, and if the idea and the script was correct, I’m sure — speaking for myself and Suzanne because we’ve discussed it — we would be more than happy to resurrect the Lambert family,” he. Said, “We as a cast get approached about the possibility [of a revival]. Suzanne and I would love the opportunity to work together again. If scripts and circumstances were appropriate, I’m sure something would happen.”
But in 2019 he didn’t seem as sure. Speaking with Entertainment Tonight, Duffy described “Step By Step” as the best job he ever had but admitted even he wasn’t sure a reboot would work.
“It’s a hard story to come up with,” he said of a potential pilot “The problem is, we had six children who would all now be adults, who would probably, half of them, have children of their own. So do you gather everybody together again? What is the format that makes everybody come together and have that dynamic? I would be retired. [Suzanne] would be retired.”
Patrick Duffy Said Suzanne Somers Was a ‘Dear Friend’ to Him
Duffy described Somers as a “mentor” when they first worked together. “She’s sitcom gold,” he told ET.
In his interview with Yontef, the actor shared fond memories of working with Somers. He noted that she had her dressing room decked out “like a New York penthouse.”
“But we were never in [our dressing rooms] because we were always sitting side by side on our chairs, down on the soundstage, just nattering away all the time,” he said. “They knew where to find us every minute of the day because we never shut up. We would work together, rehearse together, film together, and sit together, talking all the time. It was, it was so much fun.”
“When I left Dallas, I thought, well, that’s probably it,” he added. “I don’t know if I’ll work with somebody I’m that close to. And a week later, I walked into the room, and there’s Suzanne Somers. And I’ve said this before, she became my Larry Hagman. She became instantly a dear friend; we’ve been dear friends forever. You know, she calls me her second husband.”
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