He seems very controlling - determined to stamp out any spark of independence that Betty Jo has. He's a bossy know-it-all, always wears cardigan sweaters, and sings corny songs. Betty Jo became much less interesting once she hooked up with him.
shareI agree I didn't like Steve and Betty Jo together very well either. I liked Betty Jo much better before she married Steve.
And Steve had much more chemistry on-screen with Meredith MacRae than Linda Kaye Henning, which is odd because they were married in real life.
PJ was never the same after Bea Benadaret died...but that last season is really a stinker. Too much concentration on Betty Jo and Steve and the baby...and not the comedy stuff from the early years of the show. I prefer the early seasons. Steve was probably my least favorite character.
shareAgreed. The Kate-less seasons would have been more bearable had the show retained the original characterizations of the daughters (Betty Jo the tomboy, and Billie Jo the sassy ambitious one). Instead, Betty and Billie became so bland and boring. They also needed a funnier actress in the lead than June Lockhart. I've always liked her, but she didn't belong in a sitcom.
shareI always liked Steve and Betty Jo initially better than Steve and Billie Jo [who I didn't see any chemistry with. Chemistry is subjective that way. What one sees another doesn't.] but once they got married the writers changed both characters personalities.
Suddenly Steve was this MCP [male chauvinist pig] who had a fit Betty Jo fixed the sink and wanted her all prettied up when he got home and not looking like a plumber. He knew who she was when he married her. And Betty Jo pretty much became what Steve wanted.
Steve and Betty Jo would have been more interesting if the writers had kept their original personalities intact instead of making them a younger version of Archie and Edith Bunker.
I always wondered why they changed Betty Jo completely. I liked her and Steve as friends when he first came on the show and she was a tomboy. I remember an episode where she was helping him when he worked on his plane. It's too bad if the writers thought her whole personality had to be changed for her to be 'grown-up.'
shareI always felt the Betty Jo/Steve thing was kind of forced and facilitated to accommodate tha fact that Mike Minor and Linda Henning were becoming a real couple off screen
shareHe is an ahole and the family sing-a-longs are gay! Even Uncle Joe kisses his ass.
shareHis singing was supposed to be hyped up and promoted, so that meant everyone had to look on in approval. You don't want to get an opportunity as a singer with people mugging behind you.
The one that always stood out to me was when he sang that slow version of One Day At A Time (not the gospel song) to Granny, who was visiting to check on their baby.
Irene Ryan barely blinked, because she was such a massive scene-stealer, no one would focus on him.
By the time the show was cancelled and he had that moustache on Beverly HIllbillies, they must have known he wasn't going to be the next Dean Martin.
I see it this way. When Steve and Betty Jo got married, it was before women started working. I remember growing up hearing that a woman's place is in the kitchen. It's the way it was. Seeing that today, we realize how wrong that is. However, there were still times when Betty Jo would still help Steve out. I thought they were cute together and liked seeing that no matter what the fight was about, they always kissed and made up in the end.
shareNO!!! Steve wasn't an A*Hole!!! He was too hot to be an A*Hole!! LOL!!!!What I mean is it was just a sign of the times!!! Esp. Betty Jo was a country girl! They basically just lived to have a husband and family. And she landed a tall, dark, handsome man! Well still it's every girls dream right? Deep down? Even though now we work outside the home and aren't under their rule like in the old days! But I'd say he was just a typical husband from those times. I was a little girl in the 60's and in my Mom's eyes, my Dad was like a King!!! LOL!!!
I wished they hadn't had Betty Jo cut her hair though. I liked the long hair better on her. But I did see chemistry between them ,and having a baby girl and living in that cute cottage!! Sounds good to me!! And I thought the family sing a longs were cute!!
Sort of odd that it was "women's lib" on one side with Dr Craig showing a woman can be a professional. And you can argue before that, Kate ran the hotel alone with her three girls, with only very minor contribution from Uncle Joe. When Betty Jo marries Steve, she mostly becomes the dutiful wife, who will even move to NYC without complaint if he wants to because he's the man.
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