Steve Sanders (90210)
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| Steve Sanders | |||||||||||
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| Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise | |||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Ian Ziering | ||||||||||
| First appearance | October 4, 1990 (Beverly Hills, 90210, "Class of Beverly Hills") |
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| Last appearance | May 17, 2000 (Beverly Hills, 90210, "Ode to Joy") |
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| Cause/reason | Show end | ||||||||||
| Created by | Darren Star | ||||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||||
| Gender | Male | ||||||||||
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Steve Sanders, played by Ian Ziering, is a fictional character in the popular 1990s American television drama Beverly Hills, 90210. Steve, along with Kelly Taylor, David Silver and Donna Martin, appeared in every season of the show. He is the wealthy and spoiled son of businessman Rush Sanders and sitcom star Samantha Sanders.
Steve is known for his brash, self-assured, hypersexual personality and a tendency to act without thought for the consequences, especially during the high school years. Steve augmented a trio of sorts consisting of himself, Brandon Walsh and Dylan McKay and, in many ways, served as a foil for both with Steve often enlisting them in various hare-brained schemes, most of which end disastrously for all involved. Many of Steve's storylines involved clashes with various forms of authority, including high school administration, the frat house with whom he is affiliated during college and the law on several occasions. He is also shown to give in to peer pressure easily. Other storylines saw him attempting to win the affections of various girls, his attempts often backfiring because of his arrogant demeanour, though he would notably mature during the show's run, proving himself capable of long-term relationships, particularly in the ninth and tenth seasons.
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[edit] High school years
Steve is introduced teasing Kelly Taylor, a relationship with whom ended shortly before the beginning of the series. Brandon Walsh meets him on the former's first day at West Beverly and the two quickly strike up a friendship. Steve invites Brandon to a party which ends with freshman David Silver driving a drunken Steve home and ultimately wrecking his car. This begins a love/hate relationship of sorts between the two. Steve is largely a supporting character during the first season, frequently tempting the clean-cut Brandon to do activities that often sit in opposition to his ethical code such as cheating on a test, hanging around outside nightclubs picking up girls (he once got his car stolen by two girls he and Brandon picked up) and spiking his non-alcoholic drink with alcohol when Brandon refuses to drink. He also makes several hamfisted attempts to win Kelly back, all of which are met with rejection (though the two have a drunken one-night stand, which Kelly regrets); late in the season, he shares a kiss with Andrea Zuckerman during a moment of spontaneity while studying for SAT's (Steve believes that they can be studied for while Brandon does not), but they agree that they would be incompatible as a couple. In the final two episodes of the season, a more sensitive and vulnerable side of Steve is shown, the first instance being during the annual Spring Dance (which happens to be on the day of Steve's birthday), where he is hurt by Kelly's indifference towards him. Steve would confide in Brandon shortly afterwards that his mother had revealed that he was adopted on his previous birthday, a truth that Steve had shared only with Kelly up until that point. In the final episode, upon learning of Brandon's return to Minnesota, Steve became standoffish, feeling that he was being deserted.
During the 'Summer episodes' of Season Two, Steve frequents the Beverly Hills Beach Club along with Kelly and Donna and playfully taunts Brandon while he works there. He entices Brandon to attend a late-night poker game being illicitly held in one of the Beach Club's cabins which is interrupted by the police, who mistakenly accuse them of burgling the Club. Later during the season, he meets and starts a relationship with a girl named Christine but breaks up with her when he discovers that she is interested only in the material benefits of being his girlfriend. When his mother's former co-star Chuckie Williams transfers to West Beverly and courts Kelly, Steve is upset by his presence but agrees to claim full responsibility for a fight with Chuckie (started after he taunts Steve about being adopted) so that the latter will participate in a TV reunion with Steve's mother. This conflict is eventually resolved, but fuels Steve's resolve to find his biological mother. His mother knows only that Steve was born in a hospital in Albuquerque to a woman named Karen Brown and Steve travels to New Mexico in search of her. Once in Albuquerque, he tracks down Karen's father and learns that Karen was killed years ago in a car accident; he visits her grave and proposes to his newfound grandfather that they remain in contact. He returns home, recognizing Samantha as his mother. Later in the season, Steve is a member of the track team and is pressured by other team members to use steroids to enhance his performance, which lands him in trouble with the school authorities and with Brandon. At the end of the Season, he realizes that he and Kelly will never resume their relationship and accepts her friendship.
Steve's two most prevalent storyline during Season Three revolved around his low grades and his attempts to change them through illegitimate means and his management of David's music career. At the start of the high school year, he signs up for the 'Senior Buddies' program hoping to meet girls but is instead partnered with computer whiz Herbert. When a former student bequeaths to him a 'Legacy Key' that will unlock any of West Beverly's doors, Steve enlists Herbert's help to hack into the school's computers and change his grades. They are caught and Steve attempts to persuade Herbert to confess to the crime. Herman's disgusted response prompts Steve to accept responsibility for his own actions and he admits to breaking into the school. He is expelled but is reinstalled at West Beverly following negotiations between his mother and assistant principal Mrs. Teasley. His reacceptance at school is under the condition that he attend daily detention until the end of the year and improve his grades, which he does, although Dylan sits in detention in his place in one episode. During this season, he meets Celeste Lundy on a dating game show and they commence a relationship. He graduates along with his friends at the end of the year.
[edit] Celeste and Valerie
Steve attends California University with all of the other characters and joins the Kappa Epsilon Delta (KEG House) fraternity, although he is unsuccessful at convincing Brandon to do the same. At the start of Season Four, he is still in a relationship with Celeste, but they break up following Steve cheating on her with freshman Laura Kingman, who is introduced to him by his Keg House buddies; Laura later (untruthfully) accuses him of raping her but retracts her accusation. These incidents prompt Steve to rethink his perception and treatment of women. He develops an antagonistic relationship with fellow Keg House member John Sears over his treatment of Kelly and their animosity culminates in Sears' ejection from the Keg House. Seeking a home away from the House, Steve convinces Andrea to allow him to use her dormitory room (since she is living with her husband Jesse Vasquez) and clashes with the Residential Tutor, a young woman who despises the Keg House. Steve causes further trouble when he accidentally outs the president of the fraternity as gay but later defends him from the homophobic Keg House members and persuades the Keg House to request his return to the position after he resigns. He strikes up a relationship with Laura again when she auditions for California University's production of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof despite the fact that his best friend's sister, Brenda, has her heart set on the same part. The relationship ends when Laura attempts suicide after being fired from the play and returns to live with her parents. Laura's entire ordeal makes Steve uncomfortable about going to watch the play, which furthers the rift between himself and Brenda, started when Steve attacked Brenda based on rumours spread by Laura. He does eventually see the play on its last night and his friendship with Brenda is restored. In the final episode of Season Four, Steve works at the university's carnival with other members of the Keg House and is given a chance to resolve his hostile relationship with John Sears, who shows up at the carnival with Celeste. Celeste, Brenda and Donna then assist Steve in humiliating Sears.
In Season Five, Steve returns to Beverly Hills and reveals that between the end of Season Four and the beginning of Season Five, he and Celeste resumed their relationship, which ended again when Celeste left Steve for another man in Hawaii. Steve returns convinced that Kelly is the love of his life, but changes his mind quickly once learning that Kelly and Brandon are now together and after meeting Brandon's childhood friend Valerie Malone. Steve falls for Valerie, who is only interested in his money and the two begin dating. Steve also begins to explore entrepreneurship and proposes to Peach Pit owners Dylan and Nat Bussichio that they convert the Peach Pit into a nightclub with financial aid from Steve's father Rush. The idea is a lucrative one that makes all involved a large amount of money, but shortly after the Peach Pit After Dark's success escalates, Steve discovers that Valerie has been cheating on him with Dylan. When they are unable to use the Peach Pit After Dark, Steve changes the venue to a large and unstable house, which results in his being court-ordered not to assume any position of management for a period of time, which causes Steve to become depressed. However, Valerie, David and Clare regularly consulted Steve for advice on managing the After Dark.
[edit] Clare Arnold and Seasons 6 through 10
In Season 6, Steve moves into Casa Walsh after originally planning to share a condo with Brandon and David. Steve is forced to attend early-morning remedial math courses every weekday, and seeks out tutoring help. He ends up hiring Clare, and to both of their surprise, they realize they're attracted to each other and begin dating. Steve's dad gets him an unpaid internship at a talent agency, but he gets fired when someone else makes a stupid mistake that exposes his boss' adulterous affair. Steve continues to prove himself worth of Clare, and in the final few episodes of the season she chooses to be with him over a very rich prince. In Season 7, though, Clare breaks up with Steve because she can't handle his immaturity anymore. Steve also reveals to Kelly that he spread rumors in high school about her being easy, and she is angry at first before forgiving him, saying none of them are the same people they were at West Beverly. Steve gets back with Clare by taking up crew and impressing her with his work ethic. He then ruins his friendship with Brandon by plagiarizing one of Brandon's old reports, which leads a vindictive professor to try and get Brandon thrown out of CU, but Steve repairs things with Brandon by proving the professor is lying. Samantha Sanders later begins dating Clare's father, but when she breaks up with him, Clare blames Steve for it. Steve ends his CU days in a funk because of the situation with Clare and also because his father won't be hiring him to join his business. Steve and Clare break up for good when she decides to go to Paris with her father. In Season 8, Steve meets single mother Carly (Hillary Swank) and after an initial period of her loathing him, he wins her over and they start dating. Rush also hands off a defunct newspaper to Steve and he and Brandon take over the new Beverly Beat. A former girlfriend shows up pregnant and says Steve's the father, but a paternity tests proves he isn't. Steve dates Carly until she leaves LA to be with her ailing father in Montana, after which he slowly dives back into the dating pool: he goes out with a woman who was corresponding with an old tenant in the Beat's building, then editor Janet Sosa (Lindsay Price), and then with a woman who was separated from her husband. In Season 9, Steve says he and the separated woman parted ways, and he later starts dating Janet anew. He also turns the Beat into a tabloid when Brandon leaves for Washington, and over the course of the season begins doing better business. Although he and Janet have several false starts, Steve declares he loves her and they become a committed couple. Steve also wrestles with his own prejudices when he reacts badly at first upon learning his mother is now a lesbian. In Season 10, Steve learns Janet is pregnant with their child. She doesn't want to marry him at first, but later accepts his proposal and they are married right before Janet gives birth to their daughter Madeliene. Near the season (and series) end, Steve and Janet accept a $750,000 buyout for the Beat that leads to Steve's becoming a stay-at-home husband while Janet works for a new publication. They finally decide to use the proceeds from the sale to put together their own paper with their own office, replete with a play center for their daughter.
[edit] Family
Steve is the only son of Rush and Samantha Sanders. Samantha is a television star, famed for her role as family matriarch on sitcom The Hartley House, a show that several characters refer to during the first three seasons (she does not appear until the second season). Steve is shown to be highly protective of his mother, flying into a rage whenever other people insult or make fun of her. He claims that she loved him when nobody else would. Samantha is the one who reveals to Steve that he is adopted and also helps him in tracking down his biological mother by giving him her name and the location of the hospital where he was born. His biological mother's name was Karen Brown and was very young when she had him. It is also because of Samantha that Steve is not expelled from West Beverly after breaking in to change his grades. The relationship between Steve and his father is introduced as a tense one largely because of Rush's competitive attitude and tendency to criticize his son, often in the company of other people; before his first appearance in Season Four, Samantha and Steve both speak derisively of him and Steve admits that he refuses to do anything that might please his father. However, when Rush becomes the sponsor of the Peach Pit After Dark, he and his son's relationship begins to move towards amicability rather than competitiveness. When Rush is unjustifiably angry at Steve over something that's not his fault in Season 6, he says he's ashamed to be Steve's dad, and Steve furiously tells Rush that Rush is not his dad and neither of them have anything to be ashamed of. Rush later finally reveals to Steve that he is Steve's biological father. He explains that he had the affair with Karen Brown and he and Samantha later paid her to adopt Steve without going through official channels. Steve is devastated at first but then ecstatic that he knows the truth about who he is and where he came from. The two then formed an accord.
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