Template:Character QuoteSteve Sanders, played by Ian Ziering, is a character introduced in the first series of the Beverly Hills, 90210 continuity. Steve also made brief guest appearances in early episodes of Melrose Place, the franchise's second series, accompanying his friend Kelly Taylor to Los Angeles (while joined by Donna Martin and David Silver). Originally a laid-back goofball who didn't mind taking shortcuts to get ahead, Steve matured throughout the series into a more responsibly minded individual. In the process, he retained a good deal of his sense of humor.
Character Overview
Beverly Hills, 90210
Season 1
Steve is the son of Rush Sanders, a successful businessman, and Samantha, a famed actor. Being rich, Steve comes from a privileged background that facilitated his thrill-seeking lifestyle and lax sense of ethics while growing up. He eventually met his opposite in Brandon Walsh, a far more strait-laced young man from Minnesota, who unexpectedly became his best friend.
His ex-girlfriend was Kelly Taylor, but as much as he tried, he could not win her back.
Although Steve loved his life, he was distraught over the fact that he was adopted and was upset at the Spring Dance when Kelly spent more time with Brandon than with him.
Season 2
Steve spent the summer playing around at the Beverly Hills Beach Club, where he held private poker games which came to a screeching halt when the club got robbed in the middle of the night in the very room they were playing.
After school began, he still found himself pining over Kelly and actually helped rescue her from being raped at a Halloween party by The Cowboy, who he punched out in Kelly's defense.
He and Andrea Zuckerman had a fun adventure one night looking for a night club by "exchanging an egg", but kept getting lost.
When Steve's childhood nemesis, Chuck Wilson (a.k.a Chucky), rubbed his nose in the fact that he wasn't Samantha's real son, Steve left Beverly Hills to find his real mother around Christmas time. His journey took him to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he found his biological grandfather, Al Brown. Steve learned that his mother, Karen Brown, gave him up because she couldn't take care of him.
Season 3
Steve spent the summer mostly competing with Brandon over women at the Beverly Hills Beach Club, including Brooke Alexander.
once the school year started, however, Steve was assigned a senior buddy, Herbert Little, who he treated badly. When Steve was approached by B.J. Harrison and given the legacy key to unlock all of the school's doors, Steve recruited Herbert to help him change his grades in the school computer. When the break-in was exposed, the faculty began looking for the culprit.
Hutchins, the school janitor, blackmailed Steve with the information that he was aware it was him who broke into the school. Steve repeatedly paid him off, but eventually he was discovered. he tried to get Herbert to take the fall for him, but after Herbert balked at what a user Steve was, Steve took full blame for the break-in, leaving Herbert's name out of it.
Steve was given a full year of detention for his actions, but allowed to graduate. While in detention, he crossed paths with Joe Wardlow, a student who was involved in the local drag racing circuit. However, once Steve and Brandon found out that Frank Padilla, a local goon and drag racer, was responsible for a hit-and-run on Andrea Zuckerman, Steve stalled Frank during a race long enough for Brandon to find the police. Before they could finish the race, Dylan stopped them and the police raided the area, arresting Frank after Andrea I.D.'d him.
He later competed on a dating game show against Brandon for the affections of Celeste Lundy, in which Steve finally got the girl.
Steve graduated with his friends in the class of 1993 and spent the evening in the Hollywood Hills with them.
Season 4
Steve attended California University with the rest of the gang. He was a legacy to the fraternity KEG house. During hazing, Steve was forced to break into Professor Cory Randall's in order to steal an autographed baseball by brother John Sears. He was caught and it turned out that someone had alerted the campus security ahead of time. Brandon managed to get Steve off the hook due to his relationship with Randall. Steve believed John Sears to be the one who set him up and told Mike Ryan, the fraternity president. John was angry at Steve because he ruined his chances with Kelly.
John and Steve took it to the fraternity, stating that one of them had to be voted out of the frat house. However, before the vote, John confided in Keith Christopher that it was him that ratted Steve out. When it came time to vote, everybody voted for Steve until Keith voted for John. When John spoke out in outrage, Keith told the fraternity that if John would set up Steve, he would set up any of them. After this realization, the rest of the brothers, including Morton Muntz, voted for John and banished him from the fraternity, letting Steve keep his position with them.
At one point, Steve was set up on a blind date with Laura Kingman. Although they initially hit it off, Steve broke up with her after they slept together because he was already with Celeste Lundy. Afterwards, Laura began to believe that Steve raped her and had planned to announce this at the "Take Back The Night" rally, but Kelly Taylor, not believing Laura's claims, stood up at the rally and told everyone the story about how Steve saved her from a rapist two years ago on Halloween. Laura decided not to ruin Steve, admitting that she never said "yes", but never said "no", either. However, Celeste broke up with Steve when he admitted to his infidelity.
Later in the season, on his way to a Dodgers game, Steve and Brandon went to use the phone at a gay coffee house, where Steve spotted KEG president Mike Ryan with a guy. Mike admitted to Steve that he was gay, but begged him not to tell the fraternity. However, while dressing for the Guys of C.U. calendar, Artie Devers taunted Steve with implications of homosexuality, causing him to reveal Mike's sexual preference. Although Mike was angry at Steve, they eventually mended fences when Steve stood up for Mike when Artie rallied the fraternity to vote out Mike. With Keith seconding Steve, KEG kept Mike as their president while Artie walked out on them.
Steve later began coaching Laura Kingman on acting when she was competing with Brenda Walsh for the role of Maggie the Cat in "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof". After Brenda won the part, despite a horrid audition, Steve began to wonder if Brenda slept with the director, Roy Randolph, to get the part. This led to tension between he and Brenda with Steve defending Laura. However, Steve began to suspect something was wrong when Laura asked Steve to intervene and hurt Brenda, making it look like an accident. Steve, in order to keep Laura from hurting Brenda herself, agreed, but later informed Brandon, Kelly, and Donna of Laura's actions.
After Laura was fired from the play, she tried to commit suicide. After Steve found her suicide note, he rushed to the theater with Brenda and they talked Laura down from hanging herself.
As the year drew to an end, Steve found himself confronted by old enemy John Sears at the California University Mardi Gras carnival, who had started dating Steve's ex-girlfriend, Celeste Lundy. He eventually, with the help of Brenda and Kelly, got Celeste to see what a creep John Sears was before he jousted Sears into the mud pit.
Season 5
Steve started out the fifth season returning home from Hawaii after being dumped by Celeste, who met a lost love while they were there. He told Brandon that Kelly would always be his true love and he would win her back, not knowing that Brandon and Kelly had started seeing each other over the summer. He was heartbroken when he found out about them, but Brandon steered Steve in the direction of Valerie Malone, who had moved into Brenda's room in the Walsh house.
Although Steve pursued her, she was not as into him and was secretly pursuing Dylan McKay behind his back. Although Kelly tried to convince Steve that Valerie wasn't the All-American girl Steve believed her to be, but Steve would not listen.
Before that, however, Steve and Dylan had collaborated on beginning the Peach Pit After Dark to make Nat some more money. Steve's plan was a success, but was shut down due to lack of room. Steve, David, and Clare convinced Dylan to finance the lease of the building next door to expand their business. However, after Steve found Valerie with Dylan and punched him out, he quit their collaboration.
Steve tried his hand at planning private parties with his KEG brother, Griffin Stone, but the party in question was ruined when a fire broke out in the private house they were using. While Ray Pruit helped clear the house, Kelly Taylor and Alison Lash were both trapped inside, resulting in both getting burned.
As a result, Steve and Griffin were taken to court on criminal charges. They both received 100 hours of community service and were forbidden from holding parties for two years. Steve found out through his father that Griffin had lied about getting permission to use the house. Steve then threatened Griffin, who left the KEG house, never to be heard from again.
While Steve was serving his community service, he struck up a friendship with one of his mother's former co-stars, Saul Howard, an Alzheimer's patient, who kept referring to Steve as Chucky. Steve learned to appreciate the life he has while helping Saul deal with his disease.
Steve spent the rest of the season feeling sorry for himself, eventually ending the year in Palm Springs where he picked up a transvestite named Elle, not knowing it was really a man.
Season 6
Steve began season 6 by throwing a party at the Walsh Family House when it is set to be demolished. After the party fell out of escrow, Steve decided to move into the house to get some distance from the KEG house, citing that facility had mold growing in the bathrooms.
When Steve was busted for cheating on a math aptitude test a year earlier, Steve was required to find a tutor. After searching without success, a reluctant Clare Arnold volunteered to help him, despite the fact that they had never gotten along.
After posing in an online chat room with the user name 'Tender Heart', Steve went on a blind date with someone he met there named 'Cuddles'. He was surprised when he got there and found Clare, both of them having lied online about their identity. Their relationship began to soften and the two found themselves cuddling after a tutoring session.
After going on their first date to Antonia Marchette's party for Dylan, Steve and Clare kissed at the Beach House. From there, Steve and Clare became a genuine loving couple and were often together at all times.
Steve later started an internship with Scott Coveny, his father's friend. He was initially treated badly by his boss, Tammy Kane, but when she found out he was friends with the boss, she started buttering him up, though she was later fired. At Christmas, Steve was asked by Scott to deliver some presents to both his daughter and mistress. However, the labels were wrong and one ended up getting the others gift. Rush Sanders blamed Steve and they had an argument, one in which Rush regretted calling Steve his son.
After Steve lambasted Rush by telling him he wasn't his real father, Rush revealed to Steve that he was, biologically, his real son. Steve celebrated the end of his "Christmas Curse" with Clare and his friends.
One day, while shopping with Clare, they ran into Elle, the transvestite from Palm Springs the previous year. After Steve tried to tell her that Elle was a man, Clare didn't believe him and was annoyed at Steve's "childish behavior". However, while attending a dinner with Clare and her father, Milton Arnold, they ran into Elle once again. When Elle flirted with Chancellor Arnold, Steve privately begged him not to hurt the Chancellor due to Steve being in love with Clare, a conversation overheard by Clare. Elle agreed to back away, citing he had a soft spot for Steve. Clare and Steve told each other they loved the other.
As the school year came to a close, Clare's childhood friend, Prince Carl arrived in Los Angeles looking to steal Clare away from Steve. He showered Steve with loads of gifts, eventually worming his way into getting Steve's permission for a chance at Clare at Steve's birthday party. However, after Clare was repulsed by their deal, Steve and Brandon went to down their sorrows at a local bar. There, they got into a bar fight, but spotted Colin Robbins, who was a wanted fugitive. He got away, but they caught him the next day.
Steve and Clare reunited at the end of the season because she loved Steve as Carl bowed out of the picture.
Season 7
Steve began the season in Texas finishing up his trip across the country with Brandon Walsh. Catching a plane back home to see Clare, a series of mishaps occurred when they kept trying to surprise each other in both Texas and Los Angeles, only to keep crossing paths. They finally reunited at an airport and embraced with a kiss.
However, at the Beverly Hills Beach Club reunion, Clare learned that Steve and Kelly had once been romantically linked, a fact that somehow escaped her in the two years she lived with Kelly. While she was initially upset, she witnessed Steve giving Ryan Sanders and Austin Sanders a lecture about respecting women before she finally put it behind her.
It was short-lived, however, because Clare made a statement that she was never getting married, a statement which caused friction between her and Steve once again. However, after watching Nat Bussichio and Joan Diamond get married after twenty-five years apart, they agreed to just see where love takes them.
Steve and Clare, having been fighting, broke up when Clare had enough and she began dating Dick Harrison. When she offered Steve an open relationship, he balked at the suggestion. He then challenged Dick and his fraternity to a rowing race despite Dick's guys being a well-oiled machine. However, when Steve and his KEG guys held their own, Clare admired Steve's dedication and started their relationship once again.
However, Steve was then taking to the university tribunal after Professor Cory Randall recognized one of his papers as having been written by Brandon. Steve pleaded guilty to the charges and was given academic probation while Brandon was in danger of being expelled. With Brandon about to get found guilty of collusion, Steve and Clare found some old tests which proved Randall had fabricated evidence. Brandon was exonerated and Randall was taken up on charges himself.
Steve was forced to work security for the university, where he was harassed by the Phantom of C.U., who turned out to be Larry Lincoln.
Steve and Clare were both not happy when Milton Arnold and Samantha Sanders began seeing each other. Later, when Samantha began treating the Chancellor badly, Clare began blaming Steve.
They began having their own problems, however. Clare tried acting like a guy for a while to annoy Steve, who saw how he'd been treating her. Clare then blamed Steve for ruining her term paper after she spilled coffee on the computer. Steve retrieved the paper for her, but was upset.
Later, when Steve told Clare she could be vulnerable now and then, Clare tried it by singing a song that her mother used to sing to her onstage in front of the university at the talent show.
However, as the group graduated college, Steve was told by Rush that he would make his own way in life and Clare dumped Steve to move to Paris with her father. Steve ended the season having a one night stand with Valerie out of grief.
Season 8
Steve began the year by taking Erin Silver to her soccer game, where he met Zach Reynolds, a boy who was getting overpowered during the game. When Steve tried to give the boy advice, Zach's mother, Carly Reynolds, butted in, telling him to stay away from her son. Later, Steve ran into Carly at a restaurant, where she dumped a drink on him and got fired.
Steve went to Hawaii with Brandon, Valerie, Kelly, David, and Donna to take a vacation. Steve got sunburned badly because of the difference of the sun in Hawaii and spent most of the trip in pain.
After they got home, Kelly was shot in a drive-by and Steve had to take Erin to her game again. He met Carly there again and he offered to get her a job at The Peach Pit, which she accepted. Steve began to fall for Carly and bonded strongly with Zach as well.
He also opened The Beverly Beat with Brandon as the editor and Terri Spar as the production manager, with himself handling the business end of things. One of their first stories involved his father, Rush Sanders, and the fact that he ran a sweat shop, which put them at odds once again.
Steve was later accused by Jody Carlisle of being the father to her unborn child, causing friction between Steve and Carly. As they waited for the results of the paternity test to see if Steve was the father, Steve and Jody butted heads over his long-term responsibility for the child. In the end, it turned out not to be Steve's child.
After Carly's father had a heart attack, she left to move back to Montana to take care of him. She, Zach, and Steve shared an emotional goodbye before she got on the plane to go home.
Steve had planned to play the field and met women of all sorts, including two lesbians who thought he and Brandon were a gay couple. He also shared a brief Cinderella-like storyline with Tammy Hansen, a police officer, where she kissed him in the Peach Pit After Dark to get out of a blind date before disappearing into the night. She later pulled him over after he ran a stop sign.
Steve and Brandon went on a ride-along with Tammy and her partner, Glen. During the ride-along, they witnessed Glen subduing a suspect named Louie. Steve and Brandon start to bicker about the brutality used, as well as took opposing sides on whether or not Valerie was date raped.
Steve later found some letters from a woman named Jill Reiter to a man named Ted. He was so intrigued by Jill that he pretended to be Ted when she came to Los Angeles to meet him. She was furious when she found out he lied, but found Ted for her and brought them together. However, after Jill couldn't get Steve out of her mind, she dumped Ted and came back to Steve. They broke up a few weeks later because they had nothing in common.
Steve later took Janet Sosna to his high school reunion, but didn't spend much time with her and ended up treating her bad enough that she left early. She refused to date him anymore after that incident and told him to keep the relationship professional.
When Brandon wanted to hire a special assistant, Steve was hesitant to hire Sarah Edmunds because he was attracted to her and felt he would ruin the workplace. She, however, felt the same way and the two started dating. However, Steve learned she was married, yet separated from her husband. They had a fling, but Sarah soon decided that she was going to work things out with her husband and dumped Steve.
Season 9
Steve began the year by meeting Sophie Burns while returning the gifts from Brandon and Kelly's non-wedding. She ripped off the store by quick-changing the cashier and then hustled into Steve's car.
Steve was instantly smitten with Sophie, but she wasn't interested in him. He offered her a place to stay until she got a dorm room at California University, but she was interested in David and not Steve.
After Steve moved on, Brandon eventually quit and moved to Washington, D.C. Steve, unable to match Brandon's work on the paper, turned The Beverly Beat into a tabloid. In addition, his mother confessed to him that she was gay.
Later, while investigating a ghost story, Steve and Janet got locked into a refrigerator. Closed quarters got the best of them and they ended up having sex. From then on, the two kept finding themselves doing it in different places. However, Janet was scared of getting hurt, so treated Steve coldly about their whole arrangement. However, Steve finally got her to stay with him in a serious committed relationship.
Her father, Ben Sosna did not approve of their relationship because Steve was not Japanese.
As the year progressed, Steve's storyline mostly consisted of his relationship with Janet and the various wacky stories they wrote. Steve and Janet ended the year in a committed relationship.
Season 10
After Janet was revealed to be pregnant, she pushed Steve away because she found him to be unreliable and childish. Despite Steve being a little scared, he did everything he could to keep Janet in his life. Finally, after several weeks of rejecting Steve, she accepted his marriage proposal.
Once the plan was in motion, Steve and Janet planned a scavenger hunt for their friends, which ended at their wedding ceremony presided over by Pastor Neal. Later, Janet went into premature labor and gave birth to Madeline Sanders.
Ben and Michelle Sosna came to get to know Steve and his family, but got a comedy of errors involving Rush Sanders, Samantha's girlfiend Karen Lewis, and a stripper named Trish Jansen. Ben and Michelle were appalled and refused to stay.
At Christmas, however, Steve gave the Sosnas, Ben and Michelle, a last chance to be a part of Madeline's life. They eventually warmed to the idea and showed up on Christmas to visit the family.
Steve and Janet later hired Darby Shahan as their nanny. Steve had, in the past, had a one-night stand with her, but didn't remember until she slept with Noah Hunter and he shared details of the encounter.
Steve and Janet concluded the series as a happily married couple with their daughter Madeline as the focus of their lives.
Appearance and Style
Parents
Steve takes after both of his parents, who are also displayed as flamboyant. Each, however, possesses key differences that have shaped his relationships with them. Samantha is an openly loving woman who Steve has always been highly proud of and quite close to. Rush, by contrast, has a blunt and sometimes insensitive nature. Consequently, his relationship with Steve became strained throughout his son's childhood and early adult life.
Steve discovered that he'd been adopted toward the end of the first season, and was quite stunned and hurt that this had been kept from him. Nevertheless, his close bond with his mom would ultimately endure. He eventually attempted to find his birth parents, only to discover that his biological mother had passed away. It was revealed years later that Steve's adoption was true of only one parent, as Rush is indeed his biological father. With this information in the open, Steve and Rush finally began settling their differences for good. Rush would later help Steve start up a publication with Brandon.
Love life
Steve expressed interest in many women throughout the course of the series, much like his friend Brandon, but would end up having serious relationships with a select few. These bonds would help to develop his character with regard to consequence, monogamy, and responsibility.
Kelly Taylor
It was revealed throughout the first season that Steve had a history with Kelly Taylor, which included an ultimately failed romantic relationship. It was implied that Steve's generally conceited, careless attitude at the time was what had led Kelly to leave him. Despite this, the two would remain close friends well into their adult lives.
Celeste Lundy
Steve won the affections of Celeste Lundy while competing on a dating game show, and began seeing her soon afterward. Though he cherished the relationship, Steve lost Celeste following an irresponsible moment in which he became unfaithful. However, the two regained a portion of their friendship while spending time together at a carnival.
Clare Arnold
Steve would later begin a long-term involvement with the semi-snobbish Clare Arnold. While largely playful at first, both would gradually reveal more mature and sensitive sides through their dedication and love for one another. In contrast to his high school relationship with Kelly, Steve displayed more restraint during arguments with Clare; he was generally less cocky and more interested in compromise. This would often help to reinforce the genuine affection that existed between the two. At the end of their relationship, Clare reluctantly left Steve and Beverly Hills to spend time with her distraught father.
Carly Reynolds
Steve was later involved with a woman named Carly Reynolds and developed a fatherly bond with her young son, though they eventually moved away as well.
Janet Sosna
Steve finally met 'the one' in Janet Sosna, (portrayed by Lindsay Price) an emotionally guarded woman who worked on the Beverly Beat publication and initially wanted a merely sexual relationship with him. In time, however, the pair would come to realize and acknowledge their true feelings, and developed a deeper bond that resulted in marriage and the birth of their daughter, Madeline. Thus, Steve concluded the series as a loving husband and father.
Trivia
Quotes
- "What do I look like, an ATM?"
Photos
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