The allure of an older sister was hard to ignore in my early years of admiring the opposite sex. Or in other words, teenage girls were all “hot chicks” and “bodacious babes” to my young eyes and heart. I started having crushes on the ladies as early as age 4, but very quickly noticed that girls 5 and 6 years older than me who came walking by with their lip gloss, hair spray and fruit-flavored gum took my attention away from living room battles between G.I. Joe and Cobra in fleeting moments of exhilaration. As I look back now, it’s even more clear that what really set the stage for this infatuation were the cute, perky, sometimes quirky sisters from my favorite 80’s and 90’s sitcoms. So I invite you to join me for a look back at the hottest sisters from TV Land who caused my heart to pitter-patter with innocent desire.

Dawn Schafer-The Baby-Sitter’s Club

You may or may not remember this cable TV series from 1990 starring a cast of unknowns, but I sure do.  If not the show, you’ve at least heard of the popular book series by Ann M. Martin that inspired it. The show centered around a group of nice girls who ran a babysitting business and had to deal with various situations like divorce, bullying and young love. The first situation caused 2 members of the club, Mary-Anne and Dawn to become sisters when their single parents got married. Dawn was the reason I started reading the books in the first place, based on the fact that she was from my home state of California and looked good in a swimsuit on the cover.

Luckily, the actress who played Dawn on the show brought her to life, just as I had imagined. Full of energy and lots of fun, she was a blonde goddess as far as 2^nd grade me was concerned. In retrospect Dawn’s claim of being from CA deserved to be challenged, as she clearly had an East Coast accent, but truthfully that endeared me to her all the more. I already knew plenty of girls who talked “normal”, so her wacky pronunciations of phrases like “Oh My Gosh” and “Oh No” made her all the more exotic. I owned several VHS tapes of the show and watched them over and over to get a glimpse Dawn, my lady love. I was a very romantic 8 year old.

D.J. Tanner-Full House

Candace Cameron’s evolution from chipmunk cheeked sweetie-pie to the beautiful girl next door was very noticeable over 8 seasons on Full House. She was like your friend’s sister who used to be that annoying girl you wanted to turn off the soap operas so you could play Sega Genesis, then puberty rolls around and suddenly you’re inviting yourself over just to be there when she gets home from Volleyball practice. OK, I didn’t experience that exact scenario, but you get what I’m saying.

Donna Jo “D.J.” Tanner was a sensitive girl who always tried to do the right thing by her family, as well as playing the voice of reason to her younger sisters. And though she went from just a girl, to a real looker by season 8, the true attraction was in her kindness. A smart and pretty girl that would also be nice to you? It was quite contrast to say Kelly Bundy from Married…With Children, who was trashy and mean (or just dumb in the later seasons). Plus D.J. ended up dating “Steve” aka Scott Weigner aka the voice of Aladdin which is my favorite Disney animated film. If she caught the heart of  “Prince Ali”, she was good enough for me!

Karen Foster-Step By Step

Step By Step seems to get lost in the shuffle of classic TV sitcoms, even though it ran for 7 years, mostly based on the popularity of the Ted  “Theodore” Logan imitating, Cousin Cody. But it wasn’t the dim-witted dude living in the driveway that got me tuning in, it was the dark-haired beauty, Karen. Played by Angela Watson, Karen was a squeaky voiced airhead who served as a contrast between the opinionated Dana and immature tom-boy, “Al”.

As shallow as I was, all it really took to declare Karen the “Babe” of the bunch was that she wore the trendiest, tight-fitting outfits and sported a nice smile.  Looking back, I totally see how reminiscent her look was to every guys all-time TV crush, Kelly Kapowski, which probably had the most to do with my infatuation. It’s fitting that she resides neither at the bottom or the top of the list, but somewhere in the middle. She embodied 90’s teen attractiveness well enough to get the job done.

Wendy & Cindy Lubbock-Just The Ten of Us

The #2 spot is a tie between a duo of sisters that occupied a similar role on Growing Pains spin-off, Just the Ten of Us. I’m talking about the knockouts of the Lubbock family tree, Wendy and Cindy. With a cast of 10 all vying for screen time you would think that standing out on the series would be tough, but Brooke Theiss and Jamie Luner managed to make themselves the center of every scene with vivacious personalities and solid comedic performances. The pretty pair embodied the classic 80’s mall girl tropes, but in a very sincere way.

I loved Wendy’s scheming, boy-crazy attitude. What she lacked in book smarts she made up for with bravado and looking good in a mini-skirt. Plus, she took on the role as “Head Sister” you know, if there was such a thing. Cindy was pretty clueless most of the time, but she could really rock that side pony tail like it was 1989…because it was. She also had the most sultry dance moves when the quartet of sisters performed on the show as a musical group called “The Lubbock Babes”. Now it’s time to reveal the hottest TV sister of all time…

Jamie Powell-Charles In Charge

Remember the description I gave of older sisters in the opening paragraph? It was Nicole Eggert’s weekly performances as Jamie Powell on Charles In Charge that I was talking about. Aside from rocking some of the best 80’s hairstyles and pink lip gloss the decade had to offer, Jamie was the ultimate stuck-up older sister who gave you grief, but knew you could count on in the end. She always had that look like she was up to something no good and you knew she had several back-up boyfriends ready to go at a moments notice. I always wanted to be friends with Adam, played by Alexander Polansky, so I could hang out by the banister and get a whiff of her perfume as she ran up the stairs. Girls who wore perfume were so mature.

I recently got confirmation that it was the Jamie character I was attracted to while scanning episodes on YouTube and coming upon a bizarre attempt at creating a spin-off from Charles in Charge. In the episode “Fair Exchange”, Jamie gets invited to visit her cousin Amanda’s family in New Mexico (who she admits she’s never even met) but due to previous plans, Sarah ends up making the trip. When she shows up at the door, Sarah finds out in a Patty Duke like twist that Amanda looks exactly like Jamie with the character also being played by Nicole Eggert. Isn’t that crazy? They totally thought they could cast the same actress in the same role, but with a different name on a new set. The only problem was, with the show revolving around the Amanda character as the ultimate older sister, she is forced to take on the Charles role of dispensing wisdom to her annoying younger siblings while dealing with the recently arrived Romanian exchange student and frankly, is super bland. Instead of showing up in a cute outfit to make a sassy comment, she just solves everybody’s problems for them. Boooring.

So that's the list. Love it? Hate it? Tell me who your sitcom crush was. Ladies, who was the hottest older brother on TV?