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"Danielle Steel's 'Daddy'." a two-hour TV-movie, is scheduled to air on Wednesday, Oct. 23, at 9 P.M. (ea) on NBC. See local listings for time and channel in your area.

For 12 years on Dallas, Patrick Duffy thrived as nasty J.R.'s honorable kid brother Bobby. Now, costarring with Suzanne Somers in a new ABC series, Step by Step (Fridays. 8:30 P.M. (ET)). Duffy is no longer the little brother, but the big daddy. As contractor Frank Lambert, he helps his wife Carol (Somers) raise a quarrelsome brood of kids from their previous marriages. And this week. Duffy takes on yet another paternal role in "Danielle Steel's 'Daddy'," an NBC movie in which he stars as a jilted husband trying to keep his children's lives in order while rebuilding his own.

At 42. Duffy is ready for prime time fatherhood. The tall. dark, hand some leading man who turned head., at Southfork mow has graying hair But this change of image doesn' seem to faze him. "I'm looking for ward to maturity," Duffy insists. "I'm older mow." He got an ironic reminder of that when former Dallas costa Sasha Mitchell (James) joined the Step by Step cast as Frank's nephew Cody - in large part, says Duffy. It appeal to the age range that I was hired to appeal to when I started of Dallas."

But there's another big change Duffy must adjust to: playing comedy Step by Step is his first big leap into humor, and. in some critics' eye: he's stumbled. Duffy dismisses the skeptics. "For 12 years, I was on dramatic show, but I was working with one of the masters comedy," he says, referring to Dallas costar and fellow pranksterLarry Hagman (J.R.). "Until the camera rolled, Dallas was comedy with Larry and me." Step by Step opened a mixed review, but the debut episode came in at a respectable 22nd in the rankings.

Part of Duffy's confidence in the sitcom stems from his relationship with costar Somers. "It's not the kind of chemistry that makes my heart flutter." says Duffy. "It's the kind that makes me feel comfortable." Even Duffy's wife, Carlyn, agrees that Somers and Duffy are a perfect match. "It's got to be a vote of confidence in that Suzanne is a stunningly beautiful woman, and we're doing lip exercises every five minutes on the show. My wife was able to look beyond that, and saw that we are complementary."

Certainly he has at least one die-hard fan, his youngest son. 11-year-old Conor. "He's only known me on Dallas," Duffy explains, "so when I got Step by Step, he was very honest and said he finally feels I am a television star. now that I have a comedy. He loves comedies. Dallas was just my job and when I got a halfhour comedy, I had arrived."

That comment is a clue to why Duffy not only accepts but relishes his new roles as a father. "We have a very tight family relationship, my wife and my two sons and I. [His other son is 16-year-old Padraic.] We're a mother and a father and two children who get together for a sit-down, tablecloth. silverware meal at least twice a day. Our weekends are spent together. It's like Leave It to Beaver time.

After leaving Dallas last spring, Duffy filmed "Daddy," which he jokes was "the first movie-of-the-week to call up." He says he's the type of actor to take the first job that comes along (which may explain why he's been steadily employed since 1977. when he starred as a gill-breathing superhuman on NBC's Man from Atlantis).

In fact, these days, older, wiser and (thanks to Dallas) richer, Duffy can afford to be choosy. Before starting work on Step by Step, he says he took a hard look at his career and thought, "'What's missing from this picture?' What was missing was a real powerful central character, a leading role. i wanted to establish my ability to anchor and carry a project. I knew what I wanted to see if the world went according to Patrick. If ['Daddy') is the worst thing I've ever done, it's still the perfect thing to do."