Review — Fuller House Season One

Back in the 90′s, it seemed like every weekend there was a new Hollywood film adapting a TV show from the 50′s or 60′s. Dennis The Menace, The Brady Bunch, The Adams Family, Mission: Impossible, and so many others. Hollywood was making bank on the nostalgia of my parents’ generation.

In the last few years, Hollywood has been adapting shows from my childhood: Transformers and G.I. JOE have both had multiple film adaptations. Disney brought back Boy Meets World. On Friday, Netflix debuted Fuller House, reviving one of the most popular sitcoms of my childhood. Finally, it’s time for my generation to be catered to!

If you were either too old to care, or too young (or not alive yet) to know, Full House was an immensely popular show among kids my age. I was six the year it debuted and fourteen the year it had its season finale. In a very real sense I grew up with the Tanner children. While Thursday night was Must See TV for my parents, Friday night was appointment viewing for kids my age. ABC’s TGIF programming block hosted shows like Full House, Family Matters, Step By Step, Perfect Strangers, Boy Meets World, and so many others. I have so many fond memories of watching those shows week in and week out.

So, how is Fuller House? Well, if you ask professional critics, you’ll get a pretty bleak answer. Right now Rotten Tomatoes has the critics’ score at 30%, which is not good. But it seems to be resonating with audiences as the RT audience score is 80%. The only thing I can come up with is that the critics must not have been fans of the original. I mean, do you really want some kind of dark update to these characters? I spent all weekend binging the thirteen episode first season of Fuller House with my wife, and I absolutely loved it.

Is it cheesy? Heck yes! (And so was the original.) Does it frequently wink at itself? It does, and it’s hilarious. Is it basically a re-do of the original format? Completely, and that’s perfect.

In the original show, Danny Tanner was faced with raising his three daughters alone after the death of his wife. But his brother-in-law and best friend came to his rescue and moved in with him to help him out. In Fuller House, DJ Tanner is takes that role as her firefighter husband has recently passed away and she is faced with raising her three boys alone. In the new show, sister Stephanie and best friend Kimmy Gibbler move in to help her. And yes, the show takes place in the same, beloved house. Danny Tanner still owns it and tells DJ she and her family can live in it as long as she needs it. Stephanie takes on the Uncle Jesse role as the cool, rock star aunt. Kimmy takes on Uncle Joey’s role as the quirky best friend. The three boys are basically male versions of the three girls from the original show. Bob Saget, John Stamos, and Dave Coulier are all in the picture, but they only make occasional guest appearances. This helps ground the show in its roots while letting the younger generation have room to breathe.

The show frequently makes fun of itself, and the actors sometimes mug cheerily for the camera. And it totally works. This is a show that knows its original was beloved by millions and its giving the fans exactly what they want. Are the characters portrayed as paragons of virtue? Sometimes, but not always. But what it does get right is what the original show got right: family is important, and families are meant to love each other.

It also does a hilarious job of dealing with the conspicuous absence of the Michelle Tanner. The Olsen twins decided they weren’t interested in reprising the role that made them famous, and Fuller House does a nice job of gently poking fun at them. I get the feeling that it’s all in fun, but it certainly gets a lot of laughs.

I loved Fuller House, and I hope its getting loads of views on Netflix. I really hope the service puts out a second season. And let’s go longer than thirteen episodes this time! If you loved the original Full House, I predict you’ll love Fuller House. It’s like wrapping up in the 90′s, and I’m so glad it’s there. Now if only Netflix will get to work updating some of the other beloved TGIF shows. ;-)