Full House is a family sitcom that aired from 1987-1995, that stars Bob Saget, the late actor that played Danny Tanner and was considered “America’s dad” in the early 1990’s. Danny’s wife Pamela dies in a fatal car accident, leaving behind him and his three daughters, Michelle (Mary Kate and Ashley Olson), Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin), and DJ (Candace Cameron Bure).
Because of the tragedy, Danny needed help raising these three little girls. So, he brought in his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis (John Stamos), an exterminator who turned into a mega rock star for the band “Jesse and the rippers,” and Joseph Gladstone (Dave Coulier), a comedian, to help raise his girls. Danny is a TV host of a talk show, “Wake up San Francisco,” where he worked for over 40 years.
Full House would always emphasize the theme of family values, and with the 3 men raising 3 daughters, a lot of said values blended into responsibilities and growing up, hence the many moral lessons learned at the end of episodes.
An example is when in season 1, DJ moved out into the garage because she had lost her room to Stephanie after having her room to herself for many years. This blended in with the added emotion of her mother’s passing and grandma leaving. Danny, understanding as he was, comforted her as well as she could and emphasized the true importance of sharing a room with a young sibling.
The cultural impact of the show was highlighted by the amount of laughs fans around the world would get. From the catchphrases, “You got it dude” (Michelle), and “Have mercy” (Jesse) among others, to the cheesy jokes, it created a path for other 90’s sitcoms, not to mention its iconic theme song “Everywhere you look” was a familiar tune to everybody. The show was so beloved that it was eventually rebooted in the form of “Fuller House” (2016-2020) where DJ took on the widowed parent role and had her sister Stephanie, as well as her next-door neighbor, Kimmy Gibbler (Andrea Barber) help her out with her kids.
A couple of my favorite episodes include when DJ and Stephanie fought over fixing a coat rack and accidentally put the pole through their father’s wall, and tried covering the mess up, as hard as it was because Danny is known as being a neat freak, by singing a song that they learned on the fly. Another one of my favorite episodes had to do with a kid Rusty, the son of a laundromat owner who Danny fell in love with later in the show, who was known for playing tricks on people.
I fell in love with the show as a young kid and would watch reruns on Nick@Nite all the time and always admired the comedy and found the family dynamic quite interesting. As somebody who was born in the 2000’s, those close to me consider me one of the biggest Full House fans.