Fuller House (Netflix, Season 1)
Nov. 3rd, 2016 04:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chuckroTwenty years after Full House ended, the family reunites at their old home to celebrate going their separate ways. Until it becomes clear that the challenges of single parenting (following her husband’s death) are too much for DJ, and Stephanie and Kimmie agree to move in to the old house to help her raise her three boys. It’s déjà vu all over again.
The first episode is just a Full House reunion show, very carefully pulling in every non-Olson actor and reprising every one of the old running gags. (There’s a line about Michelle being in NYC running her fashion company, after which every single actor mugs at the camera.) Outside of the nostalgia factor...that one’s not actually very good. Once they get out from revisiting the late 80s—which happens in stops and starts, admittedly—there’s actually some very funny writing in there. Stephanie Tanner has learned absolutely nothing in 20 years (as evidenced by her absurd overconfidence and instant willingness to tell ridiculous lies to attractive men). Kimmie Gibbler is still nuts, but a shockingly competent nuts. DJ has turned into her father, which is exactly the way it should be.
It gets a bit raunchier than the original did, but then, a) that actually makes it funnier and b) the entire audience for this are people old enough to have watched the original show. “Family friendly” shouldn’t be strictly required so long as it captures the original tone, which it totally does. (And if you can’t handle a 40-year-old woman making mild sexual innuendo because she was once a child star, the problem is you, not her.)
DJ gets into a Betty-and-Veronica scenario with two guys who are both interested in her, and at one point they both go to kiss her, she dodges, and they end up kissing each other. They do a decent job of dodging around the homophobia angle. DJ: “Didn’t I say you were both great kissers?” First Man: “I’ve had better.” Second Man: “I wasn’t even trying!” A more subversive show would have the guys end up together, but if you wanted something subversive, why the hell are you watching Fuller House? (After DJ rejects them both in the last episode of the season, they go out for beers together. I officially ship them. Steve had to grow on me, but Matt had me at a hurricane-of-dad-jokes he delivered in his second appearance.)
They do location episodes and random celebrity special guests. They have flashbacks to the original series for ridiculous reasons. They create absurd and unrealistic sitcom situations that always end with hugging it out. They looooove their catchphrases, new and old. There’s plenty of random singing (mostly Stephanie, showing off Sweetin’s voice), athletics (mostly DJ, showing exactly how good shape Bure is in) and dancing (everybody). They lampshade a lot of the original tropes while playing them just as straight as always. Does it work? Pretty well, I thought.
(Also, I should probably confess that, as Jodi Sweetin and I are the same age, I had a bit of a crush on her when we were 14. And I’ll be first to admit she’s still totally hot.)
Overall: If you don’t have the nostalgia factor for the original show, there are far better sitcoms to watch. This doesn’t really stand up without that. But given that I totally have the nostalgia factor and am squarely in the demographic this is aimed at…yeah, I dig it. Don’t judge me.
The first episode is just a Full House reunion show, very carefully pulling in every non-Olson actor and reprising every one of the old running gags. (There’s a line about Michelle being in NYC running her fashion company, after which every single actor mugs at the camera.) Outside of the nostalgia factor...that one’s not actually very good. Once they get out from revisiting the late 80s—which happens in stops and starts, admittedly—there’s actually some very funny writing in there. Stephanie Tanner has learned absolutely nothing in 20 years (as evidenced by her absurd overconfidence and instant willingness to tell ridiculous lies to attractive men). Kimmie Gibbler is still nuts, but a shockingly competent nuts. DJ has turned into her father, which is exactly the way it should be.
It gets a bit raunchier than the original did, but then, a) that actually makes it funnier and b) the entire audience for this are people old enough to have watched the original show. “Family friendly” shouldn’t be strictly required so long as it captures the original tone, which it totally does. (And if you can’t handle a 40-year-old woman making mild sexual innuendo because she was once a child star, the problem is you, not her.)
DJ gets into a Betty-and-Veronica scenario with two guys who are both interested in her, and at one point they both go to kiss her, she dodges, and they end up kissing each other. They do a decent job of dodging around the homophobia angle. DJ: “Didn’t I say you were both great kissers?” First Man: “I’ve had better.” Second Man: “I wasn’t even trying!” A more subversive show would have the guys end up together, but if you wanted something subversive, why the hell are you watching Fuller House? (After DJ rejects them both in the last episode of the season, they go out for beers together. I officially ship them. Steve had to grow on me, but Matt had me at a hurricane-of-dad-jokes he delivered in his second appearance.)
They do location episodes and random celebrity special guests. They have flashbacks to the original series for ridiculous reasons. They create absurd and unrealistic sitcom situations that always end with hugging it out. They looooove their catchphrases, new and old. There’s plenty of random singing (mostly Stephanie, showing off Sweetin’s voice), athletics (mostly DJ, showing exactly how good shape Bure is in) and dancing (everybody). They lampshade a lot of the original tropes while playing them just as straight as always. Does it work? Pretty well, I thought.
(Also, I should probably confess that, as Jodi Sweetin and I are the same age, I had a bit of a crush on her when we were 14. And I’ll be first to admit she’s still totally hot.)
Overall: If you don’t have the nostalgia factor for the original show, there are far better sitcoms to watch. This doesn’t really stand up without that. But given that I totally have the nostalgia factor and am squarely in the demographic this is aimed at…yeah, I dig it. Don’t judge me.
