Saturday, February 27, 2016

Fuller House: A Review---Mild Spoilers Ahead








Those who remember the original Full House TV show are pumped to find it revived on Netflix as Fuller House. The premise of the show is everyone is grown up and DJ Tanner has 3 kids and her best friend and sister move into the old house with her to help out. Hilarious hijinks ensue much like the original show.  Each episode is short and succinct, running a little under 30 minutes. 

The original Full House ran for 8 seasons from 1987 to 1995, with a total of 192 episodes. To compare that to a more modern show, the TV show House, about a genius yet profane doctor ran for 8 seasons from 2004-2012.

To be honest, I haven't revisited the original Full House in quite some time. I didn't watch the original show with any regularity but I did see most of the episodes. The show was extremely cheesy, full of corny jokes and eye- rolling scenes where you know without any doubt, that this could never happen in real life. But the show was about family and about saying you're sorry, about taking responsibility for your actions and about knowing that family and friends love you for who you are and will be there for you at the end of the day.

The original show, from what I remember, was pretty family friendly with an occasional bit of adult humor that was slyly written in to go over the heads of most children watching. The new show (full disclosure I am only 5 episodes in and there are 13 episodes in total) is a bit more sassy as you'll see if you watch it.  The critics were not kind to Uncle Jesse (who helped produce it) and it is doubtful that it will go much of anywhere but a few things about the new show.

First, it does showcase the old full house gang but they only show up in the first episode and some of them drop by from time to time. The new show is definitely about DJ Tanner, she is the star, her best friend Kimmy Kibbler and sister Stephanie are the 2 leading roles, along with a gaggle of kids.

Second, it is just as cheesy as the original but to me that's not a bad thing, it's a cute show, it's not trying hard to be something deep and complex. It's about friends, family, good times and group hugs. If you like those things you'll probably be into it.

Third, it's not as family friendly as you would think. There are some curse words used quite sparingly and some adult themes that I was rather surprised at, they are not overly inappropriate but as a parent I”m not letting my 9 year old and my soon to be 12 year old watch it. Watch it yourself first.

Fourth, it's not groundbreaking. Nothing new here, if your a fan of the old show you'll probably like the new but it's not anything spectacular that you can't live without. It's a decent attempt at revamping the original into the modern day and it succeeds at doing that. It's fun and cute and I like it but you'll have to check it out on Netflix as this is the only venue that is showing the series at this time.

Final grade? I loved the original even though it was quaint and cute and not at all realistic. But I like what I like and that's all that matters. This show is pretty solid, I have to finish it up and I might change or add some things but for me, on a grade of A to F, I give it a B-.

P.S.--the new theme song is fantastic, I'd buy it on itunes, it's that good. 



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