8.5
Wichita van Rijkom gives Fuller House - Season 1 a 8.5.
1 April 2016, 11:09 by Wichita van Rijkom
Fuller House - Season 1
It seems to be a new trend, reviving popular series from the past and turning them into modern versions. A recent example of this is ‘Fuller House’ based on ‘Full House’, a series that was a big hit in the late 80’s/early 90’s. After years of planning and negotiating, Netflix decided to revive the show and the complete first season was released in February 2016. With 13 episodes of about 30 minutes each, many fans decided to binge-watch it right away. This resulted in lower ratings for ABC, the network which previously aired ‘Full House’, during their comedy night on the release date. The hype has cooled off a bit since then so it’s time to see if it was all worth it. Did they make the right decision bringing this show back to life or should it have stayed in the past just like its predecessor?
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The original intro has been rerecorded by Carly Rae Jepsen to modernize it a bit. A nice gesture this season was the first episode which was dedicated to the mothers of Dave Coulier, John Stamos & Bob Saget who all died in 2014 shortly after one another. The friendships and family ties you see on screen are also there off-screen. For example: most of the cast was present at Coulier’s wedding in 2015 and Andrea Barber and Candace Cameron Bure enjoyed a private Christmas party together like true BFF's. The only two people missing are the Olsen twins, which is unfortunate because it would’ve been a blast if Michelle made an appearance during this first season. Fans keep hoping this will happen in the future but for now we’ll have to enjoy the series without them. This, however, did give the writers inspiration for some awesome jokes.
‘Fuller House’ made me relive my youth and shows a comedy style that I’ve missed on TV over the past couple of years. I’m very happy they made this revival and loved every bit of it! The nostalgia that is even somewhat old-fashioned every now and then is something I really liked, but was also something I often noticed as critique on the show. Not everyone will agree with me on this, but I was really looking forward to this series and thankfully ‘Fuller House’ did not disappoint (me). Of course I have noticed the cheesy scenes and the cast had to refresh their acting skills as well in the beginning. But overall that didn’t change my opinion about this show. I hope many seasons will follow and because of this great start I’m giving the first season an A-grade rating!
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D.J. Tanner Fuller (Candace Cameron Bure) is the eldest sister of the Tanner family and mum of three sons named Jackson (Michael Campion), Max (Elias Harger) and Tommy Fuller (Dashiell & Fox Messitt). After her husband died while working as a fire fighter she decided to move in with her dad Danny (Bob Saget) to get some help while grieving over her husband’s loss. Her uncle Jesse (John Stamos), aunt Becky (Lori Loughlin) and family friend Joey (Dave Coulier) move in as well to help out, but when it’s time to leave D.J. on her own as a single parent, they find out she’s not quite ready for this. This eventually leads to sister Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin) and best friend Kimmy Gibbler (Andrea Barber) to move in and help out some more. Kimmy is an event planner with a teenage daughter named Ramona (Soni Nicole Bringas) and a (soon to be) ex-husband named Fernando (Juan Pablo Di Pace, ‘Dallas’). Ramona is not very happy about the move while Fernando still tries to win his ex back. Stephanie is a popular and carefree deejay, while D.J. is a veterinarian.Just as ‘Full House’ experienced back in the day critics are pretty negative about ‘Fuller House’, even though the viewers seem to like it.
[image-60991]
The original intro has been rerecorded by Carly Rae Jepsen to modernize it a bit. A nice gesture this season was the first episode which was dedicated to the mothers of Dave Coulier, John Stamos & Bob Saget who all died in 2014 shortly after one another. The friendships and family ties you see on screen are also there off-screen. For example: most of the cast was present at Coulier’s wedding in 2015 and Andrea Barber and Candace Cameron Bure enjoyed a private Christmas party together like true BFF's. The only two people missing are the Olsen twins, which is unfortunate because it would’ve been a blast if Michelle made an appearance during this first season. Fans keep hoping this will happen in the future but for now we’ll have to enjoy the series without them. This, however, did give the writers inspiration for some awesome jokes.
Just as ‘Full House’ experienced back in the day, critics are pretty negative about ‘Fuller House’, even though the viewers seem to like it. The series is doing so well that Netflix has already announced a second season which will start taping mid-May. I have created a Netflix account especially for ‘Fuller House’. So why do most critics hate it so much? Maybe it’s the simplicity of the show, the clichés and the humour which are all things you have to like in order to love this series. The viewers, however, have totally embraced this revival which is all that matters in the end. The story lines are quite similar to the ones we know from the ‘Full House’ era, although they are a bit more modern to fit this century. The humour is more mature, but I personally think that fits the show perfectly since we as original viewers are older and wiser now. D.J.’s parenting style is a lot stricter than her dad's, something I was a bit disappointed about, but overall the true 90’s feeling is really there while watching the show. The ‘older’ family members make frequent guest appearances as well as some other old familiar faces. D.J.’s first boyfriend Steve (Scott Weinger) for example is still a family friend who’s hoping for more. New characters are introduced too, like vet Matt Harmon (John Brotherton), a new co-worker who seems to be having some great chemistry with D.J.Not everyone will agree with me on this, but I really looked forward to this series and thankfully ‘Fuller House’ did not disappoint (me).
‘Fuller House’ made me relive my youth and shows a comedy style that I’ve missed on TV over the past couple of years. I’m very happy they made this revival and loved every bit of it! The nostalgia that is even somewhat old-fashioned every now and then is something I really liked, but was also something I often noticed as critique on the show. Not everyone will agree with me on this, but I was really looking forward to this series and thankfully ‘Fuller House’ did not disappoint (me). Of course I have noticed the cheesy scenes and the cast had to refresh their acting skills as well in the beginning. But overall that didn’t change my opinion about this show. I hope many seasons will follow and because of this great start I’m giving the first season an A-grade rating!
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About the writer, Wichita van Rijkom
Wichita is a huge animal lover and 90’s kid who loves watching TV series and writing. Despite her age, she has been unfit for work for over fifteen years now. Watching TV series is a way to relax and have fun for her. That's what makes writing reviews for MySeries such a perfect hobby for her. In the past, she's also co-written a book about one of her health issues and has been writing reviews for MySeries since the beginning of 2013. English has always come natural to her because of her international contacts and past travels in her childhood. That's why she loves to write English reviews from time to time as well as Dutch reviews for MySeries.
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