Full House

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Full House
Title screen from 1992-1995
Format	Family sitcom
Created by	Jeff Franklin
Starring	John Stamos Bob Saget Dave Coulier Candace Cameron Jodie Sweetin Mary-Kate Olsen Ashley Olsen Andrea Barber Lori Loughlin (1988-1995) Scott Weinger (1992-1995) Blake Tuomy-Wilhoit Dylan Tuomy-Wilhoit (1992-1995)
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	8
No. of episodes	192 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Jeff Franklin Thomas L. Miller Robert L. Boyett Marc Warren Dennis Rinsler (seasons 6-8)
Location(s)	San Francisco, California
Running time	23-24 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC
Original run	September 22, 1987 – May 23, 1995
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Full House is an American television sitcom that ran from 1987 to 1995 on ABC. It chronicles a widower (Bob Saget) raising his three young daughters with the help of his best friend (Dave Coulier) and his brother-in-law (John Stamos). The show originally ran from September 22, 1987 to May 23, 1995 on ABC. The show continues to air in syndication as of 2008.

The name of the show is derived from the full house poker hand; Danny's three daughters being the "three of a kind" and Danny's brother-in-law and best friend being the "pair" that helps Danny raise his girls in their mother's absence.

[edit] Characters

• Daniel "Danny" Ernest Tanner (played by Bob Saget) - He is the co-host of the morning talk show Wake Up, San Francisco along with Rebecca Donaldson, who also becomes his sister-in-law by marriage. Danny is best known for his obsession with talking, hugging and cleanliness. He was born on December 11, 1957. In the unaired pilot, Danny was played by John Posey.
• Hermes "Jesse" Cochran-Katsopolis (played by John Stamos) In Season 1 (possibly a stage name for his music career), it is revealed that his real first name was originally "Hermes" (after his great-grandfather). In Season 2, it is believed that Jesse wanted to change his last name from "Cochran" to "Katsopolis" because he wanted to take on a Greek name, in honor of his ancestry. His Mustang, Sally, is tragically hurt after an accident with DJ. His catchphrase is "have mercy!". He always picks up the phone saying "Talk to me". Despite his many skills Jesse is not known to be good at sports. He did however score the game winning basket in a charity pick up game of basketball with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He is also known for being the front man for the band "Jesse and the Rippers" and later "Hot Daddy and the Monkey Puppets", owning the Smash Club, and having many girlfriends early in the show's run.
• Joseph "Joey" Alvin Gladstone (played by Dave Coulier) - Danny's best friend through grade school and college. He moves in to help Danny with his three girls. He makes a living primarily as a comedian. He is also known for his imitations of cartoon characters, such as Popeye the Sailor Man and Bullwinkle. His catchphrase was "Cut..It..Out!", accompanied by hand gestures.
• Donna Jo "D.J." Margaret Tanner (played by Candace Cameron)- Oldest daughter in the Tanner household, who is a typical teenager, and deals with everyday issues. She has two occasional catchphrases, "Whoa, baby!" and "Oh, mylanta!". She was born on February 9, 1977.
• Stephanie Judith Tanner (played by Jodie Sweetin) - Middle daughter of the Tanner household. She is known to have an energetic and talkative personality. She also has a catchphrase: "How rude!" Also in season 1, she was known to say, "I don't think so" and "Pin a rose on your nose." She was born on January 14, 1982.
• Michelle Elizabeth Tanner (played by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen) - Youngest of the Tanner daughters. Her first word was cookie. She has a strong bond with Jesse, who refers to her with the nicknames "Shortie", "Munchkin", "Rugrat" and "Trail Mix" (camp nickname). Michelle has her own catchphrases: "You got it, dude!"; "You're in big trouble, Mister!"; "Aww nuts"; and "Don't Worry, be Happy". Early on, she constantly referred to ice cream as "ous cream". She was born on November 18, 1986.
• Rebecca "Becky" Donaldson-Katsopolis (played by Lori Loughlin) - co-hosts the morning show Wake Up, San Francisco with Danny. Introduced in the second season, Becky dates Jesse for about two years before becoming his wife, and in the fifth season she gives birth to twin sons Nicky and Alex. By the eighth season, Becky has been named as producer of Wake Up, San Francisco.
• Kimberly "Kimmy" Louise Gibbler (played by Andrea Barber) - D.J.'s best friend and next-door neighbor, who usually serves as a punchline while visiting the Tanners' home. She is known for her lack of a "fashionable" wardrobe. She is also known for her stinky feet and eccentric family. Kimmy also has been known to have quite a wild side at times.

An interesting note is that Kimmy in season one is said to have 3 three sisters but later on in the series she says that she only has an older brother.

• Steven "Steve" Hale (played by Scott Weinger) - He was originally introduced in season five as Steve Peters. He was D.J.'s steady boyfriend for two years. He began dating D.J. during her trip to Spain. He is quite athletic, most notably as the captain of his high school wrestling team. He is also known for his immense appetite, as he is constantly eating large amounts of food in the Tanners' kitchen during his visits.
• Nicholas "Nicky" and Alexander "Alex" Katsopolis (played by Blake and Dylan Tuomy-Wilhoit) - Identical twin sons of Jesse and Rebecca, born in the fifth season. With Jesse and Rebecca already living in the Tanners' apartment-sized attic, the boys are also raised there, and bringing the household head-count to 9 people. They were born on Michelle's 5th birthday, thus cutting her party short. They are very naughty and are well known for laughing at Joey's jokes.

Main article: List of Full House characters

[edit] History of the Full House Show

The original title of the show was House of Comics, and it was going to be about three comedians living together. However, executive producer and creator Jeff Franklin learned that ABC wanted a sitcom about a family, so it was changed to Full House when it was decided that the show was to promote family themes and values. The show was based loosely on the film Three Men and a Baby, which was in production at about the same time.

The show's original pilot (which was never aired, but was a special feature on Disc 1 in the Season 1 set) starred John Posey as the original Danny Tanner because Bob Saget was on another network (as co-host and "comic" correspondent on CBS's ill-fated Morning Program. When it was revamped, Saget was fired, and thus available for Full House). Show creator Jeff Franklin thought that Saget would be great for the role, even though it was previously thought that Paul Reiser could work in the role.

In the first season, Jesse's last name was "Cochran", reportedly because one of the producers was a fan of attorney Johnnie Cochran. His name was changed after Season 1, when he came to be called "Jesse Katsopolis". The name change was due to Stamos wanting his character to better reflect his Greek heritage. In one episode, Jesse admits his birth name was "Hermes", which actually happens to be his real-life paternal grandfather's name. No reason is given for the character's name change, but fans tend to believe it could have been a stage name, especially because the name "Cochran" also disappeared from his band's name "Jesse and the Rippers" after the first season.

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen nearly left the show after the first season because their real-life mother was concerned about them missing out on having a "normal" childhood. After a raise from the producers, she let them stay on. Their being so popular was also one of the reason their mother let them stay.

During the show's run, only four main characters were added to the main cast. Lori Loughlin, who played the role of Rebecca Donaldson (later Katsopolis), was initially scheduled to appear in six episodes in Season 2 as Danny's co-host on Wake Up, San Francisco. However, producers decided to write her character into the show, and give her a permanent role in the third season.

Season 5 saw the debut of characters Nicky and Alex Katsopolis, who were the twin sons of Jesse and Rebecca. The characters Nicky and Alex were created to complement the popularity of the Olsen twins. However, the new characters did not achieve as much popularity as the producers had hoped. The "baby" versions were played by Daniel and Kevin Renteria until the end of Season 5. Beginning in Season 6, Blake and Dylan Tuomy-Wilhoit played the roles of toddlers Nicky and Alex until the series ended.

Full House was part of the TGIF lineup from the fall of 1988 to the fall of 1991, which spanned the show's second, third, and fourth seasons. The show was moved to Tuesdays for Season 5, and remained there until its cancellation. While not an immediate success, Full House quickly gained popularity through family viewers, and after Season 2 it was ranked among the Nielsen Ratings' Top 30 shows.

In 1995, ABC announced that it was cancelling the show after the eighth season due to the increasing costs to produce the show (low budgets became visibly obvious during the eighth season). The new WB network wanted to pick up the show for a ninth season, but John Stamos announced that the eighth season would be his last (he was mainly upset about Full House defecting from one of the "Big Four" networks to one of the upstart "Minor Three"). Eventually, the other actors announced they were also ready to move on to other projects, thus ending the show's eight-year run. The one-hour finale was watched by 24.3 million viewers (25 percent of all Americans watching television at the time).

[edit] Production

The sitcom was taped at Warner Brothers Studios in Los Angeles. The only episode to have actually been taped in San Francisco was Comet's Excellent Adventure, the first episode of season 8. There were also a few episodes where the cast would shoot in other locations, most notably Hawaii in the episode Tanner's Island (the 3rd season premiere), and at Walt Disney World for the episodes The House Meets the Mouse (Parts 1 & 2) at the end of season 6. Of course, the opening credits were filmed in S.F. The address of the exterior of the house was filmed at 1709 Broderick Street in San Francisco, CA.

Full House was produced by Jeff Franklin Productions & Miller-Boyett Productions in association with Lorimar-Telepictures (1st season only),then Lorimar Television (later to become Warner Brothers Television).

[edit] Opening credits

The theme song Everywhere You Look was performed by Jesse Frederick, which he co-wrote with Bennett Salvay, although the song was almost always truncated to the chorus for broadcast. In syndication, an abbreviated version of the song is used for seasons 1-5, and an even shorter version is used for seasons 6-8.

In the beginning, the six original characters were shown either at home or in various shots in San Francisco. Beginning in season 4, the opening credits for the adults were also filmed in San Francisco as well as the last shot of the opening credits of the show, which features the cast having a picnic in Alamo Square in front of the row of Painted Ladies in the Western Addition neighborhood of San Francisco. Contrary to popular belief, the red-doored Victorian where the Tanners live is not one of these houses. It was not until season 8 that the opening credits were changed to feature the entire cast in various locations around San Francisco.

The role of Michelle was credited as being played by "Mary-Kate Ashley Olsen" from seasons 2-7 (the duo was only credited in the closing credits in season 1, as "Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Fuller Olsen") because the show's director did not want audiences to know that Michelle was played by twins. Ashley's name was made to appear as Mary-Kate's middle name in the titles. (The role of Michelle was played by two children because California state law regulated the number of work hours for a young child). In season 8, with the entire opening credit shots revamped for the last time, the Olsen twins were now given special billing in response to the popularity they earned as separate performers over the years. Appearing last in the credits, they were credited as "and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen as Michelle". Fittingly, Mary-Kate is the twin appearing in the shot, but the girl in the painting is Ashley. It was not until season 5 that Andrea Barber (who played Kimmy Gibbler) was added to the opening credits, despite her recurring role on the show since the first season. The long opening was cut when the show started regular rotation upon the end of first-run airing.

[edit] Broadcasting History

• ABC (1987-1995)
• Syndication (1995-present)
• TBS (1998-2002)
• Nick @ Nite (2003-2008)
• ABC Family (2004-present)
• CTS Canada ( -Present)

[edit] Ratings

Full House ranked among other programs in the top 30 from the third season through the final season:

[edit] Syndication history

Since its 1995 finale, the sitcom has continued in syndication while gaining even more popularity among newer generations of family audiences. Full House was initially syndicated on various local stations nationwide. For a brief period of time in the early 1990s, reruns of the early seasons began airing in a daily daytime strip on NBC. ^[1] In the late 1990s, TBS Superstation and WGN aired the show every day until 2003, when the show was dropped from the daily schedule on both networks. Later that year, Nick at Nite acquired the show, as well as ABC Family in 2004. Several episodes on ABC Family feature the original extended version of the theme song. As of 2008, the show still airs daily on ABC Family and occasionally airs past midnight on Nick at Nite. The show also airs on CTS (Crossroads Television System) in Canada.

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of Full House episodes

[edit] DVD releases

Warner Home Video has released all eight seasons of Full House on DVD in Region 1. A complete series set containing all 192 episodes was released on November 6, 2007.

[edit] Full House books

Further information: Full House books

There were many short books based on the show. They were divided into different sub-series, such as Full House Sisters, Full House Michelle, Full House Michelle and Friends, Full House Stephanie, and Full House Club: Stephanie.

[edit] External links