Full House

Full house
The Full House intertitle, used from seasons 6-8.
Format	Family sitcom
Created by	Jeff Franklin
Starring	John Stamos Bob Saget Dave Coulier Candace Cameron Jodie Sweetin Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen Lori Loughlin (seasons 3-8, regular; season 2, recurring) Andrea Barber (seasons 5-8, regular; seasons 1-4, recurring) Scott Weinger (seasons 6-7) Blake and Dylan Tuomy-Wilhoit (seasons 6-8)
Theme music composer	Jesse Frederick, Bennett Salvay & Jeff Franklin
Opening theme	"Everywhere You Look", performed by Jesse Frederick
Ending theme	"Everywhere You Look" (instrumental)
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
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 5–8)
Producer(s)	Richard Correll (first episode) Don Van Atta (seasons 1–5) James O'Keefe (seasons 6–8)
Location(s)	San Francisco, California (setting) Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, California (taping location)
Camera setup	Videotape; Multi-camera
Running time	23–25 minutes
Production company(s)	Jeff Franklin Productions Miller-Boyett Productions Lorimar-Telepictures (1987–1988) Lorimar Television (1988–1993) Warner Bros. Television (1993–1996)
Distributor	Warner Bros. Television
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC
Picture format	480i (SDTV)
Original run	September 22, 1987 (1987-09-22) – May 23, 1995 (1995-05-23)
Status	Ended

Full House is an American television sitcom that originally ran in primetime from September 22, 1987, to May 23, 1995, on ABC. Set in San Francisco, California, it chronicles widowed father Danny Tanner (Bob Saget), who, after the death of his wife, enlists his best friend Joey Gladstone (Dave Coulier) and his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis (John Stamos) to help raise his three daughters, D.J. Tanner (Candace Cameron), Stephanie Tanner (Jodie Sweetin), and Michelle (Mary Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen). Later on in the series, Danny's cohost (and later Jesse's wife), Rebecca Donaldson Katsopolis, (Lori Loughlin) joins the household. Finally, Jesse and Becky's twin sons, Nicky and Alex Katsopolis, become additions to the family. Two notable characters of the show are Kimmy Gibbler (Andrea Barber), D.J.'s best friend and the Tanner family's wacky neighbor, and Steve Hale (Scott Weinger), D.J.'s food-penchant jock boyfriend from school.

Characters

Main Cast

Recurring Cast

Production

Production and filming

The series was created by Jeff Franklin and executive produced by Franklin, along with Thomas L. Miller and Robert L. Boyett.

The series was produced by Jeff Franklin Productions and Miller-Boyett Productions, in association with Lorimar-Telepictures (1988–1989), Lorimar Television (1989–1993), and then by Warner Bros. Television (1993–1996).

Although the series was set in San Francisco, and the opening credits featured a row of classic Victorian houses on Steiner Street, The sitcom itself 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 3rd season premiere "Tanner's Island", and at Walt Disney World for the episodes "The House Meets the Mouse" (Parts 1 & 2) at the end of Season 6.

Casting

Bob Saget was the producers' first choice to play Danny Tanner, but because of his work as an on-air contributor to CBS's The Morning Program, John Posey was cast as Danny for the original pilot. However, when Saget was fired after CBS decided to revamp their morning show, Posey was let go, and the pilot re-shot with Saget.

John Stamos' original character name, "Jesse Cochran," was changed after Season 1 to "Jesse Katsopolis". The change in last names was due to Stamos wanting his character to better reflect his Greek heritage. In one episode, Jesse admits his born first name was "Hermes", which actually happens to be his real-life paternal grandfather's name.

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen nearly left the show after the 1st season because their real-life mother was concerned about them missing out on having a "normal" childhood. After a significant raise in salary from the show's producers, she agreed to let them continue. Their mother also let them stay due to the fact that they became so popular.

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 3rd 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 any popularity as the producers had hoped for. 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.

The last character added in was Steve, played by Scott Weinger, who is D.J's boyfriend in the 6th and 7th season

Theme song and opening sequence

Theme song

The show's theme song, "Everywhere You Look", was performed by Jesse Frederick; Frederick co-wrote the song with Bennett Salvay and series creator Jeff Franklin. An instrumental version of the theme song was used in the closing credits, and in the opening credits in some early syndication runs, although the song was almost always truncated to the chorus for broadcast. Seasons 1 through 5 used a longer version of the theme song. However in syndicated airings, the line "you miss your old familiar friends, but waiting just around the bend" replaced the lines starting with "how did I get delivered here, somebody tell me please..." (After ABC Family acquired the series in 2003, it became the first television outlet to air the long versions of the theme since the series' ABC run, included in some episodes from the first five seasons). In later seasons, the song was shortened (as was the case with the theme songs of fellow Miller-Boyett sitcom Step by Step, and to a lesser extent Perfect Strangers and Family Matters), until it was down to about 42 seconds in Season 8.

Opening credits

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. The address of the Tanner house was mentioned in "Blast From the Past" as being located at 1882 Girard Street in San Francisco. The actual location of the house used for exterior shots in the series is 1709 Broderick Street. It was not until season 8 that the opening credits were changed to feature the entire cast in various locations around San Francisco. From seasons 1 through 5, select shots from the opening credits were seen in the closing credits as well, switching to still shots of episode scenes starting with season 6.

The role of Michelle was credited as being played by "Mary-Kate Ashley Olsen" from seasons 2 to 7 (the duo was only credited in the closing credits in season 1, as "Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Fuller Olsen"; though in syndicated reruns, they are also credited in the opening credits as the former) because the show's producers 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 twins because California state law regulates the number of work hours for a young child; therefore it is common for the role of one baby in a TV or film production to be played by twins). Sister series Family Matters did the same thing in its first season with twins Joseph and Julius Wright, who portrayed Richie Crawford as a baby, with the twins credited as Joseph Julius Wright. 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 & Ashley Olsen as Michelle". Fittingly, Mary-Kate is the twin appearing in the shot, but the girl in the painting is Ashley. Starting with season 3, Lori Loughlin was featured in the opening credits, however it was only in episodes she appeared in. From season 4 onward, she was featured in the opening credits of every episode. It was not until season 5 that Andrea Barber 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.

Ratings

Full House aired on Fridays from September 22, 1987 to August 1991, which spanned the show's first four seasons, and later became the flagship program of ABC's newly launched TGIF block. During the 1987-88 season, however, the show did move to Tuesdays briefly, and then aired twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays for a few months in order to help the series build an audience. It remained on Fridays permanently for the next three seasons, as the show's ratings became more respectable. The show was moved to Tuesdays for Season 5, and remained there until its ending in 1995. While Season 1 was not very successful, the show quickly became popular during Season 2 as it was placed immediately following the established hit show Perfect Strangers, and from Season 3 onwards it was ranked among the Nielsen ratings' Top 30 shows.^[1] By Season 4, it jumped to the top twenty and remained there until Season 7 (including Seasons 5 & 6 earning their peak spots in the top ten).^[2]

In 1995, despite the fact the show was still rated in the top 25, ABC announced that it was canceling the show after the 8th season due to the increasing production costs. The new WB network wanted to pick up the show for a 9th season, but John Stamos announced that the 8th season would be his last (he was mainly upset about Full House defecting from one of the "Big Four" networks to a network which had not yet received full national distribution). 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, ranking #7 for the week and attracting a 14.6 household rating and a 25 percent audience share.

Broadcasting history

United States

• ABC (1987–1995) (original run)
• Syndication (1991–present)
• TBS (1998–2002)
• WGN America (1998–2002)
• Nick at Nite (2003–2009)
• ABC Family (2003–present)
• TeenNick (2009–present)

Canada

• CTV (1987-1995)
• CTS (2008–2009)
• Comedy Gold (2010-present)

Turkey

• Kanal D
• Kanalturk

Japan

• NHK

Brazil

• Rede Globo (1990)
• SBT (2000–2006)
• Warner Channel (2006–2008)

Australia

• Seven Network (1988–1994)
• Nine Network (late 1990s)
• 7TWO (2010–present)

United Kingdom

• Channel Four (1988–1992)
• Sky One (1992–1996)

Syndication history

Since its 1995 finale, the sitcom has continued in syndication while gaining even more popularity among newer generations of family audiences. During the summer of 1991, reruns of the early seasons began airing in a daily daytime strip on NBC^[8], and beginning that fall, Full House was syndicated to various local stations nationwide. 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 2003. Several episodes on ABC Family feature the original extended version of the theme song. As of 2010, the show still airs daily on ABC Family. The show also airs on Comedy Gold in Canada.

In Australia, the show, which was constantly in the top 10 in the early '90s, has gained popularity again with its return to the Seven Network's sister channel, 7TWO. Airing 6:30pm weeknights, it has gained considerable viewers for a digital-only network.

The show has also been acquired and aired by networks in various countries outside North America, and has a large number of fans around the world.

Local Syndication Stations

• WJW / Channel 8• Cleveland, Ohio
• WPIX / Channel 11• New York, New York
• KPTV / Channel 12• Portland, Oregon
• KCOP / Channel 13• Los Angeles, California
• KSTU / Channel 13• Salt Lake City, Utah
• WXXA-TV / Channel 23• Albany, New York
• KTXL / Channel 40• Sacramento, California
• WPMT / Channel 43• Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
• KBHK / Channel 44• San Francisco, California
• WWHO / Channel 53• Columbus, Ohio
• WPSG / Channel 57• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• WSTR-TV / Channel 64• Cincinnati, Ohio
• KSWB-TV / Channel 69• San Diego, California

Feature film

In a December 2008 news story,^[9] it was reported that John Stamos was planning a reunion movie.^[10] Reports, however, indicate that this idea was quickly withdrawn, because most of the cast was not interested.^[11]

In 2009, Stamos announced that a feature film based on the show is still on. Stamos told The New York Daily News, "I'm working on a movie idea, but it wouldn't be us playing us. I'm not 100% sure, but it would probably take place in the first few years." Stamos has Steve Carell and Tracy Morgan in mind for the roles of Danny and Joey respectively.^[12]

Episodes

Other media

DVD releases

Warner Home Video released all eight seasons of Full House on DVD in Region 1 between 2005 - 2007. A complete series set containing all 192 episodes was released on November 6, 2007.^[13]The first four seasons were also released on DVD in Region 2 and Region 4.

Some scenes that were used in the show's syndication run were readded to their respective episodes on the dvd. However, some scenes were cut or removed from some episodes due to music licensing issues. Similarly, some music has been substituted due to high licensing costs.^[14]

Book series

Books based on Full House are geared toward children primarily ages 8–14. However, many are considered enjoyable by fans of the sitcom, especially of the characters Stephanie Tanner and Michelle Tanner, who are the main focuses. Warner Brothers, the owners of Full House, would not permit others to use their characters, and selected who could write books based on the TV series. Such strict control by the owners of Full House means they may be considered more than fan fiction, and in fact represent a parallel universe known to many fans as the Book Universe.

The series include the following:

• Full House Stephanie: These 33 books were written from the point of view of the Tanners' middle daughter, Stephanie Tanner. They take place with Stephanie in a different middle school, likely because of a slightly different redistricting plan compared to the one mentioned in season 7's Fast Friends. She has different best friends, Allie Taylor and Darcy Powell, as well. Though these are book creations, she has known Allie since kindergarten, and there are several places in the first five seasons of Full House where fans think an unnamed extra could be Allie. The first ten of these books overlap with seasons 7 and 8 of the TV series, though the school is not the only difference; there are a number of differences in the Tanners from the series. This series begins with Stephanie being pressured to join a clique called the Flamingos, by completing a series of dares. She almost does the last one, though she's not sure if she wants to, before D.J. catches her trying to steal Danny's phone card. Stephanie explains tearfully what was happening, and D.J. helps her to understand what the Flamingos were really up to: they wanted the phone card to use to call boyfriends. Stephanie and the Flamingos become fierce rivals, though not all books surround this rivalry or even show the Flamingos.
• Full House Michelle: These 41 stories are told from Michelle's point of view. The first 27 feature more of her, and the other Tanners', home life than others, though some focus on events at school, whereas the last 14, the "Michelle and Friends" series, focuses mostly on Michelle and her classmates. Unlike Stephanie, Michelle goes to the same elementary school, but is in a different class. The first four books in the Michelle series overlap with season 8 of Full House, though these, too, take place in this Book Universe. Two stories were translated and published in Japan in February 2007.
• Full House Sisters: These 14 books focus on Michelle and Stephanie's friendship and comical situations that occur between them. The sisters often alternate points of view in the story.
• Full House: Dear Michelle: These 4 books were published several years after the others stopped being produced. They take place with Michelle in the third grade, where she writes an advice column for her class paper. It is a different third grade class from either the first four books or the TV universe, though the class contains several of the same friends as in the other books.

Time frame

The books, most of which were published between 1993 and 2001, along with the 2004 Dear Michelle series, span from Stephanie's sixth-grade year (season 7 on TV) to her ninth-grade year. No book has been written to date to show her in high school, nor Michelle starting middle school. The Flamingos are featured less and less in Stephanie books, and the last Club Stephanie trilogy shows Stephanie and her friends becoming friends with the Flamingos by the end.

Awards and nominations

Kids' Choice Awards

TV Land Awards

Young Artist Awards

References

External links

• Full House at the Internet Movie Database
• Full House at TV.com
• Full House at ABCFamily.com
• Full House at Teennick.com