Full House is an American television sitcom created by Jeff Franklin for ABC. The show is about the recently widowed father Danny Tanner who enlists his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis and childhood best friend Joey Gladstone to help raise his three daughters, D.J., Stephanie, and Michelle, in his San Francisco home. It originally aired from September 22, 1987, to May 23, 1995, with a total of eight seasons consisting of 192 episodes.
While never a critical success, the series was consistently in the Nielsen Top 30 (from season two onward) and continues to have an audience in syndicated reruns, and is also aired internationally. One of the producers, Dennis Rinsler, called the show "The Brady Bunch of the 1990s". For actor Dave Coulier, the show represented a "G-rated dysfunctional family".
A sequel series, Fuller House, premiered on Netflix in February 2016 and ran for five seasons, concluding in June 2020.
Plot
After the death of his wife Pam, sports anchor Danny Tanner recruits his rock musician brother-in-law (Pam's younger brother), Jesse Katsopolis, and stand-up comedian Joey Gladstone, his best friend since childhood, to help raise his three young daughters in San Francisco—D.J., Stephanie, and Michelle. Over time, the three men, as well as the girls, bond and become closer to one another.
In season two, Danny is reassigned from his duties as a sports anchor by his television station to become co-host of the morning show, Wake Up, San Francisco, and is teamed up with Nebraska native Rebecca Donaldson. Jesse and Rebecca ("Becky") eventually fall in love and get married in season four. In season five, Becky gives birth to twin sons, Nicholas ("Nicky") and Alexander ("Alex").
Main cast
- John Stamos as Jesse Katsopolis
- Bob Saget as Danny Tanner
- Dave Coulier as Joey Gladstone
- Candace Cameron as D.J. Tanner
- Jodie Sweetin as Stephanie Tanner
- Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen as Michelle Tanner (seasons 2–8; recurring season 1)
- Lori Loughlin as Rebecca Donaldson Katsopolis (seasons 3–8; recurring season 2)
- Andrea Barber as Kimmy Gibbler (seasons 5–8; recurring seasons 1–4)
- Scott Weinger as Steve Hale (seasons 6–7; guest seasons 5 and 8)
- Blake and Dylan Tuomy-Wilhoit as Nicky and Alex Katsopolis (seasons 6–8; recurring season 5)
Production
Casting
thumb|[[John Posey (actor)|John Posey as Danny Tanner in the unaired pilot (shown with Sweetin and Cameron as Stephanie and D.J.)]]
The producers' first choice to play the character of Danny Tanner was Bob Saget. Saget was not available to appear in the pilot due to his commitment as an on-air contributor to CBS's The Morning Program. The producers instead cast actor John Posey to play Danny. Posey only appeared in the show's unaired pilot; which is included on the DVD release of Season 1.
John Stamos's character was originally named Jesse Cochran; Stamos reportedly wanted his character to better reflect his Greek heritage, so producers decided to change the character's surname to Katsopolis (beginning with season two).
Twins Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen were cast to alternate in the role of Michelle during tapings. The girls were jointly credited as "Mary Kate Ashley Olsen" in seasons two through seven because the producers did not want audiences to know that the Michelle character was played by twins. The sisters occasionally appeared together in fantasy sequences. Full House was one of the few shows on TV where a baby character grew up in front of the cameras, with viewers witnessing all the development stages of the twin actresses.
- "Aftershocks" (Season 3, Episode 11)
- Stephanie goes to therapy after experiencing trauma-induced anxiety from an earthquake.
- "Shape Up" (Season 4, Episode 8)
- D.J. develops an eating disorder anticipating Kimmy's upcoming pool party.
- "The Volunteer" (Season 5, Episode 7)
- While volunteering at a nursing home, D.J. befriends a man with Alzheimer's disease and accidentally takes him off premises to her home to see an in-home dog show.
- "Silence is Not Golden" (Season 6, Episode 17)
- Stephanie's friend, Charles, is getting abused by his father. He confides in Stephanie, and she initially keeps his secret, but she eventually tells Uncle Jesse to get him help.
- "Fast Friends" (Season 7, Episode 5)
- Stephanie's friends peer pressure her to smoke cigarettes.
- "The Last Dance" (Season 7, Episode 17)
- Michelle is charmed by Jesse's grandfather who arrives from Greece for a visit. Unfortunately, this visit is short-lived as Papouli dies in his sleep from old age at the Tanner household.
- "Under the Influence" (Season 8, Episode 10)
- Kimmy attempts to drive drunk after attending a fraternity party and D.J. stops her, causing tension in their friendship.
American syndication
Warner Bros. Television Distribution handles the domestic and international syndication rights to the series. During the summer of 1991, reruns of the early seasons began airing in a daily daytime strip on NBC. Starting in September 1991, Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution began distributing Full House for broadcast in off-network syndication and was syndicated on various local stations nationwide until 2003.
The series previously aired on TBS, WGN America, Nick at Nite, ABC Family (now FreeForm), TV Land, The N/TeenNick, CMT, and Hallmark Channel.
In 2014, episodes have averaged 1.5 million viewers on Nick at Nite, which is up 7 percent from 2013 and a 0.4 rating in the key 18–49 demographic, up 8 percent from 2013.
On September 29, 2017, Hulu acquired the streaming rights to Full House along with fellow Warner Bros. Television productions Family Matters, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, Perfect Strangers and Step by Step in addition to Disney-ABC Domestic Television productions Boy Meets World, Dinosaurs and Home Improvement.
On October 1, 2021, Full House began streaming on HBO Max after its streaming rights expired from Hulu, but has since returned to the Hulu platform. The series was removed on HBO Max on September 30, 2025.
On January 12, 2022, the show began airing on the classic TV network MeTV, moving to sister network Catchy Comedy the following year.
Since 2022, the show has aired (intermittently) on GAC Family.
Critical reception
Despite the show's popularity and being a 1980s-1990s classic among audiences and families, critics' reviews for Full House were mostly negative, especially early on. <!-- On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the show's first season has an approval rating of 40% based on 5 critical reviews. On Metacritic, the first season holds an weighted average score of 31 out of 100 based on 7 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". -->
Writing in 1987, the year of its debut, Howard Rosenberg of Los Angeles Times mocked it as "not playing with a full deck. It oozes and blubbers for a half hour, yielding no laughs or life. You need a Geiger counter to detect its pulse." He added: "It strives to beat out CBS for second place in the ratings. But this contrived muck isn't one of them. In fact, its entire premise of shared witless fatherhood (a la My Two Dads on NBC) is a great argument for birth control." John J. O'Connor of The New York Times wrote: "And so it goes, one predictable situation following another, with the actors frantically trying to keep the patient [the infant] from becoming a full-fledged corpse."
Tom Shales of The Washington Post defended it: "Critics are supposed to rend teeth and gnash clothing when a show like Full House catches on, but why? The new ABC sitcom seems to follow at least one basic, if often ignored, rule of television: First, do no harm."
Critics revisiting the series after the 2016 debut of Fuller House have been similarly harsh. Willa Paskin wrote for Slate that the series was "a hackneyed and saccharine family sitcom". Isaac Feldberg opined that it was "archetypally average, hiding behind a ubiquitous laugh track and obnoxiously on-the-nose life lessons." Josh Kurp of Uproxx described the show as "comfortingly bland. . . . a bowl of white rice, spaghetti with no butter or sauce, eggs served on Saltines. You could live off it,... but you wouldn't want to."
Josh Jackson wrote in a positive review: "Full House: The absolute definition of the 'family sitcom' in the late '80s/early '90s. Unlike the Blossoms of the era, Full House wasn't about the 'very special episode'; it was just wholesome, family friendly entertainment all the time, which has become all the more humorous in the years that followed as former viewers learned just how foul-mouthed Bob Saget could be in literally any other context. This, though, was the television equivalent of cotton candy: airy, saccharine, and totally insubstantial. Even if you watched a ton of Full House episodes, I'll bet you barely remember the full plot of any of them."
Reunions
During Bob Saget's final season as host of America's Funniest Home Videos, six other Full House cast alumni (John Stamos, Dave Coulier, Candace Cameron, Jodie Sweetin, Andrea Barber, and Lori Loughlin) reunited on the May 9, 1997, episode (the episode which preceded Saget's final episode as host of that series).
In a December 2008 news story, it was reported that John Stamos was planning a reunion movie. This idea was quickly withdrawn, because reportedly most of the cast was not interested. In 2009, Stamos announced that a feature film based on the show was still planned. 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 posited Steve Carell and Tracy Morgan for the roles of Danny and Joey respectively.
In 2012, eight of the Full House cast members reunited in Los Angeles for their 25th anniversary. Publicists for Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen said that they "weren't able to attend, given their work schedules."
On July 19, 2013, the original Jesse and the Rippers (the band which Jesse Katsopolis served as frontman until he was voted out in season 8) reunited on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. The group performed a medley of covers including the Beach Boys' "Forever", Elvis Presley's "Little Sister", "Hippy Hippy Shake", and ending with the Full House theme "Everywhere You Look". Bob Saget and Lori Loughlin made cameo appearances.
In January 2014, Coulier, Saget, and Stamos appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon as their characters. Catchphrases and "The Teddy Bear" were included in the skit. Stamos, Saget and Coulier also appeared together in a 2014 commercial for Dannon Oikos Greek Yogurt (for which Stamos serves as spokesperson) that debuted during Super Bowl XLVIII, days after their appearance on Late Night.
Sequel series
In August 2014, reports circulated that Warner Bros. Television was considering a series sequel. John Stamos, who has an ownership stake in the show, headed up the attempt to get the series back into production. Netflix closed a deal to produce a 13-episode sequel series tentatively titled Fuller House, with many of the original series cast members reprising their roles. Notably, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen both declined to reprise the role of Michelle in the first season, although the creators and producers said they could still possibly appear in future seasons. Stamos would guest star as well and serve as producer.
Filming began on July 25, 2015. Like the original series, the show is set in San Francisco. The original series idea was focused on D.J., a veterinarian struggling to raise three boys Jackson (Michael Campion), Max (Elias Harger) and Tommy Jr. (Dashiell and Fox Messitt) after her firefighter husband Tommy Fuller is killed in the line of duty; Stephanie, an aspiring musician; and Kimmy, who is a party planner and a single mother to a teenage daughter, Ramona (Soni Nicole Bringas). The show's premise follows one similar to the original series when Stephanie makes plans to put her career on hold for a while and move in with D.J. to help take care of her children. Almost immediately afterward, Kimmy makes the same offer for her and Ramona to move in and help out. Netflix premiered the series on February 26, 2016, with the premiere episode featuring a Tanner family reunion. After five seasons, the series concluded on June 2, 2020.
Other media
Home media
Warner Home Video released all eight seasons of the series on DVD in Region 1 between 2005 and 2007. A complete series box-set containing all 192 episodes was released on November 6, 2007. As of 2016, the complete series is available for purchase via online retailers such as Amazon. Additionally, all seasons + the complete series were also released in Region 4 but only the first five seasons were released on DVD in Region 2 with the fifth season being sold solely on Amazon and printed on DVD±R-Discs only.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Title !! Region 1 !! Region 2 !! Region 4
|-
| The Complete First Season || February 8, 2005 || 2007 (Re-Released in 2013)|| November 16, 2005
|-
| The Complete Second Season || December 6, 2005 || 2007 (Re-Released in 2013) || April 5, 2006
|-
| The Complete Third Season || April 4, 2006 || 2007 (Re-Released in 2013) || August 9, 2006
|-
| The Complete Fourth Season || August 15, 2006 || 2007 (Re-Released in 2013) || September 5, 2007
|-
| The Complete Fifth Season || December 12, 2006 || July 3, 2013 (Available on Amazon only, Out of Print) || rowspan="5" | June 3, 2014
|-
| The Complete Sixth Season || March 27, 2007 ||
|-
| The Complete Seventh Season || August 7, 2007 ||
|-
| The Complete Eighth Season || rowspan="2" | November 6, 2007 ||
|-
| The Complete Series ||
|}
All Seasons of Full House are available on Amazon Prime Video in various countries and with different languages.
Book series
Books based on Full House are geared toward children primarily between the ages of 8 and 14. Warner Bros., which holds the rights to Full House and its associated characters, would not permit others to use their characters and selected who could write books based on the television series.
The series includes 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 seven's "Fast Friends". She has different best friends as well, Allie Taylor and Darcy Powell. 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. 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 is 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 to use the phone card to call their boyfriends. Stephanie and the Flamingos become fierce rivals. Hip Hop Till You Drop, Two for One Christmas Fun, and Ten Ways to Wreck a Date are the most popular.
- Full House Michelle: These 40 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. Two stories were translated and published in Japan in February 2007. Super special My Best Friend is a Movie Star came out in September 1996, and along with The Substitute Teacher and How to be Cool are the most popular.
- 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 four 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.
- Club Stephanie: 1997–2001 revival series with Stephanie and her friends.
Russian adaptation
In 2006, Full House was one of a group of Warner Brothers properties licensed to Moscow-based network STS for adaptation to Russian. The show, Topsy-Turvy House (Дом кувырком) followed the plots of the American version with changes to accommodate cultural differences. It ran for two seasons, beginning in 2009.
The Unauthorized Full House Story
On August 22, 2015, a television movie called The Unauthorized Full House Story was first released by Lifetime. It tells the behind-the-scenes story of the series.
Accolades
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! colspan=4| Young Artist Awards
!
|-
! Year
! Category
! Nominee(s)
! Result
!Ref.
|-
| rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;"| 1989
| Best Young Actress Under Ten Years of Age in Television or Motion Pictures
| Jodie Sweetin
|
|
|-
| The Most Promising New Fall Television Series
|
|
|
|-
| rowspan="4" style="text-align:center;"| 1990
| Best Young Actor/Actress Under Five Years of Age
| Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen
|
|
|-
| Best Family Television Series
|
|
|
|-
| Best Young Actress Starring in a Television Comedy Series
| Candace Cameron
|
|
|-
| Young Artist Award for Outstanding Young Comedienne in a Television Series
| Jodie Sweetin
|
|
|-
| rowspan="4" style="text-align:center;"|1991
| Best Young Actress Starring in a Television Series
| Jodie Sweetin
|
|
|-
|Best Young Actress Starring in a Television Series
| Candace Cameron
|
|
|-
| Best Young Actress Supporting Role in a Television Series
| Andrea Barber
|
|
|-
|Outstanding Performance by an Actress Under Nine Years of Age
| Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen
|
|
|-
| rowspan="3" style="text-align:center;"| 1992
| Best Young Actress Supporting or Recurring Role for a TV Series
| Andrea Barber
|
|
|-
| Best Young Actress Starring in a Television Series
| Candace Cameron
|
|
|-
| Outstanding Young Comedienne in a Television Series
| Jodie Sweetin
|
|
|-
| rowspan="4" style="text-align:center;"|1993
| Exceptional Performance by a Young Actress Under Ten
| Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen
|
|
|-
| Best Young Actress Co-starring in a Television Series
| Andrea Barber
|
|
|-
| Exceptional Performance by a Young Actor Under Ten
| Tahj Mowry
|
|
|-
| Outstanding Young Ensemble Cast in a Television Series
|
|
|
|-
| rowspan="4" style="text-align:center;"|1994
| Best Young Actress Starring in a Television Series
| Candace Cameron
|
|
|-
| Outstanding Young Comedienne in a Television Series
| Jodie Sweetin
|
|
|-
| Best Young Actress Co-starring in a Television Series
| Andrea Barber
|
|
|-
| Best Young Actor Guest-starring in a Television Series
| R. J. Williams
|
|
|-
| style="text-align:center;"|1995
| Best Youth Actor Guest-starring in a Television Show
| J. D. Daniels
|
|
|-
| style="text-align:center;"|1996
| Best Youth Comedienne in a TV Show
| Andrea Barber
|
|
|}