Full House

This article is related to Full House, the American television series. For information related to the album, see Full House (album). For information pertaining to the poker hand, see Full house (poker)

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The Full House logo.

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Full House cast in 1987.

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Full House cast in 1995.

Full House was a television sitcom that ran on the American ABC network from 1987 until 1995. It was produced by Jeff Franklin Productions, in association with Miller-Boyett Productions and Lorimar Television (which was subsequently bought by Warner Bros.) and distributed by Warner Brothers Television.

Synopsis

The premise of the show, as established in the first episode, titled "Our Very First Show", was that recently widowed San Francisco sportscaster (and later television host) Danny Tanner has to take care of his three daughters (Donna Jo, Stephanie and Michelle) following the death of his wife (Pamela), with the help of his best friend (and college room-mate) Joey and his wife's brother Jesse. All the characters are strongly stereotyped - Danny, the 'neat-freak', Joey, the local comedian (literally - he is a professional stand up comedian and an expert at voices), and Jesse, the womanizer and Elvis-worshipper with his trademark, "Have mercy." In later seasons, Jesse mellows down and marries Rebecca Donaldson (Danny's peppy co-host on his morning talk show, Wake Up San Francisco). They eventually have a pair of twins, Nicholas (Nicky) and Alexander (Alex). All nine Tanners live together in the same house, hence the series' title.

Characters

The series focuses largely on the girls (a large part of its appeal comes from its "kids-are-so-cute" factor). The eldest, Donna Jo (D.J.) begins the series when she's about 10 years old, and goes on until she's 18 (and graduating from high school). The middle girl, Stephanie, grows from five to thirteen on camera; with her trademark "How rude!", she was the popular character at the outset of the show. Baby Michelle is first seen when only nine months old; by the end of the show, "she" - or rather, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, the pair of almost-identical twins who play her - are almost nine years old. These two - known today as The Olsen twins - have had the most star-struck futures, appearing in a variety of television shows and movies. The twins have also become multimillionaires by marketing their names and images in a wide variety of business ventures, catering mostly to preteen and teenage girls.

Other characters on the show include Kimmy Gibbler, the very irritating girl-next-door who is D. J.'s best friend, D. J.'s long time boyfriend Steve, and Gia, a cigarette-smoking, girl-going-bad who is one of Stephanie's closest friends. Gia is played by a very young Marla Sokoloff, who went on to play Lucy Hatcher in the television series The Practice. Gail Edwards appeared as Danny's love interest Vicki for a couple seasons in the middle of the show, but the writers never had them marry, in large part because they felt it would destroy the image of Danny as a bachelor trying to raise three girls.