Jeff Franklin must've been a fan of My Three Sons.
How else to explain his seminal sitcom, Full House, which flipped the gender on the children, but otherwise the basic concept was the same. You had a widower (Bob Saget) with three daughters, who needed not only his brother-in-law (John Stamos, ex-General Hospital), but his best friend (Dave Coulier, The Real Ghostbusters) as well, to care for the girls. Full House not only reintroduced viewers to Stamos, who was worlds away from his soap opera days, but also to twin sisters Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen, who shared the role of Michelle, the youngest of the three daughters. The twins only appeared together on the show twice that I know of, in seasons 5 & 8, the latter in the two-part series finale, but thanks to some smart business savvy on the part of their parents, they became brilliant moguls themselves, even though their subsequent series all failed.
Like Sons' patriarch, Steve Douglas (Fred MacMurray), Danny Tanner (Saget) eventually would remarry before the series ended, but it was Jesse who got to the altar first in season 4. Now, I'm not sure if Stamos ever had the chance to sing or play music when he played Blackie Parrish on General Hospital, but as you'll see in the opening video later, he proved to be pretty handy with a guitar. We have noted before how he's sat in with the Beach Boys, appearing in a couple of videos with them, so it made sense that the rock legends would make a guest appearance or two on the show. For the teeny-bopper crowd, Tommy Page, who had a 1 hit wonder with "I'll Be Your Everything", also guest-starred, which, like the Beach Boys, was in season 5. The only other music connection? Ex-MTV babe Martha Quinn, who appeared as herself in season 5 (crossover with MTV's Rockline), then briefly joined the cast as radio station manager Alison Axelrod in two episodes in season 6, her first primetime gig since The Bradys (1990). The writers tried to pair her with Joey (Coulier), but it ended up being a non-starter, and Alison was never heard from again.
Post-House, Stamos has been busy, making TV-movies and had one short-lived dramatic series, Thieves, on his resume before joining the cast of USA's Necessary Roughness last year. Otherwise, he's pitching Oikos Greek Yogurt, which leads to a reunion with Coulier & Saget for an ad that will air during the Super Bowl. Saget was the original host of America's Funniest Home Videos during House, but was let go (Tom Bergeron is the current host), and tried his hand as a game show host with 1 Vs. 100 for NBC a few years back. Coulier still does cartoons, and had joined the cast of Real Ghostbusters, taking over for Lorenzo Music around the same time that House had launched. Candace Cameron (DJ), sister of Growing Pains co-star Kirk Cameron, later married hockey player Pavel Bure, and has done a few TV-movies in recent years.
Fullhousedatabase (DUH!) uploaded the open from season 4:
Currently, reruns air on Nick at Nite, and I'd not be surprised if sister network MTV2 picked it up as well, to help fulfill the contract.
Rating: A.
No comments:
Post a Comment