Carstairs Considers....: TV Show Review: Full House

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

TV Show Review: Full House - Season 5

Stars: 5 out of 5
Pros: More laughter and hugs

Cons: The Olsen Twin's poor acting

The Bottom Line:

Bring on the new twins

Everyone still in one house

Lots of laughs and hugs

A Full House Gets Even Fuller

Season 5 continues to provide the laughs and love of the Tanner family. We have father Danny (Bob Saget), a morning talk show host. His brother-in-law Jesse (John Stamos) recently married his co-host Becky (Lori Loughlin). Also living with them is Danny's best friend Joey (Dave Coulier). All the adults help take care of Danny's three daughters, high school freshman D.J. (Candace Cameron), fourth grader Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin), and kindergartener Michelle (Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen). Rounding out the cast is D.J.'s best friend Kimmy (Andrea Barber), who finally takes her rightful place in the opening credits this season.

When last we saw the Tanners, Becky had just discovered she was pregnant. As this season opens, she and Jesse are in for another surprise, they're having twins! Over the course of this season, we get to watch the twins be born and Jesse and Becky adjust to the responsibility of raising their own kids as opposed to their nieces.

Michelle makes a new best friend, Teddy (Tahj Mowry of Smart Guy fame) and learns to ride a bike. D.J. tries again to get her own room by convincing the adults to let Stephanie and Michelle share one. She also learns to drive, much to Danny's horror. Stephanie competes in a spelling bee and pursues more dance lessons. Joey and Jesse break up their ad agency to focus on their comedy and music respectively, and Joey lands his dream job as the host of a kid's afternoon cartoon show. Danny finally makes bachelor of the month and it goes straight to his head.

In addition to the previously mentioned Teddy, two other recurring characters are introduced this season. Danny meets potential love interest Vicki (Gail Edwards) when she fills in while Becky is on maternity leave. She's only in about six episodes here, but she does show up again in later seasons. Similarly, Steve (Scott Weinger) shows up as one of D.J.'s date of the week. For the next two years, he'd be her steady boyfriend, however.

Even with five seasons under its belt, this show still delivers plenty of laughs and tender moments. The writers manage to squeeze two or three stories into every episode, making the show fast paced. Yet the stories never feel shortchanged to make room for each other. We do get a couple of clip sequences this year, the first focusing on Michelle on her fifth birthday and the second focusing on Jesse's attempts at a music career.

Speaking of Michelle, this season really does point out the weak link in the cast, the Olsen twins. They are now the same age Jodie Sweetin was when the show started. If you watch her performance from season one and compare it to the Olsens now, you see that there's a huge gap in acting ability. Yet they are still extremely cute and they get the job done.

And they are the only weak link in an otherwise great cast. Everyone knows their characters and does a great job bringing them to life, making the situations seem real no matter how weird they may be.

Back to the Olsens for a minute. In the episode "The Devil Made Me Do it," Michelle is visited by her good and bad sides. That's right. We get a couple shots of three Michelle's on the screen at the same time. This is the only show I know that has two people playing one part that still needs to use special effects. Also in the episode, Tahj Mowry's real life sisters Tia and Tamara, who would go on to star on Sister, Sister. Here, they both play Teddy's sister Denise. (Okay, I'm done being trivia guy, now.)

This set is exactly like the last season set. We get 26 more episodes on four DVD's. The picture and sound quality are great, but there are no extras.

No, this isn't an example of "important" television. But season 5 of Full House is entertaining. And I love it.

Season 5 Episodes:

1. Double Trouble

2. Matchmaker Michelle

3. Take My Sister, Please

4. Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Girl Gone?

5. The King and I

6. The Legend of Ranger Joe

7. The Volunteer

8. Gotta Dance

9. Happy Birthday, Babies Part 1

10. Happy Birthday, Babies Part 2