‘Full House’ fans will get sugar fix from sequel series

By Frazier Moore

AP Television Writer

NEW YORK

If you like this kind of thing, odds are you’ll want to cancel weekend plans and binge on “Fuller House.”

Meanwhile, everyone else is strenuously cautioned against Netflix’s spin-off of the 1987-95 sitcom “Full House,” whose arrival has been awaited with unaccountable waves of excitement from some quarters. Fair warning to the rest: “Fuller House” will be available – all 13 episodes – starting Friday.

Back when “Full House” was riding high on ABC, I engaged in the folly of criticizing a critic-proof series, publicly cringing at what, even then, was retrograde domestic comedy: a loving but wisecracking family anchored in a living room and propelled by saccharine story lines that concluded with life lessons, hugs, and appreciative awwws from the audience soundtrack.

“Full House” was full of it, no question. But who could argue with success?

Since so much time has passed, the original conceit has been deftly warmed over for the 21st century. That is, the original “Full House” followed the adventures of widower Bob Saget after he recruited brother-in-law John Stamos and best friend Dave Coulier to share his San Francisco digs and help raise his three girls.

This go-around, Saget’s widowed daughter D.J. (Candace Cameron Bure), enlists her sister Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin) and her best friend Kimmy (Andrea Barber), a single mother with a sassy teenage daughter, to share that same house and help raise her three boys, ages 12 and 7 plus a newborn.

All this is established in the first episode, which sets the stage by reintroducing the three female characters (played by its all-grown-up “Full House” alumnae) along with reuniting Saget, Coulier and Stamos as well as Lori Loughlin, still happily wed to Stamos’ character. (Notably, twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen – who from toddlerhood swapped off playing Michelle, the youngest daughter of Saget’s character – are not participating in the spin-off).

TV has never been shy about copying itself. And the current TV scene is clearly in repeat mode.

Make no mistake: The original “Full House” triumvirate apparently won’t have much of a presence in what’s as much a handoff as a spin-off. After the all-star premiere, Stamos (whose character has now moved to Los Angeles) appears in just one episode, with Coulier (supposedly now a Las Vegas resident) seen in just one other, among the six half-hours made available for preview.

But “Fuller House” revives the comfortably familiar formula of old.

The dialogue again seems generated by a comic algorithm: “I’m having an acid flashback,” says Kimmy, amazed to see everyone. “But I never dropped acid. I did take an antacid once. I must be having an ANTACID flashback.” (Cue the laughter.)