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The Main Characters
The head of the household is Danny Tanner (Bob Saget), a host of a popular morning television show in San Francisco. He has three daughters, D.J. (Candace Cameron), Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin) and baby Michelle (Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen). His is a widower but he isn’t alone with the girls. He is joined by his brother in law Jesse Katsopolis (John Stamos) and best friend and comedian Joey Gladstone (Dave Coulier). The 6 of them live together under the same roof with the three men trying to raise the three girls.
The Setting
San Francisco, California.
The Plots
+++Season Two+++
---Disc One---
1) Cutting It Close (24:32)
Original Air Date: 10/14/88
The debut of season two sees an older Michelle not dropping during Ring around the Rosie in the cold opening. There’s a graphic showing the Golden Gate Bridge before the cold opening and I have never seen it. It appears on all episodes with a cold opening this season. Anyway, the meat of the episode deals with Stephanie playing with Jesse and Joey in her salon. She accidentally cuts off some of Jesse’s beloved hair and he gets a bit angry. He leaves the house, gets a haircut then returns in a cast with his arms raised at chest level. It seems he got into an accident after the haircut and he’s going to be in the cast for 6 weeks. He at first refuses help (resulting in a funny scene of him trying to eat cereal) and generally mopes around and feels sorry for himself. They show an interlude (to the tune of Help!, a Beatles song covered by someone else). Stephanie is saddened by the whole thing and is convinced its her fault, which Jesse does nothing to dispute. Danny shows Jesse the error of his ways and Jesse tells Stephanie it’s not her fault and they are both happier now. This episode works since it got rid of the ridiculous hairstyle of John Stamos and reintroduces us to the characters. Pretty good episode, though the references to Roger Rabbit and Erik Estrada show how dated this is.
2) Tanner vs. Gibbler (24:31)
Original Air Date: 10/21/88
This was a big episode for two reasons. First, Danny gets a job hosting a morning talk show (Wake Up San Francisco) with none other than Rebecca Donaldson. I wonder if she’ll be in anymore episodes? She comes over to watch the first episode with the Tanner’s and Jesse has his first meeting with Becky. More on this as the season progresses. DJ tries to throw a surprise party for Kimmy but Stephanie ruins the surprise. Kimmy invites some of her friends from karate and they immediately try to invite a huge group of junior high kids over. DJ says no, which causes Kimmy and every one else to leave the party. DJ and Kimmy start feuding and Kimmy takes it a step further by calling DJ a geekburger! Of course, they make up in the end. This is an important episode for introducing Becky and the show Wake Up San Francisco and what would Full House be without some dated references (Thundercats being on TV?). Some funny moments make this a keeper.
3) It’s Not My Job (24:33)
Original Air Date: 10/28/88
The cold opening shows the gang dressed up for Halloween (DJ is Cleopatra, Stephanie is a rabbit, Michelle is a pumpkin and the three guys are the three stooges). Stephanie has a filling and is worried about it, Grandma and Grandpa visit the house, and Jesse has sold a jingle to the radio station! Jesse doesn’t want to work with his father as an exterminator anymore and he doesn’t know how to tell him. He tells him, daddy gets mad and throws him out of the family. Eventually they get together and make up and really, that’s about it. A very outdated reference here, Jesse’s mother quotes Bad by Michael Jackson. Ouch, that was tough to hear. Not a great or enjoyable episode.
4) DJ’s Very First Horse (24:33)
Original Air Date: 11/04/88
DJ goes behind her father’s back to buy and take care of a horse. She loves being around the horse (she’s seen riding him in another musical interlude, this time Good Day Sunshine, another cover of a Beatles song) but when Kimmy (who she partnered with to buy the horse) comes up short on the money she doesn’t know what to do. She rides it home and both Jesse, Joey and Danny are shocked when its in the living room! Danny is pissed at her the most and tells her they can’t have the horse. DJ is bummed but then meets the new owner of the horse, Becky. Worked out well, then. Pretty basic episode, another Beatles song covered and a bunch of cowboy/farm references. Eh, could take this one or leave it. For trivia buffs, this is the only time the horse is in the show, Stephanie’s friend Harry Takayama makes his first appearance, and Jesse makes a pass at Becky. She turns him down for dinner, though. Better luck next episode.
5) Jingle Hell (24:32)
Original Air Date: 11/11/88
Jesse left the exterminating business two episodes ago and now he has problems writing jingles. He finds inspiration in Joey and the two become partners. It is truly the odd couple of radio jingle writers. They try to sell a cat jingle with mixed results. There’s a feud between DJ and Stephanie because Stephanie messed around with some of DJ’s stuff. They argue as Joey and Jesse burst into the door arguing as well. Jesse and Joey say that maybe one of them should leave and DJ and Stephanie put aside their differences to get the two of them to stop fighting. DJ and Stephanie help them make up.
6) Beach Boy Bingo (23:42)
Original Air Date: 11/18/88
Danny is stoked that the Beach Boys are going to be on his show! Danny brings Jesse and Joey to the show with him but they are incredibly disappointed when they can’t show up due to the plane not being able to land. Danny sings Good Vibrations on his show anyway and the house is still gripped in Beach Boymania. DJ wins a pair of tickets to see the band but can’t decide whom to take. The band actually ends up showing up to the Tanner house and having a good time and when DJ is asked whom she’s going with, she can’t decide. Luckily, the Beach Boys take a moment to discuss it and decide to take the whole family! We end at the concert with the entire Tanner clan (sans Michelle) on stage dancing around. This would be the first of many appearances by the California band, thanks to John Stamos. Decent enough episode.
---Disc Two---
7) Joey Gets Tough (24:35)
Original Air Date: 11/25/88
DJ and Stephanie taking advantage of Joey. He lets them stay up way past their bedtimes to watch a Tiffany concert (no joke) and Danny tells him he needs to get tough on them. Joey does just that, grounding DJ for the weekend after she stays out too late. DJ says she has a big karate tournament and that he’s not her father so that when Danny comes home, she’ll be ungrounded. Joey is very troubled that DJ is mad at him but Jesse tells him he’s doing the right thing. Jesse, is trying to sell out his gig at a local venue and appears on Wake Up San Francisco to hype his show. I guess the show goes well, we don’t hear about it again. DJ tells Danny about what happened and its family meeting time. They discuss everything, DJ gets mad at first, but after the two share a heart-to-heart, all is better. Nothing like a little conflict to spice things up. Not really a banner episode or anything.
8) Triple Date (24:36)
Original Air Date: 12/09/88
Danny, Joey and Jesse goes on a triple date with three women. DJ gets to babysit Stephanie. DJ’s babysitting goes horribly wrong when she drops Danny’s wedding ring down the drain by mistake. She tries to get it out but fails miserably. Speaking of miserable, that about describes the date the three guys went on. The woman Danny met with used to date Jesse, Jesse’s date seems more interested in Joey and Joey’s date is a neat freak, like Danny. Danny eventually finds out about DJ dropping the ring down the drain and they are both bummed out. They cheer each other up and say goodbye to their dates, and everyone is happy. This was a pretty funny episode.
9) Our Very First Christmas Show (24:32)
Original Air Date: 12/16/88
The family decides to take a Christmas trip to Colorado but disaster strikes when the plane has to make an emergency landing due to a blizzard. Stephanie, already mad at not being home on Christmas, is very upset at this and when DJ tries to cheer her up by telling her about the presents Danny is bringing, Danny tells her that may not be possible. See, the airline lost the bag with the presents. Joey dresses up as Santa Claus to try to cheer her up but that fails, as well. Becky is also on the flight as well, heading home, and Jesse tries to put the moves on her, and fails as well. Jesse is actually the one who cheers everyone up and gets them in the Christmas spirit. Christmas morning arrives with a few Christmas miracles. Jesse gets a kiss with Becky and Santa Claus actually shows up, bringing the bag with the gifts with him. It seems the crabby old man who was on the flight was actually Santa Claus. This was actually a very good Christmas special. Jesse’s mom and dad were annoying; persisting with him pursuing Becky but the Christmas stuff was gold.
10) Middle Age Crazy (24:34)
Original Air Date: 01/06/89
Danny is recording Michelle when Stephanie interrupts with her hula-hoop accomplishment. He tells her the tape is only for Michelle and Stephanie leaves, depressed. Stephanie goes to show off to Jesse and Joey but they are too busy writing a jingle. They tell her they’ll see the hula-hoops later but help DJ with an experiment of dropping an egg for a school project due tomorrow. Stephanie is dejected to say the least. She even daydreams about how she would be ignored even if she went to Mars while DJ and Michelle would be lauded for mundane tasks like getting the mail and blinking. She decides to marry Harry so that she can leave the house and not be ignored and makes a big production of it with her friends. Harry eventually leaves since its meatloaf night at home and Steph now thinks she has no one. Her family consoles her, and all is right in the Tanner world. The daydream sequence was funny, the experiment worked out and Jesse and Joey got their jingle. This was nothing but enjoyable.
11) A Little Romance (24:33)
Original Air Date: 01/13/89
Becky convinces Jesse, Joey and Danny to participate in a bachelor auction. The women love Jesse and surprisingly, Becky gets in a bidding war with another woman. Becky wins the auction and reveals her true feelings for him. Meanwhile, DJ thinks she has a boyfriend but he’d rather have lunch with Kathy Santoni since she’s prettier. Ouch. Becky manages to cheer her up and smoothes things over with Jesse. This was an important episode for bringing Jesse and Becky together but it was ultimately forgettable.
12) Fogged In (24:33)
Original Air Date: 01/20/89
Jesse’s parents arrive right as a dense fog descends upon San Francisco. They’ve been quarreling over whether the mother should be taking night classes or not. Jesse tries to resolve the fight but sees himself as very similar to his father. His father would always buy him things when they got into arguments and Jesse found himself doing the same thing with DJ this episode. He bought her a drum kit instead of talking about a problem they had. Jesse’s parents eventually kiss and make-up, but not before a returning Joey causes some funny problems. This was a pretty good episode. They were stuck in the house so that’s where everything took place.
---Disc Three---
13) Working Mothers (24:08)
Original Air Date: 02/03/89
Jesse and Joey land a big gig as ad-men. They are elated about this job and they even get a nice posh office with a window view and everything. They accept the job but DJ and Stephanie are down by this news. They don’t want Joey and Jesse to leave. Joey and Jesse have a tough decision to make, either work at the office or stay at home. They go to their boss and in something that will only happen on TV, they ask the boss if they can work at home and he says they can. Now Jesse and Joey can work at home and be with the girls. Some funny moments (Michelle closing the door on people and the guys pitch) make this one a good one.
14) Little Shop of Sweaters (24:05)
Original Air Date: 02/10/89
DJ gets a new sweater for Valentine’s day from her dad but is devastated when it is ruined at school. She goes to the mall hoping to get a new one but they can’t afford it. Stephanie, hearing how with a credit card you can buy now and pay later, misunderstands this and takes the sweater. DJ tells Stephanie she stole it but they can return it, after DJ wears it out that night. The next day, DJ and Stephanie try and return the sweater. They get caught for stealing and the three men are called in. Everything worked out in the end. In other news, Jesse wants to take it to the next level with Becky but Becky says she needs more time, and even has a date this weekend! They kiss anyways. Who knows what this means? I really enjoyed this one.
15) Pal Joey (24:03)
Original Air Date: 02/17/89
In the cold opening we have DJ explaining how to tell if guys are cute. Apparently, George Michael is “rad.” Wow. This episode doesn’t really deal with the girls; it focuses on the relationship between the three guys. Jesse and Joey have become great pals and Danny starts to get jealous of how his best friend, Joey, is hanging out with Jesse instead of him. Danny remembers how he became best friends with Joey (including a flashback to when they were in fifth grade). They decide to end their friendship and go dig out an old box they buried. They unbury it and rediscover their friendship, and even add Jesse to the pact they had written way back in 1968. They show a side of Danny they haven’t revealed on the show before. Instead of just a fun-loving guy who is always happy, they show he has feelings, too, and I think that was an important part of him to show to humanize him.
16) Baby Love (24:03)
Original Air Date: 02/24/89
Michelle has a crush on the nephew of Becky. She can’t stop thinking about him and its love at is most pure, I guess. Unfortunately, little Howie has to go home to Nebraska. Stephanie gets scared watching a movie that Jesse said she could watch. Honestly, not much more than that happened. Jesse sang a song to Michelle (Michelle Smiling) as we get clips of previous Michelle moments. Wow, clips this early into the show’s run. Nothing terribly interesting happened here.
17) El Problema Grande de D.J. (24:03)
Original Air Date: 03/10/89
Its report card time for DJ and Stephanie. Stephanie’s report card was great but the teacher mentioned she is too chatty. She spends the whole rest of the episode silent. DJ had a great report card, too, except for the fact she got a D in Spanish. She convinces her dad to speak to her Spanish teacher, which he does, and after the teacher offers to go the Tanner house to help them out, they end up making out. And DJ walks in on them. DJ is now the brunt of the teasing and she tries to play it off, but she can’t believe what her father is doing. Danny decides not to date her until DJ is out of the class and DJ says she will do better in class. There’s also a mini-plot where Jesse and Joey’s boss shows up to their home and wants to use Michelle in an ad for marshmallows but Michelle doesn’t play along when filming time comes. I was really amused by this episode for some reason. There were some funny parts in this episode.
18) Goodbye, Mr. Bear (24:03)
Original Air Date: 03/24/89
In what would be a reoccurring theme on the series, this episode would be the first of many spring-cleaning episodes. Danny goes crazy with the cleaning. The girls decide what toys to give away and Stephanie’s beloved Mr. Bear is accidentally given away by Joey. Jesse also breaks off a handle from a cabinet and when he couldn’t find a replacement piece starts dismantling the whole thing! As any young kid would be, Stephanie is devastated. They try to replace Mr. Bear but to no avail. They remember that Stephanie received Mr. Bear from her mother and the girls lament that they are forgetting things about mom. They didn’t talk about her because they didn’t want to bring the pain of her death back. They end up watching home movies of Pam (is this the first time we saw her?) and bringing back the good memories. Luckily for Stephanie, Michelle was hiding Mr. Bear all along and Stephanie gets him back! This was a really good and touching episode.
---Disc Four---
19) Blast From The Past (24:03)
Original Air Date: 04/07/89
Joey’s old flame from college suddenly calls him and comes back into his life. Joey was going to propose to her but she ran off with another man. Jesse is all for Joey seeing her again but Danny is against it. Joey asks why she, Patty, came back into his life, and she says she is recently divorced and said she had the most fun with Joey and wanted to rekindle things with him. Joey finds out that Patty just came back for because she remembered Joey as a fun-loving goofball but Joey isn’t (totally) like that anymore. For the girls, Kimmy is performing magic tricks for DJ and Stephanie and accidentally handcuffs them together. Luckily, Jesse saves them and gets the cuffs on Kimmy. Looks like the tables are turned on Kimmy. This shows that Joey has a grown-up side to him but other than that, it wasn’t too funny.
20) I’m There For You, Babe (24:03)
Original Air Date: 04/14/89
Today it’s Jesse’s birthday! Jesse is always there for everyone in the family but eventually it all gets too much for him. He has too much going on with the girls, with work, and with his band. It all comes to a head when he plays at the Smash Club and his band no shows. He double-booked them and now he’s there by himself. The rest of the Tanner family fills in for his band and it goes about as well as you’d expect. Jesse is basically overwhelmed and the family realizes that, and does their best to help out and not rely on him so heavily so he has time to relax. Eh, not too crazy about this episode either.
21) Luck Be A Lady Part 1 (24:03)
Original Air Date: 04/28/89
Danny and Becky get to shoot their first episode of their show on location and the show is being filmed in Las Vegas. Jesse gets jealous that Becky is seemingly fawning over a celebrity guest and especially when he sees them eating dinner together. They actually break up, on air no less. Joey shows the girls that gambling is wrong and starts gambling, and winning. He goes to get some a change bucked and while he’s gone DJ and Stephanie pulled the slot machine handle and win a ton of money. Of course, Joey can’t keep the money since a minor won it. Jesse and Becky argue and get their frustrations out but they both realize they love each other. Jesse immediately proposes to Becky, and she says yes.
22) Luck Be A Lady (24:02)
Original Air Date: 05/05/89
This would be the conclusion of the two-part story to end the season, though now they would’ve ended the season with episode 21 and started the season with this one. Basically, Jesse and Becky decide to elope and Stephanie and DJ suspect something is up and piece together some clues as to what exactly they are up to. They figure out they are eloping and when questioned by Danny and Joey, Stephanie tells Michelle who blabs the secret to everyone. Danny mentions that Jesse was very upset when Danny eloped with Jesse’s sister, Pam, and Danny goes to stop them. They arrive at the altar and tell them they need to stop. They eventually relent and Jesse and Becky go through with it, until Becky realizes that she and Jesse are on entirely different pages. Becky walks out on him. Being a family show, they don’t end the season there but show a heartbroken Jesse meeting with Becky at home and realizing they are not ready for marriage but will still remain together. At least they didn’t end the season on a downer. Pretty good season finale.
Season 2 Review
Season 2 was a bit of a departure from Season 1, and it was better off for it. The characters were better defined; Jesse’s character cut his hair, grew up a bit and showed he had a personality other than a rocker. We saw many more facets to Joey and Danny’s character and the girls were allowed to blossom. Michelle was never cuter than in season 2 and could actually be used for a few good one-liners. Stephanie grew less annoying and DJ, well, she was pretty much the same. Kimmy Gibler was used more efficiently than season one and there was always a rotating group of women coming into the house, whether it was for Jesse, Danny, or Joey. Of course, this season introduced Becky who would be a mainstay the rest of the show’s run. Stephanie got her first real friend in Harry, as well. The only annoying thing in this season was the prevalence of Jesse’s parents. I thought their characters weren’t that funny and the episodes they appeared in just used them as a silly plot device. That aside, this was a season with more ups than downs and was an enjoyable one at that.
DVD Features
A) Extras
---Disc Four---
1) Full House Rules of Parenting (3:45)
This was just a 4-minute clip of different “parenting” tips that appeared in the season. If you’ve seen the series, this is nothing new.
2) Full House Trivia Challenge
This is a trivia based on things that happened in Season 2.
B) Audio/Video
The video is plain old fullscreen and can be a little grainy at times. Granted, the show is almost 20 years old so it’s to be expected. It’s better than the re-runs in syndication though. The audio is in Dolby Digital but it just comes from the center speakers. It’s not a huge feast for the ears; it’s just a TV show. It does the job.
C) Liner Notes
The DVD is a fold-open three-page type deal with discs one and two in the middle, discs three and four on the right and the liner notes in a folder on the left. The folder contains a four page gate-fold booklet featuring the cast when it’s first open, and a listing of the DVD contents with an episode guide on the inside four pages. It’s there I got the original airdate information and a brief synopsis of each episode.
D) Easter Eggs
None
Overall Review
I complained in the Season 1 DVD review that I hope more extras are added to the subsequent DVD releases and that definitely didn’t happen. In fact, we had less. How hard would it have been to get someone on the show to record a commentary? I don’t think any of the cast is doing anything worthwhile, besides maybe John Stamos and Bob Saget, so a commentary track definitely could’ve been added to a few of the episodes. There weren’t any documentaries or really, anything. Not even commercials for the new episodes. There’s a 4-minute clip of season 2 highlights and a trivia track. The fact that this collects the full episodes not seen since the season aired is enough for my wife and I to pick these up. Casual fans should stick to the shows running on ABC Family. I don’t think there’s enough bang for the buck here.
Overall Rating
5.0
10.0 Perfect
9.0-9.5 Near Perfect, Highly Recommended
8.0-8.5 Really good disc, Recommended
7.0-7.5 Good DVD, Mildly recommended
6.0-6.5 Above Average DVD. Mildest of mild recommendations
5.0-5.5 Decent all around disc, but catch it on TV
4.0-4.5 Great Movie but horrible DVD
3.0-3.5 Horrible movie but great DVD
2.0-2.5 There’s at least some merit to this DVD, but not much.
1.0-1.5 Horrible DVD, don’t even bother
0.0-0.5 Worst DVD ever
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