In the 2nd episode of Fuller House, Kimmy Gibbler and her about-to-be 13 year-old daughter Ramona move in.
Here’s my criticism of this episode: Clearly, the Gibblers should share the entire attic. Considering that Uncle Jesse, Aunt Rebecca, Nicky and Alex lived up there, I am confident that two people, as opposed to 4, could make the space work.
But apparently to make the plot of the show (and this episode) more interesting, DJ’s older sons Jackson and Max must now share DJ and Stephanie’s old bedroom.
This actually turns out to be a pretty funny episode though.
It’s funny how Kimmy begins a tradition of referring to DJ and Stephanie as her “sister wives.”
And I laughed pretty hard during the scene where Stephanie accidentally leaves her cell phone in the baby’s diaper.
Meanwhile, Jackson secretly hides in Uncle Jesse’s truck to apparently attempt to run away.
I love the fact Uncle Jesse drives a truck, as his personal vehicle. I’ll assume it’s a Toyota because that’s my favorite brand of trucks.
We again see the 34 year-old Stephanie acting like she never grew up past the age of 24. But now that she’s moved into the house, and having to take on responsibilities, hopefully we’ll see begin to finally grow up.
She was the character I most identified with when I was a kid, as I am only a year older than her.
So in a weird way, it’s sad to see that she didn’t grow up to be more responsible as an adult now in her mid-thirties.
I plan to make an entire recap video on Stephanie’s character, but I’ll wait until I watch all 13 episodes before I do.
But even if and when she “grows up”, there is no doubt her character had some psychological issues that held her back.
Blame it on the middle child syndrome.
Thanks for reading my Fuller House Recap. I invite you to watch my video version as well.
Since Fuller House premiered on February 26th, I assume most of us tuned in to watch it on Netflix out of curiosity more than anything.
Whether the show does well or not, I have decided to do a blog series recapping each of the 13 episodes; making a video recap as well.
So let’s get started…
In the first episode, “Our Very First Show, Again,” we are transported to the modern day Tanner house, where we see a reunion of the family before they disperse to begin new careers.
My main criticism right away for Fuller House is that DJ’s husband died. I am convinced that writers for TV shows don’t believe that a happy married couple can exist on a TV show.
It also bothers me that Stephanie (who is 34 years-old) lives the lifestyle of an irresponsible 25 year-old.
At least Joey grew up, it appears: He mentions that he had moved out of the house a long time ago, and he’s wearing a wedding band so we assumed he’s married- though no one talks about his wife.
Speaking of, Danny is married, apparently to an unnamed woman.
I was surprised to see Nicky and Alex, though their parents make them out to be disappointments.
We learn that soon-to-be divorced Kimmy Gibbler has her own party planning business, while widowed DJ is a vet.
And (divorced) Steve is back, making it clear right away he’s ready to get back with DJ.
I appreciate that the writers and producers are quick to poke fun at the show and its history, while still at the same time embracing elements of former episodes.
For example, in this episode, Uncle Jesse (as well as, Stephanie) sing “Forever”.
Be sure to watch my video recap for more details. If this blog recap does well, I’ll know to keeping writing these.
I kept assuming it wouldn’t actually happen- that somehow there would be some kind of technical difficulty get the call through.
Fortunately, I was wrong. I indeed was on an hour long conference call with Kirk Cameron today.
Obviously, I’ve been reviewing movies for a while now, from a family friendly perspective. That means that sometimes, like with 23 Blast, I am even asked to review the movie before it even arrives in theatres.
That is the case this week with Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas.
While the majority of the call revolved around his new movie, he was able to speak a lot about other things.
He spoke a whole lot about his family; his wife and 6 kids! I could tell Kirk is truly a family orientated guy.
That’s what he talked about more than anything, actually; his family. Oh, and he loves Christmas!
He mentioned how living out in California, or as he calls it, “the land of fruits and nuts,” (a reference to food, not people) his family is definitely health-conscious, but referenced his loved for Southern style biscuits; as he recently visited the Duggers (19 Kids And Counting) as well as the Robertsons (Duck Dynasty).
Kirk contributed a lot of his health consciousness to his wife; Chelsea Noble. He loved talking about her; explaining how they met on the set of Full House.
His mother who happened to be there because Kirk’s sister Candace was there for taping, encouraged Kirk to find a girl like Chelsea who was “even more beautiful on the inside than the outside.”
Eventually Chelsea played Kirk’s girlfriend on Growing Pains and a year later, he proposed.
When asked if Kirk missed the days of Growing Pains, he laughed, with no relectance, to say no; comparing that part of his life to high school.
I could tell he wasn’t at all annoyed by the Growing Pains mentions, but his focus is clearly on his family and his faith. He has moved on with his life.
Kirk does, however, keep in touch with Jeremy Miller, who played Ben; and occasionally Alan Thicke and Tracey Gold.
The main takeaway from my conference call with Kirk Cameron was that he’s far from a has-been. It’s evident he’s doing much more meaningful and remarkable things in his life now than ever before.
He’s humble. He really is. I heard him talk for an hour.
It wasn’t about him; it was about family and God the whole time.
Now, it’s time for me watch his new movie Saving Christmas so I can write a review for it here on Family Friendly Daddy Blog; which is sort of the whole point of my conference call with him!
Don’t ask me how, but all week my wife and I have had the theme song to the ‘80’s sitcom Mr. Belvedere stuck in our heads. In the mindset of “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”, we downloaded the song as our ringtones for when we call each other. That has caused me to revisit some of my most favorite theme songs from these sitcoms that served as the backdrop of my childhood. A very interesting trait that many of these TV shows had in common with each other (and accordingly, the lyrics to their theme songs) is that premise was that an outsider moved into the household, therefore throwing normalcy out of whack. Which totally relates to what’s going through my head right now about our upcoming new addition, a baby boy. (In order to qualify, the sitcom had to actually start in the 1980’s; Diff’rent Strokes, Mork and Mindy, and The Facts of Life don’t qualify since since they premiered in the ’70’s.)
For example, here’s a sitcom that had it all, yet could have only existed in the 1980’s: An all-American family, laugh tracks, and an Alien puppet. Of course, I’m referring to Alf. While the song had no words (instead it sounded like what would happen if you pressed the “demo” button on a $200 Casio keyboard in 1988), the thought of a little creature running around the floor chasing cats loosely translates having a baby boy. For Family Matters, the intended outsider was Estelle Winslow who moved in with her son Carl’s family, though unexpectedly the true outsider instead became Steve Urkle (intended only as a guest star) instead a few episodes into the first season.
In Mr. Belvedere, a British butler moves in with an American family living in Philadelphia: “Sometimes things get turned around and no one’s spared… There’s a change in the status quo. Preparing for our new arrival. We might just live the good life yet…”
Another prime example is from one of my favorite sitcoms ever, which happens to have my favorite TV show theme song ever. In Perfect Strangers, city slicker Larry Appleton is thrown for a curve when his distant cousin Balki moves from his mysterious Mediterranean village to live with Larry in Chicago: “Sometimes the world looks perfect- nothing to rearrange. Sometimes you just get a feeling that you need some kind of change…”
In Full House, it was Joey and Uncle Jesse who mixed things up by moving in with the Tanner family: “What ever happened to predictability?”
There was CBS’s version of Diff’rent Strokes: Webster. As a kid, I actually liked Webster more than Arnold: “Til there was you…”
The next two sitcoms both premiered in 1984 and featured an Italian-American who moved into the household as a “manny”. Who’s the Boss? contains my 2nd favorite theme song ever and often caused me to believe that Tony Danza was my uncle: “You might awaken to a brand new life around the bend…”
Even though I never watched it, I know it was a big deal to a lot of people- Charles in Charge: “New boy in the neighborhood…”
You’re welcome… for being led into a world of nostalgia. It’s pretty much a fact that you’ll be struggling to get one of those songs out of your head for the rest of the day. So being such a sentimental guy as I am, I’ve been thinking about the current events that are going on right now. That way I can tell Jack what was going on around the time he was born:
Interestingly, on November 5th, the movie Due Date hit theatres. Daylight Savings was two days later; meaning that when it’s that time again to set back the clocks every year, it will almost be time for Jack’s birthday. Conan O’Brien’s new show premiered this week (November 8th) and sure enough on last night’s episode during the monologue Conan pointed out that it was exactly nine months ago that his gig at The Tonight Show ended; so if because two people felt sad for Conan losing his job they decided to “get frisky” to be happy again, their child would be born this week. Good call.
It will also be pretty neat that I will be able to show Jack the November 2010 issue of American Baby, in which in his birth was anticipated. He is not making his debut unannounced; that’s for sure. Today, November 11th, is not only Jack’s due date but it’s also my dad’s birthday, whose name is also Jack. So even though he won’t have the same exact birthday as my dad, their birthdays will always be close.
Of all the pregnancy advice I’ve been given, the one thing no one warned me about is this: For first time moms, it’s normal and expected to not delivery until a full week after the due date. So if you or your wife are approaching your due date, don’t do like I did and get all psyched, thinking the water is going to break at any moment. Because then everyone is constantly asking for and expecting baby news, but sure enough, the baby is unaware of his due date. He’s coming out when he’s good and ready.
I have to remind myself that my baby is not a Hot Pocket, with an exact predetermined time of two minutes in the microwave. In fact, that would be pretty weird if he truly was born right near the due date. We went to the doctor today. Thank God, Baby Jack has still got a strong heartbeat and is in a good position. He’s turned the correct way and everything. But as far as when he gets here, I’m sure it will be the moment that I (and everyone else) least expects it. He’s a sneaky little guy.
All pictures with the “JHP” logo were taken by Joe Hendricks Photography:
Danny Tanner was OCD about cleaning his full house. Howie Mandel is insane in dealing or not dealing with germs. As for me, I am obsessed with feeling clean and fresh in regards to my own body. If I had to go a full day without taking a shower, brushing my teeth, or clipping my fingernails (they grow very fast; I have to clip them every five days), then it would pretty much ruin my day, like a canker sore.
I keep an extra toothbrush, toothpaste, and pair of nail clippers with me at work. As well as in my car. Heckler from the crowd shouts out: “Well you better get used to feeling dirty! That baby of yours is going to be puking and peeing on you every day…” But that’s different. To me, that’s more of an external situation. I’m obsessed with the internal.
What I get on me, I can clean off and be okay with. It’s what comes out from within my body that bothers me. Knowing that sweat is constantly slowly seeping out of my skin and that bacteria in my mouth begins festering again the minute I finish brushing my teeth. Yikes.
And truthfully, this obsession has a lot to do with my extremely strict diet which is based around “clean eating”. The way I see it, the foods I put in my body either make my insides cleaner or dirtier. It’s typically hard for me to eat a big greasy hamburger because I imagine the liquefied, digested fat leaking out my pores. What a nightmare.
Surely everyone is at least a little bit OCD somehow when it comes to cleanliness. This is mine.
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