TMC
04-22-2015, 04:04 AM
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-full-house-satire-blogger-theres-more-20150421-story.html?track=rss
For four years, Alexander-Tanner had been watching one episode per week of the popular '90s family sitcom for his satire site "Full House Reviewed." Alexander-Tanner, 32, said it took him three to four hours to review each episode as he gathered screen grabs for his blog and rewrote one-liners to mock the series, which went off the air in 1995 after an eight-season, 192-episode run.
Now Alexander-Tanner may be dusting off his site. Netflix announced this week it is picking up 13 episodes of "Fuller House," a "Full House" spin-off that will focus on Candace Cameron Bure, who plays D.J. Tanner-Fuller, now a recently widowed mom who looks to her sister Stephanie (played by Jodie Sweetin) and friend Kimmy Gibbler (played by Andrea Barber) to help her raise her children.
"I finished (the series) and I was like, 'Phew,'" Alexander-Tanner said, "There is kind of a funny element at this moment where it's like, 'There's more? God dammit.'"
Alexander-Tanner, a Portland cartoonist who used to live in Hyde Park, said he got into hate-watching the show after working on a book with Bill Ayers, a controversial former professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Alexander-Tanner said the book project was intense and he was looking for a less-stressful hobby in 2010.
He said he considered writing reviews of "Family Matters," a TV show about a Chicago cop and his family, but the show was not yet out on DVD. So he turned his attention to "Full House," a show he had seen growing up but never really liked.
"It's so bad, and it's really bad in this really particular way. I think the anger it incites in you, as a viewer, is addictive," Alexander-Tanner said. "It's baffling that something of that quality is so successful."
Alexander-Tanner said he found the show, which starred Bob Saget as San Francisco TV host Danny Tanner, to be about the advantages of rich, white people. He said he particularly disliked the Joey Gladstone character, a Tanner family friend played by Dave Coulier, because he was supposed to be a comedian but Alexander-Tanner didn't find him funny or likeable.
Alexander-Tanner said he found that other viewers shared the same opinion. He said his site has received 3 million visits since he first began posting in 2010. He's hoping to get paid to review "Fuller House" when it is released next year.
Halfway through the series, Alexander-Tanner said he found himself fatigued watching episodes of a show he loathed, but his community of readers inspired him to keep going with the project. Alexander-Tanner, who currently appears on a podcast about "Saved the Bell," a similarly beloved '90s sitcom, said he will appreciate "Fuller House" if the series tackles the reality of alternative families, a topic he said the original "Full House," never covered.
He said he is also looking forward of the return of Gibbler, D.J. Tanner's teenage sidekick, who was known for wearing outrageous outfits and sometimes doing the wrong thing.
"She's the only interesting character. She's sort of this odd eccentric who is mistreated," Alexander-Tanner said. "She doesn't fit in with all of them, and that makes her more likeable."
For four years, Alexander-Tanner had been watching one episode per week of the popular '90s family sitcom for his satire site "Full House Reviewed." Alexander-Tanner, 32, said it took him three to four hours to review each episode as he gathered screen grabs for his blog and rewrote one-liners to mock the series, which went off the air in 1995 after an eight-season, 192-episode run.
Now Alexander-Tanner may be dusting off his site. Netflix announced this week it is picking up 13 episodes of "Fuller House," a "Full House" spin-off that will focus on Candace Cameron Bure, who plays D.J. Tanner-Fuller, now a recently widowed mom who looks to her sister Stephanie (played by Jodie Sweetin) and friend Kimmy Gibbler (played by Andrea Barber) to help her raise her children.
"I finished (the series) and I was like, 'Phew,'" Alexander-Tanner said, "There is kind of a funny element at this moment where it's like, 'There's more? God dammit.'"
Alexander-Tanner, a Portland cartoonist who used to live in Hyde Park, said he got into hate-watching the show after working on a book with Bill Ayers, a controversial former professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Alexander-Tanner said the book project was intense and he was looking for a less-stressful hobby in 2010.
He said he considered writing reviews of "Family Matters," a TV show about a Chicago cop and his family, but the show was not yet out on DVD. So he turned his attention to "Full House," a show he had seen growing up but never really liked.
"It's so bad, and it's really bad in this really particular way. I think the anger it incites in you, as a viewer, is addictive," Alexander-Tanner said. "It's baffling that something of that quality is so successful."
Alexander-Tanner said he found the show, which starred Bob Saget as San Francisco TV host Danny Tanner, to be about the advantages of rich, white people. He said he particularly disliked the Joey Gladstone character, a Tanner family friend played by Dave Coulier, because he was supposed to be a comedian but Alexander-Tanner didn't find him funny or likeable.
Alexander-Tanner said he found that other viewers shared the same opinion. He said his site has received 3 million visits since he first began posting in 2010. He's hoping to get paid to review "Fuller House" when it is released next year.
Halfway through the series, Alexander-Tanner said he found himself fatigued watching episodes of a show he loathed, but his community of readers inspired him to keep going with the project. Alexander-Tanner, who currently appears on a podcast about "Saved the Bell," a similarly beloved '90s sitcom, said he will appreciate "Fuller House" if the series tackles the reality of alternative families, a topic he said the original "Full House," never covered.
He said he is also looking forward of the return of Gibbler, D.J. Tanner's teenage sidekick, who was known for wearing outrageous outfits and sometimes doing the wrong thing.
"She's the only interesting character. She's sort of this odd eccentric who is mistreated," Alexander-Tanner said. "She doesn't fit in with all of them, and that makes her more likeable."