View Full Version : Did the show's quality drop drastically in the final three seasons


TMC
02-25-2022, 12:14 AM
This more or less, coincided with Jeff Franklin stepping down as the showrunner after Season 5 (https://therealfullhousereviewed.wordpress.com/2012/08/17/season-5-reviewed/) to focus on Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper and Marc Warren (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Warren_(TV_producer)) and Dennis Rinsler (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Rinsler) taking over showrunning (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCx9k460huc) duties as executive producers (http://www.full-house.org/fullhouse/fullhouse_production.php).

It was from there, that there were a lot of stupid and cartoonish episodes in those final years (http://www.tellytalk.net/threads/full-house.10750/post-277388) like the episode about Michelle’s feet (https://therealfullhousereviewed.wordpress.com/2013/11/15/season-8-episode-15-my-left-and-right-foot/), the donkey episode (https://therealfullhousereviewed.wordpress.com/2013/09/13/season-8-episode-6-you-pet-it-you-bought-it/), and the over the top gag about Kimmy’s stinky feet (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SmellyFeetGag).

Full House (https://web.archive.org/web/20140331134134/http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/topic/1823519-full-house/?view=getnewpost) fans debate (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/YMMV/FullHouse) over (https://web.archive.org/web/20061031125219/http://www.jumptheshark.com/f/fullhouse.htm) exactly which season of its eight began its decline (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/SeasonalRot/LiveActionTV), but everyone agrees as to the cause (https://www.datalounge.com/thread/30055300-john-stamos-had-top-billing-on-full-house): the holy terror that is Michelle Tanner. The Olsen twins became a massive cash cow starting in 1992 — they got their own albums, TV movies, Direct to Video films and series. As a result of this and Stephanie Tanner having aged out of the "adorable wisecracking tot" role, the show began to focus more and more on Michelle, forcing the other characters out of the spotlight and essentially making them prisoners of her whims (the Season Seven finale saw the titular house's original owner offering to buy it for a huge sum, with everyone happy except Michelle—and in the end, they all capitulate and decide not to move simply because she wants them to stay). By this time, fans derisively began calling (https://www.datalounge.com/thread/27544187-jodie-sweetin-) the program "The Michelle Show," and it never really recovered.

The rot begins to kick in with Season Four (https://therealfullhousereviewed.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/season-4-reviewed/), with a significant premise upheaval at the 3/4 mark of the season when Jesse and Becky get married. They end up moving into the renovated attic (https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/yo-how-did-uncle-jesse-have-aunt-becky-in-the-attic-because-of-michelle.3769502/) of the house — all because (https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/michelle-made-uncle-jesse-move-into-the-attic-on-full-house-30-years-ago-this-month.4356448/) Michelle doesn't like the idea of them moving to Becky's place, which is in the same neighborhood! This ties into the biggest problem the show has in its later seasons: The original concept of a widower inviting his brother-in-law and best friend into his house to help raise his daughters after his wife's death is now moot. None of the girls need a full-time caretaker anymore, making Jesse and Joey's presence in the house largely inexplicable.
Season Five (https://therealfullhousereviewed.wordpress.com/2012/08/17/season-5-reviewed/)'s 1/3rd mark sees the birth of Nicky and Alexander, Becky's twins and the joint Cousin Oliver of the series. The remainder of the season, and a chunk of Six, has quite a few copied-and-pasted plots from Season One when Michelle was a newborn baby. In addition, the writers' complete lack of interest in continuity becomes clear with a two-part Season Finale in which Jesse is struggling to get a recording contract and doubting his skills as a musician...despite the fourth season finale being about him getting a contract in the first place!
Season Six (https://therealfullhousereviewed.wordpress.com/2013/02/08/season-6-reviewed/) is the year that sees poor Stephanie relegated more and more to the background (because Michelle gets the "cute tot" plots and D.J.'s Romance Arc begins), with one of her few leading episodes being a Very Special Episode about an abused classmate. Otherwise, she's Michelle's Older Sidekick. (By Season Seven's "Day of the Rhino", Stephanie — a middle schooler — joins Michelle and her six-year-old friends' protest of a kiddie show character, and the visual contrast between the small children and the teenage Stephanie says it all.) Joey also becomes a more popular character's Sidekick with the abrupt loss of his Excited Kids' Show Host job from the previous season, whereupon he and Jesse go into business as radio deejays (even as Jesse got a story arc about getting his GED at the same time). This season also sees increasingly ludicrous scripts, including one where Michelle causes a massive dinosaur skeleton in a museum to completely collapse, and an over-the-top two-part Vacation Episode to Walt Disney World serving as the Season Finale. There are two pretty good Romance Arcs for D.J. and Danny, respectively, but that's all.
Season Seven (https://therealfullhousereviewed.wordpress.com/2013/08/02/season-7-reviewed/) sees the show really grasping for new ideas: both Romance Arcs end, Jesse becomes a nightclub owner, a (actually well-received) Very Special Episode about a death in the family leads straight to an episode about Jesse's evil lookalike cousin from Greece, there's a new wacky neighbor in the form of Mrs. Carruthers, and the penultimate episode's big plot twist involves Little Richard turning out to be the uncle of one of Michelle's friends. This problem continues into the final season (https://therealfullhousereviewed.wordpress.com/2014/01/24/season-8-reviewed/).

RetroGuy2000
02-25-2022, 04:32 AM
I don't think the show was ever high-quality. It was meant for teens, and the scripts were never that great to begin with. The best thing about the show was that amazing set.

TMC
02-25-2022, 04:53 AM
For the record, Dennis Rinsler and Marc Warren were listed (https://fullhouse.fandom.com/wiki/Season_2) as to writing 33 episodes beginning in Season 2 (https://therealfullhousereviewed.wordpress.com/2011/01/21/season-2-reviewed/). And it appears (https://web.archive.org/web/20140417054850/http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/topic/1823519-full-house/page-157#entry11881991) that they were most responsible for crafting the show's more quasi-unbelievable plots (https://web.archive.org/web/20140417054817/http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/topic/1823519-full-house/page-171#entry12765231).

TMC
03-05-2022, 04:16 AM
I don't think the show was ever high-quality. It was meant for teens, and the scripts were never that great to begin with. The best thing about the show was that amazing set.

I do agree that I don't care much about the increased focus on Michelle and her dweeby little friends. It's like they really didn't know what to do with Stephanie once she out grew her cute little kid phase so as previously mentioned, she essentially became Michelle's older sidekick.

If anything, the writers tried to make Michelle into the new Stephanie even though with all due respect, the Olsens didn't have Jodie Sweetin's charisma, charm, and good comedic timing. And likewise, they tried to recreate the DJ-Kimmy-Stephanie dynamic by having Gia become the Kimmy to Stephanie's DJ and Michelle's Stephanie.

TMC
01-08-2023, 04:48 AM
For the record, Dennis Rinsler and Marc Warren were listed (https://fullhouse.fandom.com/wiki/Season_2) as to writing 33 episodes beginning in Season 2 (https://therealfullhousereviewed.wordpress.com/2011/01/21/season-2-reviewed/). And it appears (https://web.archive.org/web/20140417054850/http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/topic/1823519-full-house/page-157#entry11881991) that they were most responsible for crafting the show's more quasi-unbelievable plots (https://web.archive.org/web/20140417054817/http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/topic/1823519-full-house/page-171#entry12765231).

FCx9k460huc

In this AMAZING cast & crew (http://www.full-house.org/fullhouse/fullhouse_production.php) interview, we sit down for a fascinating and fun chat with executive producers (https://dvdizzy.com/fullhouse-season7.html)/head writers (https://screenrant.com/full-house-writers-worked-on-disney-channel-shows-even-stevens-thats-so-raven-phil-of-the-future/) Marc Warren (https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-et-archive-full-house-final-episode-20160218-story.html) and Dennis Rinsler (https://www.baltimoresun.com/la-et-archive-full-house-final-episode-20160218-story.html)! It quickly became less about jumping from question to question and transformed into a super organic conversation in which we hope a lot of questions were answered!

We talk about pretty much everything: how Marc and Dennis got their start (https://therealfullhousereviewed.wordpress.com/2014/01/10/season-8-episode-23-michelle-rides-again-part-1/comment-page-1/#comment-19803), the early days of Even Stevens, casting, the writing process, a typical week on set, tons of behind the scenes info + fun facts, Shia, Honey Boy... and MORE!

If that's not enough, Marc and Dennis ranked their Top 5 Best/Worst episodes of the series!!! You do NOT want to miss it! :)

JO Sweet Heart
02-01-2023, 07:22 PM
I do agree that I don't care much about the increased focus on Michelle and her dweeby little friends. It's like they really didn't know what to do with Stephanie once she out grew her cute little kid phase so as previously mentioned, she essentially became Michelle's older sidekick.
I think that the writing for Stephanie turned out good during the last two seasons of the show once she got into junior high. She faced plenty of things that others her age at that time were dealing with like smoking, bullying, make out gatherings, and wanting other people to think that they are older.

God bless you always!!!

Holly