'Fuller House' Series Premiere Recap: It's Fine! Everything Is Fine!

In his classic 1820s poem “The Kraken,” Lord Alfred Tennyson wrote of an ancient behemoth lying in wait “far beneath in the abysmal sea.” In the 1920s, H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Call of Cthulu” described a similar abomination emerging from the sea as “it lumbered slobberingly into sight and gropingly squeezed its gelatinous green immensity through the black doorway.” Capping off this trifecta, in 2016 sitcom creator Jeff Franklin reawakened Full House from its ancient oceanic slumber in order to wreak wet vengeance upon the earth. A tale as old as it is terrifying.

Fuller House is Netflix’s new sequel series to Full House, and it is almost exactly as you suspected it would be. Everyone is approximately two decades older and the live studio audience still hoots approvingly for every toothless warm-hearted “joke.” But here’s the thing: If you are a snarky, childless hater, Fuller House wasn’t made for you. It was made first and foremost to generate clickable headlines to promote Netflix’s development department. But also it was created for the demographic who used to be babysat by afternoon reruns of Full House, and who now need televisual babysitters for children of their own. And here is the added twist: It’s not horrible? Perhaps I am just as susceptible to nostalgia as anyone else (I enjoyed the sometimes dreadful X-Files reboot for example) but there’s something so comforting about seeing the same old set, hearing the same old comedic rhythms, and most of all, seeing Jodie Sweetin be gainfully employed again. You know?

TLDR; I think I enjoyed Fuller House! Friends, let’s talk about it.