Uncle Jesse leaving the Full House home was a major turning point

The episode where it happened became a huge part of the sitcom’s history.

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There’s a fourth season Full House episode that became a major turning point in the series.

In "Fuller House," Uncle Jesse is preparing to move into Becky’s apartment and the youngest Tanner kid Michelle struggles to accept that he will no longer be living with the girls.

This is a huge moment in the sitcom, which sprang from the premise of three men coming together under one roof to raise three young girls.

And likely because the episode depicted the very relatable family circumstance of accepting when it’s time for even Uncle Jesse to grow up, this episode became the perfect title for the Fuller House reboot, which showed what happened when all the girls grew up.

The reboot starts out with an emotional reunion where the girls consider selling and leaving behind the old family house for good, just like Uncle Jesse once did.

When you rewatch "Fuller House" the episode, you can revisit clips from the Full House pilot, with flashbacks showing Uncle Jesse moving in.

For actor John Stamos, who played Uncle Jesse, moving out of the Full House home and moving on with Becky came at a time when he was maximally enjoying his time on the show.

While Stamos had reservations on the quality of the show when it started, by 1991 when "Fuller House" aired, his character was about to become a father with twins of his own. He told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that year that he enjoyed working as second dad to all the young stars, but he was "most excited" to portray a father of his own boys.

For Stamos, it was cool to have his character grow into more than just a girl-chasing rocker.

There was a similar sentiment expressed among the child stars who grew up calling Stamos "Uncle Jesse" and got a chance to see their former characters develop into the caring single parents who, like their own unconventional family, come together to care for their kids.

But perhaps the person whom the spirit of "Fuller House" the episode and Fuller House the reboot resonated most for was Full House producer and writer Jeff Franklin.

Franklin told the Lexington Herald-Leader in 2016 that having never started a family, he always considered the Full House cast like his own family. He decided to push for the Fuller House reboot to bring his family back to television again and tell the story of what happened when they grew up.

"Obviously, they’re not my kids," Franklin said, "but I feel that attachment to them. I care about them that much."

The first thing Franklin did was call up Uncle Jesse, working with Stamos as co-executive producers to find a network willing to back the reboot.

And Netflix ended up biting, not just because they saw it as a nostalgia play, but also because they too wanted to see what happened to the kid characters played by Candace Cameron, Jodi Sweetin and Andrea Barber when they grew up.

"Candace and Jodi and Andrea would not only be back, but they’re all grown up and they have a really compelling story to tell of their own," Netflix Vice President for content Cindy Holland said.

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5 Comments

Runeshaper 20 months ago
Great story! This show had so many strong characters on it.
Pacificsun 20 months ago
This is a very sweet story, and a nice one for those of us who haven't (and don't) follow the series that closely. I enjoyed the point being made about the producer thinking about Full House as kind of his own "family." That says a lot about the pride and quality they put into the show.
Mike 20 months ago
Just curious ...

Is there some specific reason that Lori Loughlin is never mentioned by name in any of your Full House posts?
I mean, she was only on the show for most of the run ...
LoveMETV22 Mike 20 months ago
She is mentioned as Lori Loughlin (question #5) in the quiz:

https://www.metv.com/quiz/can-you-guess-which-totally-80s-shows-these-full-house-stars-were-on

However most of the stories and quizzes mention her as her character name.
Pacificsun Mike 20 months ago
My hunch is sitcoms (in particular) try to avoid controversy. And while fans aren't going to have a problem with any character, the same might not be said in the opposite direction.
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