‘ Full House’ of cards:
David Wiegand sounds a cautionary note about the Netflix reboot of the ABC sitcom, right.
Netflix has become a dominant force in TV content streaming by being bold and taking chances. This time, it may have gone too far.
I’m talking, of course, about the content provider’s decision to reboot the highly successful but qualitatively so- so sitcom “Full House,” which aired on ABC from 1987 to 1995.
Netflix made it official on Tuesday after former co- star John Stamos announced the news on Monday’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” show. Stamos, who played heartthrob Uncle Jesse, is among the producers of the updated version of “Full House,” set for a 2016 release on Netflix. He will also gueststar in the show. Other cast members who’ve re- upped include Candace CameronBure, Jodie Sweetin and Andrea Barber. Netflix said discussions are “ongoing” with Bob Saget, Dave Coulier, Lori Loughlin, and Mary- Kate and Ashley Olsen about the possibility of guest- starring as well.
Don’t hold your breath on some of these guys. OK, two in particular.
The new “Fuller House” will find DJ ( Cameron- Bure) pregnant and a recent widow. In the original show, DJ’s dad, Danny
( Saget), after losing his wife, asked his best friend, Joey ( Coulier), and brother- in- law ( Stamos) to move in to help him raise his daughters.
DJ is a veterinarian, still living in San Francisco. Her sister Stephanie ( Sweetin) will play an aspiring musician in the new show, and their annoying best friend from childhood, Kimmy ( Barber), will move in with them along with her teenage daughter. DJ will have two kids, JD, 12, and Max, 7.
So what’s wrong with this picture? The overwhelming number of sitcom reboots, or after- the- fact spin- offs, either don’t work or work only in limited and kind of sad ways. One need only look at “Girl Meets World,” an update of “Boy Meets World,” airing on the Disney Channel, for proof. Topanga ( Danielle Fishel) and Cory ( Ben Savage) are predictably married, and the focus of the show is, also predictably, on their daughter, Riley ( Rowan Blanchard). It’s not a bad show, but instead of a mid- list sitcom about occasionally interesting teenagers, the reboot is typically bland Disney Channel fare.
Want some other examples? How about “Joanie Loves Chachi,” “The Ropers,” “Joey” ( from “Friends”), “Archie Bunker’s Place,” “The Golden Palace” ( from “Golden Girls”), “Mona” ( from “Who’s the Boss”)?
Sure, some have beaten the odds, captured their own lightning in a bottle: “Mork & Mindy,” “Maude,” “The Jeffersons.” Netflix resuscitated “Arrested Development,” but with the original cast intact and not too much older than they were when the show was on Fox. But in general, spin- offs and reboots are a challenge.
Why? First, because times change and so do audiences. Second, because whatever formula resulted in the original hit is difficult if not impossible to replicate after the fact. In the case of “Fuller House,” no matter how “ongoing” the conversations may be with former co- stars, I cannot imagine the Olsens either wanting or needing to show up in a Netflix sitcom. Granted, you only need one of them, but still. And exactly what would the Olsens play anyway? Michelle as paparazzi bait, dodging tabloid headlines about a suspected eating disorder?
The actors who’ve already re- upped aren’t exactly A- list, nor are they the names that would draw nostalgic fans of the original show. CameronBure, who has carved out a very successful career doing shows for Hallmark, is probably the best of the bunch.
The nostalgia factor is wobbly for the new show anyway. For one thing, whichever former cast members do agree to show up are older. The adults are old enough to be grandparents now, and the younger actors aren’t cute kids anymore. We have to get used to other cute kids, and we’re going to look at grown- up, pregnant DJ and wish for the days when she was just a kid and her biggest challenges in life had to do with sibling rivalry with Stephanie.
In other words, nostalgia may initially bring fans of the original show to the new version, but it won’t keep them coming back. Other hooks are needed.
Second, the world is different. If the new version were being made by a broadcast network, or a carrier such as the Disney Channel or ABC Family, disaster would be a foregone conclusion. We can take a degree of hope in that the new version is a Netflix project. No, it won’t be “Orange Is the New Black,” but there’s a chance that the updating will at least be intelligent.
Third, in order to be successful, the new version has to attract viewers who didn’t see the original show when it aired on ABC, and that’s where the cute factor becomes dangerous. In short, we don’t live in “cute” times.
Jeff Franklin, creator of the original show, is also the creator of the Netflix “Fuller House,” and executive- produces with two other veterans of the original show, Thomas L. Miller and Robert Boyett. Bottom line is that despite the odds, I’m hopeful that the fact that Netflix is ordering the 13- episode reboot will result in something that doesn’t embarrass itself.
By the way, we’ll also be looking for that opening credit sequence. I suppose for old times’ sake, we might expect it to be filmed with the Painted Ladies as a backdrop, but if Netflix really wants to be up to date, may I suggest, say, a Blue Bottle outlet, the backseat of an Uber, the interior of a Google bus?