MANILA, Philippines – The ‘90s nostalgia continues with the arrival of the second season of one of the decade’s hit TV series Full House — resurrected as Fuller House — premiering globally tomorrow, Dec. 9, via Netflix.
The Tanners and Gibblers are back with holiday-themed episodes marking Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year, among other things. Topbilled by Candace Cameron-Bure, Jodie Sweetin and Andrea Barber, the original cast will be joined by the show’s veterans Bob Saget, John Stamos, Lori Loughlin, Dave Coulier, and Blake and Dylan Tuomy-Wilhoit.
“The house is very full, indeed,” says Barber at the show’s New York City junket held recently at the Essex House. “We have so many die-hard fans that have been so loyal to the show for 29 years. We were hoping they would love Fuller House as much as they loved Full House, and they did.”
In the reboot series still set in San Francisco, recently-widowed D.J. Tanner-Fuller (Cameron-Bure,) finds herself living in one roof with younger sister Stephanie Tanner (Sweetin) and D.J.’s best friend, Kimmy Gibbler (Barber), a single mom. The three have joined forces to help support each other, particularly in raising D.J.’s three boys (Jackson, 13; Max, 7; and baby Tommy Jr.), as well as Kimmy’s feisty teen daughter Ramona, and Kimmy’s semi ex-husband Fernando.
With themes ranging from parenting and relationships to career and everyday conflicts, Fuller House remains a good, clean family sitcom that the entire family can watch together.
“We got a great response from our audience,” says Barber. “It (revival) was even bigger than I expected. Wow, we were pretty blown away. I just felt more confident that we’re in the right direction. We knew what we were doing, and the show didn’t bomb. Our fans are still there, they’re happy, they love the nostalgic factor. They’re still super invested emotionally in our characters.”
“Yes, it’s a sitcom, but it’s a sitcom rich with family dynamics, personal relationships, kids growing up, adults finding their way,” adds Sweetin, saying that the show’s storyline mirrors the cast’s personal lives as well.
Just like in the first season of the revival, there will be no Michelle Tanner, played alternately by twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, who both announced retirement from acting at age 17 (they are now 30) to become full-time fashion moguls.
Sweetin says the stars and crew of the classic show tried everything they could think of to lure the Olsen twins to reprise their beloved role to no avail.
But Fuller House’s Season 2 will feature a number of special guests and fun cameos, including one of the hottest boy bands of the ‘90s, the New Kids On The Block (NKOTB).
Sweetin reveals that both Cameron-Bure and Barber were huge NKOTB fans and had the hardest time concentrating when the popular group was on the set. She says how the boy band ended up at the Tanner house is something fans must look forward to.
According to Sweetin, Fuller House’s Season 2 can stand apart from Season 1, and first time viewers won’t feel lost even without seeing the first season, or even the original classic series that ran from 1987 to 1995. It helps, she says, that the revival has a huge amount of throwback moments.
“Fuller House is its own show,” explains Barber. “Even if you’ve never watched the first eight seasons, you can start entirely and you can just pick up there and sort of fill in the blanks. It can stand on its own feet.”
Bob Boyett and Jeff Franklin are executive producers. The series is from Miller-Boyett Productions and Jeff Franklin Productions, in association with Warner Horizon Television for Netflix.
“The show’s creator and executive producer Jeff Franklin really wanted to protect the show’s legacy,” says Sweetin. “This show is his baby and he wanted to make sure we did the legacy proud.”
The complete cast of Netflix’s ‘good, clean family sitcom’