The cast of Fuller House looks directly at the camera in season 1, but why? Netflix’s Full House spin-off brought back the majority of the Tanners to the small screen. Instead of focusing being on Danny (Bob Saget), Jesse (John Stamos), and Joey (Dave Coulier), however, Fuller House centered on DJ (Candace Cameron-Bure), her second sister, Stephanie (Jodie Sweeting), and best friend, Kimmy (Andrea Barber), who are now all grown up.
Fuller House’s storytelling mirrored its parent series. Each of its main characters followed a similar path to their Full House parental figures. Like Danny’s wife, DJ’s husband, Tommy Fuller Sr. was unexpectedly killed, leaving her to raise three kids. Meanwhile, Stephanie started as a free spirit who had a penchant for music similar to Jesse. Finally, Kimmy was the outsider who essentially became family, which was what happened to Joey in the original show. Netflix leaned on these similarities throughout the series in an effort to ramp up nostalgia, but it also tried new things. One thing that Full House never did that its sequel chose to do, however, was break the fourth wall.
In Fuller House season 1, the cast looked straight into the camera in the series premiere titled “Our Very First Show, Again.” The scene features the core Full House characters huddling in the iconic San Francisco home kitchen as they talk about their recent experiences, including where Michelle is and why she isn’t home to help DJ get back on her feet after the death of Tommy Fuller Sr. As they discuss the specifics of her absence, catching up viewers on what she has been up to since the end of Full House, they cap it off with the characters looking directly at the camera, effectively implying their disappointment over Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s decision to sit out the spin-off. The fourth wall breaking is used to highlight their absence, and is also behind a Fuller House season 2 scene in which Stamos breaks the fourth wall again in a more subtle way, as he directly invites the twins to participate saying: “Come, it’ll be fun.”For years, Stamos was trying to get a Full House spin-off to happen. At one point, there were even talks about making it a movie. It wasn’t until Netflix picked up the project that it finally moved forward. Despite some of the cast members previously declining his invitation to do a revival, all of them were game for Fuller House — except for the Olsens. Mary-Kate and Ashley have long retired from acting and are now focusing on managing their high-end fashion brand, The Row. Despite conflicting rumors about their supposed involvement, the pair ultimately stuck with their initial decision to sit the sequel out. Mining inspiration from their real-life work, Fuller House revealed that Michelle Tanner is now based in New York where she is spearheading her own fashion company. The show never really got into specifics about why exactly she wasn’t able to come home in the five-year run of the show, and even when both DJ and Stephanie got married in the Fuller House finale.
It is commendable that Fuller House even attempted to address Michelle’s absence. The show could have just recast the character or decided to ignore her altogether. That being said, the Full House spin-off could have also done a much better job on the matter. Ideally, that wouldn’t have included a tasteless way to poke fun at the Olsens’ decision to not be in Fuller House.
