Whatever happened to predictability?
TV Line is reporting that Netflix is planning to revive the classic sitcom Full House with a 13-episode spinoff series entitled Fuller House.
According to TV Line, the revival will star Candace Cameron Bure, who played eldest daughter DJ in the original series, and Andrea Barber, who played DJ’s endearing but borderline mentally ill friend Kimmy Gibbler.
It’s a show ripe for revisiting, especially on a platform like Netflix, as many millennials in the United States grew up watching it. (If the first sentence of this story went over your head, chances are you’re not an American millennial. It’s from the show’s opening theme.)
Full House, which aired on ABC from 1987 to 1995, followed Danny Tanner (Bob Saget) and his large family in the wake of his wife’s death. He enlisted his brother-in-law Jesse (John Stamos) and his best friend Joey (Dave Coulier) to move into the family home, and shenanigans ensued. Saget, Stamos, and Coulier are all expected to return for the revival in some form.
The show also launched the careers of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, who took turns playing youngest Tanner daughter Michelle.
Netflix declined to comment on the reports. It would be one more old favorite to add to Netflix’s growing list of revivals, which includes Pee-wee and Wet Hot American Summer. Netflix is far from the only outlet taking a dip in the nostalgia pool: Fox is bringing back The X-Files for a limited series, NBC is rebooting the ABC series Coach, and Showtime is reviving the cult supernatural thriller Twin Peaks.
Nostalgia is a potent emotion, and programmers are keen to exploit it. Netflix seems to be leading the charge back into our pasts, when things felt simpler, and more familiar, even if they weren’t.