or a while now I’ve been watching Full House and it honestly fulfilled my expectations of being a homey sitcom of the ’80s and ’90s – perhaps the best in its league. It even appeals to Gen-Z for the laid-back approach where the dialogue delivery is everything one might say while buttering one’s toast on a Monday morning. It is heartwarming, cheering and gratifying.

The story (of Full House on ABC) follows Danny Tanner who has recently lost his wife Pamela and is the father of Donna Jo (DJ), Stephanie and Michelle. Pamela’s brother Jesse Katsapolis and Danny’s best friend Joey Gladstone move in to help bring up the girls. The series hence shows the struggles of a single father and brings humour to the naturally sad setting by bringing in two male leads who have absolutely no clue to parenting. The show ends with DJ getting back together with her boyfriend Steve; Jesse married to Rebecca with two twins, Nicky and Alex; Danny and Rebecca running Wake up San Francisco and Joey and Jesse having a radio show.

The sequel, Fuller House (on Netflix) follows DJ,recently widowed with three boys. Her best friend Kimmy, Kimmy’s daughter Ramona and Stephanie move in with her to look after the children. Steve is still sticking around hoping to get back with DJ who is now a vet and in a relationship with her business partner Matt. The reunions of the primary three Danny, Jesse and Joey are far from normal with nostalgia being peppered on the series in the form of them acting more immature than they were shown in the original series. The character degradation gets worse with Danny turning from a neat freak to an emotional and literal mess, his personality changing in every episode. Rebecca, his co-host on the now Wake up USA, is now acting like a 30 year old with a baby fever. Joey and his family are childish and out of control. Only Jesse has aged gracefully.

If one is looking for a laid back sitcom with a simple story to follow, Full House comes as a pleasant retreat from the conventional sitcoms about friends only, quite similar to Modern Family without the mockumentary. It centreson the philosophy of ‘hug it out’ to solve problems, valuing ethical and moral principles along with the practice of empathy as the focal point for all relationships. It hence comes across as a series that teaches family values in a comedic style.

In comparison, Fuller House is your average drama where the effort to embody the family spirit fails with DJ still indecisive about who she likes three seasons in, everyone hating Fernando, Stephanie being shown as a person who just mooches off others as she lays around ona couch all day, while Rebecca, Jesse’s wife, is shown having a baby fever at 60. Her two college-graduating-age twins are degreeless and jobless.

The destruction of the original characters in Fuller House is nauseating. This, ofcourse, can be expected of Netflix as they try to make every show according to a generic theme. It not only decreases the original creativity but also makes all shows seem like a drag with similar scripts. Also, the themes followed include gender role changes and more mature content. This does not sit right after watching the sophisticated and mildly conservative Full House. The wardrobes of characters have also deteriorated with DJ’s, Stephanie’s and Kimmy’s fashion sometimes striking a tone too close than their original individuality in dressing choices.

References such as Michelle running her fashion empire, Lori’s new hallmark movie and child actors who made it successful pointing the compass at Ariana Grande are a bar too far from what a sitcom is supposed to be. It comes off more as a nostalgia-driven series desperately trying to still be relevant while highlighting other projects taken up by the characters over the years.

Another off-putting factor is the failed attempt to showcase that it is a show with no relation to the real world as was the case with Full House. Fuller House goes above and beyond in calling for Michelle to come back, in proving that the characters are just actors and gives off the notion that the originals actors of the primary cast didn’t make it big in real life and hence are returning for the reunion.

If you were to ask me for some of the best sitcoms, I’d mention Full House;but if you asked for the worst, it’d be Fuller House. This is quite similar to how other shows also keep losing the charm in sequels of shows such as Gossip Girl and How I Met Your Mother.

The contributor has a degree in psychology with a minor in mass communication. She can be reached at  ukmaryam2@gmail.com