Full House - The Show

General information
Full House is a sitcom, created by Jeff Franklin, and was broadcasted on ABC, first in the TGIF-lineup, later moved to tuesdays.

The first episode was broadcasted on September 22, 1987. After 8 seasons and 192 episodes, including 5 double episodes (hour long story) the final curtain was drawn on May 23 1995.

Originally the show would have been called "House of Comics" and the premise was three single stand-up comedians living together. It would be a more adult-orientated sitcom, but with the popularity of shows like "The Cosby Show" and "Family Ties" with family-oriented themes, the show was changed to show more family morals and values and the name was changed to Full House. This title is said to be derived from the poker hand known as a 'full house', with the three girls being "three of a kind" and Jesse and Joey a "pair".

The story
After his wife died in a car accident involving a drunk driver, widowed father Danny Tanner recruits his brother-in-law Jesse, a rock musician, and his best friend Joey, a comedian, to help him raise his three daughters, DJ, Stephanie and Michelle. Living all together in the San Francisco home of the Tanners, the three men and the children bond and become closer to one another.

In the second season Danny, who has been a sports reporter before, becomes host of 'Wake Up San Francisco', a local morning show. Hiw co-host, Rebbecca "Becky" Donaldson starts dating Jesse and eventually they get married and have twin sons, Nicky and Alex. Becky and the twins also move in to the house with the Tanners.

Additional characters are Kimmy Gibbler, DJ's best friend and the Tanner family's, not very loved, neighbor and Steve Hale, DJ's boyfriend in seasons six and seven.

The show is mainly based around the idea of three bachelors trying to rein in the precocious antics of three little girls. As most kids do (especially in sitcoms), the kids ignore the rules and learn their lesson afterwards. In the 8 seasons the show ran, we see the girls grow up, with all the usual stuff growing kids have to deal with, like (boy)friends, freaking parents and sisterly battles.

The final curtain
Although the show was still rated in the top 25 by 1995, ABC announced that it was canceling the show after the 8th season. The main reason were the increasing production costs. The new WB network wanted to pick up the show for a 9th season, as an old "classic" show to help launch the new network and lineup.

John Stamos, who played the role of Jesse, did not like the idea of dropping the show from ABC, a top four network, to a new network that hadn't yet received full national distribution . He therefore announced that the eight season would be his last.

Because Candace Cameron, who played the eldest daughter DJ Tanner, was planning on going to college after season eight, she also planned the eight season to be her last. She would do some sporadic guest appearances during the ninth season, as her character DJ came home to visite from college during the holidays.

After these two actors announced their departures, the rest of the cast decided it was time to call it quits. The writers then decided the series had gone as far as it could go, and season eight ended up to be the final season of Full House.

Along with the above reason for the show's end, there's rumors of one or two season 9 episodes already taped before it was decided that Full House would end.

Another explanation for why the show ended comes from Dave Coulier, who I asked the question per e-mail many years ago. According to him, the network broadcasting Full House (ABC) thought it was time for a new, more mature, programming, and Full House didn't fit in.

The first time the final episode was broadcasted, the entire cast was shown being called on stage, thanking and saying goodbye to the audience.