"Whatever happened to predictability, the milkman, the paperboy, evening TV? How did I get to livin' here, somebody tell me please, this old world's confusing me..." The opening lines of the Full House theme song clue you in immediately that the show is about a "not-so-average" household--a show about a “typical” family wouldn't get any viewings, so of course, this classic sitcom had to have some sort of element that would set it apart from the multitude of other sitcoms about families that are on television. Right off the bat in the first scene of the first episode, we learn that Danny Tanner’s wife died 3 months prior to the events of the first episode. As the events of the show begin to unfold, Danny asks his wife’s brother Jesse and his best friend Joey to help him take care of his 3 daughters DJ, Stephanie, and Michelle. It’s a feel-good show, full of hilarious antics, heartwarming characters, and most importantly, unbreakable family bonds. But it’s also a prime example of nontraditional narrative, because in all honesty, it has no plot.
Sure, there’s small problems and situations that need to be overcome in each episode; the events of the show address typical issues that come with growing up. But there’s no real beginning or middle of the “storyline” (I’m putting storyline in quotation marks because, like stated before, there’s no one problem that needs to be solved). Rushkoff states, “The new challenge for writers is to generate the sense of captivity, as well as the sensations and insights, of traditional narrative— but to do so without the luxury of a traditional storyline. So they come up with characters who simply wake up in a situation and have to figure out who they are or what the heck is going on around them,” (Rushkoff 31) and this is essentially how sitcoms are created--Full House is no different, considering all 8 seasons are about Danny Tanner trying to figure out how to balance all the aspects of life as a working, single father.
This is the “present shock” aspect of Full House. Every 30-minute episode contains a new mini-plot, and it’s almost always solved, in one way or another. Rushkoff explains this phenomenon in Present Shock, saying, “In short, these sorts of shows teach pattern recognition, and they do it in real time.” (Rushkoff 28) The predictability of the show’s structure is traditional, but because the show contains no overarching story, the narrative remains nontraditional. Each episode contains new antics, new situations that have to be dealt with, and no reference is made to future events that will occur in the character’s lives. Like Rushkoff says about The Simpsons, although the “episodes have stories, these never seem to be the point.” (Rushkoff 26) Whether it’s DJ trying to get an autograph from her favorite singer at the mall and getting foiled by Uncle Jesse, or Stephanie accidentally telling Kimmy about her surprise birthday party, the warmly comical moments that the show never fails to produce are what keep the viewers coming back for more. But there's never any problem that drags on for more than one or two episodes. Once the episode is over, so are the events that occurred during it.
It’s weird to think about the fact that one of the most iconic television series of all time doesn’t actually have a storyline. However, considering the show is still being played on TV networks 20 years after it ended, I’d say this take on nontraditional storytelling was successful. Because viewers in this day and age don’t care about the fact that there’s no deep, insightful meaning to the events of the episodes. It’s a show about a family learning to live together and adapt to a new way of life. The relatability of the show also draws in viewers today. Rushkoff explains this perfectly when he writes, “These shows are characterized by their frozenness in time, as well as by the utter lack of traditional narrative goals.” (Rushkoff 31) The resonance of Full House and the fact that so many people can relate to the situations that the Tanner clan has to navigate even 20 years later is part of what makes Full House such a classic. Because even now, in our present-shocked society, the show is still making people smile.
Works Cited
Rushkoff, Douglas. Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now. New York: Penguin Group, 2013. Print.
I might be bias since I have an extreme love for Full House, but I really enjoyed reading this post. Of the hundreds of episodes I’ve watched and re-watched, I never stopped to realize that when it all boils down it, each episode has the same premise: Danny trying to figure out how to parent three girls without his wife. I thought it was interesting how you pointed out the predictability of the show, because when I watch it now I think to myself “how was I so shocked at this when I was eight”. A lot of shows are like that even now. As long as the audience is temporarily entertained, the show has served its purpose. Makes me worry what will be on television in ten years.
ReplyDeleteHmm...I'm on the fence about Full House. I was surprised when Rushkoff called out "Friends" as being an example of a presentist, post narrative series. He cites the coffee house setting as an example of a stuck-going-nowhere trope, but I'm not sure I agree. For one thing the show had more over-arching character "stuff" than many sit-coms even from twenty years before. The coffee shop as a "third place" (which was the brand code Starbucks used to become the behemoth they are today--we'll talk more about that later!) which 90s twentysomethings gravitated toward at that time. Maybe the story was directionless not because it was departing from traditional form, maybe it was directionless because we were directionless in the nineties?
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