TV: Fuller House

"Fuller House" is Netflix's revival of the hit '90s sitcom "Full House." The story is a clever (albeit tragic) inversion of the original show's premise, following a widowed D.J. Tanner-Fuller raising her three sons, with the help of her sister Stephanie and her wacky best friend Kimmy:



In some very specific ways, "Fuller House" is miraculously good. Very few showrunners and actors could pull off what Jeff Franklin and the cast (sans the Olsen twins) have done here. 20 years after the original series went off the air, the show doesn't feel like a new entity, but simply another season of its parent.

Whether that's a good thing or not depends on how much you liked "Full House," of course. Critics are savaging it, but really, the show maintains the same catchphrases, comedic beats, overacting child performers, random cameos (Hunter Pence, Macy Gray(!)), cheesy sentiments, and madcap physical comedy of the original. There are some concessions to the new millennium and the streaming format (the second half of the season is slightly serialized for binge-watching), but this is "Full House," through and through.