Full House is a feel good family sitcom that tackles the issue of three dads and three young girls learning to live with each other and get by in life. While the series isn't particularly innovating, the first season is very enjoyable. With half of the cast so young and innocent, the situations they got into came off as cute and fun. I enjoyed this season quite a bit. The first season spends a lot of time setting up the format, the cast, and the direction of the series. The format of this series is very simple. The stories are told in an episodic manner. In each one, the family gets stuck in a few sticky situations. Most stories are about the cast learning to raise the three girls.

Danny Tanner (Bob Saget) is the father of three girls. Prior to the time of the pilot episode, his wife passed away and left him in a large home with three growing girls. He works as a sportscaster and is frequently gone during the day. In an effort to repair his life, his brother in law and a close friend move into the house to help him raise his girls. Danny is your typical neurotic father who has a strong will to do to the right thing. Jesse Cochran (John Stamos) is the brother in law and a rock n roll wannabe star. Jesse adds a character with a wild side. In season two, Jesse's last name was changed to Katsoplis. The reason is mentioned in the pilot episode commentary. Next we have Joey Gladstone (Dave Coulier), he is Danny's best friend and a starving comic. His personality gives the series a few great laughs with plenty of impressions and goofy speak. The Tanner kids in the series are DJ (Candace Cameron), Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin), and Michelle (Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen). DJ is the older sister and gives a fifth grader's perspective. Stephanie is the middle child and offers a very young perspective, with plenty of cute moments. Michelle is the baby in the series, and she does not have a very active role in this season.

In general, I really liked the cast in this first season. The diverse personalities of the older cast and the cuteness of the younger cast together form a fun balance. One example is that Stephanie leaves little details out in a given situation that are pretty important, and because of it, the result is a funny situation. When asked why, she responds "because nobody asked me". Another fun joke is seeing how Danny and Jessie interact. In this first season, Jessie is essentially portrayed as a womanizing playboy, which doesn't seem to always go over well with homebody Danny. It is especially when it happens in front of the kids. It's also important to note that the womanizing is not presented in a sleazy manner, but rather humorous. Another aspect that I enjoyed was how Danny, Jessie, and Joey interacted. There was a lot of time spent on getting them to cope with each other's different personalities.

Another great thing about this season box set is that it includes the original unaired pilot episode. In it, John Posey plays Danny Tanner, instead of Bob Saget. It's fun to watch the episodes back to back, because you can really see what a strong performance Bob Saget brings as Danny Tanner versus John Posey, whose performance feels a little too forced. The episode itself is quite entertaining, although it is much more dramatic than the rest of the series.

Another notable episode is "The Return of Grandma". Before Jessie and Joey, Danny's mom was staying with him. Well, a month later she comes back to check on how they are getting along. Of course, things aren't going great, so she brings in Jessie and Joey's moms! In "The Big Three-O", Danny turns thirty--midlife crisis. Need I say more? Another funny episode is "Half a Love Story". In it, Jessie uses Michelle to pick up a Danny's coworker and friend Robin. Unfortunately for him and good for us, a sticky situation ensues when Jessie's other date and Robin show up at the same time. Towards the end of the season "Mad Money" offers a funny episode. Jessie dresses up like Elvis for employment related reasons and it is a riot.

Overall, I found that watching the first season of Full House on DVD was a great experience. The series is playfully fun and the cast is depicted in a very likeable way. While in some of the later seasons the situations and roles get annoying, the first season is filled with plenty of great Tanner family moments.

The DVD

Video:
The video is given in its original television aspect ratio of 1.33:1 full frame color. The picture quality is good considering its age. The image is a bit soft at times. For the most part, it looks good with a slight grain and no noticeable issues attributed with video compression.

Audio:
The audio in this release is in English 2.0 Dolby digital stereo. The quality is quite good. The audio is fairly flat, which is due the show being dialogue driven. This release also supports closed captioning and has subtitles in English, Spanish, and French.

Extras:
The extras include the original unaired pilot episode, two audio commentaries, and a trivia game. I really liked how the original unaired pilot with John Posey as Danny Tanner was included. As mentioned in the review, the episode really shows how well Bob Saget fills the role as Danny Tanner in comparison to John Posey. The other extra is audio commentaries for episodes "Our Very First Show" and "Mad Money" with creator and executive producer Jeff Franklin. The commentaries are nice to sit through. There are some fun facts to be learned about the series.

Final Thoughts:
Full House is one of many television series that I grew up watching. I used to really enjoy watching the daily lives of the Tanner family when I was younger. However, now that I'm older, the series doesn't have the same appeal. I see that the series is quite flawed and sometimes overplayed, but it turns out, I really enjoy that aspect. The diverse personalities and the younger cast mix well together, making this family sitcom enjoyable. Pulling it altogether, the first season of Full House is fun family entertainment.