The Fourth Season

Full House is a feel good family sitcom that tackles the daily lives of three dads and three young girls living with each other and getting by in life. While the series isn't particularly innovating, the first and second seasons are very enjoyable. With half of the cast so young and innocent, the situations they got into came off as cute and fun. 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 or one of the adults dealing with the specifics in their lives. This fourth season continues in the same manner as past seasons and offers twenty-six fun episodes. For more information about the series, please refer to DVD Talk's reviews of season one, season two, and season three.

For everybody involved in the Full House universe, season four has some big changes and happenings. In this season, Jesse and Rebecca get engaged (again) and they tie the knot, Jesse runs into old girlfriends from his childhood in Greece and high school, Joey's performs in an opening act for Wayne Newton in Las Vegas, DJ run into overly self-consciousnesses and tries to starve herself to lose weight, Stephanie faces what life is like without a mother, Danny gets a girlfriend (and her obnoxious son), and there is a cross-over episode with Steve Urkel from Family Matters. All of which, turn out to be some fun stories perfect for this family-oriented sitcom.

Season four kicks off with "Greek Week". In this episode, Danny's Greek in-laws, who are also Jesse's parents, come to San Francisco for few days in the Tanner household. The catch is the in-laws brought a couple of kids with them, both of whom want to find love. Gina is a former childhood flame of Jesse's and Sylvio is a young teenager who has been admiring pictures of D.J. for years. The situation gets complicated when both Jesse and Gina, and Sylvio and D.J. are decreed married by an old Greek tradition. Rebecca and Danny do not react well to the situation. Eventually everything works out and Rebecca and Jesse get engaged again. It is a silly episode, but a fun way to start off the season.

In "The I.Q. Man", Jesse and Joey are pushed to the limit on their latest project. Their female client has the hots for Jesse and wants to exploit his sexuality. Feeling used, Jesse and Joey quit working at the advertisement agency and start their own company with Danny backing them financially. Their first client in the episode "Good News, Bad News" is Wake Up San Francisco, which turns out to be a disaster. "Slumber Party" is an episode with a serious tone. Stephanie deals with life without a mom and it is hard for her, as well as Danny, Joey, and Jesse, who try their best to fill the void. The episode contains some touching moments with the cast.

In "Viva Las Joey", Joey gets a call from his agent to do a show in Las Vegas as the opening act for Wayne Newton. Wanting to support Joey, Danny takes the entire Tanner family to see the act. D.J. and Stephanie wanting to do something nice for Joey, invite his father. It is too bad no one ever told the girls how poorly the two get along. "Shape Up" is another episode with a serious tone. D.J. has a pool party coming up and she wants to lose as much weight as possible. She thinks she is fat. She starves herself by not eating for days. Stephanie finds out and she is forced to choose between keeping her sister's trust by not telling anyone or doing what is best for D.J.

With episodes like "One Last Kiss", it is amazing Rebecca has not left Jesse. In "One Last Kiss", Jesse attends his high school reunion and runs into his ex-girlfriend. The last time they saw each other, she went to Europe to be a model. Ten years later, the two still have some strong chemistry together. Jesse tries to stay away from her, but doesn't do a very good job. The matter gets sticky when Rebecca catches them kissing. "Secret Admirer" is a fun episode about a misinterpretation. This episode was my favorite of season four. In it, after Danny's new girlfriend's son Rusty sees D.J. fawn over the paperboy, he writes a love note D.J. is meant to think is from the paperboy. His plan is spoiled when he gives Michelle the letter for delivery. She does not take it to D.J. and drops it off with someone else. Slowly, the letter makes it way around the cast and everybody thinks everyone else has the hots for them! It is a great episode that really shows how goofy the cast can be.

In "Working Girl", D.J. tries to convince Danny to buy her an ultra-hip pair of sneakers. They only cost one-hundred and sixty bucks! Danny gives her a big fat no. D.J. then convinces him to let her work a part-time job, which turns out to be more work than D.J. can handle and keep up in school. It is a moral story about applying yourself too much. "Stephanie Gets Framed" is the cross-over episode with Family Matters. Jaleel White guest stars as his overly annoying character from Family Matters, Steve Urkel. In this episode, Stephanie gets glasses and she fears everyone teasing her for it. She gets somewhat sound advice from Urkel about how to deal with her new look.

In the two-part episode "The Wedding", Jesse and Rebecca finally tie the knot. However, their wedding runs into a few obstacles when Jesse decides to do something daring (skydiving) the morning of the wedding and winds up in jail. It is a crazy and goofy wedding day that can only happen in a sitcom. In the following episode, "Fuller House", Jesse moves out of the Tanner household and Michelle becomes very sad. She is not the only person to be affected about the new arrangement, as everyone else wants him in the house. Rebecca sees this and works something out with Danny for the newlywed couple to move into the attic.

"The Graduates" is a silly episode about mid-life crisis's and how silly some older men can look with girls half their ages. Danny's latest girlfriend has more in common with his teenage daughter D.J. than with him. I think the episode is best summed up when Michelle asks her if the new girlfriend is here to play with D.J. "Rock the Cradle" is the season finale and introduces a life changing event for the cast. Rebecca is pregnant and she has a difficult time telling Jesse.

Overall, season four brings about twenty-six episodes filled with some great family fun. Some of the situations take a very serious tone with important moral lessons and others are pure goofy fun. In the end, fans of the series should be more than happy to check out this scene. There are some great episodes like "Secret Admirer" to enjoy.

Episode Guide
1. Greek Week
2. Crimes and Michelle's Demeanor
3. The I.Q. Man
4. Slumber Party
5. Good New, Bad News
6. A Pinch for a Pinch
7. Viva Las Joey
8. Shape Up
9. One Last Kiss
10. Terror in Tanner Town
11. Secret Admirer
12. Danny in Charge
13. Happy New Year
14. Working Girl
15. Ol' Brown Eyes
16. Stephanie Gets Framed
17. A Fish Called Martin
18. The Wedding Part 1
19. The Wedding Part 2
20. Fuller House
21. The Hole-in-the-Wall Gang
22. Stephanie Plays the Field
23. Joey Goes Hollywood
24. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
25. The Graduates
26. Rock the Cradle

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 Spanish and French.

Extras:
There are no extras included with this release.

Final Thoughts:
Full House is great if you are looking for some fun family-oriented comedy. The show takes a goofy approach to the daily lives of three dads raising three girls and each episode is usually a blast. The content is pretty much the same as past seasons, with some stories that range from goofy comedy to serious moral stories. While a little on the generic (and over-the-top) side, it is still quite funny and I always have a great time watching episodes from this show. Season four continues to be a lot of fun and should suit you well if you enjoy this kind of sitcom.