Full House: Season Two

In its second season, Full House stays square within its comfort level, which is not to say that there aren't major changes afoot. Clean-freak widower Danny (Bob Saget) becomes the new host of a popular morning TV talk show, Wake Up San Francisco. Aspiring rocker Jesse (John Stamos) loses his mullet, joins jingle-writing forces with comedian and fellow housemate Joey (Dave Coulier), and finds true love with Danny's co-host, Rebecca (Lori Loughlin). But shaking Full House to its very foundation is the star-is-born emergence of twin toddlers Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen as infant Michelle, who is featured doing something precociously adorable in nearly every episode's pre-credits opening sequence. This isn't just scene-stealing, it's show-stealing of Fonzie-esque proportions, as witness the audience's "Awwww" when Michelle drops a bowl of pretzels in the episode "Tanner vs. Gibbler." Full House comes of age in its 1988-89 sophomore year with its "Very First Christmas Show"; the inevitable flashback episode ("Pal Joey"), in which Danny, Joey, and Jesse meet as children on the school playground; and the first celebrity guest star episode, "Beach Boy Bingo," featuring the Beach Boys, who favor the Tanner family with a rendition of "Kokomo." Meanwhile, eldest daughter D.J. (Candace Cameron) must deal with such crises as being called a "geekburger" by her best friend, and middle daughter Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin) gets a case of the Jan Bradys when she bemoans the attention lavished on her sisters in "Middle Age Crazy." Topical references notwithstanding (Joey has a penchant for imitating Pee-Wee Herman), Full House holds up very well. Featuring all 22 second-season episodes, DVD extras here include the “Top Ten Rules of Parenting” and a Full House trivia challenge. Recommended. (D. Liebenson)