MovieChat Forums > Full House (1987) Discussion > Is there value in total cheesy shows?

Is there value in total cheesy shows?

posted 5 years ago by Heisenberg (6281)
12 replies | jump to latest

I'm not a hater of this crap, I just see it for what it is. Crap.
But I wonder: is there a value in shows like this one?

I used to have a roommate that was crazy about this show, he wouldn't miss an episode.
Talkin about a dude in his mid 20s in college, and he wasn't a weird artsy type that loved it for its awfulness. He was a boring kid that really ate this shit up!

I think it's crap because it has a love conquers all, family is the most important thing, everybody loves everybody storyline in every single episode.
But watching it I could only feel sorry for the goofy looking grownups, repelled by the awful looking kids, and nauseated by the cheesy goodfeel tone.

What makes me wonder if there's a value in this cheese is: it's not so bad it's good, it's just bad, but there are not other shows so boldly cheesy, at least for originality sake it's got some value. What do you think?

[–] TheUltimateHippo (2250) 5 years ago

[–] ComeOnAndSlam (2) 5 years ago

I suppose you could take value from what it meant to folks at the specific time in history. Maybe these themes were what resonated with the general public, depends specifically what you're looking for.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

I'd say there's definitely a value based on what a show like this meant to no doubt millions of young people. I think of a show like Gilligan's Island that may not be considered objectively good, but that view is meaningless to me when compared to the hours of enjoyment I got after school watching reruns in the early 80s. Full House is to someone else what Gilligan's Island was to me and who are any of us to say that show has no value!

[–] Heisenberg (6281) 5 years ago

I don't quite grasp the comparison.
Gilligan's island is a silly show made for light entertainment with no emotional or moral agenda.
Full house is built on such agenda, with a simplistic, supposedly fun delivery. Hence, the cheese.
So quality is not the factor defining the cheese. What I'm saying is, while the former is harmless, the other is trying something but failing.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

I think the comparison is solid because the young people who enjoyed the show did so for the entertainment value, not for any moral lesson they would've taken from it. If it's failing, it's failing the parents, not the youth who aren't looking to be saved from a life of drugs and alcohol by watching, they are simply looking to be entertained. Much like I look back on watching Gilligan's Island as a kid, I'm sure many adults look back fondly at watching Full House (and much like Gilligan's Island had a later resurgence with Rescue from Gilligan's Island, this proves true by a later resurgence with Fuller House).

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

I will admit, there were some cheesy and unrealistic scenes in this show.
However, I don't make a big deal for 3 reasons.

1) It's an 80s/90s family sitcom show. Back then, Full House was not the first and only cheesy show out there! Plenty of shows and even cartoons were like this.

2) Several episodes DID touch on serious/emotional issues that people (young and old) have to face in the real world. For example, child abuse, eating disorders, losing a parent, and teenage peer pressure.

3) Regardless of the criticism! It still remains a memorable show amongst former fans. Hense why they kept it on Nickelodeon for so many years. I have many friends who take road trips to San Francisco and take pictures in front of the House where the show was set. That says a lot.

[–] Furienna (3312) 5 years ago

Good points! "Full House" did the occasional episode about some tougher issues, and the girls had to deal with their mother being killed by a drunk driver. So even though some people may not believe this, this show could be more than just happiness and goofiness.

[–] Furienna (3312) 5 years ago

Some times, you want to watch some cheesy sitcom to forget about the bad things going on in your real life. Besides, it's a good show for kids to watch.

I don't believe that it ever promised to be a "serious" show for adults, so how is it fair to call it "crap" just because it failed to appeal to that demographic?

[–] Heisenberg (6281) 5 years ago

I'm calling it crap for its low aspirations. It's a mediocre product, they knew it making it, we know it watching it. Nobody is expecting to be intrigued, mindblown, or just inspired by this.
It's just mild entertainment, in its literal meaning: keep your mind occupied from other, more important stuff.

[–] Furienna (3312) 5 years ago

Just because FH didn't tickle your fancy doesn't mean that you should call it "crap". Neither does it make sense to accuse it of having "low aspirations", or of being "mediocre". The truth is that it never was gonna be whatever it was, that you wanted to watch instead at the time. Because you clearly didn't belong to its core demographic, which was very young kids and their parents. And I guess that many teenage girls watched it too, because DJ and Kimmy and eventually Stephanie became teenage girls. I know I used to watch it a lot, when I was that age. But the fact that this was a very successful show, that would get an eight years long run, should tell you that it managed to find an audience with some groups, even if you could never enjoy it.

[–] TandyMan (10334) 5 years ago

Of course. It's a great show. We need more wholesome cheese like this on air. Far too many bleak nightmarish shows about the tragedy of the human condition turning everybody into angry soul-dead zombies.

[–] Furienna (3312) 5 years ago

True that. It is wrong to look down at wholesome cheese, just because it's not your cup of tea. There are so many bleak and violent shows around on TV these days, that a show like this would feel like fresh air by this point.