Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Netflix’s Fuller House is a weird show. But you already knew that. In an attempt to re-create the magic of TGIF-era family sitcoms, Fuller House has delivered a surrealist collage of sentiment, corny jokes, laugh-track responses, winking in-jokes, fluidly defined gender norms, and Kimmy Gibbler. It’s like someone decided to do a science experiment by attempting to re-create the family sitcom in 2017 using only modern ingredients. The whole thing is insane, it’s sometimes incredibly hard to watch, but it’s also utterly unique in the current TV landscape, for better or for worse.
One way in which Fuller House attempts to recreate that classic sitcom feel is with its season 3 trip to Japan. For as solidly studio-bound and most of these sitcoms were, the tradition is just as long for there to be a vacation episode, filmed on location, where the family gets out of the house and explores some far-flung (…or corporately connected) destination. Full House was no stranger to this. They had episodes in Disney World and Hawaii, the two most popular vacation destinations for TV sitcom families.
Of course, the tradition of the Hawaii-set sitcom episodes goes far beyond Full House. Back in 1972, The Brady Bunch kicked off their fourth season with a three-part episode in Hawaii. Amid the hula-dancing, beach-combing, and guest appearances by the likes of Don Ho and Vincent Price, this was the famous episode where Bobby found an old tiki idol and became subject to its curse of bad luck.
I don’t even think Fuller House could reach the bizarre heights of Vincent Price on The Brady Bunch, but they sure do keep trying their best. Max and Rose’s trip to the Hello Kitty amusement park comes to mind. But Hello Kitty ain’t no Vincent Price.
Full House wasn’t the only ’90s sitcom to have picked up stakes to travel to Disney World. Corporate synergy was alive and well in the ’90s, and the Mouse House was well represented on: Step by Step, Roseanne, Boy Meets World, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Blossom, among others.
If the trip to Disney started to seem a bit rote, other sitcoms — less family-situated ones, at that — also decided to shake things up by stepping outside the studio. Seinfeld kicked off its fourth season with a two-parter set in Los Angeles after Kramer abruptly leaves New York after a fight with Jerry. Most of the episodes take place on the usual sound stages, but a couple key scenes were filmed up in the Hollywood Hills. It was an interesting spin on Seinfeld, the quintessential New York City sitcom that was always filmed on sound stages in Los Angeles.
Friends managed to get even more capital out of their vacation adventure. Traveling to London for their fourth season finale — where Ross was supposed to wed Emily, before Rachel showed up and Ross said the wrong name and madness descended — was a hugely momentous occasion. In many ways, the London two-parter was the pivotal event in the series, since this was when Chandler and Monica first hooked up. But before that, Chandler and Joey spent a day roaming the city of London, providing the episode with the bulk of its local color (Westminster Abbey! Fergie! Richard Branson!).
Fuller House doesn’t get quite as much bang for its on-location buck in Tokyo. The biggest piece of “you are here” location fun is had with the crosswalk at Shibuya Crossing. There are of course antics with kimonos and koi and the aforementioned Hello Kitty. And while you’re bracing for some truly tasteless cross-cultural comedy, the episode is more dumb than offensive. Which I suppose you could say about the show itself. Still, there’s a bit of fresh air that breathes through the show in Tokyo. Like any good sitcom excursion, it helps the show shake off some of that studio dust.
