Why did "My Two Dads" struggle while "Full House" succeeded? - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

TMC · 05-27-2017, 03:41 AM

In 1987, two sitcoms with relatively similar premises, one on NBC, the other on ABC, premiered. While one limped along for three years, the other became a hit. Yet, as is often the case in TV history, the one that became the hit wasn't necessarily the better of the two shows.

To put things into proper perspective, NBC's My Two Dads, which premiered on September 20 of that year, featured Paul Reiser and Greg Evigan as two men who have to live together to raise Nicole (Staci Keanan), the daughter of the now-dead woman they both slept with at the behest of a judge (Florence Stanley).

Despite the improbability of the premise and the overall mediocrity of its execution, powerful competition on CBS from the 9th ranked Murder, She Wrote and its erratic scheduling on top of that, it still managed to rank 21st place for the year, even outranking Day By Day, the show it alternated the coveted post-Family Ties time slot with but could only muster 43rd place; Family Ties came in 17th. But Day By Day was from the same producers as Family Ties, which gave it the advantage at renewal time; it made the fall schedule while My Two Dads had to wait until mid-season to come back.

It did manage to make the 1989-1990 fall schedule while Day By Day ended up being cancelled the same year its more celebrated lead-in bowed out voluntarily. But by mid-season, it kept getting moved around between Wednesday and Monday, and NBC decided it was a lost cause, so they cancelled it.

Meanwhile, in its first season, Full House (the premise wasn't particularly outlandish in and of itself—a widowed dad with three daughters asks his brother-in-law and best friend to come live with him in San Francisco and help him raise them) ranked three whole ratings points below Webster, the show it replaced that ran for another two years in first-run syndication anyway despite still pulling better ratings in its last ABC season than Full House's first.

icecream · 08-25-2017, 03:15 PM

I used to like Full House when I was younger, but lost interest several years ago. My Two Dads I had never seen until it premiered on Antenna this year. I instantly liked it and was able to see most of the episodes when it aired at 11:00. I tried Webster once last December and wasn't impressed. While My Two Dads is a lot better than Full House, I will take Full House over Webster.

80s Dude · 01-22-2020, 04:54 PM

More characters to focus on.

AMackII · 04-13-2020, 09:21 PM

Full House lasted long than My Two Dads has with a 5 year difference.

Schmoopie · 04-13-2020, 11:59 PM

I think honestly b/c My Two Dads (which was a show I liked. I miss that show, actually) featured young kids and they were cute with their antics. It was about three men who had no experience raising them (except for Danny, but he had help from Pamela), so I think that was the audience draw. I know that's why I liked it. Well, that and John Stamos!

TV Guy · 06-20-2020, 10:40 PM

Full House was a better produced show, with a better premise. My Two Dads had an absurd premise, plus that ridiculous girl going around saying, “Hi Dads!”. LOL - it was awful. Go and get a blood test.

TMC · 09-27-2021, 01:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 80s Dude

More characters to focus on.

If I were to guess, I think that Full House when compared to My Two Dads, simply appealed to kids better. When you have three kids a part of the main cast as opposed to one, you simply can focus and exploit more storylines. Nicole on MTD was decidedly older than D.J. or Stephanie Tanner were at the start of Full House, so right then and there, the appeal was going to be limited.

Plus, there's only so much that you can get out of the concept of a girl doesn't know who her biological father is, thus her late mom's last two boyfriends become her caretakers. Full House on that end, also benefited from having a much more varied and larger cast.

Also, Full House had a much more reasonable and plausible premise, concerning relatives living together. It's much easier to feel sympathetic to Danny Tanner and his kids, giving the tragic circumstances behind why the latter's mom isn't around. On My Two Dads, people would be more inclined to "slut shame" Nicole's mother for not knowing (or keeping secret) who her daughter's biological father is.

RetroGuy2000 · 09-27-2021, 02:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TMC

If I were to guess, I think that Full House when compared to My Two Dads, simply appealed to kids better. When you have three kids a part of the main cast as opposed to one, you simply can focus and exploit more storylines. Nicole on MTD was decidedly older than than D.J. or Stephanie Tanner were at the start of Full House, so right then and there, the appeal was going to be limited.

Plus, there's only so much that you can get out of the concept of a girl doesn't know who were biological father is, thus her late mom's last two boyfriends become her caretakers. Full House on that end, also benefited from having a much more varied and larger cast.

Also, Full House had a much more reasonable and plausible premise, concerning relatives living together. It's much easier to feel sympathetic to Danny Tanner and his kids, giving the tragic circumstances behind why the latter's mom isn't around. On My Two Dads, people would be more inclined to "slut shame" Nicole's mother for not knowing (or keeping secret) who her daughter's biological father is.

These are all good reasons why Full House was more successful, but I suspect there were other reasons, as well: Full House aired during ABC's TGIF block of programs, and even prior to the TGIF block's creation, Full House was surrounded by a series of three other similar family sitcoms. My Two Dads' lead-in, at one point, was Night Court, which can't be described as a family sitcom. It was so mismatched.

80s Dude · 10-08-2021, 09:08 PM

Full House was more of a traditional family sitcom. Some people may have thought that Nicole's two fathers were either secretly gay or they didn't think a comedy based on the premise of two guys sleeping with the same woman and having a child out of wedlock and not knowing who the father is was not exactly family oriented comedy.

Personally, I liked My Two Dads much better than the syrupy Full House.

icecream · 10-09-2021, 01:28 AM

Full House isn't worthy of licking My Two Dads' boots.

RetroGuy2000 · 10-09-2021, 01:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 80s Dude

Full House was more of a traditional family sitcom. Some people may have thought that Nicole's two fathers were either secretly gay or they didn't think a comedy based on the premise of two guys sleeping with the same woman and having a child out of wedlock and not knowing who the father is was not exactly family oriented comedy.

Personally, I liked My Two Dads much better than the syrupy Full House.

Full House was definitely syrupy.

I enjoyed Fuller House, though. I didn't think I would.

TMC · 01-10-2022, 11:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

These are all good reasons why Full House was more successful, but I suspect there were other reasons, as well: Full House aired during ABC's TGIF block of programs, and even prior to the TGIF block's creation, Full House was surrounded by a series of three other similar family sitcoms. My Two Dads' lead-in, at one point, was Night Court, which can't be described as a family sitcom. It was so mismatched.

I recently read an observation that said that Full House was probably the only saccharine white family sitcom of the '80s that lived on and not be forgotten. It's popular with Millennials and Gen Z in the same way that The Brady Bunch was popular with Boomers and Gen X. Unlike other sugary sweet '80s shows like Who's The Boss, Growing Pains, Family Ties, The Hogan Family, Silver Spoons, Small Wonder, etc., Full House was really helped by overexposure on cable and the popularity of the tabloid-heavy Olsen Twins.

TMC · 01-10-2022, 11:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schmoopie

I think honestly b/c My Two Dads (which was a show I liked. I miss that show, actually) featured young kids and they were cute with their antics. It was about three men who had no experience raising them (except for Danny, but he had help from Pamela), so I think that was the audience draw. I know that's why I liked it. Well, that and John Stamos!

Ironically, Full House during its first season, was actually more "adult" in its humor. It was merely a show about three guys raising three girls. It was basically, a mixture of Three Men and A Baby and My Two Dads. It wasn't until Michelle started talking and saying cutesy one-liners and they brought in Becky to be a permanent love interest for Jesse (who was depicted as a womanizer in the first season) that the show became incredibly saccharine.

Chocolate Moose · 01-13-2022, 01:10 PM

Preferred Two Dads!!!!!

BestTVever · 04-10-2022, 05:29 PM

There are way more script ideas with a full house (pardon the pun) than 2 guys living with a teenage girl. I think My 2 Dads is an ok show but so much of it is inauthentic. So much focus on 80s fashion, 80s music and all that shtick that goes along with it. That was my pet peeve about the show. In Full House we see the little girls vulnerability. The My 2 Dads girl rarely showed that so it was hard to empathize with her. It just seemed more plastic and fake than Full House and Full House was a pretty cheezy show.

05-27-2017, 03:41 AM	#1
TMC Member Forum Idol Join Date: Jan 09, 2001 Posts: 124,544	Why did "My Two Dads" struggle while "Full House" succeeded? In 1987, two sitcoms with relatively similar premises, one on NBC, the other on ABC, premiered. While one limped along for three years, the other became a hit. Yet, as is often the case in TV history, the one that became the hit wasn't necessarily the better of the two shows. To put things into proper perspective, NBC's My Two Dads, which premiered on September 20 of that year, featured Paul Reiser and Greg Evigan as two men who have to live together to raise Nicole (Staci Keanan), the daughter of the now-dead woman they both slept with at the behest of a judge (Florence Stanley). Despite the improbability of the premise and the overall mediocrity of its execution, powerful competition on CBS from the 9th ranked Murder, She Wrote and its erratic scheduling on top of that, it still managed to rank 21st place for the year, even outranking Day By Day, the show it alternated the coveted post-Family Ties time slot with but could only muster 43rd place; Family Ties came in 17th. But Day By Day was from the same producers as Family Ties, which gave it the advantage at renewal time; it made the fall schedule while My Two Dads had to wait until mid-season to come back. It did manage to make the 1989-1990 fall schedule while Day By Day ended up being cancelled the same year its more celebrated lead-in bowed out voluntarily. But by mid-season, it kept getting moved around between Wednesday and Monday, and NBC decided it was a lost cause, so they cancelled it. Meanwhile, in its first season, Full House (the premise wasn't particularly outlandish in and of itself—a widowed dad with three daughters asks his brother-in-law and best friend to come live with him in San Francisco and help him raise them) ranked three whole ratings points below Webster, the show it replaced that ran for another two years in first-run syndication anyway despite still pulling better ratings in its last ABC season than Full House's first.
	Last edited by TMC; 12-27-2021 at 02:17 AM.

08-25-2017, 03:15 PM	#2
icecream Cat-tastic and Whiskerlicious Forum Celebrity Join Date: Sep 01, 2006 Location: The Catacombs Posts: 20,615	I used to like Full House when I was younger, but lost interest several years ago. My Two Dads I had never seen until it premiered on Antenna this year. I instantly liked it and was able to see most of the episodes when it aired at 11:00. I tried Webster once last December and wasn't impressed. While My Two Dads is a lot better than Full House, I will take Full House over Webster.
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04-13-2020, 11:59 PM	#5
Schmoopie Keep Calm and Love Snoopy Forum Star Join Date: Jul 13, 2008 Location: Lynnwood, Washington Posts: 15,697	I think honestly b/c My Two Dads (which was a show I liked. I miss that show, actually) featured young kids and they were cute with their antics. It was about three men who had no experience raising them (except for Danny, but he had help from Pamela), so I think that was the audience draw. I know that's why I liked it. Well, that and John Stamos!
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01-13-2022, 01:10 PM	#14
Chocolate Moose Member Forum 4000 Club Member Join Date: Jan 21, 2007 Location: Brooklyn, NY Posts: 4,881	Preferred Two Dads!!!!!
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01-22-2020, 04:54 PM	#3
80s Dude Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Dec 24, 2019 Location: Toronto Posts: 3,810	More characters to focus on.

04-13-2020, 09:21 PM	#4
AMackII Member Forum Star Join Date: Oct 23, 2015 Location: St. Louis Posts: 17,201	Full House lasted long than My Two Dads has with a 5 year difference.

06-20-2020, 10:40 PM	#6
TV Guy Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Jun 25, 2001 Location: Boston, MA, USA Posts: 3,419	Full House was a better produced show, with a better premise. My Two Dads had an absurd premise, plus that ridiculous girl going around saying, “Hi Dads!”. LOL - it was awful. Go and get a blood test.

10-08-2021, 09:08 PM	#9
80s Dude Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Dec 24, 2019 Location: Toronto Posts: 3,810	Full House was more of a traditional family sitcom. Some people may have thought that Nicole's two fathers were either secretly gay or they didn't think a comedy based on the premise of two guys sleeping with the same woman and having a child out of wedlock and not knowing who the father is was not exactly family oriented comedy. Personally, I liked My Two Dads much better than the syrupy Full House.

10-09-2021, 01:28 AM	#10
icecream Cat-tastic and Whiskerlicious Forum Celebrity Join Date: Sep 01, 2006 Location: The Catacombs Posts: 20,615	Full House isn't worthy of licking My Two Dads' boots.

04-10-2022, 05:29 PM	#15
BestTVever Member Senior Member Join Date: Jan 29, 2021 Location: Miami Posts: 1,875	There are way more script ideas with a full house (pardon the pun) than 2 guys living with a teenage girl. I think My 2 Dads is an ok show but so much of it is inauthentic. So much focus on 80s fashion, 80s music and all that shtick that goes along with it. That was my pet peeve about the show. In Full House we see the little girls vulnerability. The My 2 Dads girl rarely showed that so it was hard to empathize with her. It just seemed more plastic and fake than Full House and Full House was a pretty cheezy show.