Whatever Happened To Stephanie Tanner? (or Predictability,for that matter?)

A story yesterday revealed that Jodie Sweetin, a.k.a. Stephanie Tanner on "Full House", had checked into a drug rehab clinic in March 2005 for a meth addiction. Now clean and sober, Jodie wants to return to a career in entertainment, in hopes of moving beyond the adolescent role that made her famous (and probably contributed to her drug use after the cancellation of the show). In looking up her bio, apparently a lot has happened to Jodie since the end of "Full House". She graduated from Los Alamitos High School (give it up for Orange County!), went to Chapman University in California, and even got married in 2002 (with DJ Tanner's daughter as flower girl). Unfortunately, life has been more difficult to her, what with her battle with meth, as well as a recent announcement of an impending divorce. Though I hated Stephanie Tanner the most among the three daughters (the writers didn't help her out, either), I am pulling for her to make a comeback and accomplish what Jaleel White and Dustin Diamond can only dream of doing. And I'll admit that she's aged fairly well.



On another note, the article also mentioned that Jodie's drug use prompted an intervention by some of her "Full House" castmates, including the Olsen twins, John Stamos, and Bob Saget. I gotta say, if that's true, that would have been the most kick-ass get-together in history. Growing up, I have to admit that I watched an inordinate amount of "Full House" reruns, especially considering that I didn't really think it was funny or entertaining. Personally, I would have watched it over "Saved By The Bell" reruns (I laughed a grand total of one time during the course of that show. Piss-poor writing, I could have done better), and I accept the consequences of my admission.

Honestly, have you ever stopped to think about that cast of "Full House"? Had you known then, what you know now, would you have possibly viewed it differently? First of all, Bob Saget played All-American dad Danny Tanner, uber-geeky, full of single parent love, cleanliness-obsessed, and loaded with really bad one-liners. Then, you find out that Saget is apparently an a**hole in real life, not to mention a successful stand-up comic whose vulgarity is matched by few. Next up, Dave Coulier played happy jokester Uncle Joey Gladstone. In case you didn't already know, the Alanis Morrisette tirade "You Oughta Know" was about Uncle Joey. Yes, he is involved in the line about going down on someone in a theater. I'd like to think that when he gets asked about the song (which I'm sure he still does), he responds with a simple "Cut It Out". Which brings us to Uncle Jesse Katsopolis, the one role that is not too different from its maker, John "I lost Rebecca Romijn to Jerry O'Connell" Stamos. He's the player president on the show, and from what I've seen and heard on the Howard Stern show, he's the real deal in life too. Let's move on. Candace Cameron, DJ, is the younger sister of Kirk Cameron from "Growing Pains". That was well and good until I learned from E! True Hollywood Story that Kirk became a born-again Christian during the show and basically alienated himself from the rest of the cast, thus causing its demise. He caused risque storylines to be changed, and even got Julie McCullough (who played Julie, the super-cute babysitter) fired because she posed in Playboy on the side. I bet he got "Boner" blacklisted from Hollywood. Seriously, where's he been lately? And the Olsen Twins? 'Nuff said. Who knew those monkey-looking twins would turn out to be occasionally-semi-hot-looking media moguls? I sure didn't. And finally, how can we forget Aunt Becky, the ageless wonder played by Lori Loughlin. She's the real reason I watched that show, and I would still be watching it now if it had continued to this day, just as long as Aunt Becky still lived in the attic. I will not discuss Kimmy Gibbler.


Aunt Becky ... have mercy.

All rise for one last acknowledgement of the almighty creator of T.G.I.F. (Thank Goodness It's Funny).