Full House songs of fellow Miller-Boyett sitcoms Step by Step, and to a lesser extent Perfect Strangers and Family Matters), until it was down to about 42 seconds in Season 8. Opening credits In the beginning, the six original characters were shown either at home, or in various shots in San Francisco. Beginning in season 4, the opening credits for the adults were also filmed in San Francisco, as well as the last shot of the opening credits of the show, which features the cast having a picnic in Alamo Square in front of the row of Painted Ladies in the Western Addition neighborhood of San Francisco. Contrary to popular belief, the red-doored Victorian where the Tanners live is not one of these houses. The address of the Tanner house was mentioned in "Blast From the Past" as being located at 1882 Girard Street in San Francisco. The actual location of the house used for exterior shots in the series is 1709 Broderick Street. It was not until season 8 that the opening credits were changed to feature the entire cast in various locations around San Francisco. From seasons 1 through 5, select shots from the opening credits were seen in the closing credits as well, switching to still shots of episode scenes starting with season 6. The role of Michelle was credited as being played by "Mary-Kate Ashley Olsen" from seasons 2 to 7 (the duo was only credited in the closing credits in season 1, as "Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Fuller Olsen"; though in syndicated reruns, they are also credited in the opening credits as the former) because the show's producers did not want audiences to know that Michelle was played by twins. Ashley's name was made to appear as Mary-Kate's middle name in the titles (the role of Michelle was played by twins because California state law regulates the number of work hours for a young child; therefore it is common for the role of one baby in a TV or film production to be played by twins). Sister series Family Matters did the same thing in its first season with twins Joseph and Julius Wright, who portrayed Richie Crawford as a baby, with the twins credited as Joseph Julius Wright. In season 8, with the entire opening credit shots revamped for the last time, the Olsen twins were now given special billing in response to the popularity they earned as separate performers over the years. Appearing last in the credits, they were credited as "And Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen as Michelle". Fittingly, Mary-Kate is the twin appearing in the shot, but the girl in the painting is Ashley. Starting with season 3, Lori Loughlin was featured in the opening credits, however it was only in episodes she appeared in. From season 4 onward, she was featured in the opening credits of every episode. It was not until season 5 that Andrea Barber was added to the opening credits, despite her recurring role on the show since the first season. The long opening was cut when the show started regular rotation upon the end of first-run airing.
Episodes Ratings Full House aired on Fridays from September 22, 1987 to August 1991, which spanned the show's first four seasons, and later became the flagship program of ABC's newly launched TGIF block. During the 1987-88 season, however, the show did move to Tuesdays briefly, and then aired twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays for a few months in order to help the series build an audience. It remained on Fridays permanently for the next three seasons, as the show's ratings became more respectable. The show was moved to Tuesdays for Season 5, and remained there until its ending in 1995. While Season 1 was not very successful, mostly because it was a new series placed in an 8/7c time slot (most freshman series start out in protected time slots preceded by successful lead-ins), the show quickly became popular during Season 2 as it was placed immediately following the established hit show Perfect Strangers. From Season 3 onwards it was ranked among the Nielsen ratings' Top 30 shows (a ratings increase which allowed the series to move back to Fridays at 8/7c).[2] By Season 4, it jumped to the top twenty and remained there until Season 7 (including Seasons 5 & 6 earning their peak spots in the top ten).[3]
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