Full House: Dr. Dare Rides Again

One of my all time favorite TV shows ever made is the sitcom Full House. Considering this year, 2023, is my 20th anniversary of being a fan I thought it would be super fun to honor one of my top 10 favorite episodes from the show for the 2023 TV blogathon hosted by A Shroud of Thoughts. Click here to check out the other entries!

I first started to watch Full House at the end of first grade and into second grade, in 2003. I was roughly about 6 1/2 to 7 years old. I believe one of the first episodes I ever saw was the season 2 season premiere Tanner v. Gibbler at a sleepover at a friend’s house. My friend, Shannon, had an older sister, and she always chose what we watched on TV, and she chose to watch Full House that night on Nick @ Nite.

Over the years, my friendship with Shannon drifted, as we simply grew apart as we were at different schools, but what I kept doing was watching Full House on my own. I wanted to keep watching the show with all these fun characters, and awesome concerts in the living room! This eventually led to me getting all the seasons on DVD as they were being released, for instance, I got season 5 for my good report card!

Over the years, I’ve seen every episode numerous times, as I still rely on Full House to be a comfort show. I did not grow up with the show, per say (as Uncle Jesse would say!), as the show aired from 1987-1995, and I was born in 1996, but I feel that I can still say the show is deeply rooted in my childhood. Watching it on Nick @ Nite every night with commercials and waiting for the show to come on TV, was as if I watching it first run. It would be really difficult to explain what exactly is my all time favorite episode (I know in third grade it was The Wedding episode from season 4, but answers change), but I can tell you I have a favorite character: which is: John Stamos as Uncle Jesse Katsopolis. Jesse has the most growth throughout the show’s run and transforms from an Uncle and Brother in law rock n’ roll bachelor, to a rock n’ roll responsible husband and father. One of the best episodes that helps highlight this transition was in season 3, episode 9 (overall episode 53 of 192) called Dr. Dare Rides Again. Airing for the first time on November 24, 1989, I can positively say it’s on my top 10 list of favorite episodes of the whole show.

Dr. Dare Rides Again is Full House at its best. The show is on the edge of the ’80s, and its not going into 1990 without one old fashioned reminder of what the 1980’s was all about: GOOD TIME FUN!

The episode revolves around the concept of Jesse believing he’s become to soft and has lost some of his edge when his high school buddy Pete Bianco comes for a visit. Guest starring as Pete is Happy Days icon Scott Baio. Personally, I’m unsure if this was a fun choice at the time of airing, but going on the fact I’ve been watching the episode for 20 years (and that the episode itself is almost 35 years old), I always thought John and Scott really sold the part of being old friends.

It only takes about 2 minutes after Pete arrives for him to dare Jesse to keep up with him for 2 days, and bring back the fun times they shared when Jesse was “Dr. Dare“. This dare gets really easy to do when Danny (along with Becky) leaves for a work conference that takes him out of the house and out of town. Enter the Full House classic: Uncle Jesse concert in the living room!

This concert in the living room performed by one of Jesse’s old bands Feedback, on a reunion bill, is probably my all time favorite on the series. It has Jesse on lead guitar, Pete on bass, a key-tarist, and Joey playing the baseball bat! They perform Shout! and even go into Elvis’s Mean Woman Blues. (EDIT: I always thought Mr. Stamos was having the time of his life in this scene, and LOVE the fact he incorporates music into his projects he does! AND: THE HAIR)

Of course this wouldn’t be Full House without some discipline, and YES- Jesse and the girls get reprimanded when Danny walks back into the house. The timeless Danny Tanner, “you know better than this“, look, as only the late Mr. Bob Saget (RIP! 😥 ) could do. It’s at this moment he also addresses the episode’s side plot of Stephanie being too loose with family dog Comet (like letting him sit at the table and sleep in her bed).

As Jesse prepares to quiet down the concert, Pete brings out a tape from their past, from 1983, when Jesse was 20 and he rode his motorcycle on the edge of a 6 story building. The tipping point comes at Pete’s comment of Jesse turning into Dr. Seuss, and soon, the gang finds themselves back at the same 6 story ledge.

As you can guess, once on the ledge Jesse decides NOT to do the dare (perhaps a more dangerous dare is kissing his old girlfriend Donna, in front of his current girlfriend Becky??), rightfully so, but still can’t let go of the youth he one had. Enter the other Full House classic: talking out your feelings. DJ comes down stairs at this moment and tells her Uncle she’s glad he didn’t do the stunt. Jesse confides he has matured and become wiser, but still misses his youth; with DJ adding in she likes her uncle now just the way he is, with him insisting on a compromise: he’s Uncle Dr. Dare.

The final moments of this episode are what makes me just love Jesse overall: once DJ has gone upstairs and is out of sight, he turns on the amp and jams, YEAH, HE’S NEVER LOST IT!!! The same applies to John Stamos himself, he’ll always have it; he had it on General Hospital, and he’s got it now, at nearly 60! Still plays occasionally with the Beach Boys (when his schedule allows) and continues to entertain us on stage and screen.

Dr. Dare Rides Again, overall, is just a special episode to me. In my view, it represents that yes, one does become older, wiser, but in the end, you never have to give up the traits that make you, you. One can hang onto the fun elements of their life and be cool, fun, and edgy, but just in a more mature and responsible way.