'Fuller House' Pilot Review: Loved the Tanners in the 90s? Ignore Critics of Netflix Revival

After months of hype, Netflix's revival of beloved 90's show Full House is finally available for streaming, and it brings most of the original Tanner family back, with the very notable exception of Olsen twins Mary-Kate and Ashley. Before the pilot became available, Fuller House had already been panned by critics, who accuse it of being corny -- because apparently they never watched the original.

In this era where everything old (and particularly everything '90s) has become something to dream about when thinking of better times, Fuller House is the first proof of what nostalgia goggles will do to memories. While everybody was excited over a reboot of the popular '90s show, now that it's finally out, critics are panning it for exactly what made it a hit then: how simple and formulaic it is, the cheesy writing, the laugh track, the fan service.

What kind of expectations did critics have of this show?

Television is very different now to what it was in the '90s. These days, the best comedies (though not necessarily the most successful ones) are the raciest, the ones that add a little actual drama, the ones with insight, with complex and heavily flawed characters.

We demand more from television, generally speaking. In this small screen golden age, with a growing number of new media chipping in to make quality TV, we have a very high bar of shows. We expect dramas to be like Game of Thrones and comedies to be like Orange Is the New Black -- but in the case of Fuller House, we're demanding it to be exactly what it was in 1995 but holding it to 2016's standards.

You can't have your cake and eat it, guys.

There are two ways to successfully treat a reboot of such an outdated (and wholesome) premise: you either follow it through exactly the way it was or you make fun of every little thing that ever happened on it. Bob Saget's raunchy stand-up comedy after playing Danny Tanner has seen him taking the second direction (and it seems Dwayne Johnson's Baywatch movie reboot will do the same), but Fuller House chose to stick to what it knew with, yes, more than a few inside jokes in the process anyway. It's just as valid.

Before taking to Netflix to see the new reboot, perform this exercise: watch at least one episode of the original Full House show. If you find it too corny, too silly, too absurd or too white (let's remember it was easier to get away with lack of diversity at that time), don't bother, Fuller House isn't for you.

If you're looking for in-depth comedies with complex leads, Netflix has plenty of shows for you, such as Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Master of None and, most recently, Judd Apatow's Love. Just don't ask Fuller House to be a quirky single-camera show created by Tina Fey.

The first season of Fuller House is available for streaming right now.