An Analytic Case Study

"Joey" or "Uncle Joey"?

Prelude To Madness

"Full House" was a family television show that aired in the 1990's. Spanning 192 episodes, Full House followed the lives of the Tanner family and their tackling of every-day American problems. Episodes often ended with some kind of lesson for the viewers to take home, such as the benefits of sharing your toys with your friends, or that honesty is the best policy.

Joey Gladstone, friend of Danny Tanner and probable occupier of the sex offender registry, was an integral member of the family. 

Recently, Sharon and Michael got into a heated debate regarding what Joey Gladstone was referred to as. Michael swore that he remembered Joey being referred to as "Uncle Joey", while Sharon maintained that, as he was no ones actual uncle, the only uncle on the show was Uncle Jesse.

I would like to take this opportunity to walk you through my research methods and highlight my findings. The goal of this case study is to walk through the many resources used to gather the relevant data, as well as the conclusions that can be drawn. Finally, the evidence of the case study will be presented.

PART ONE: WELCOME TO HELL

Research began using Google to search for such broad phrases as "uncle joey" and "uncle joey full house." When this lead to no results, I started searching for the answer directly.

It seems this debate has been raging for some time. Old articles, posturing on both sides of the aisle, litter the internet. Some claim that Joey Gladstone was called Uncle Joey because he was a surrogate uncle to Danny's daughters. Evidence for this position range from "i remember him being called uncle joey" to "In Episode X of Season Y, a flashback to Joey and Danny's first meeting showed Joey defend Danny in a school-yard fight. From this moment, they decided to be 'soul brothers' and, thus, he was Danny's daughters uncle." However, on the other side of the fence, many cry that in no way did Joey actually relate to Danny, thus, he is not Danny's daughters uncle.

Sorting through online debates from the last ten years lead to nothing but further questions. For a time, it seemed hopeless. If I was unable to produce any evidence that Joey Gladstone was, at least once, referred to as Uncle Joey, I would be wrong and thus be forced to concede.

It was at this time I stumbled upon evidence that made my skin crawl.

On 2/18/2008, on the "straightdope.com" discussion board, a user going by the name of pulykamell posted the following quote from "VOX Magazine": "Dave Coulier was never Uncle Joey. He was always just Joey. Neither Stephanie, D.J. nor Michelle Tanner ever called him Uncle Joey during the 192 episodes of ABC’s Full House, which ran from 1987 to 1995." 

Devastation.

Though I do not know the validity of these claims, I have no reason to doubt pulykamell from the straightdope.com forums. It seemed that I had come to the final answer and all was lost.

At this time I began closing tabs and prepared to concede. I was wrong and it was time to pay the piper.

When closing tabs, a few other discussion boards caught my eye. I wondered what else people were able to dig up.

PART TWO: ENDGAME

While digitized scripts for Full House were not easy to come by, I managed to pull a single hyperlink from a debate which quickly sent me to a non-English website.

Japanese website http://www.fureai-net.tv, homepage of the Yabu City Cable Television Information Center, has on its servers the script from the third episode of Full House, "The First Day of School." After literally minutes of searching, I was able to find a copy of that episode on a website hosted in India (http://www.gorillavid.in/cnb/ii4vdqncd5sn).

At 03:50, Jesse and Joey are giving Michelle a bath and Jesse hands the baby to Joey, while saying "This is the most terrifying shower scene since Psycho. Hey, it's all right, pal. Here, you go to your Uncle Joey there. There you go. Joey, the baby has better muscle tone than you do." 

PART THREE: AFTERMATH

Using backlogs of internet debates, Japanese television script archives, illegal Indian television hosting, and the courage to stand up for what he believes in, Michael was able to prove once and for all that, at least on one occasion, Joey Gladstone was referred to as “Uncle Joey” on Full House.

The End

WORKS CITED

Yabu City Cable Television Information Center: http://www.fureai-net.tv

Straightdope.com forums: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=456166

Full House Season 1 Episode 3 Streaming: http://www.gorillavid.in/cnb/ii4vdqncd5sn

Full House Season 1 Episode 3 Script: http://www.fureai-net.tv/full-house/Episode3.htm