Beautifully put. Beautifully put. And you're exactly right: On the surface, it's still the same show it always was. But if you really start to dig into it, you'll see that it's got this dark, seedy underbelly thing happening. It's kind of like those ****** Magic Eye 3D paintings that were all the rage in the mid-90's in that it works on multiple levels. And once it hits you, it ups the rewatchability factor exponentially.
People always said that this show was a "family-friendly situation-comedy", whatever that means, but to me, it's more of a "family-friendly situation-tragedy," than anything else. And that's what keeps me coming back for more.
well yeah, i mean, let's look at the core: the entire premise of the show is predicated by a horrific tragedy: a young, happy couple, parents of three young girls (one an infant, for Christ's sake) is violently TORN apart by a gruesome and horrible accident, killing the mother instantly, leaving behind only memories and apparently one video tape of happier times past. all the good times and tender moments that followed often overshadowed that shocking event that got the show off and running, yet, even though few episodes dealt with the topic specifically, it was always abstractly veiled in each of the plots that the show thereafter. it was a beautiful take on the underbelly of the nuclear family, an exposé on the truth of life. i'm reminded of the words of John Keats: "Beauty is truth, truth beauty, - that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know." i think the Tanners couldn't have said it any better.
plus there was a woodchuck puppet.