TV Weddings – Full House: Becky and Uncle Jesse

Because it is the season, and because of my current investment in the topic, the blog will be running a feature this week and next – a brief look at 10 of my favorite TV weddings. We begin with one of the first weddings I can remember seeing on TV, on a show I was absolutely obsessed with c. fourth grade.

The couple: Rebecca Donaldson, co-anchor of Wake Up, San Francisco, and Jesse Katsopolis, rock singer and Elvis fanatic, go for the full on formal affair in an old church in San Francisco, followed up by a reception at Danny Tanner’s townhouse.

The premise: Becky’s father informs motorcycle-loving Uncle Jesse that his days as a wild rock star are now over, and as a last hurrah, Jesse forces Uncle Joey to take him sky diving the morning before the wedding. Meanwhile, DJ and Stephanie film a “The Making of a Wedding” tape as a gift for the bride and groom, and Michelle is grossed out by the ring bearer until she sees him in his tiny tux.

Jesse goes sky diving, falls into tomato country

The inevitable sequence of mishaps: Frankly, if you want to go sky diving the morning before your wedding, you should probably leave more than three hours ahead of time. Jesse is already running late when his parachute gets stuck in a tree in “tomato country,” where he is arrested for trying to steal a tomato truck, and then Becky decides to drive up to “tomato country” to bail him out. As a resident of the Bay Area, I have yet to encounter this magical, tomato-loving place, but when I find it, I’ll let you know. So Becky hops in her dad’s car completely decked out in her wedding dress and enormous dangly headgear and manages to get Jesse sprung from Tomato Country County Jail, only to discover her dad’s car has been towed. They then hitch a ride with a convenient traveling gospel choir, who cheerfully follow them into a church to provide backup for Uncle Jesse’s serenade.

Becky is not pleased to discover that Jesse is going to make her wear that crazy thing for even longer, thanks to his tardiness.

The clichés: Over-protective father of the bride, cold feet, crippling lateness, bride doing unusual things in her wedding dress (running into a jail, driving a school bus), unnecessarily demonstrative kiss, cake smashing.

The first dance song: “Jail House Rock,” sung by Uncle Jesse while he was also dancing. That man was talented.

The bridesmaid dresses: FEAST YOUR EYES

Oh yes.

And in the end…: Success! Jesse and Becky hop on the motorcycle and drive off into the distance, hopefully not too far because it’s hard to fit much luggage on a motorcycle.

The verdict: This is pretty standard fare for a TV wedding, beginning with the cheerfully nonthreatening comedy of errors, and going right down to the classic two-parter episode format. Without a doubt, though, my favorite thing about this whole episode is Becky’s role in the craziness. She’s definitely angry at Jesse for being stupid enough to go sky diving three hours before the ceremony, but not only does she barely even freak out, she insists on driving up to the jail herself. Even better, when they catch a ride back to the city with the gospel choir, she starts to give the driver directions, and then just hops into the drivers’ seat herself. It’s an unusual and pleasant image of a TV bride – she’s disappointed and upset, but she’s not so attached to the magical preciousness of the day that she’s above marching into a jail cell to bail out her fiancee. Not too shabby, Full House.