Full House holds a special place in the hearts of many kids who grew up in the ‘90s, with that retro TV theme song and its wholesome family antics. The Netflix spinoff Fuller House even introduced a whole new generation to the Tanner family. As beloved as the shows remain, there are plenty of inconsistencies that continue to baffle fans, and Andrea Barber — who played Kimmy Gibbler on both series — recently revealed that she pushed back about one specific detail of her character’s lore on Fuller House because she knew fans would have a problem with it. Turns out, she was right, because she’s “still hearing about it.”
Andrea Barber Knew Fans Would Take Issue With Kimmy’s New Brother
Kimmy Gibbler’s family is one of the biggest anomalies in the Full House universe, made only more confusing by the fact that we never saw Kimmy Gibbler’s parents or any other family members — at least until Fuller House. The only one of Kimmy’s siblings who was even given a name in the original series was her brother Garth, and that’s why Andrea Barber knew that introducing a different brother on the spinoff was going to be a major headache for her. She explained on her How Rude, Tanneritos! podcast:
When we went in to shoot Fuller House and they were going to introduce the character of Jimmy Gibbler, they said, 'Oh, we're so excited, we're going to have Jimmy Gibbler.’ And I'm like, guys, no, the fans are going to lord this over me. I'm gonna get questions. I'm gonna get DMs. I'm gonna get emails — for the rest of my life — if you name him anything other than Garth. And they're like, 'No, we like Jimmy and Kimmy. We like the rhyming part of it.' And I’m like, OK, here we go!
Jimmy, played by Adam Hagenbuch, ended up being a pretty important character on Fuller House after his introduction in the Season 2 premiere.
Adam Hagenbuch appears in 36 episodes, with Jimmy eventually marrying and having a daughter with Jodie Sweetin’s Stephanie Tanner. As for Andrea Barber’s prediction, was she right about the questions, DMs and emails? She confirmed:
I'm still hearing about it, and I will until…
Until people stop streaming Full House and Fuller House, I guess! Unfortunately for Andrea Barber, she knew that the team that created Jimmy Gibbler wouldn’t be the people who would have to answer to the fans wondering why he was never mentioned on the flagship series. So just how complicated is the Gibbler family tree?
Full House’s Gibbler Family Remains Confusing, Even For The Actors
In the Full House premiere, way back in 1987, it was established that DJ Tanner’s BFF, easily one of TV’s most annoying characters, had three older sisters, though they weren't spoken of again. Later in the series Kimmy mentions her older brother Garth. In the Season 3 episode “Divorce Court,” Kimmy also says that she’s glad her mom stopped having kids after her, so it could be presumed that the ever-present neighbor was the youngest of five Gibbler siblings.
When Jimmy appears on Fuller House, however, he’s introduced as Kimmy’s younger brother who Stephanie hasn’t seen since he was “a scrawny little kid.” Sounds like the Gibbler parents weren’t done after all!
Strangely, though, Jodie Sweetin pointed out on the podcast that neither Garth nor any of their potential sisters appeared at the big triple wedding. (Which I guess isn't so strange if you consider that the Olsen twins never returned either!)
If you want to try to rehash all things Gibbler — or uncover other inconsistencies that creep up over the course of the series — Full House is available to stream with a Max subscription, and Fuller House can be found on Netflix, another of the best streaming services.
