Stephanie Gets Framed

Stephanie Gets Framed
Season 4, episode 16
Air date	January 25, 1991
Writer(s)	Doug McIntyre
Director	Joel Zwick
Previous	Ol' Brown Eyes
Next	A Fish Called Martin

Stephanie Gets Framed is episode sixteen of season four of Full House. It originally aired on January 25, 1991.

Opening Teaser

In the bathroom, Michelle is brushing her teeth using the techniques she's learned. She then calls Danny to help her up, when she rinses out the toothpaste and spits out the water. She then uses a nearby towel on a rack to wipe her mouth.

Synopsis

In Michelle's room, she is playing with a yo-yo. She is able to get it to roll down, but she can't roll it back up. At that point, D.J. comes in with a solution to the problem: her old piggy bank, as big sister now has her own savings account (as indirectly mentioned in "Working Girl"), and now little sister can start saving up to buy a new yo-yo. D.J. explains the usual methods of searching the couch cushions or even begging. Michelle uses the latter, and it works as she begins her savings with a quarter from her sister. She gets more loose change in the form of some pennies from Joey and another three quarters from Danny.

As Joey and Danny play chess in the living room and Stephanie comes home, Danny is informed that Stephanie is having problems reading at school. She is taken to an eye doctor who prescribes glasses for her to use for reading. Stephanie does not want glasses because she is afraid that her classmates will make fun of her. The guys try to get her to try them on, to no avail (much to the audience's groans), and even Comet disapproves (to more groans). However, she feels better about having the glasses when she gets some advice from Steve Urkel, the visiting cousin of D.J.'s friend Julie.

At school, she uses Joey's stash of funny glasses in an attempt to stop her classmates from teasing her, but they get confiscated by the teacher, and she won't get them back until the school year ends.

Elsewhere, a crisis develops when Jesse must choose between Danny and Joey to be best man at his wedding. He ends up picking both Joey and Danny.

After she gets another penny from Steve (see Quotes), Michelle learns about using her new piggy bank when she finds a nickel in the couch to add to her pocket change (and then a Chee-to, which she eats), and is anxious to use it to buy ice cream, which she really likes. When she hears the ice cream man and his truck, she's anxious to go out and use all that money to buy that ice cream. D.J. stops her and informs her what the real purpose of saving money is about. Joey also arrives, having also missed the ice cream man (see Quotes).

Later, as she repeatedly writes "I will not disrupt the class" (possibly 100 times), Stephanie explains the above situation to Joey and shows her a note from the teacher regarding his funny-glasses stash. He asks her to put her new glasses on again and she'll see that she looks just fine. She says she already did, and it wasn't a pretty sight. However, he says that that's because she saw what she was afraid of rather than what was really there right in front of her eyes.

He tells her to look at the mirror on the closet door and explain who she really sees, and (as the inspirational music plays) she agrees with Joey that it is her, realizing she now sees something she hadn't seen before. The compliment exchange continues (as the audience applauds and the EP credits appear).

Quotes

[Danny is in the living room playing guitar and singing as D.J. and Julie come in the front door.]
D.J.: Dad, you've gotta help us!
Danny: What's going on?
Julie: It's my cousin, Steve. He's in town for the big science fair, and he won't quit bugging us.
D.J.: Julie and I are trying to write an article for the school paper, but her cousin is kind of a... what's the word I'm looking for?
Julie: Pain in the butt?
D.J.: That'll work.
[Suddenly, there's a knock on the front door, a la "Shave and a Haircut" (without the "2 bits").]
Julie: That's him [and they dash into the kitchen].

---

[Danny and Jesse have had enough of Steve's overly detailed stories, so they pull him off the couch and usher him into the kitchen.]
Jesse: I think I hear the girls calling for you... in the kitchen area.
Steve: Oh, good day, gentlemen. [as he goes though the door] Oh, ladies!
D.J. & Julie: Ahhhhhh!

---

[Joey and Stephanie come home from the optometrist.]
Joey: Hey, guess who got some new glasses.
Stephanie: Guess who never wants to wear them.
Danny: Oh, c'mon, Steph. I'll bet they look great.
Stephanie: I look like a total dweeb.
Jesse: Oh, c'mon. Oh, hey [as he takes his out and puts them on to show her.] look at this, Steph. I wear reading glasses. There. Do I look like a total dweeb?
Stephanie: Not... totally.
Danny: Honey, put 'em on. Let's see 'em.
Stephanie: Okay [slowly puts them on] There. You saw 'em [and quickly takes them off, as she heads upstairs].
Danny: You know, for a second there, I thought you actually looked sharp.
Jesse: Yeah, you look very sophisticated.
Joey: That's what I've been telling you ever since we left the eye doctor, Steph.
Stephanie: [stops and turns around] Thanks. But I know you're just being nice because you're my family [then continues on her way].
Jesse: Do I look like a dweeb.
Danny & Joey: [looking at each other] No.
Jesse: You're just being nice because you're my family.

---

[Upstairs:]
Stephanie: [entering her room and putting her jacket on the little table] Hi, Comet [who's sitting on D.J.'s bed as she joins him]. You'll be honest. What do you think of my new glasses? [She puts them on to show him, and he turns his head away.] I knew it. I'm the biggest geek in 3rd grade. [She heads to the closet mirror to look at herself, and via a fish-eye lens effect, it shows. She gasps at the sight, and unhappily heads back over to pet Comet.]

---

[D.J. and Julie quickly head into the bedroom.]
Julie: I think we lost him [as D.J. closes the door, but...]
Steve: [hiding behind the door] Lost who?
D.J.: Just some pesky kid who keeps following us around.
Steve: You know, some people just don't know when they're not wanted.
Michelle: [entering the room] Hi, D.J. Hi, Julie. [to Steve] Hi, kid I don't know.
D.J.: Steve, this is my sister Michelle.
Steve: Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Michelle.
Michelle: Why do you talk like a Mickey Mouse?
Steve: That's because I'm from Chicago.
Michelle: Wanna feed my piggy?
Steve: Sure. Here's a bright shiny penny [puts it in the coin slot]. Michelle, did you know with prevailing interest rates, that penny will be worth almost 3¢ at the turn of the century?
Michelle: Yes, I did.

---

[Michelle continues her search for more pocket change in the couch cushions.]
Michelle: Alright, a nickel! [She puts it in her piggy bank.] Alright, a Chee-to! [She eats it, then suddenly, music plays outside, and to her surprise, it's the...] Ice cream man, ice cream man! [She bolts for the front door, opens it up, and steps outside.] Wait for me! I got money! [She heads back inside and grabs her piggy bank and starts shaking it.] Give me back my money, you pig!
[The piggy bank's former owner, hearing this, decides to lecture the current owner.]
D.J.: Michelle, what's wrong?
Michelle: I need ice cream! Rip his head off!
D.J.: Michelle, get a grip! The whole purpose of a piggy bank is to save your money for something very important.
Michelle: Ice cream is very important.
[And both check the window, and hear the music dying down.]
D.J.: Sorry, Michelle, the ice cream man is gone.
Michelle: He's really gone? [She does "the lip" for good measure.]
D.J.: Put "the lip" away. It just so happens that there's a box of Fudgsicles hidden in the back of the freezer.
Michelle: But it's not the same.
Joey: [entering upon hearing this] Hey, did I just hear the ice cream man?
D.J.: You just missed him. But follow me. There's Fudgsicles in the freezer. [She takes her sister into the kitchen, as he utters...]
Joey: But it's not the same.

---

[Upstairs, Stephanie's doing the "100 times" thing on paper, when Joey comes in.]
Joey: 'I will not disrupt the class', 'I will not disrupt the class'... did you by any chance disrupt the class?
Stephanie: I snuck into your joke bag and brought out all your funny glasses. The teacher put them in her desk. But you can have them back at the end of the year.
Joey: Steph, that's not like you to act up in class.

---

[He asks her to put on her new glasses again and look in the mirror again.]
Joey: What do you see?
Stephanie: Hey! It's me.
Joey: No, it's the new, improved you – because now you can read.
Stephanie: Thanks, Joey. I feel better. [She kisses him.]
Joey: You know, I think you look pretty mature.
Stephanie: Really?
Joey: Mm-hmm.
Stephanie: Do you think I could pass for a 4th grader?
Joey: Why don't you put the stem of your glasses in your mouth and think, 'upper elementary school'? [She does so.] Ooh, right there? That's 5th grade. [She puts them back on and poses.] Oh, look at that, high fashion model. [She poses again.] You're driving. You're driving a Porsche.

Trivia

• Steve Urkel is a character from Family Matters played by Jaleel White
  • It was a minor crossover with Family Matters, which was also produced by Full House's production companies Miller-Boyett Productions and Lorimar Television/Warner Bros. Television, and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution
• Steve Urkel is a cousin of D.J.'s friend Julie, played by Tasha Scott, who was White's love interest in the 1990 TV movie Camp Cucamonga (which also happened to star Candace Cameron)
• While the episode title refers to her getting new eyeglasses, the term "getting framed" usually refers to a criminal frameup
• When Michelle says, "It's not the same", you can see a picture with Stephanie and D.J. from season one
• The first episode where Michelle properly says "ice cream" (instead of "ouce cream")
• The fourth episode to deal with money management
• When Michelle asks Steve why he talks like Mickey Mouse and he says he is from Chicago, it is a reference to Walt Disney's birthplace
• Songs sung by Danny:
  • "Tom Dooley"
  • "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"

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