The Full House Episode You Forgot Candace Cameron Bure's Brother Guest Starred In

After it aired in 1987, ABC's "Full House" faced a slow start but eventually became a beloved family sitcom, consistently ranking in the Nielsen Top 30 from its third season onward. The show's popularity endured over the years, with its 2016 sequel series, "Fuller House," garnering over 14 million views on Netflix in its first month of streaming, according to an IndieWire report.

However, as the first two seasons of the original show weren't nearly as popular, you may have forgotten that one episode Candace Cameron Bure's brother guest starred in. While Bure, who portrayed the oldest of the Tanner sisters, D.J. Tanner, was a permanent fixture in both "Full House" and "Fuller House," her brother, Kirk Cameron, appeared in just a single installment of "Full House."

The Season 1 episode, titled "Just One of the Guys," aired in 1988, with Cameron portraying the Tanner's cousin Steve. Although he received a standing ovation from the audience after appearing on set, Cameron, who was around 18 at the time, did not return to "Full House" after his short-lived stint. He did, however, make an appearance in "Fuller House" decades later, marking an unexpected full-circle moment for his sister and, surprisingly, Kimmy Gibbler.

In the 1988 "Full House" episode, Candace Cameron Bure and Kirk Cameron skillfully channeled their natural sibling chemistry to portray cousins. Notably, Bure's character's best friend, Kimmy Gibbler (played by Andrea Barber), was openly infatuated with cousin Steve, which was an ongoing joke throughout the episode. However, since Gibbler was only 10 years old at the time, her dreams of a romance with Steve were left unfulfilled. That is, until decades later (kind of).

In Season 5 of "Fuller House," Cameron joined the seasoned cast once again, but interestingly, he didn't reprise his role as cousin Steve. Instead, he portrayed himself — the "Growing Pains" star. From 1985 to 1992, Cameron played Mike Seaver, a teenage heartthrob, which wasn't too far from his real-life status. In the 2019 "Fuller House" episode, titled "Five Dates with Kimmy Gibbler," Cameron goes on a date with Gibbler as himself, the real-life actor, but it ultimately does not work out for them.

The episode was directed by Bure, who gushed about the experience in a conversation with TV Line. "A lot of names were going around [for Kimmy's celebrity crush], and when I threw my brother's name into the hat, everybody thought it was a great idea," she shared. Bure continued, "I could not have been happier that he did the show. It felt so full-circle with him doing an episode of the new series, having already done an episode of the original."

Interestingly, Kirk Cameron had a significant role in facilitating the opportunity for his sister, Candace Cameron Bure, to become part of the "Full House" cast. Prior to landing her iconic role as D.J. Tanner, Bure appeared in two episodes of "Growing Pains" as a friend of Cameron's character's brother. Cameron's established sitcom fame led the "Full House" team to recognize Bure as his sister during the casting process and watch her "Growing Pains" cameos, as she revealed in an interview with Today.

Filming "Growing Pains" instilled a love for sitcoms in Bure, she told the outlet, and created positive expectations for her upcoming time on "Full House." Bure detailed, "I remember watching the process, how a sitcom works, and with all the writers, and the rehearsals, and then the run-throughs, and the big laughs at the jokes," and continued, "And then I got on my show, and it was the same thing too — we all loved each other."

Notably, in the video version of their interview, Bure revealed that the 1988 episode of "Full House" was truly a family affair for the Camerons — not only did Cameron appear in the episode, but their parents also made a brief cameo during the scene where the Tanners play football in the park. So, in case you forgot any of the episodes mentioned, you can now revisit them with a new sense of fulfillment.