Grandfathered Season 1 Is Ending Exactly the Way John Stamos Wanted

Regardless of whether the show is renewed, the star is proud

By Jean Bentley May 03, 2016 4:00 PMTags
Grandfathered, John StamosFox

Regardless of whether Fox picks up a second season of Grandfathered in a few weeks' time, John Stamos is proud of how the first season of his comedy has turned out—especially the incredibly emotional turn it took last week.

In the final moments of the episode, Stamos' Jimmy found out that his emotionally distant father, from whom he'd desperately sought approval his entire life, had died. It was a beautiful scene—especially if you've been watching the show from the beginning and realize how much Jimmy has grown emotionally over the course of the season.

Stamos tells E! news that the show's emotional turn—which will carry over through the final two episodes of the season—was a purposeful maneuver. "We're on the bubble here with the show. We've gotta prove why we should be picked up, so we just dug in," he says.

Stamos had thought about introducing Jimmy's father for a while (yes, played by last week's guest star Paul Sorvino), and the writers went with it.

"I wanted to sort of knock Jimmy to his most raw place," Stamos says. "It was about mortality and time that he had maybe wasted not knowing his son and his granddaughter."

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In tonight's episode, Jimmy struggles to actually accept the fact that his father is gone. "I'm avoiding the fact that my father has just died. I have to write a eulogy for him and I'm having a hard time coming up with a nice thing to say about him and what happens is that my family helps me," Stamos explains. Plus, "[Jimmy also] has to come to terms with his dad being gone and not speaking to him for a year. That's another great lesson—you can't let time go by and not tell someone you love them."

In the end, Stamos is proud of the feel-good TV he's known for. "I think it's important to for people to have a safe place to tune in," he says. "It's kind of like comfort food. It's the kind of television that I enjoy making—I just hope there's still an audience for it. It just scares me that the television audience is dwindling and dwindling every week. It's so difficult to get people to watch network television unless it's a live event or sports or an award show, so it's an uphill battle."

He continues, "but regardless of where we turn out I'm so proud of the show. The last two episodes are the exact way I wanted to end this first season. Do or die, I stand by what we did there."

Grandfathered airs Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. on Fox. The season finale airs May 10.

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