Commentary

Say It Ain't So, Aunt Becky: 'Full House' Star In College Scandal

In the wake of actress Lori Loughlin's arrest this week on charges that she and her husband committed fraud to get their two daughters into USC, “Full House” fans wasted no time unearthing a storyline from the original ’90s sitcom that appeared to foreshadow the present-day scandal.

In various memes that made the rounds of social media on Thursday, Loughlin's character on “Full House,” Becky (or Aunt Becky) was seen in a video clip from a 1993 episode in which she argued with husband Jesse (John Stamos) about how to get their young twins into a competitive preschool.

Such is the cost of fame today. Get charged with fraud and you can be sure someone, somewhere will dig up even more about you that you don't want anyone to remember.

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Oh, well -- Loughlin almost made it to 40 years in the TV business. She was a teenage beauty born in Queens and raised in Long Island when she was first cast in the old ABC soap “The Edge of Night” in 1980 when she was 15.

This week, her career appeared to come to an abrupt end after she and her husband, designer Mossimo Giannulli (founder and namesake of the Mossimo fashion brand), were charged along with 30 other parents in the college-admission fraud scandal that is rocking academia and making front-page headlines.

Loughlin was one of two TV stars caught up in the scandal. The other was Felicity Huffman, best known for playing one of the title roles in the ABC series “Desperate Housewives.” She is married to actor William H. Macy, currently starring in the Showtime series “Shameless.” He was not charged.

The parents in the case are accused of using a variety of fraudulent means to ensure that their children were admitted to various colleges where they might not otherwise have been accepted.

Loughlin, 54, turned herself in for an arrest Wednesday in Los Angeles and was released after posting bail of $1 million, according to reports.

On Thursday, she lost her most stable means of current employment when Hallmark Cards, parent company of Crown Media Holdings, severed all ties with her. Up until Thursday, Loughlin was a stalwart of TV movies and series seen on Crown Media's Hallmark networks, Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries.

The company issued this statement and then declined to comment further: “We are saddened by the recent news surrounding the college admissions allegations. We are no longer working with Lori Loughlin and have stopped development of all productions that air on the Crown Media Family Network channels involving Lori Loughlin including ‘Garage Sale Mysteries,’ an independent third-party production.”

Her series for Hallmark, “When Calls the Heart” (pictured above), is currently in the midst of a 10-episode sixth season. Loughlin also starred in a series of mystery movies under the “Garage Sale Mysteries” umbrella on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries.

At Hallmark, Loughlin was one of a handful of former stars of network television who have made a home for themselves in the Crown Media stable -- including Danica McKellar (“The Wonder Years”), Lacey Chabert (“Party of Five”), Autumn Reeser (“The O.C.”), Alison Sweeney (“Days of Our Lives”), Kellie Martin (“ER,” “Life Goes On”) and Candace Cameron Bure (“Full House” and “Fuller House”).

Loughlin is also seen in “Fuller House,” the reboot update of the old “Full House” sitcom that is supposedly heading into its fifth and final season later this year on Netflix. There has been no word yet on whether Netflix will follow Hallmark in severing its own ties with Loughlin.

Meanwhile, in further fallout from Loughlin's arrest, one of her daughters, Olivia Jade,19, who was admitted to USC, was dropped this week as a spokeswoman for two beauty brands, Sephora and TRESemmé.

As for Felicity Huffman, she was seen last year in Season Two of the Epix series “Get Shorty” and is due to be seen this year in a Netflix miniseries called “When They See Us,” a dramatization of New York's Central Park jogger rape case. There has been no word from Netflix on the future of this project now that Huffman is facing charges on admissions-fraud.

However, Buzzfeed is credited with discovering this week that a 2004 episode of “Desperate Housewives” had Huffman’s character, Lynette, “donating” $15,000 to a prestigious private school so that her two fictional TV sons would be accepted there.

It is the same amount Huffman is accused of paying admissions “consultant” William Singer in return for her daughter taking a college entrance exam at a “controlled” exam center where her answers could be “corrected” when wrong.

1 comment about "Say It Ain't So, Aunt Becky: 'Full House' Star In College Scandal".
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  1. David Scardino from TV & Film Content Development, March 15, 2019 at 2:13 p.m.

    While the indictments are certainly compelling and the behavior definitely disgusting, one also has to wonder whatever happened to the concept of "presumption of innocence"? Assuming the case goes to trial--and my bet would be it, or most of it, will be plea bargained--good luck finding jurors untainted by all the publcity. Maybe they could hold the trial in Venezuela. 

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