Updated

Updated · Us Weekly · Jun 29

Jodie Sweetin Reveals 70-Year-Old John Posey Played Danny Tanner Before Full House Reshot Pilot

Updated

Updated · Us Weekly · Jun 29

Jodie Sweetin Reveals 70-Year-Old John Posey Played Danny Tanner Before Full House Reshot Pilot

Q: He was fired from *Full House* before it aired. What happened to the original Danny Tanner and why did Saget feel guilty?

The original Danny Tanner was John Posey, and he lost the role because *Full House* creator Jeff Franklin had always wanted Bob Saget. Posey filmed the original pilot while Saget was unavailable because he was committed to CBS’s *The Morning Program*. When Saget was let go from that show and became available, Franklin pushed ABC to reshoot the entire pilot with Saget, reportedly at a cost of nearly $1 million. Posey later said he learned ABC was testing Saget after *Full House* had already been picked up for a full season. He was in the middle of moving from Atlanta to Los Angeles for the job when he found out he was being replaced. He acknowledged the recasting was especially hard on the young cast, including Candace Cameron Bure, who had already bonded with him. Saget felt guilty because he knew he had taken over a role someone else had already played and effectively cost Posey the job. Reflecting on it later, Saget said it was “always sad” when material had to be reshot because he had replaced another actor, adding that he “always” felt guilt about it. Franklin also said breaking Posey’s heart was difficult, even though he believed Saget’s comedic style was essential to making Danny Tanner work as the show’s father figure.

Q: A creator spent a million dollars to recast a sitcom dad. What made him risk everything on Bob Saget for *Full House*?

Jeff Franklin risked the money because he believed Bob Saget was essential to making *Full House* work. According to Jodie Sweetin and Franklin’s later recollections, Saget was always the creator’s first choice for Danny Tanner. He was unavailable when the original pilot was shot because he was committed to CBS’s *The Morning Program*, so John Posey played the role instead. When Saget became available, Franklin pushed ABC to reshoot the entire pilot, a move Sweetin said cost nearly $1 million. The key reason was Franklin’s creative vision. He wanted Danny Tanner played by a true comedian, not just a solid actor. Franklin had known Saget from earlier TV work and believed his comic timing, warmth and energy would elevate the show. He reportedly felt Saget could become “one of those classic TV dads” and that putting him in the role would take the series “over the top.” That instinct proved decisive. Posey himself later said Saget and Paul Reiser had been the original targets, and Franklin later praised Posey’s work while still maintaining that the part needed a comedian. Saget ultimately defined Danny Tanner for eight seasons, from 1987 to 1995, and returned for *Fuller House*. In short, Franklin made the expensive gamble because he believed Saget was not just preferable casting, but the actor who could turn *Full House* into the show he had imagined.

Q: The unaired *Full House* pilot is now public. How different was the original Danny Tanner from the icon we know?

The original Danny Tanner was recognizably the same character on paper, but he did not feel like the Danny Tanner audiences came to know through Bob Saget. In the unaired pilot, John Posey plays the role more straight, with less of the loose, stand-up-comic energy that became central to Saget’s version. That difference appears to be why creator Jeff Franklin pushed so hard to replace him. Franklin had wanted Saget from the start and, once Saget became available, persuaded the studio to reshoot the entire pilot at major expense. Franklin later said the show needed a comedian in the father role, suggesting the issue was not that Posey was bad, but that Saget brought a specific comic rhythm and warmth the series depended on. Posey himself has said he was unsure of his own performance, and people involved with the show have described him as kind and well liked. But the public pilot makes clear that his Danny is less distinctive than Saget’s eventual portrayal: less dorky, less sharply comic, and without the same blend of earnestness and awkward dad charm that made Danny Tanner iconic. So the unaired pilot is less a radically different character than a different tone. The family setup, story beats and premise are largely familiar, but Saget’s performance gave Danny Tanner the personality that helped define *Full House* for eight seasons.

2 articles · Updated · Us Weekly · Jun 29

Jodie Sweetin said Full House first shot its pilot with John Posey as Danny Tanner before the show recast the father role and filmed the episode again with Bob Saget.
Sweetin said creator Jeff Franklin had always wanted Saget, but CBS commitments to The Morning Program kept him unavailable until the conflict ended.
The recast forced an expensive full-pilot reshoot, which Sweetin said Franklin pushed through because he was convinced Saget was the right fit.
Posey later said ABC tested Saget after the series pickup and replaced him, a change he recalled as especially hard on the young cast, including Candace Cameron Bure.
The sitcom ultimately ran from 1987 to 1995 with Saget as Danny Tanner; Saget died in 2022 at age 65.

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Us Weekly3h ago

Jodie Sweetin Recalls John Posey as Original Full House Danny Tanner

AOL3h ago

Jodie Sweetin praises “Better Call Saul ”actor cast as dad in “Full House ”pilot, but Bob Saget was always 'first choice' - AOL

He was fired from *Full House* before it aired. What happened to the original Danny Tanner and why did Saget feel guilty?

A creator spent a million dollars to recast a sitcom dad. What made him risk everything on Bob Saget for *Full House*?

The unaired *Full House* pilot is now public. How different was the original Danny Tanner from the icon we know?

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2 total

Us Weekly3h ago

Jodie Sweetin Recalls John Posey as Original Full House Danny Tanner

AOL3h ago

Jodie Sweetin praises “Better Call Saul ”actor cast as dad in “Full House ”pilot, but Bob Saget was always 'first choice' - AOL

Jodie Sweetin Reveals 70-Year-Old John Posey Played Danny Tanner Before Full House Reshot Pilot

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