Full House creator Jeff Franklin has revealed how Bob Saget’s not-so family-friendly language ended up landing him his role on the iconic family sitcom.
Franklin, 71, told People in a recent interview that the Saget, who died aged 65 in 2022, was his first choice to play fictional patriarch Danny Tanner after they had met and become friends on a different show six years earlier. However, the comedian turned down the role and opted to take on a gig hosting CBS’s The Morning Program.
“I definitely had him in mind for Full House when I was creating the character and asked him if he would come in and read,” Franklin recalled in a story published Wednesday. “He was under contract to the CBS Mornings Program at the time, as their man-in-the-street roving reporter, and they would not let him audition. So I ended up casting a different actor as Danny Tanner.”
Actor John Posey was briefly cast in the role of Danny Tanner and even filmed the show’s pilot episode alongside stars John Stamos, Candace Cameron Bure, Jodie Sweetin, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen and Dave Coulier.
However, in an ironic twist of fate, Saget lost his job at CBS due to his foul language while live on-air — and Franklin was ready to take him back.
“But then after we shot the pilot and ABC picked up the show, Bob got fired [from CBS] because he said the word ‘anus’ on live TV, and that was that,” Franklin recalled. “Suddenly, Bob was available and wanted to do Full House, and I was like, ‘Bob, why couldn’t you have said ‘anus’ six weeks ago?’”
He continued: “We switched actors, and that changed both of our lives in so many wonderful ways, and we were friends until the very end, and I really miss him, I got to say.”
In a podcast appearance months before his death, Saget had told the same story of his journey to Full House. He said about CBS: “They fired me after five months.”
Saget told the People’s Party with Talib Kweli podcast that his co-host at the program asked him on-air, “Are you a Type A person?”
He responded, “Yes, but I’m working on my A-ness.” He was then fired for the joke.
The actor said that after joining Full House, he later felt guilt about replacing Posey in the role. “I replaced the guy, which made me feel bad. I still feel bad,” he said.
He went on to play Danny, a single father of three, on the beloved series from 1987 until 1995. He reprised his role alongside his former co-stars for Netflix’s reboot of the show, Fuller House, in 2016 until it was canceled in 2020 after five seasons.
Saget was found dead at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando Grande Lakes in Florida while traveling for his stand-up comedy tour in January 2021. He died in his sleep from a brain bleed that medical examiners determined was caused by an accidental fall backward.
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