A different actor filmed the pilot as Danny Tanner
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/Paul-Reiser-mad-about-you-bob-saget-full-house-062926-7662bfc59b014c54ade5bce17589bd7e.jpg "Paul Reiser as Paul Buchman on MAD ABOUT YOU -- Season 4; Bob Saget on FULL HOUSE/")
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NEED TO KNOW
- Full House originally filmed its pilot with actor John Posey as Danny Tanner before Bob Saget became available
- Posey was cast after being scouted by an ABC executive but later replaced when Saget’s schedule unexpectedly opened up
- Paul Reiser and Bob Saget were the network’s first choices for the role but were initially unavailable due to other commitments
Before Bob Saget became synonymous with lovable TV dad Danny Tanner on Full House, the role nearly went to someone else entirely — and Paul Reiser was also in the mix.
The casting revelation resurfaced after Jodie Sweetin recently reflected on the sitcom's original pilot during an appearance on Taboo's Comics & Kicks, revealing that the first episode was filmed with actor John Posey as Danny Tanner while Saget was still under contract to host CBS' The Morning Program.
"We started doing the show and we'd shot an entire pilot actually with a different — with John Posey, who was a lovely human being and very sweet and wonderful," Sweetin said. "But Bob was the first choice for Danny."
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Credit: ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty
Years earlier, Posey opened up to Yahoo about how unexpectedly he landed the coveted sitcom role, after being scouted by an ABC executive while performing with a comedy group in Atlanta.
Posey then flew to Los Angeles, and the rest was (nearly) history.
"And then of course the pilot they gave me right away was Full House," Posey told Yahoo in 2014.
It wasn't until later that he learned he hadn't actually been the network's first choice.
"From what I was told, they were looking all over the country for people and couldn't find a guy," Posey explained. "Although I later found out that Bob Saget and Paul Reiser were the two guys they were after first, and they were both unavailable. They were obligated to other shows."
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Posey admitted he was surprised to learn he'd landed between two established comedians in the casting process.
"How you go from those guys to me is kind of a mystery, because we couldn't be more different," he said.
The actor didn't realize anything had changed until after production on the pilot had wrapped.
"I was in Mississippi. My pager went off. I've got a trailer full of stuff. I'm driving back thinking, 'We're going to get to work soon on this new show,' " Posey recalled. "And I get a phone call, go to the phone booth, as we used to do in those days, returned the call, and it was my agent saying, 'I don't know what's going on, but for some reason they're testing Bob Saget.' "
According to Posey, Saget's schedule changed unexpectedly, allowing producers to revisit their original casting plan.
"I guess something opened up for him. Maybe he was fired from something, I think, and suddenly he was available," Posey said. "And I guess the executive producer talked ABC into allowing him to re-shoot. So that was the end of that."