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Bob Saget passed away at the age of 65 on January 9, 2022, and Full House fans are grieving the loss of the father figure they grew up with during the 1990s. The role of Danny Tanner helped make Saget a household name, but he wasn't initially the obvious pick for the character. Before Saget was cast as the leading father on Full House, actor John Posey played Danny in the unaired pilot. Watch the video below to compare both performances.
According to Screen Rant, Saget was always the producers' top choice to play the Tanner patriarch. Full House creators Jeff Franklin, Thomas L. Miller, and Robert L. Boyett had seen him warming up the studio audience for Bosom Buddies and liked his comedic style. It was his role in the Richard Pryor film Critical Condition (1987) that convinced them he was the perfect fit for their new sitcom.
At this time, CBS was also considering Saget for their own project. They signed him to host The Morning Program, making him unavailable to film the Full House pilot. Consequently, the show's executive producers decided to go with comedian John Posey as the backup choice for Danny Tanner.
Posey filmed the entire pilot as Danny Tanner, and although his performance wasn't a failure, he wasn't brought back for the series. The decision to recast came down to timing—bad (or good, depending on how you see it). After The Morning Show was cancelled after nine months, the creators of Full House seized the chance to bring Bob Saget on board. The first episode had to be reshot, and as the comparison video shows, the only change in many scenes is the actor playing Danny.
The casting troubles of Full House may sound familiar to anyone who knows the story behind Back to the Future's difficult production. Like Saget, Michael J. Fox was originally chosen to play Marty McFly, but he was tied up with Family Ties. Eric Stoltz was cast instead, only to be let go after a month when Fox cleared his schedule to take both roles. While it's rare to replace an actor after that much filming, recasting after a pilot is actually quite common. Here are more famous TV roles originally played by someone else.
