Bonus Entry: Season 1, Episode 0, “Unaired Pilot”

I’d always heard that there was an unaired Full House pilot but I never had a chance to see it until I started renting the DVD’s so I could write this blog.  Since the first episode begins moments before the Uncles move into the full house, I wondered what events this unaired pilot would describe.  And just why exactly was it never aired?  Maybe we’d actually get to see how Danny’s wife died in a scene that was too gruesome for prime time?  Maybe the sexual tension between Danny and his mother that’s suggested in the first episode would be explored (which could also be too gruesome for prime time)?  Seriously, what’s the big mystery?  Why’d they never air it???

Sadly, like all things Full House, the reality of the unaired pilot is that it’s just a big, lame, poorly put together disappointment.  The reason the pilot was never aired is because Bob Saget, who was the producers’ top choice to play Danny, was contractually unable to take the part when the pilot was shooting and so the role of Danny went to another actor named John Posey.  After the pilot was completed and the series was sold, Bob Saget became available after all and John Posey was kicked to the curb.

The pilot itself is actually the same as the first episode.  When I say the same, I mean exactly the same.  They literally just re-shot the scenes with Danny and patched the whole thing together, so any scene that doesn’t have Danny in it is actually footage from the pilot episode.

There’s not a lot to say about the pilot that isn’t covered in the review of Episode 1 except that it’s actually pretty striking how much better suited Bog Saget is to the show than John Posey.  Don’t get me wrong, I pretty much want to punch Bob Saget in the throat any time I see his big stupid grimace on my tv screen, but contrasting him with another actor in the role of Danny really does show you how much Bob Saget owns the role of a corny, annoying Dad.  I think it’s fair to say that if John Posey had played the role of Danny in the series, Full House never would have caught on.  It’s kind of amazing how everyone on this show is so terrible and annoying, but somehow the combination of them all makes for this incredible spectrum of corny ass obnoxious bullshit that is sort of hypnotic or something.  When I see John Posey in the role of Danny, I hardly think about punching him at all, and that’s why there’s no place for him in the full house.

You gotta wonder what just barely getting passed over for the role of Danny Tanner does to a person.  John Posey must either feel like he got totally jilted or that he dodged the biggest bullet on the planet.  He’s had a pretty steady stream of bit parts on tv shows ever since, so you can’t really feel bad for him.  Regardless, I officially dedicate this blog to John Posey, the one that got away!

Tune in Friday for a review of Season 1 as a whole.  Next week we’ll go back to posting episode reviews each Friday, starting with the premier of Season 2!

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