John Stamos portrayed Jesse Katsopolis, Uncle Jesse, on the popular television sitcom Full House which aired from September 22, 1987, to May 23, 1995. The actor appeared in all eight seasons of the series, making him one of the main cast members throughout the show’s run.
Recently, the creator of the popular series Jeff Franklin took a nostalgic journey through time while appearing on Dave Coulier’s latest venture, Full House Rewind. During the episode, Franklin and Coulier engaged in heartfelt reminiscence and spoke about some of the behind-the-scenes events that unfolded during the production of the beloved family sitcom that featured outstanding actors like the late Bob Saget, John Stamos, Dave Coulier, Candace Cameron Bure, Jodie Sweetin, and the Olsen twins, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.
Jeff Franklin says John Stamos almost left ‘Full House’ after feeling upstaged by Jodie Sweetin
During the discussion on Full House Rewind, Franklin revealed an interesting anecdote about the show’s early days. After the first cast table read, he recalled that John Stamos expressed concerns about the show’s dynamic, fearing that Jodie Sweetin and the younger actors might overshadow him and take the spotlight.
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“Where there’s a room full of studio and network executives. They were all there to see Stamos, I think,” the 68-year-old confessed. “Much later, Stamos was so upset about having to play second fiddle to these really funny kids, that he went out and called his agent and said, ‘This is a mistake. Get me off this show.'”
Jeff Franklin says he remade the pilot of ‘Full House’ with Bob Saget after initially casting John Posey as Danny Tanner
The screenwriter-cum-director divulged another fascinating behind-the-scenes story. He stated that during the show’s early development, he ran a test among Saget, Stamos, and Coulier while they were on the set of the ’80s sitcom Perfect Strangers to determine the suitable roles they could play in Full House.
At that point, Franklin had already cast John Posey as Danny Tanner and even filmed a pilot. Still, when he discovered that Saget was available and interested in joining the series, he couldn’t resist the opportunity and arranged the meeting between the trio leading to an expensive reshoot of the pilot now with the late actor as the patriarch of the Tanner family.
“That was kind of a secret chemistry test that I put together, so I had something to show people because Bob was not an actor either. And he wasn’t Bob Saget yet,” he detailed. “I just had this gut instinct that Bob could be one of those classic TV dads. I just fought for him as hard as I could. I said, ‘This is going to make the show so much better. We have to do this.’ It took a lot of convincing and they finally said OK.”