What CBS program kept Bob Saget from playing Danny in the unaired Full House pilot?

The CBS program that kept Bob Saget from playing Danny in the unaired Full House pilot was The Morning Program.

Saget was the producers’ first choice for Danny Tanner, the widowed father at the center of the sitcom. However, he was already committed to CBS as an on-air contributor to The Morning Program, making him unavailable when the pilot was filmed.

The producers therefore cast John Posey as Danny for the unaired pilot. Posey’s version of the character can be seen on the Season 1 DVD, which includes the pilot as a bonus feature. Once Saget became available, the role was recast before the series proceeded to its regular ABC run.

A common mix-up is confusing The Morning Program with Good Morning America, The Early Show, or CBS This Morning. Those are related-sounding morning television titles, but the specific CBS program cited in Full House’s production history was The Morning Program. Saget later became strongly associated with Danny, making the pilot’s recasting an often-overlooked piece of the show’s history.