Ten years ago, Netflix brought the Tanner family back to TV screens across America with the Full House spinoff, Fuller House — and the history of the beloved sitcom series is more intriguing than you may think.
On the original USA series, art imitated life — and vice versa — in numerous ways.
For one, the late Bob Saget left a CBS morning show to play Danny Tanner, a talk show host. Saget also had three daughters in real life, just like the show.
Scott Weinger played Steve on Full House, but he also voiced Aladdin in the classic Disney animated film — and the show paid homage to that role with a dream sequence in which D.J. imagines Steve as Aladdin at Walt Disney World. Candace Cameron Bure (who played D.J.) even took Weinger to her prom in real life, just like the show!
Keep scrolling for 25 things you don’t know about Full House from the latest issue of Us Weekly, on newsstands now:
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1. Saget was always the first choice for Danny Tanner, but he was stuck in contract at CBS’ The Morning Program, so John Posey filmed the pilot in his place. Saget was fired from that gig for being “too edgy” for morning TV, and replaced Posey on Full House. (Ironic, given that Danny is Wake Up, San Francisco’s cohost!)
2. While the Tanners’ home address in the show is 1882 Gerrard Street, the exterior of the house is actually located at 1709 Broderick Street in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights neighborhood, which has become a popular tourist attraction.
3. Jodie Sweetin (Stephanie) and John Stamos (Jesse) were the only actors who didn’t have to audition for Full House, the former landing the role of Stephanie after nailing a guest spot on Valerie.
4. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen were credited as one person (Mary-Kate Ashley Olsen) until the eighth and final season, presumably to maintain the appearance that only one child played Michelle Tanner.
5. Only three actors appeared in every single one of the show’s 192 episodes: Stamos, Sweetin and Dave Coulier (Joey). (Not Saget only because of the original pilot!)
6. Matchmaking castmate! Coulier introduced Cameron Bure to her now-husband, Valeri Bure, at a hockey game in 1994.
7. Coulier married Jayne Modean, who played adult Michelle in a dream sequence in which the girls were all grown up, in 1990, welcoming son Luc together before splitting two years later.
8. Just as Joey moves into Danny’s house on the show, Coulier actually crashed on Saget’s couch while passing through Los Angeles in 1979.
9. Uncle Jesse’s name was changed twice! He was originally named Adam Cochran, but Stamos requested the first name be changed. Then after season 1, he had the last name changed to Kastopolis to honor his own Greek heritage, explaining the switch on the show as Jesse’s new stage name.
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10. Elvis Presley-loving Uncle Jesse shares a name with the singer’s stillborn twin, Jesse Garon.
11. Just like Danny Tanner, Saget had three daughters in real life.
12. Stamos said he once got the Olsen twins fired because they were crying too much and he “couldn’t deal with it.” The replacement babies they hired were “terrible,” and he was begging for the Olsens back within a matter of days!
13. The Olsen twins’ younger sister Elizabeth Olsen (a future Hollywood star herself!) appeared as “Girl with Flowers” in a 1995 episode.
14. In the show’s Walt Disney World episode, D.J. imagines Steve as Aladdin, a nod to Weinger’s gig voicing the Disney in the animated film series.
15. Bure took Weigner to her real-life prom, just like D.J. and Steve on the show.
16. D.J.’s initials stand for Donna Jo.
17. Aunt Becky was only going to be Uncle Jesse’s love interest for six episodes in season 2 — but Lori Loughlin’s chemistry with Stamos was so strong that they kept her on for the rest of the series.
18. Coulier once revealed that he, Saget and Stamos would get “in trouble a lot” with the younger actors’ moms for their adult antics because they didn’t realize the kids had monitors backstage watching them.
19. Eagle-eyed fans may notice Michelle using both of her hands to write and eat, as Mary-Kate is left-handed while Ashley is right-handed.
20. By age six, Mary-Kate and Ashley began to look different enough to tell apart. While producers considered letting Ashley go and just having Mary-Kate play Michelle, Stamos fought for them to both stay.
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21. Season eight episode “Comet’s Excellent Adventure” is the only one actually taped in San Francisco.
22. Sequel series Fuller House premiered on Netflix two decades after Full House concluded. The spinoff — which brought back Bure and Sweetin in main roles and Stamos, Saget, Coulier and Loughlin recurring characters — ran for five seasons from 2016 to 2020.
23. Joey’s “Cut! It! Out!” catchphrase actually originated on Coulier’s earlier 1984 Nickelodeon show, Out of Control.
24. Joey and Aunt Becky are the only two characters who don’t celebrate a birthday during the show’s entire run.
25. Saget has the very first and very last lines of the series.
