Who is Danny Tanner in Full House?

Show

Full House

Played by

Bob Saget

First episode

“Our Very First Show”Season 1, Episode 1, aired September 22, 1987

Role

Main cast

Network

ABC

Occupation

Sportscaster, then morning TV co-host

Show run

1987 to 1995

Also known as

Danny

Danny Tanner is the father at the center of Full House, a sportscaster who loses his wife and asks the two men he trusts most to move in and help raise his girls. Played by Bob Saget, he is earnest, sentimental, and famously obsessed with keeping the house spotless.

On Full House, Danny Tanner's story runs through D.J. Tanner (Daughter), Stephanie Tanner (Daughter), Michelle Tanner (Daughter), Jesse Katsopolis (Brother-in-law), and Joey Gladstone (Best Friend).

Who is Danny Tanner?

Danny is a San Francisco television sportscaster and the father of D.J., Stephanie, and baby Michelle. When the series begins, his wife Pam has recently died, and he invites Pam's younger brother Jesse and his own childhood best friend Joey to move into the family's house so the girls will have three grown-ups looking out for them.

Early on he works the sports desk, and from the second season he co-hosts the morning show Wake Up, San Francisco alongside Rebecca Donaldson, who later marries Jesse. Through every career change, though, Danny's real job is being a dad, and the show measures almost every episode by whether he gets that part right.

Personality and comedy

Danny's comedy comes from how wholesome and tightly wound he is. He labels, vacuums, and disinfects with real passion, treats a spring cleaning day like a holiday, and cannot relax when anything in the house is out of place. His roommates, the rock and roll uncle and the cartoon-voice comedian, give him plenty to clean up after.

He is also the show's champion of the sincere talk. Many episodes end with Danny sitting on the edge of a bed, gentle music swelling, explaining a lesson to one of his daughters. The show plays his corniness for laughs, but it never mocks his devotion, and that warmth is a big reason the family works.

Key storylines

Danny's arc begins with grief. The first season shows him trying to get through holidays and first dates without Pam, and a late-series episode makes clear she was killed by a drunk driver, which is why D.J. reacts so strongly when a friend drinks at a party.

His biggest romance is with Vicky Larson, a fellow broadcaster. Their long-distance relationship survives a breakup, and Danny proposes to her during the fireworks on the family's trip to Walt Disney World at the end of season six. Midway through season seven, Vicky takes an anchor job in New York and they call off the engagement, and Danny copes by rearranging the whole house. In the final season he starts dating Claire and wrestles with jealousy when Becky is promoted to producer at the station.

Behind the scenes and legacy

Bob Saget was the producers' first choice for Danny but was tied up with a CBS morning show when the pilot was made, so John Posey played the role in an unaired first version. Saget took over for the series and played Danny for all eight seasons, a squeaky-clean contrast to his famously raunchy stand-up act.

Saget returned as Danny in the Netflix sequel Fuller House, which ran from 2016 to 2020 and followed the grown-up D.J. Saget died in January 2022, and Danny remains one of the best-remembered TV dads of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Danny Tanner: frequently asked questions

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