TVXOHOF, JUNE 2022 [PART TWO] - DANNY TANNER

As you probably guessed, here is Part Two of our “Gemini” induction into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame….

DANNY TANNER

From Wikipedia:
'Full House' is an American television sitcom created by Jeff Franklin for ABC. The show is about widowed father Danny Tanner who enlists his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis and childhood best friend Joey Gladstone to help raise his three daughters, eldest D.J., middle child Stephanie and youngest Michelle in his San Francisco home. It aired from September 22, 1987, to May 23, 1995, broadcasting eight seasons and 192 episodes.

'Fuller House' is an American sitcom created by Jeff Franklin that airs as a Netflix original series, and is the sequel to the 1987–1995 television series 'Full House'. It centers around D.J. Tanner-Fuller, a veterinarian and widowed mother of three sons, whose sister Stephanie and best friend Kimmy—along with her teenage daughter—live together at the Tanners' childhood home in San Francisco, California. Most of the original series ensemble cast have reprised their roles on 'Fuller House', either as regular cast members or in guest appearances, with the exception of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, who alternated the role of Michelle Tanner in 'Full House'.

Daniel Ernest "Danny" Tanner (portrayed by Bob Saget, John Posey in the unaired pilot) is left with three young daughters to raise after his wife, Pam, dies in a car accident caused by a drunk driver. At the beginning of the series, he works as a sportscaster for Channel 8 News. In the season two episode "Tanner vs. Gibbler", he is chosen by his station's general manager Mr. Strowbridge to be the co-host for the station's new morning talk show, 'Wake Up, San Francisco', alongside Rebecca Donaldson. In season one's "The Big Three-O," Danny's beloved car, "Bullet," is severely damaged after another driver rear-ends the vehicle, leading it roll out of park and become submerged in the San Francisco Bay as Jesse and Joey shop for new seat covers for the car to surprise Danny with as a present for his 30th birthday; Jesse and Joey end up bidding for a new car that is identical in appearance, unknowingly competing with Danny, who purchases the car (and later named it "Walter") after he calls the car dealership [where] Jesse and Joey are and places a bid over the phone.

Danny goes on his first date since his wife's death in the season one episode "Sea Cruise," as part of a fishing trip that was intended to only include himself, Jesse and Joey; he is seen going out on dates on select occasions throughout the series. While Rebecca goes on maternity leave in season five just before giving birth to his nephews Nicky and Alex, Danny ends up falling in love with her co-host replacement, Vicky Larson. The two of them begin dating in season five's "Easy Rider," becoming Danny's most serious relationship since he became a widower, and the two later become engaged in the season six finale "The House Meets the Mouse".

However, their relationship turned into a long-distance situation as Vicky was assigned various reporting jobs away from San Francisco. In season seven's "The Perfect Couple," Vicky ended up getting her dream job of anchoring the network news in New York City, but a long-distance relationship did not work for either of them, so Danny decides to break up with her; this leads him to a mass feng shui habit in the following episode, "Is It True About Stephanie?," to which his family acknowledges was his way of trying to cope with his breakup. Danny eventually meets fellow single parent Claire Mahan in season eight episode "Making Out Is Hard to Do," and [they] go on a date in the episode "Claire and Present Danger."

Although he is not established with this trait early on (season one's "The Return of Grandma" depicts him as begrudgingly trying to clean the messy house with Jesse and Joey after their mothers threaten to move in if they cannot keep the place clean), much of the humor surrounding Danny's character comes from his obsession with cleaning and cleanliness. Danny can often be found cleaning for cleaning's sake, sometimes even cleaning his cleaning products (in a version of the original season three opening titles, seen during episodes in which Lori Loughlin does not appear as Rebecca Donaldson, Danny is even shown to be cleaning his floor vacuum with a handheld vacuum).

He says the family motto is "clean is good, dirt is bad". Danny views spring cleaning as his equivalent to Christmas and home movies as his New Year's Eve (as revealed in the season two episode "Goodbye, Mr. Bear"). His quirkiness and generally "unhip dad" personality are also targets for humor. He is a skilled pool & dart player and guitarist (as respectively revealed in season four's, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," and season eight's, "To Joey, with Love").

Like most other characters, he generally cannot stand Kimmy Gibbler, considering her as “an annoying, obnoxious nuisance”; at times, urging D.J. to make new friends whenever Kimmy does something that irritates him. Danny also has one brother and one sister, and his parents are divorced. Unlike his brother-in-law Jesse (who is more into rock-and-roll), Danny has a taste for 1970s Disco music; one of his favorite songs is "Play That Funky Music" by Wild Cherry.

In the first episode of 'Fuller House', Danny and Becky relocate to Los Angeles for their new talk show, 'Wake Up USA', and it is revealed that Danny got remarried to a woman named Teri. During the second season Danny goes through a little bit of a mid-life crisis since he just turned 60. In season three Danny reveals that he and Teri got divorced. Danny and Becky asked for raises on their show but since they asked for too much they are fired and replaced by Mario Lopez. After feeling sorry for themselves they go back to 'Wake Up San Francisco' to ask for their old jobs back but the station only wants Becky back.

To cheer him up, the girls somehow tracked down Vicky and surprised him with her. He invites her to the 30th "Dadi-versary" party the girls threw for him, Jesse and Joey. Since Becky, Jesse and Joey are all moving back to San Francisco, Danny announces he's moving back too, and back into the house. In season four Becky's talk show 'The Gab' was a success but it turned back into 'Wake Up San Francisco'. Danny refused to audition to be her co-host, and briefly lived life as a retiree. He eventually realizes that he misses being on air and gets his old job back.

Here are the shows which qualified Danny Tanner to join Bob Saget in the TVXOHOF:

Full House (1987-1995)

192 episodes

America’s Funniest Home Videos

O’Bservation: In one episode, Danny and his daughter Michelle stopped by the show to see for themselves how much Bob Saget looked like Danny Tanner.  (It would be this resemblance which landed Saget the role of Danny.)

Full House of Horrors (2007)
Video Short
Sitcom series "Full House" meets PETA. Characters from "Full House" get an unexpected visit from Futureman, who warns them against wearing fur in the future. The film also makes fun of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's fur-wearing.  (Warning: Grisly video of animals being slaughtered for their fur is shown.)

O'Bservation: This PETA oddity should not be confused with a roblox video game by the same name....

From Wall Street Insanity:

Remember the loving, big-family-fun dynamic of the 80s and 90s sitcom, “Full House?” The innocence of the show made it a comedy appropriate for the whole family, and you’d never think of central, single dad figure Bob Saget as anything other than kind and even, perhaps, heroic.

Now, this haunting trailer lets you into the dark side of this “joyous family romp.” An assignment for the Seattle Film Institute re-imagines “Full House” with Saget as the evil, abusive protagonist, while his little girls and the famed Uncle Jesse cower from him in fear. Created by Jay Somsen, the clever assignment aimed to use real TV show footage to send a completely different message from what the popular sitcom originally intended.

ABC TGIF

- Episode dated 8 March 1991 (1991)
"Full House" stars Danny and Stephanie Tanner are joined by Mickey, the star of "Baby Talk."

Some Jerk with a Camera
- Full House Goes to Disney World! (2013)
An ABC retrospective in earnest targeting 'Full House' and its 1993 two-part season six finale, "The House Meets The Mouse," in which the Tanners have a suspiciously eventful Walt Disney World vacation.  Jerk talks about the show and shows clips from several episodes.  Jerk explains the family almost went to Disneyland in the episode “The Seven-Month Itch: Part 1”.

Fuller House

(2016-2020)
15 episodes

Childhood Thoughts
- Pam Tanner (Full House) (2019)

Based on most of those entries, Danny Tanner looks to be tele-cognizant - aware that he exists in a television meta-universe.  Or it's all connected because he was involved in the production of the TV series based on his life (as suggested by his visit to the set of 'America's Funniest Home Videos'.)

There is no other option but to consider the televersion of Bob Saget as being dead like the Bob Saget of the Trueniverse.  (I think it also has to be accepted that they both died the same way.)

But that doesn't have to be the case with Danny Tanner.  Even though the actor who portrayed him is dead, Danny Tanner could still be alive in Toobworld.

Welcome to the TV Crossover Hall of Fame, Danny.  Until Alice Nelson gets here, feel free to keep the Hall tidy....

TVXOHOF, JUNE 2022 [PART ONE] - BOB SAGET

For our annual “Gemini” induction into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame, our pair this year is a remorseful one.  
With this post we present Part One….

BOB SAGET

From Wikipedia:
Robert Lane Saget (May 17, 1956 – January 9, 2022) was an American stand-up comedian, actor, and television host. Saget is known for playing Danny Tanner on the ABC sitcom 'Full House' (1987–1995), and its Netflix sequel 'Fuller House' (2016–2020). He was also the original host of 'America's Funniest Home Videos' (1989–1997), and the voice of narrator Ted Mosby on the CBS sitcom 'How I Met Your Mother' (2005–2014).

Saget was also known for his adult-oriented stand-up comedy, and his 2014 album "That's What I'm Talkin' About" was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album.

Following a short stint as a member of CBS' 'The Morning Program' in early 1987, Saget was cast as Danny Tanner in 'Full House', which became a success with family viewers, and landed in the Nielsen ratings' Top 30 beginning with season three.

In 1989, Saget began as the host of 'America's Funniest Home Videos', a role he held until 1997. During the early 1990s, Saget worked on both 'Full House' and 'AFV' simultaneously. In 2009, he returned to 'AFV' for the 20th-anniversary one-hour special co-hosted with Tom Bergeron.

From 2005 to 2010, Saget had a recurring role in four episodes of the HBO TV series 'Entourage' playing a parody version of himself. He would later appear in the 2015 feature film based on the series.

From 2016 to 2020, Saget reprised his role as Danny Tanner for fifteen episodes of 'Full House''s sequel series, 'Fuller House', including the series premiere and finale.

On January 9, 2022, at about 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST), Saget was found unresponsive in his room at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes, south of Orlando, Florida, near Williamsburg. He had missed his scheduled checkout time, and family members became concerned after being unable to contact him. Emergency responders pronounced Saget dead at the scene; he was 65 years old. No cause of death was immediately announced, though foul play and drug use were ruled out by the sheriff and the medical examiner. At the time of his death, Saget was on a stand-up tour, and had performed in Ponte Vedra Beach the previous evening.

An autopsy report was released on February 9, 2022, and found that Saget had blunt head trauma from an accidental blow to the back of his head, likely from a fall, and subsequently died from the resulting injuries (subdural hematoma and subarachnoid hemorrhage) in his sleep. At the time of his death, he was COVID-19 positive, though there were no signs of inflammation. On February 15, 2022, Saget's family sued to prevent county officials from releasing additional documents from the investigation of his death, arguing that their graphic content would present privacy violations; a permanent injunction was issued against their release on March 14.

Here are the shows which qualify Saget for TVXOHOF membership:

Bosom Buddies

- The Show Must Go On (1981)
... Bob the Comic
O’Bservation: Saget was a stand-up comedian, so why shouldn’t “Bob the Comic” be Bob Saget?

The Goldbergs
- Just Say No (2015)
References are made to both 'American Gladiators' and 'America's Funniest Home Videos'. Both shows started in 1989. Key to the plot was the 1984 election between Reagan and Mondale.
O’Bservation: This is a Zonk, but we can call on one of the "Essentials" when it comes to discrepancy crutches – the Doctor.  In the ‘Doctor Who’ episode “The Doctor’s Wife”, temporal fluctuations have caused a collapse of the Toobworld timeline so that all of Time was happening at the same time.  Its effects just weren’t as noticeable the farther one got from the center of the distortion.

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

(1987-1992)
14 episodes
O’Bservation: This is one of the few talk shows which has had its televersion inducted into the TVXOHOF.

America's Funniest Home Videos

(1989-2019)
193 episodes
O’Bservation: As the host of the show, it should be included, but especially since they’re both cited in other TV shows.

The All New Mickey Mouse Club

- Guest Day (1989)
Two lucky club members get to visit the set of 'Full House'.

The Larry Sanders Show

- Hey Now (1992)

O’Bservation:
M*A*S*H (1972)
Bob Saget references the show and 'Major' during his rambling.

There is no Zonk in this.  A TV show within the TV Universe about a Korean War hospital unit could have been produced in the forty years since.

- Office Romance (1994)

O’Bservation:
Cagney & Lacey (1981)
Mentioned by Bob Saget
Two women detectives partnered together on the NYPD was at one time novel enough of a concept to warrant a TV show about them.
O'Bservation:
Full House (1987)
Mentioned by Bob Saget

Thanks to ‘America’s Funniest Videos’, we know that Saget and Tanner looked alike.  So he would be an O’Bvious choice for playing him in a sitcom based on Tanner’s life.

The Jeff Foxworthy Show
- A Sore Winner (1995)
Jeff, Karen and Matt go to California for free to be on ‘America's Funniest Home Videos’. There, Karen gets a "big head" over winning.

The Naked Truth

- Girl Buys Soup While Woman Weds Ape! (1995)

Ellen
- Ellen's Improvement (1995)
- Alone Again... Naturally (1997)

Entourage

- Neighbors (2005)

While Johnny and Turtle keep spending money Vince still doesn't have, his TV celebrity neighbor Bob Saget expresses high praise for landing Staci, inaccessible to him, and discloses her dubious profession.

- No More Drama (2009)
Scott Lavin:
Bob, what you don't know about me is that I am 24/7. That is my middle fucking name - Scotty "24/7" Lavin. What that means is that every time you turn around anywhere, any time, you will be looking at this.
[points to face]
Bob Saget:
That's just great, Scotty. That's just what I wanna be looking at while I'm sniffing a line of blow off her ass - your fucking face.

- Buzzed (2010) ... Bob Saget

- Bottoms Up (2010) ... Bob Saget

Drama has to compete for work against Bob Saget.
O’Bservation:
Full House (1987)
mentioned by Bob Saget

See the O’Bservation from ‘The Larry Sanders Show’

The View

(2005-2020)
Guest/Guest Co-Host
12 episodes
O’Bservation: Thanks to shows like ‘SportsNight’, there is a televersion for ‘The View’ and it has been inducted into the TVXOHOF.

Free Radio
- Lance Gets a Bodyguard (2008)

Louie
- Oh Louie/Tickets (2011)

Legit

- Licked (2014)

 
Entourage (The Movie from 2015)

Nightcap
- Bringing Up the Baby (2017)

The Masked Singer

(2020-2021)
Self - Squiggly Monster
O’Bservation: I have a feeling that ‘The Masked Singer’ will generate plenty of references in other shows, perhaps even mentions of contestants who never really took part.

Saget is also a multidimensional….

ALTERNATE TOOBWORLD  

Pryor Offenses (TV Movie)
In the 21st century, Richard Pryor has made a successful career performing non-controversial comedy, and considers what it would be like if he performed material that was more true to his life.

All three passed away this year,
And in this order.
But Bob is the last to be inducted.

This year’s class of TVXOHOF has been unfortunately triggered by the deaths of far too many inductees in 2022.  Sadly, Saget was one of the first.  I held off inducting him earlier because he was perfect to be the Gemini candidate, as the next post will demonstrate.

Welcome to the Hall, Bob.  I’m sorry it was under these circumstances.

Good night and may God bless….