Jodie Sweetin Reveals Her Least Favorite ‘Full House’ Episode

A recent episode of Jodie Sweetin and Andrea Barber’s How Rude, Tanneritos! podcast revealed details about a part of the Full House series that Jodie did not quite enjoy. Season 3’s ‘Granny Tanny’ first aired in October 1989, featuring a recast of Danny Tanner’s mom, Claire.

Andrea indicated that the episode’s Claire, who visits after her retirement, was not the same person from the first season. Alice Hirson originally played Bob Saget’s TV mom but was replaced by Doris Roberts in “Granny Tanny.”

Jodie admitted to feeling disconnected from Doris as Claire, despite acknowledging her impressive Hollywood career. Doris was also known for playing Marie Barone in Everybody Loves Raymond, earning multiple awards including five Emmys and one SAG during her seven-decade acting run.

Nonetheless, Jodie could not reconcile Doris as Danny’s mother because the original, Alice, had a special warmth to her. She added that Doris’ character was overbearing and pushy, unlike the former who was quite a pleasure to be around. Andrea agreed with her co-host, saying she felt bad to admit because Doris was generally amazing at her job.

There is no clear reason why Doris took over playing Claire from Alice, and Andrea mentioned in retrospect that series creator Jeff Franklin should have been asked on the show to provide more insight on the episode. Aside from the actor switch, the episode had its own highlights including one of the firsts of Michelle Tanner’s “You got it, dude,” phrase.

Andrea guessed that Alice may have been unavoidably absent, otherwise the showrunners simply experimented with putting Doris on the series. Nearly three decades after the episode in question, Doris died in her sleep at 90, after suffering from a stroke plus a longtime battle with pulmonary hypertension.

Source: Everett Collection