People Still Think Full House Is Over Because The Actors Want More Money. John Stamos Says ABC Was Actually Trying To Get It Off The WB

Negotiations to move it to the WB fell apart a few weeks before the end, and by then the writers didn’t have time to build a real farewell. So the series ended with Michelle falling off a horse and losing her memory of her family.

“We didn’t really know it was ending,” Stamos said on The BobbyCast. “We just put it together and it was what it was.”

Full House was still a hit when ABC canceled it after 8 seasons in 1995. Season 8 ranked #24 overall, and the finale drew 24.3 million viewers, good for #7 that week. For many years the explanation was that the actors had shrunk.

John Stamos, who played Jesse Katsopolis, addressed those rumors directly on Bobby Bones’ The BobbyCast podcast. “So they say we asked for a lot of money, it’s not true,” he said. The show was one of the most expensive sitcoms on television at the time, taking in an estimated $1.3 million an episode, nearly double the going rate, driven by rising cast salaries and rising production costs after 8 years.

ABC did not want to continue paying it. The network was moving from wholesome TGIF family sitcoms to edgier shows that drew 18 to 49 in-demand demo advertisers. Producers promised to significantly reduce the license fee. ABC passed anyway.

The timeline was much better than it seems in hindsight. ABC decided not to renew in February, while the cast was still rehearsing for the latest episodes. Warner Bros. spent March trying to take the show to the brand new WB network for 2 more seasons on the cheap. Those negotiations broke down about 2 to 3 weeks before the end.

Different actors took it differently. “I was ready to go, and I think the twins are ready to go,” Stamos said. Dave Coulier said the producers wanted to move to New York to do Broadway, which they ended up doing. “It was too little too late,” he said. “In our heads, we had moved on.” Jodie Sweetin’s version was not resolved: “It was hard. We didn’t have much time to say goodbye. It was a few weeks before we found out we weren’t going to WB.”

The last episode was not written as an ending. “Michelle Rides Again” was shot early in the season as a regular and aired on May 23, 1995. Michelle takes riding lessons, gets cold feet before a show jumping competition, and rides the trail instead. He falls, hits his head, and never sees his family again. When the WB deal fell through, the second half was repurposed into a clip show, with the Tanners accompanying him on old home videos as far back as he could remember.

“It wasn’t like we were preparing for the finals, like the last great episodes of television,” Stamos said. The show has 192 episodes and still draws 24.3 million viewers on the way out.

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