Full House originally aired on ABC while Fuller House has found a home on Netflix. Both shows were created by Jeff Franklin. Both shows center around a family (The Tanners and Fullers respectively) trying to deal with having only one parent. In Full House it is a single dad after losing his wife in a car accident and in Fuller House it is that Dad's daughter, all grown up, after losing her husband to a firefighting accident.

Full House has an unaired and an aired pilot. This is because the character of Danny Tanner was original played by John Posey after Bob Saget turned it down because of commitments to CBS's The Morning Program. Eventually Saget was let go of by CBS and he fell back on Full House. Posey, who was already on his way to California, had the part taken away from him but not before recording the pilot that would get the show approved but never be broadcast. The Unaired Pilot is available on the first season DVD set. The story of the two pilots is the same but the characterization by Saget makes the character of Danny Tanner feel so much more alive.

The pilot starts with Danny pushing his mother out the door. She has been staying with him for some time to help with stuff since his wife died. Here we see his two daughters D.J. (Candace Cameron) and Stephanie Tanner (Jodie Sweetin). His third kid, Michelle Tanner (Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen), is only 1 year old. The kids are introduced to their new caretakers. Danny has asked his friend Joey Gladestone (Dave Coulier) and his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis (John Stamos) to come help with the girls. Danny is a sports news anchor and Joey is a stand up comic; it is unclear what Jesse does. Danny goes to work and we witness Joey and Jesse attempt to change a baby's diaper. While this is going on D.J. is moving all of her stuff out of her room and into the garage in protest of having to share a room with her little sister Stephanie. By the end of the episode all is resolved and the girls are living together. While the two pilots share a story there are some noticeable differences in the character of Danny. Bob Saget's Danny Tanner is a clean freak, a flair suggested and added by Saget, who doesn't like touching dirty things. He is also charming and witty. John Posey's Danny Tanner is none of these things.

Fuller House has two pilots as well in a sense. The first episode of Fuller House is the setup episode but a large portion if it is dedicated to being a reunion episode. There are references to General Hospital as the show that helped start Stamos's career, references to the catch phrases Full House had developed over the years such as Joey's "Cut. It. Out" or Jesse's "Have Mercy." The going away party even hires The Rippers, of "Jesse and the Rippers", to play. While it is a feel good episode it hardly has any ability to stand on its own it doesn't really feel right to call it a pilot. Outside of the reunion parts there are a series of events that leave D.J. overwhelmed and she eventually cries about her problems to her infant,Tommy Fuller (Dashiell and Fox Messit), which is overhead on the baby monitor. By the end of the episode it is decided that Stephanie and Kimmy Gibbler (Andrea Barber) will move in to help D.J. with her three sons: 13-year-old Jackson (Michael Campion), 7-year-old Max (Elias Harger) and, of course, infant Tommy.

For the second episode, and first non-reunion episode, we have a story-line that mimics the first episode of Full House. All the new people moving in have displaced Max and Jackson forcing them to live in the same room. Jackson, upset with this and with Kimmy's daughter Ramona (Soni Nicole Bringas) moving in, attempts to stowaway in Jesse's car and run away. He ends up revealing himself when Jesse starts playing "Burning Love" by Elvis over and over. D.J. tells Jackson that she ended up loving sharing a room with Stephanie and that he should at least give it a chance. By the end of the episode they have come to agreement and we are left with a re-enactment of the final scene of the Full House pilot where the family sings The Flintstones' theme to an infant.