Bob Saget may not know who the mother is on HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, the hit CBS show in which he narrates, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have one helluva theory. One that we’ll get to immediately after a brief trip down memory lane (oh yes, this adorable TV Addict in training loved him some FULL HOUSE) and a few questions about Saget’s new show, SURVIVING SUBURBIA which premieres tonight on ABC following DANCING WITH THE STARS.
Now I know you must get this a lot, but I feel an uncontrollable urge to tell you that I grew up on FULL HOUSE.
You didn’t turn it into a drinking game did you?
Umm… no, although that certainly would have made for a far more interesting drive home as our parents raced from my Grandmother’s apartment on Friday night to ensure they’d make it for the start of DALLAS. But I digress.
At what point during the run of FULL HOUSE did it click for you that you’d forever be associated with Danny Tanner?
We were on for eight years, never got a good review and for the first four years we weren’t getting great ratings but ABC believed in it so they would run it on both Tuesday and Fridays for the longest time. Then they started “TGIF” and the show took off. That’s when I realized that I was the Richie Cunningham, the straight guy on a show which was done by Jeff Franklin and Bob Boyett, who did HAPPY DAYS, LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY and MORK AND MINDY, so there was kind of a blueprint for what the characters were going to be like. John [Stamos] was the Fonz, and Dave [Coulier] was Ralph or Pootsie depending on how you look at it. Being the straight guy was weird for me, I would get frustrated and I was nuts while we were shooting the show which is part of the reason why the cast has stayed so close because I was honest with them. I was constantly saying, “How am I saying this?” I’m the guy getting all the sugar coated lines, but I was lucky to have a job and it was a good job that allowed me to sum up all the love that I had for my own children, put it into the kids. I just embraced, I’m the one who said let me be a clean freak, let him dust bust, let him hug his kids a lot, have all these qualities that make him look even more fruity pebbles.
Do you still keep in touch with the cast?
I went to dinner with John Stamos last night and when we go out for dinner it’s funny to watch different people, some of whom could give a crap, while some are like, “Oh My God! Danny and Uncle Jessie are having dinner together!”
I understand that originally SURVIVING SUBURBIA was going to be on the CW, what happened?
The CW changed their entire belief system, that’s what happened. Then ABC fell in love with it and decided to be really supportive to the point of just above and beyond.
Let me ask a slightly stupid question, will I truly ‘get’ the show if I don’t live in the suburbs!
You don’t have to live in the suburbs! You could be living in an apartment when a neighbor says, “Hey, could you take my key and feed my fish while I go away for two days?” My character, Steve Patterson’s answer to that would be, “NO!” He doesn’t want to do that because if I do that I could kill your fish and I hate fish and I don’t want to take your mail and be beholden to you. In tonight’s’ episode for instance, my character and my friend, played by Jere Burns ends up accidently setting a neighbors house on fire and then lies about it.
What’s your pitch for why people should tune in.
I have a wife, which is new to me! Cynthia Stevenson is a really talented person and I have a seventeen year old son [Jared Kusnitz] and a ten year old daughter [G. Hannelius]. It’s the type of show the whole family can watch together and enjoy.
To an entirely different generation of fans, you’re best known as the narrator on HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER. How did that come about?
I was doing a play in New York called Privilege and I got a call from Sam Simon, Craig Thomas and Carter Bays who said they’d like me to be the narrator of the pilot. So I narrated from New York over a microphone in a studio and they used it, loved it, made a couple of changes, re-recorded it to get the tone and I’ve been doing it ever since.
Are you a fan of the show?
I love the show and think it’s wonderful.
Don’t worry, I’m not about to ask you who the mother is…
Good, because I can’t tell you!
Care to venture a guess?
I’m thinking it’s Josh Radnor, who in the future is eventually able to become his own mother/father podmaker. Trust me, it’s going to be crazy. 
SURVIVING SUBURBIA premieres at 9:30PM on ABC (CityTV in Canada) following DANCING WITH THE STARS