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Does television really
know fathers best?
By Jacqueline Cutler
©TVData Features Syndicate
Sometimes a father has to juggle
a few jobs just to keep his family
together. Sometimes he’s too
involved climbing the corporate
ladder to play Chutes and Ladders.
Maybe Dad is dead. Maybe he was
never there.
Whatever the reason, many peo
ple don’t have fathers. Though
they may be embarrassed to admit
it, many are comforted by tuning
in reruns and watching the men
who taught them what fatherhood
was all about. So, as real dads
unwrap ties they wouldn’t be
buried in but will proudly sport,
we acknowledge the best dads in
TV history.
Though its title evokes criticism
for its idealization, Robert Young,
star of Father Knows Best, remains
the model for good dads. From his
singsong “Margaret, I’m home”
call to his wife (Jane Wyatt) to his
sober job as an insurance agent,
Jim Anderson represented the
postwar prosperity of the 19505.
The program began in 1954
after a five-year run on radio with
Young in the same role. By the
time its last original episode aired
in 1960, every girl secretly wanted
her father to call her “Princess,”
his nickname for oldest child Betty
(Elinor Donahue), or “Kitten,” his
pet name for the youngest, Kathy
(Lauren Chapin). And boys
thought “Bud,” his moniker for son
Jim Jr. (Billy Gray), wasn’t bad
either.
But, it wasn’t sweet nicknames
that made Jim a great father.
Rather, it was genuine warmth for
his family and the belief that no
child’s crisis was insignificant.
The next great dad was “Paw” to
the freckle-faced redhead who
played his son. The Andy Griffith
Show (1960-68) starred Andy
Griffith as Sheriff Andy Taylor, a
young widower raising his son,
Opie (Ronny Howard, as the direc
tor was then known), in the sleepy
little town of Mayberry, N.C.
Though Aunt Bee (Frances
Bavier) was forever fussing over
Opie and Andy and baking her
delicious pies, it was Griffith’s
homey guidance that made him the
ideal father. Even if you haven’t
seen the show in decades, you can
probably still whistle the theme.
Close your eyes, and you can just
picture Andy placing his big hand
on Opie's shoulder and saying,
“Now, son, what's wrong?" Like
all great dads, Andy listened.
The next decade’s great dad was
also a great listener, and, like the
fabulous fathers before him, treat
ed each child’s problem no mat
ter how small with considera
tion. This is no mean feat when
you have six kids, so hold the
groans, and no singing, please.
There is no better father to signify
the ’7os than Robert Reed, who
played Mike Brady of The Brady
Bunch (1969-74).
If only all of life’s woes could
be solved so handily by Dad.
When Jan (Eve Plumb) in a typ
ical Brady crisis -- tearfully dis
covers she needs glasses, Mike is
there reassuring his middle daugh
ter of her beauty.
When he wasn't drying tears,
Mike often could be found tossing
a football in their Astroturf back
yard. He knew the secret of a great
father was to spend time with the
whole brood.
And no father, especially one
with a thriving obstetrics practice,
spent more time with his five kids
than the greatest father of the 'Bos,
Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable of The
Cosby Show (1984-92).
He taught them the values of
love and honesty and that jazz
really does matter. He and his
omniscient wife, Clair (Phylicia
Rashad), managed to keep profes
sional jobs (she was a lawyer) and
a beautiful brownstone and apply
exactly the right amount of pres
sure for their children to excel.
Dr. Huxtable stressed education
so often that it’s a fair bet many
children learned about college
from Dr. Cosby, a real-life doctor
of education.
For a little while there, it
seemed as if no TV dad could step
into Huxtable’s running shoes or
natty loafers. Then Martin Crane
(John Mahoney) came along in
1993. His relationship with his
sons is a major reason why Frasier
is one of the best shows on TV.
A beer-drinking retired cop,
Marty is baffled by his effete sons,
who can argue over the bouquet of
*a Sauvignon Blanc but don’t know
what it means when bases are
loaded at the bottom of the ninth.
Marty cuts to the chase when
Frasier and Niles joust over shades
of innuendo. But when it’s his
boys against the rest of the world,
he rousts himself from his tattered
plaid recliner and stands up for his
sons. It doesn,’t njatter that they
are men. He’s there for them
because that’s what great dads do.
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The fatherly faces of Bill Cosby, Andy Griffitß,' Robert Reed and John Mahoney
(from left) 'adorn Mount Rushmore in fitting‘tribute to TV dads this Father’s Day.
Entertainment extra • 6/16/00 thru 6/22/00 •
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