Father Knows Best has aged surprisingly well. It's easy to see why it was one of the most popular shows in the Fifties.
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Father knows best?
For a half-hour, at least, between 1954 and 1963 he did--or at least he was given the benefit of patriarchal doubt. Robert Young, who would go on to become just as famous as TV's "Marcus Welby, M.D.," dispensed platitudes as if they were medicine. And sometimes, his TV family even listened.
Like many early television shows, "Father Knows Best" was based on a radio program by the same name. But while other sitcoms in the Fifties featured one spouse who was a few pills shy of a full bottle, "Father Knows Best" gave home viewers two parents who were normal, intelligent adults just trying to raise the best children they knew how. There were no gimmicks, either, like a son or daughter who happened to sing--the way Ricky Nelson and Shelley Fabares gave "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" and "The Donna Reed Show" a boost. It was all homespun situations and humor that the average American family could identify with . . . even if it was all a little idealized, with no parent ever shouting too loudly and no kids ever getting into such trouble that couldn't be resolved in the span of a half-hour.
But perhaps the biggest surprise is that "Father Knows Best," despite some attitudes that are decidedly sexist or quaint by today's standards, still holds up as an entertaining family comedy. It really held the interest of my two children, ages six and 10, and I have to say that any show that depicts respectful children is a show worth having today's kids watch.
Young played Jim Anderson, an insurance agent who lived with his family in Springfield, Ohio. Jane Wyatt, who played his wife, Margaret, always looked perfectly coiffed and wore one to three strands of pearls, which was requisite for a Fifties' TV housewife. But she also won three consecutive Emmys later in the show's nine seasons, and Young won two. As much as the adults, though, it was the children who made the show a success, often driving the plots and spending so much time in America's living rooms that they felt a part of everyone's family. Just as Father dispensed advice and allowance money, he gave each one of them a pet name. The oldest, Betty (Elinor Donahue, who would end up being Andy Griffith's girlfriend on that long-running sitcom) played Betty, dubbed "Princess." Betty was a 17-year-old sophisticate who dressed and acted like mom most of the time, except when she was driving her parents crazy over boys. James Anderson, Jr., called "Bud," was a semi-clueless 14 year old who would become the model for countless sitcom brothers to follow. And little nine-year-old Kathy (Lauren Chapin), whom her father called "Kitten," was the innocent mischief maker.
It's funny, now, to see so much smoking going on, but that's exactly how I remember it. My father smoked both cigarettes and a pipe, like Mr. Anderson, and that went on even if he had one of us on his knee reading a story. This was the era of product sponsorship, and so the sponsor's products were always prominently used or displayed.
The plots themselves will seem especially uncomplicated compared to today's three-plot sitcom weaves. A situation was introduced (Example? Jim buys a motor scooter for Bud without the boy knowing), and then if that situation seemed positive, it would quickly take a negative turn (Margaret absolutely forbids it), with the plot following (she insists he sell the scooter). But then there's a twist in the third act (Bud buys the scooter himself after Dad sold it back) and things shape themselves to the new household order (in this case, with the episode ending as all of the family members take turns riding it, Mom included). Often, the plots involved platitudes, with Jim preaching a lesson to the family in much the same way as Mike Brady would lecture his family a generation later.
Twenty-six episodes from this classic Fifties sitcom are included here on four single-sided discs and housed in slim, clear-plastic keep-cases with a sturdy cardboard slipcase:
1) "Bud Takes Up the Dance." Bashful Bud secretly agreed to go to a dance. Now he has to secretly learn how to dance. But his clomping is so bad that the whole family gets involved. Picture Dad today going to the home of your date and teaching her how to dance. Talk about a different era!
2) "Lesson in Citizenship." After Jim lectures the kids about being good citizens, it backfires on him. And he loses his best suit in the process.
3) "The Motor Scooter." When Jim buys a motor scooter for Bud, father not only doesn't know best, he isn't even lord of the manor.
4) "Football Tickets." When Margaret can't go to the annual football game she and Jim look forward to, she promises Betty her ticket . . . but Jim offers it to someone else.
5) "Live My Own Life." Bud decides he needs to move out in order to start living his own life.
6) "Grandpa Jim's Rejuvenation." Jim wants to play badminton, but his kids think he's too old. It gets even worse when he gets a letter from an old schoolmate who's become a grandfather.
7) "Bud's Encounter with the Law." Kathy builds a pretend spaceship from an old washing machine and anything she can get her hands on . . . including a letter to Bud from the local police.
8) "Thanksgiving Day." Kathy wins a prize for her Thanksgiving poem, and Jim fast-forwards to Pulitzer-style fame for his little girl . . . but then he reads the poem.
9) "Second Honeymoon." Jim and Margaret plan a weekend away from the kids, and learn just how unnecessary they might be in the kids' lives.
10) "Typical Father." Betty is in love, and Jim is afraid she's starting to act like someone who's going to elope.
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