Father Knows Best started on radio in 1949 and ran until 1954, at which time it moved to network television, where it aired from 1954 till 1960. The series is an icon of American pop culture.
The series starred Robert Young as Jim Anderson, the patriarch of a stereotypical middle class family in the Midwest. His wife Margaret was played by Jane Wyatt. The teenage daughter Betty was played by Elinor Donahue, her younger brother Bud by Billy Gray and the little sister Kathy by Lauren Chapin.
Interestingly, the show was cancelled at the end of the first season, but NBC received so many letters demanding its return that the series was reinstated. The show revolved around the premise that no matter what dilemma the family faced or what opinion the common-sense mother had about a solution, father was always right...because he knew best. And by the end of each episode, life was once more idyllic as a result of father's wisdom.
In 1983 Billy Gray said in an interview, "I wish there was some way I could tell the kids not to believe it. The dialogue, the situations, the characters...they were all totally false. The show did everyone a disservice. The girls were always trained to use their feminine wiles, to pretend to be helpless to attract men. The show contributed to a lot of the problems between men and women that we see today...I think we were all well motivated, but what we did was run a hoax. Father Knows Best purported to be a reasonable facsimile of life. And the bad thing is, the model is so deceitful."
What do you think? Did this sort of entertainment provide positive role models, or did it depict life in such a way that it caused people to have unrealistic attitudes about their own interactions with others?
From fatherknowsbest.com, imdb.com, nndb.com and wikipedia.org
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fatherknowsbest.com
My opinion: Billy Gray was trying to get some face time in 1983.
ReplyDeleteFather Knows Best was/is no more a reflection of life than Roseanne was/is. Maybe we were a bit more naive in the 50s, but if we started believing that this was how life was supposed to be, someone should have given us a poke.
I think you may be exactly right about Billy Gray's motives...but I also think the numerous social movements that have taken place since the 1950s have given us some serious pokes, all of which have reshaped the definition of "the average American family."
DeleteThanks for your kind comment; she's definitely funny!
ReplyDeleteI like your post, very thought-provoking; I am your newest follower. =)
Welcome to my blog! I just started following yours too. :)
DeleteUH, I don't think Billy Gray had ever watched the show! Of course it was a reflection of it's times and being a comedy, over simplified. I mean the definition of a comedy is that everything works out for the hero so... but that show did address normal stuff. How teenagers dressed, Kathy once stole a movie cut out, Mom got the blues and ran away for a day, they met less fortunate people and one of my fav episodes, listened in while a family was nearly lost at sea! Can you tell I am a HUUUUUUGE fan?
ReplyDeleteWow...you really have them memorized, don't you? LOL
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