Papa a raison

The town was Springfield but we were never told the state. I always pictured the setting to be a very long way from either coast. Maybe Ohio, Indiana or Iowa. Wherever it was, it was far away from any of the country's real problems of the time.

There were no civil rights issues, no murders and no rapes in Springfield. Everyone was white, which was the norm for television of this era. Springfield was a make-believe fantasy by today's standards, but back then, it was the majority of real America.

With that said, I watched the show every week and wished I was a member of the Anderson family. Having belonged to a somewhat volatile family, I had the 30-minute escape every week to be a part of a caring, loving clan.

The kids had the normal 1950s problems of a white, middle-class family. Robert Young as the patriarch, Jim Anderson, showed an understanding that was not only appreciated by the rest of the family, but by the viewers, too. He was right up there with Andy Taylor and Ward Cleaver as the fathers America loved at the time.

Corny? To some it might be, but to many others, including myself, it was the family we wanted but never had.

Critics of this type of show are quick to point out how "unrealistic" it was. After all no episode dealt with drug addiction, teen pregnancy,dropping out of school, or any of the other "relevant" topics that pass for entertainment today. Instead this program concentrated on the, now passe, issues of family love, warmth, charity, and decency. I challenge any parent, of whatever generation, to contrast an episode of this show with any "Married with Children" or the majority of today's teen oriented sitcoms and decide which world view they would wish for their children. Perhaps this show and others of its era (e.g. Andy Griffith) was overly hopeful in its portrayal of family and community, but isn't it better to aspire to the values of Father Knows Best than succumb to the spirit of the age we live in?

I was born the year after this series began and remember it very very fondly. Unlike a program like Leave it to Beaver or even Ozzie and Harriet, this program was both more moralistic and more sentimental - the heartstrings were pulled every program. I watched three episodes the other night (although I was supposed to leave for a train) and was so thrilled by the warmth of it - the sentimentality, the pathos. This family had such an effect on me growing up - neither adult really lost his/her temper, small problems were treated with immense attention.

I just LOVED it - and am sure any non-cynic would.

As a child of the Sixties I grew to love and appreciate the Andersons. I enjoyed watching and listening to the dialog and reactions by each of the members of the family. I truly came to understand what was definitely "right" and what was "wrong" in decision-making. I became apart of the family when I came running home from school and plop down in front of the TV and tune in. I really wish that I could have lived there in Springfield and have a family like the Andersons. To me they were the epitomie of the way a family was supposed to be. I actually learned some "habits" and values that I stole from the series. To this day, working as a teacher in my mid 40's, I find myself whistling the theme song between classes, at lunch, etc. I remember thinking about some of the situations that Bud and his sisters would get into and how they would resolve them. I would then apply to my own life. Maybe that is why I probably have had a 'wonderful life'. Thank you, Mr Tewksberry, for this indelible imprint on my life!

I wasn't quite 9 years old when "Father Knows Best" made its move to TV, so I didn't get to see any of the first episodes because we didn't get our first TV until a year later. But I vividly remember watching many episodes over its 10-year run. Robert Young as James 'Jim' Anderson, Sr. was written as the almost "perfect" father, and Jane Wyatt as Margaret Anderson was written as the almost "perfect" mother. More than anything else, thinking back, this was a series written as a model for what was generally considered the correct way for a family to live and interact back in the 1950s. Some viewers today might scoff at that notion, but coming just a few years after the big war, and running during much of the "cold war", as a youngster it was reassuring to see peace and harmony. We didn't have the big national news networks back then reporting everything that was bad, in gory detail, and today I see that as a blessing. Elinor Donahue as Betty Anderson, Billy Gray as 'Bud' Anderson, Jr., and Lauren Chapin as 'Kitten' Anderson completed the family. It is always fun to occasionally catch an old episode or two. While TV technical production values have improved, the 'messages' of the shows have not.