Father Knows Best



Father Knows Best was the stereotypical 1950s Dom Com TV show about the Average American Home with 2.5 children.

Robert Young played Jim Anderson, an insurance agent; Jane Wyatt (who would later go on to play Spock's mother Amanda in the original Star Trek) was Jim's wife, Margaret; Billy Gray played Bud, the wisecracking teenager son; Elinor Donahue as the typical teenager daughter, Betty; and Lauren Chapin as the youngest girl.

The story revolved around the various issues the family got involved in. It is also noteworthy for being a complete subversion of the trope it supposedly represents. The radio show it was based on (and which featured a completely different cast apart from Young) wasn't Father Knows Best but Father Knows Best? Note the question mark. And in the TV series the mom, just like today's sitcoms, often got the better of her husband and son. In the radio show she was definitely closer-to-Earth.

This is the show that put Robert Young onto the map as a famous actor, long before his portrayal as a doctor and the title character in Marcus Welby, M.D..

Since the show was made during the 1950s, it never dealt with anything controversial.

A pair of reunion movies featuring the TV cast were made in 1977.

Where the Hell Is Springfield?: The Father Knows Best series and the Guiding Light daytime serial were among the first to use "Springfield" as a generic Anytown. It has since been adopted by everyone from The Simpsons (see Separate Simpsons Geography Thing) to G.I. Joe.