The popular radio show comes to life in this hit sitcom about a wise family man, Jim Anderson, his common-sense wife Margaret and their children Betty, Bud and Kathy. Whenever the kids need...
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Betty is embarrassed when her friends make fun of Rudy because they think he is inferior to them. She chastises her friends and leaves the soda shop. Her friends decide to play a joke on Betty by ...
Betty reads a story she wrote for school involving her family. In the story a devil named Harry Beal is trying to get the children's souls, Jim fights him and agrees his soul in exchange for his kids...
The Andersons are all entranced in a television mystery show when a tube blows in the back of the TV before the show ends. With the unknown end of the show, the family tries to figure out what ...
The Stones consist of loving homemaker Donna, her pediatrician husband Alex, and their children Mary and Jeff. Many situations arise like when they found a baby on their doorstep or take in... See full summary »
Widower Steve Douglas raises three sons with the help of his father-in-law, and is later aided by the boys' great-uncle. An adopted son, a stepdaughter, wives, and another generation of sons join the loving family in later seasons.
Stars:
Fred MacMurray,
Stanley Livingston,
Don Grady
Cathy Lane, teen-aged daughter of a globe-trotting journalist, comes to live at the home of her uncle, a newspaper editor in New York City. Curiously, Cathy is the spitting image of her ... See full summary »
Danny Williams, a successful nightclub singer, encounters a variety of difficult or amusing situations in trying to balance his career with his family: his outspoken wife Kathy, teenage ... See full summary »
Sensitive teenager Dobie Gillis (yes, Dobie being his real given name) exasperates his grocer father Herbert T. Gillis and is the apple of Winnie Gillis' eye, she being his mother. Dobie ... See full summary »
The popular radio show comes to life in this hit sitcom about a wise family man, Jim Anderson, his common-sense wife Margaret and their children Betty, Bud and Kathy. Whenever the kids need advice on anything at all, they can always turn to their father, because father knows best.Written by
Dylan Self <robocoptng986127@aol.com>
Those who fondly recall this archetypal 1950s family sitcom may be surprised to learn that when the series debuted in 1954, it did so poorly in the ratings that CBS canceled it in March of 1955. A flood of protests came from viewers insisting that the show be reinstated. It was moved to an earlier time, and gradually became a hit. See more »
Quotes
Bud Anderson:
This is a special delivery for Dad from the Universal Alumni Association.
Jim Anderson:
I wonder how much money they want now.
[Bud is shaking Jim's letter, trying to read it]
Jim Anderson:
Why don't you hold it up to the light so you can see it better?
Bud Anderson:
Never thought of that.
[Holds it up to the light]
Bud Anderson:
Can't see a thing.
Jim Anderson:
Bud, as long as it's addressed to me, do you mind letting me have it?
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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.
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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.