IMDb user comments for
"Father Knows Best" (1954)

advertisement

Filter:

Best Chronological Prolific Authors Loved It Hated It Hide Spoilers:

Page 1 of 3:

[1] [2] [3]

Index

21 comments in total

---

17 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
1950s Americana, 7 junio 2005
Author: sonny_1963 de United States

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.

---

17 out of 19 people found the following comment useful :-
One of the Best, 30 marzo 2001
Author: sirdar de New Jersey. USA

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?

---

15 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
Best of the 1950s comedies, 13 mayo 2002
Author: trpdean de New York, New York

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.

---

14 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
American Values, 23 diciembre 2001
Author: sky3walker (sky3walker@aol.com) de California

It's ironic that culture commentators today, including many teachers, who seem never to have seen a single episode of this series, will refer to it as a frightening illustration of fifties complacency, patriarchal dominance, and even racism. In fact many of the episodes explore issues of male egotism, parental arrogance, and conformist nastiness in an effective way. Of course, it all ends well because it is a comic drama about a tolerant and loving family with solid values (and Father was often the one who had to be reminded of this). Robert Young in frustration complained that it was never meant to be a sermon or sociology lesson -- but this carefully written and popular series was bound to tell us something about our values, and despite current malcontents, the values illustrated by Father Knows Best were generally very good.

---

8 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
My favorite show from the 50's, happy to finally see an episode on TV land, 2 junio 2002
Author: camille-7 (patcarol1@comcast.net) de Swartz Creek, Michigan

I was so pleased today, being a baby boomer, to turn on TV land and see three hours of 50's television. From 9am to 12pm I saw, Burns and Allen, the Honeymooners, an hour episode of the Lucy-Desi comedy hour, Hazel, and last but not least an episode of Father Knows Best. Kudos to TV land for this three hour bonus which is supposedly going to happen every sunday morning all summer long. Why does it only have to happen on Sunday mornings? I want more of these shows from my childhood.

Father knows Best was one of my favorites. As has already been said by others, the show had wonderful values, laughter and pathos. Jane Wyatt was always my favorite TV mother. Why has she never been included in specials about favorite tv moms? Yes, she always dressed nice and wore pearls but I remember the particular episode when she was wearing a long shirt and pants to clean the house and she had a smudge of dirt on her face. That was when Jim was bringing home a women who was a famous author, someone he had been friends with. You never would have seen June Cleaver with a smudge of dirt on HER face. Jane (Margaret) was always there for her kids but she was so very human too. She lost her temper several times and once told her kids that they were brats. She made faces behind their backs once when she wanted to clobber them. She did what I never saw any other tv mother do, but what our own real mothers would do.

The whole cast was pretty wonderful. Bring back this show to tv again. There are plenty of baby boomers who would like to see it again and maybe it would be nice for it to get a whole new audience of a new generation.

---

6 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
It truly is a piece of the Americana pie!, 27 abril 2001
Author: Marc Sandall (mdsandall@hotmail.com) de U.S.A.

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!

---

9 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
The 1950s were a simpler time, and this father always knew best., 14 diciembre 2004
Author: TxMike de Houston, Tx, USA, Earth

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.

---

7 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
A SERIES WITH THE VALUES WE SHOULD STILL HAVE, 13 agosto 1999
Author: Thomas Hilton (hilton_te@juno.com) de Brooklyn NY

In an age of tawdry and cynical TV sitcoms filled with double-entendres and self-absorption, this was one of the best of the Fifties family shows. Billy Gray later became bitter that when he was arrested as an adult on some marijuana charge no one from the show helped him (assuming they knew). But that says more about Gray's own family's problems. Of course they were actors; Elinor Donahue was married and divorced in real life while the series was still running. "Kitten" had a dismal real life as an adult that has been well-accounted. But so what? The values of responsible behavior, caring for others, and consideration were there for all to see. I remember the exhausted father one black and rainy night searching with a flashlight for a doll "Kitten" had lost. He found it. The family love was always there. Robert Young eventually quit the show as he had been doing it for a decade including the radio version; he was tired of the role. But it remained very popular into many reruns throughout the Sixties and a few "reunions", the first in 1975. Why is there so much rudeness, lack of civility, and self-concern today? In part because shows like this were replaced by the smutty, cruel, dreck on so much of TV today.

---

4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Many episodes very true to life, 6 junio 2001
Author: Joel Jordan (joeljordanh20@hotmail.com) de Texas,USA

I was just thinking about the series and wondered why it has yet to be on the Nick or TV Land channels. This series was truly among the very best. Many of the episodes dealt with many issues that are still very relevant today. I especially liked the episode where the mother decides to take a day off from all the housework and cooking and treat herself to some new sights and sounds and how shocked the family is that the "routine" of things is upset. I saw Elinor on E! the other night by the way. I am looking forward to seeing this series air again somewhere.

---

7 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
This was my favorite series as a child! I have the best memories about this series! As an elementary school child this series taught me good values that I still remember!, 25 marzo 1999
Author: Rosemea D.S. MacPherson de US

I was raised abroad and watched it when the series was shown abroad, translations and all, long after its American release in 1954. In France it was shown in 1960. I am sure I also saw it about that time. I always looked forward to that half an hour to watch "Father Knows Best." Our entire family would tear up learning from Robert Young, the dad. Actually the reason I liked that series so much is because I always thought that my parents knew best! That was until I became a teenager, of course! Later I went back to my original opinion: that mom and dad indeed knew best for me. I do not remember specific episodes but I remember the theme song. Jim Anderson, dad, played by Robert Young , was an insurance salesman. Margaret Anderson played the mom and she also looked very pretty and dressed up for just staying home. Then there were Betty (princess) Bud, and Kathy (Kitty). They lived in Springfield. Mom and dad slept in separate beds. That I could not get because my parents slept in the same bed. But I have the great memories about the show. "Father Knows Best" had family values, good moral ethics, and valuable lessons were taught in every show. I would like for the series to be released in video in its entirety because I would like to see it again!

---

---

Page 1 of 3:

[1] [2] [3]

Add another comment

---

Related Links

Plot summary	Ratings	Awards
External reviews	Plot keywords	Detalles principales
Your user comments	Your vote history