September 10, 2024: Classic TV Studying: Sitcom Dads

[This weekmarks the anniversaries of the premieres of two classic TV shows: the 50th anniversary of LittleHouse on the Prairie and the 70thof Lassie. So I’ll AmericanStudy those and otherclassic TV shows and contexts, leading up to a special post on what we canlearn from a couple current hits I finally got around to checking out thissummer!]

AmericanStudyingthe clichéd extremes of sitcom dads, and the men in the middle.

1)     The Wise Men: It’s no coincidence that one ofthe first popular TV sitcoms was entitled FatherKnows Best (1954-60, based on the 1949-54radio show). A central thread throughout the genre’s history has been thetrope of the wise father responding to his family’s problems and issues, from Father’s JimWarren (Robert Young) and LeaveIt to Beaver’s Ward Cleaver (Hugh Beaumont, proving in that clip thatfather most definitely did not always know best) to TheCosby Show’s Cliff Huxtable (Bill Cosby, now ironically butnevertheless) and Growing Pains’ JasonSeaver (Alan Thicke), among countless others. It’s difficult to separatethis trope from 50s stereotypes of gender and family roles (especially afterseeing that hyperlinked Leave It toBeaver moment), but at the same time the trope’s endurance long after thatdecade reflects its continued cultural resonance. If sitcoms often reflectexaggerated versions of our idealized social structures, then there’s somethingabout that paternalistic wise man that has remained a powerful American idea.

2)     The Fools: Yet at the same time that the TVversion of Father Knows Best wastaking off, JackieGleason’s The Honeymooners (1955-56,based on a recurring comedy sketch) was experiencing its own brief butstriking success. I’m not sure whether Gleason’s foolish,angry husband (not yet a father in Gleason’s case) character was a directresponse to wise characters or just the natural yang to that yin; but in anycase such foolish fathers have likewise continued to be a sitcom staple in thedecades since, with Married with Children’s AlBundy (Ed O’Neill) and TheSimpsons’ Homer Simpson (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) representing twoparticularly exaggerated end of the century versions of the type. Yet also twosignificantly distinct versions—Al Bundy consistently desires to escape fromhis wife and family (putting him in the American tradition of characters likeRip Van Winkle), while Homer is a macho stereotype who loves his beer anddonuts but also mostly loves his family. To paraphrase Tolstoy’sfamous quote, each foolish sitcom father is foolish in his own way.

3)     The Middle Men: Because these two extremeshave been so prevalent in sitcom history, it’s easy to put each and everysitcom father into one or the other of these categories. But I think doing sowould be a disservice to (among others) those sitcom dads who mightsuperficially seem like caricatured fools, but whose characters includedcomplexities and depths beyond that stereotype. I’d say that’s especially thecase for a few 1970s dads: Allin the Family’s Archie Bunker (Carroll O’Connor), TheJeffersons’ George Jefferson (Sherman Hemsley, who first appearedas the character on All), and Sanfordand Son’s Fred Sanford (Redd Foxx). Each of those fathers could beas foolish and angry as any, but to stop there would be to miss much of whatmade them and their sitcoms memorable: partly the willingness to engage withsocial and political issues such as race and class; but also and just asimportantly the messy, dynamic humanity each character and actor captured, allwithout losing an ounce of their comic timing and success. Few fathers arepurely wise or foolish, after all, and these dads in the middle help remind usof the full spectrum of paternal possibilities.

Next TVStudying tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? Other classic TV you’d analyze?