HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, DAD

Dedicated to our Dads who we look up to both here and in Heaven. …

The things you taught me I will always know.
How could I not? The roots have sunk so deep:
All lessons of the heart that I will keep
No matter who I am or where I go.

A Tribute to some of the TV Dads we grew up but they could never top the life lessons we learned from our Dads.

Leave it to Beaver, Ward Cleaver, Hugh Beaumont - 1957~63. An inquisitive but often naive boy named Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood. The show has attained an iconic status in the United States, with the Cleavers exemplifying the idealized suburban family of the mid-twentieth century.


The courtship of Eddie’s Father, Tom Corbet, Bill Bixby - 1969~72 The show centered around Tom Corbett (Bill Bixby), a handsome, thirtyish magazine publisher and widower from Los Angeles who had shouldered the responsibility of raising his freckled-faced, six-year-old son, Eddie (Brandon Cruz), who often cleverly manipulated his father about getting a new wife.


All In The Family, Archie Bunker, Carroll O’Connor - 1971~79. The show ranked #1 in the yearly Nielsen ratings from 1971 to 1976. As of 2008, The Cosby Show has been the only other show to top the ratings for at least five consecutive seasons. TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time ranked All in the Family as #4. Bravo also named the show's protagonist, Archie Bunker, TV's greatest character of all time, breaking ethnic, racial, feminist, religious, moral barriers and more.


Father Knows Best, Jim Anderson, Robert Young - 1954~60. A total of 203 episodes were produced, running until September 17, 1960, and appearing on all three of the television networks of the time.


Bonanza , Ben Cartwright, Lorne Greene -1959~73 as a widowed father raising his sons Pernell Roberts
Dan Blocker and Michael Landon
Lasting 14 seasons, it is among the longest running Western television series (second behind Gunsmoke) and continues to air in syndication


Make Room for Daddy, Danny Williams, Danny Thomas 1953~64. Danny Thomas played Danny Williams, a successful comedian and nightclub entertainer. Jean Hagen was his wife Margaret, Sherry Jackson their daughter Terry, and Rusty Hamer their son Rusty. Louise Beavers played the maid Louise.
The series was responsible for the creation of another long-running sitcom, The Andy Griffith Show. In the seventh season, Danny Thomas is arrested by Sheriff Andy Taylor (Andy Griffith) and detained in the small town of Mayberry


The Andy Griffith Show, Sheriff Andy Taylor, Andy Griffith - 1960-68 portrayed a widowed sheriff in a fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina. His life is complicated by an inept but well-meaning deputy, Barney Fife (Don Knotts), a spinster aunt and housekeeper, Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier), and a young son, Opie (Ron Howard).


My Three Sons, - 1960~72, chronicled the life of an aeronautical engineer and widower Steve Douglas, played by Fred MacMurray, and his three sons, proving that raising sons can be more challenging than daughters.


The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet , October 3, 1952 to September 3, 1966, starred the real life Nelson family. Ozzie Nelson, as the Dad and his wife, singer Harriet Nelson (née Hilliard), and their young sons, David Nelson and Eric Nelson, better known as Ricky, the real life, teen age singing idol for millions of screaming teen girls.


The Flintstones, Fred Flintstone, as Fred Flintstone - 1960~66, the first prime-time animated series geared for adults.


Little House on the Prairie, Michael Landon as Charles Phillip Ingalls - 1974~83. It aired on the NBC network from September 11, 1974, to March 21, 1983, bumping the long-running Adam-12 series to Tuesday nights.


The Cosby Show, Cliff Huxtable, Bill Cosby - 1984-92. Having aired for 197 episodes (201 in syndication), The Cosby Show is the third-longest running U.S. comedy with a predominantly African-American cast, surpassed only by The Jeffersons and Family Matters.


Home Improvement is an American sitcom starring Tim Allen, which aired 1991 to 1999. The show was created by Matt Williams, Carmen Finestra and David MacFadzean. In the 1990s, it was one of the most watched sitcoms, winning many awards. The series launched Tim Allen's acting career and also was the start of the television career of Pamela Anderson, who was part of the cast for the first two seasons.



Kids learn from what their parents are,
and so You are my book of life, the thoughts I reap;
Only in your arms I quiet sleep;
Under my words your voice sings soft and slow.
From you I learned the rules of right and wrong
Against which I at times had to rebel,
Though with regret I carry with me still.
How lucky I am to have been loved so well,
Even as I pushed against your will,
Relying on a father fair and strong.


Happy Father's Day!!

Winnie