TV show review: Father Knows Best

In the 1940s, Ed James created the radio show Father Knows Best about a middle-class American family in the Midwest. This was turned into a hugely popular TV show in the 1950s. Would you like to learn more about the TV show and its characters? Read all about it here.

The plot

The show centred around the father of the Anderson family, Jim and his wife Margaret. They have three children - Betty nicknamed Princess, James nicknamed Bud and Kathy nicknamed Kitten. Jim is a salesman and manager of the General Insurance Company in Springfield. Margaret is a housewife.The two older children are teenagers who during the show graduate from high school. The youngest starts attending high school in the final season.
Episodes The show is about a thoughtful father, who offers great advice when one of his children has a problem. There were six seasons of Father Knows Best and a total of 203 episodes. It first aired in 1954 and ended in 1960. It was so popular that a special episode was made, commissioned by the US Treasury Department to get people to buy war bonds. Even though the show stopped in 1960, reruns were shown on Primetime television for three years after it ended. Reunion movies The cast got back together in 1977 for two Reunion movies: Father Knows Best Reunion and Father Knows Best: Home for Christmas. Father knows Best has nothing to do with Vint Cerf's Fathers of the Internet.

The cast

Robert Young Robert Young played the father of the family, Jim Anderson. Young appeared in many films between the 30s and 50s. He played in Hitchcock's movie Secret Agent and opposite Hedy Lemarr in H.M. Pulham, Esq. He went on to do TV shows with great success, playing in Father Knows Best and Marcus Welby M.D. Jane Wyatt Jane Wyatt plays Margaret Anderson, Jim's wife in Father Knows Best. She became famous with the movie Lost Horizon in 1937. She then starred in classics like None But The Lonely Heart, Gentlemen't Agreement and Boomerang. Apart from Father Knows Best she also appeared in an episode of Star Trek. More information For more information on Father Knows Best and the cast, go to Imdb.com. For information on the DVD's of Father Knows Best, go to Amazon.com.