SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

aimless-46 The 203 half-hour episodes of the situation comedy "Father Knows Best" were originally broadcast on CBS & NBC from 1954 to 1960. This DVD set includes the 26 episodes from the 1954-55 broadcast season. The set also includes several special features detailed on Amazon's item description. The series itself was a well-written suburban version of "Make Room For Daddy" (which had premiered a year earlier on ABC) with Robert Young playing the Danny Thomas part. The title character Jim Anderson (Young) is an agent with the General Insurance Company. He lives with his family on South Maple Street in Springfield (a town in an undisclosed Midwestern state). Jim's character is to a large degree the featured player on the series. Young actually did "Father Knows Best" for five seasons on radio and was the only cast member retained for the television production. Jane Wyatt (not to be confused with Jane Wyman) plays his wife Margaret, a simple 1950's homemaker. Former child star Elinor Donahue plays his oldest daughter Betty, Jim calls her "Princess". Billy Gray plays teenage son James Jr., called "Bud" by everyone in the series. Lauren Chapin plays younger daughter Kathy; called "Kitten" by her father. During Season One Betty is 17, Bud is 14, and Kathy is nine. The Anderson's live in a nice "Leave In to Beaver" "Brady Bunch" type home and neighborhood. Although nothing really bad ever happens in Springfield (at least until "The Simpsons") the series was considerably less bland than your standard suburban sitcom and did not fall back on guest stars playing an assortment of silly characters. Jim is not a raving nutcase (insert Danny Thomas here) and Margaret is not an airhead (insert Lucy here). Neither parent outshines the other in the wisdom or competence departments. Like Beaver and Opie the kids get into their fair share of trouble and have misunderstandings with their parents. Jim and Margaret know enough to get out of the way of their children and let them learn from their own mistakes. Along with Young, Donahue and Gray are the strength of the series. The inexperienced Chapin was in over her head and I always wished that they could have swapped her for Angela Cartwright, who could have passed physically for Donahue's sister. All three children have frequent moments of anger and self-centeredness. Betty is realistically uptight, and it is likely Shelley Fabares used her as a model when she started playing teenage daughter Mary on "The Donna Reed Show" in 1958. Donahue's character a few years later on "The Andy Griffith Show" was much softer and more relaxed. Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

John Smith I remember watching this T.V.show as a kid after school in the 70's. Unlike many people who say this show was fake and there was no such families with wonderful parents like the Andersons.I am here to tell you yes there were.I had and still have parents like the Anderson's !!! I came across an old VHS tape I recored in the early 90's with several episode's and watched it a few weeks ago.What a delightful walk down memory lane of my childhood and the America of old that has long since vanished with the onslaught of vile debased bilged that is TV today.What else would one expect with the break down of the American family. So called Parents of the MTV generation. Oops I meant the second generation of MTV when it was sold to the anti American family perverts.Whos main goal was to destroy and mock the American family!With an onslaught of disgusting anti social behavior and the 50 word vocabulary of MTV.Not to mention the perverted sexualizing of underage boys and girls.Any so called parents that lets their children watch this crap should be arrested for child abuse or at least charged with risk of injury to a minor.But then again what else would one expect from parents that act as stupid as their kids!Mothers with trampstamps and fathers with pants hanging down their asses caps on sideways looking like complete morons!BTW...In case you didn't know... trampstamp refers to a girl with a hideous tattoo above here butt and across here lower back Ewwwww hence the term TRAMPSTAMP !If we had an FCC or if I was in charge no one under 18 would be allowed to watch this filth!Along with all the other anti-social anti-family trash.

camille-7 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.

sirdar 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?