Father Knows Best : Season One

Leave your cynicism, sense of irony, or post-modern whatever at the door, and just bask in the heart and warmth that is Father Knows Best. As with the Andy Hardy films, Father Knows Best presented an idealized portrait of the fully functional suburban family from America's heartland. Robert Young joined the pantheon of TV dads as insurance salesman Jim Anderson, often confounded by his kids' shenanigans, but ultimately a patient, rock solid voice of reason. Jane Wyatt is his dependable, elegantly coiffed wife, with Elinor Donahue as teenage daughter Betty, aka "Princess," Billy Gray (who played Patricia Neal's son in The Day the Earth Stood Still) as "Bud," and Lauren Chapin as preteen Kathy, aka "Kitten." Father Knows Best originated on radio, but became a television icon following an inauspicious beginning (it was cancelled after its first season, but fans demanded it be returned to the air in a more family-friendly timeslot), ultimately running for seven years. Granted, Father Knows Best is hokey (check out the family-is-stranded-on-Christmas episode), and dated in language and attitudes (when Kathy asks at one point why girls play "house," Jim tells her "instinct"). But the Andersons can still teach us a few things, like good citizenship, personal responsibility, and why one shouldn't use a washing machine as a spaceship. While the 26 episodes from the debut 1954-55 season collected here appear to be the edited syndicated (rather than broadcast) versions, this otherwise exemplary set contains a wealth of both nostalgic and interesting extras, including new interviews with Chapin and Donahue, Robert Young's home movies, behind the scenes color footage, and the never-aired episode “24 Hours to Tyrantville" (which was commissioned by the Treasury Department to promote U.S. Savings Bonds, and featured Jim becoming a dictator in his home in order to teach his kids a lesson about freedom). Also included is the pilot for Young's failed follow-up series, Window on Main Street, in which he plays a writer who returns to his hometown to observe the locals. A welcome and long overdue addition to the TV on DVD family, this is highly recommended. (D. Liebenson)