If you could have any TV or movie father as your own, which one would it be? For me it's easy. I would pick Governor Gene Gatling from Benson. I loved him and thought he was the perfect dad.

What an interesting topic...How about Ward Cleaver? Sure, he was occasionally rough on the Beaver, but he had a BS detector that always saw through not just Eddie Haskell, but Fred Rutherford.

Not sure Andy Taylor would be my choice...He'd accuse me of lying when I said I talked to a man in the trees who wore a silver hat, and he'd play nasty head games with me after I killed a bird with a slingshot. And his choice of stepmoms left a LOT to be desired.

The WORST TV dad: Fred Sanford. Funny guy, but a miserable old smothering passive-aggressive control freak.

Edward Stratton III. He's rich, invents toys, and is as dumb as a post. You could get away with murder. As an added bonus, your stepmom looks like Erin Gray.

In the seventies, I wanted Tom Corbett ("Courtship of Eddie's Father") to be my dad. He was a loving, concerned father, he worked in a very cool job and Mrs. Livingston was an absolute doll.

In the eighties I was torn between Cliff Huxtable (the role playing was awesome, as were the parties and informal get-togethers, but the whole 'don't really like our kids' game was a little irksome) and Steven Keaton. As he got a little stranger over time I got to really love him. He was bewildered by his kids but gave them the freedom he'd always wanted and never got from his dad - the freedom to be themselves. And the way Steven and Elyse still adored each other wouldn't have embarrassed me the way it did the Keaton kids.

This is a really interesting question! I think one of the worst dads, at least to me, was Tony Danza. Sure, he loved Samantha, but he was so annoying. My first thought when I first read this was John Walton. He seemed to be someone you could depend on, and he clearly loved and supported his children. In addition, he loved and respected his wife and parents. I think Gomez Addams was a very good father but I wouldn't want him to be my father! LOL

I imagine Cosby would be in my top five also. I am not sure about Steven Keaton, he just always seemed so perplexed.

May I add to the question and ask who people think was a good mother, or wished was their mother?

Bill Cosbey and Dan Conner would be in my top five choices as well. In fact my dad, reminds me alot of Dan Conner, which is why I liked the character alot.

I loved Nick Russio, on Blossom. He was a cool dad, without it being cheesy, in being a young single dad/musician. He loved all his kids, had diffrent relationships with all of them, was encouraging, supportive, loving, protecting and really an awesome dad. I used to wish he was my dad, or my dad could have been like him.

I thought John McClain, was a pretty cool dad, as well as Phil from hangover, although he is too, awesome, hot and young to think of as a dad.

John Winchester from 'Supernatural'.

Kidding for obvious reasons and hooking up with Dean or Sam would be bad.

Eric Taylor from 'Friday Night Lights'. Every time I watch him interact with his daughters I'm like "I wish he was my dad.' I'd also choose Cliff Huxtable. I mean why wouldn't I?

I always wanted Porter Ricks from Flipper to be my dad.

Here's what Wikipedia says about him.



He had a cool job plus you got to swim around with dolphins.

Definitely agree with the person that said Eric Taylor, he reminds me of my own dad- which is the highest praise I could give.

Also- Drs Brown and Abbott from Everwood would be cool. They both made some major judgement mistakes at times, but even so you could never really question their love for their kids.

Dr. Benton on ER. He had such a loving and soft side with Reese.

Oh, and I wouldn't have minded if Gibbs on NCIS was my dad either. (Except of course if it meant I died just like Kelly, then I would definitely rethink that choice).

Cliff might be my choice except for those darn family musical acts they like to do every so often. And I think that I'd have been really embarassed by him around anyone from my social or age group.

Dan Conner, definitely. Just a big ol' teddy bear underneath it all. Thanks to that show, John Goodman really is America's Dad.

Roseanne Conner can most definitely NOT be my mother. I think I would give it to Jamie Gertz's character on Still Standing. Guilty pleasure, but I always liked the character.

In the 70s, I thought Gordon from Sesame Street would be a cool dad. Or Uncle Bill from Family Affair (I liked Mr. French too! Plus, living in a posh apartment in NYC? A little girl from Dallas could dream.)

In the 80s, I have to add to the Dan Conner chorus, but also Frank Furillo from Hill Street Blues. I've been catching the odd rerun on ALN, and caught the ep where Frank Jr. ran away. Daniel J. Travanti just was great with the looks, voice, and how lines were delivered.You could just tell the man was a father and it tore him up not to hit the streets to find his boy, yet he trusted others to help him.

In the 90s? I was a bit busier being a mom then, but the 00s have given me hope for good dads with Dr.s Banger and Harrison on the too short Wonderland, any Mark Harmon joint (but I gotta second the 'If I have to be Kelly, not so much'), Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion), SpyDaddy (Victor Garber), and Sebastian Stark (James Woods) in Shark.

Not sure who I'd've hated having as a dad.

I have to agree that SpyDaddy, for all his gamesmanship and early distance, turned out to be an amazing father. How many kids can prove that their dads would, in fact, die for them?

AND flout international laws left and right to make sure you were safe? Jack was monomaniacal about his daughter, for good or ill, but every daughter wants to be able to be as certain of their daddy's love as Sydney, the sometimes ungrateful twerp.

Castle and Stark, fathers of girls, also have/had that kind of air about them about their girls. Dr. Banger, for the two eps he had, was in the middle of a custody fight for his two young sons. He seemed like a typical single parent who worked a high-pressure job( psychiatrist in a state facility.) Dr. Harrison was Dr. Banger's co-worker and was to be a parent of a Down's Syndrome child.He and his wife, also a doctor , were to show new parenthood, I believe. If anyone caught Wonderland, you would have to say he seemed to be pretty tense about his family's safety (not without reason!).

This sums me up. One of my favorite scenes in Friday Night Lights is when Julie has to play in the Powderpuff game and Eric teaches her some plays out in the street in front of their house. It's so beautiful - he's so excited to be sharing that with her, and she's beaming too. Also the scene where they're playing ping-pong and he's talking to her about boys. "If you think a boy's thinking about you, he's not. He's thinking about sex or he's hungry." (I think Kyle Chandler has two daughters and I bet he's great with them.) And as a black child growing up upper-middle-class in a northeastern city in the 80s, of course I wanted Cliff Huxtable to be my dad. I especially loved the role-playing, like when they put Theo in the "real world." And I like the music - music was a big part of my childhood, so I like how they emphasized it. (My family, especially my mom's side, sometimes sings when we get together, but no choreography.) I also really liked the parents on Life Goes On, especially how great they were with Corky. (Patti Lupone is so awesome in everything.)

Who would I NOT want? Deborah from Everybody Loves Raymond could NOT be my mother; she's just mean to everyone, and I feel like watching her berate Ray would take a toll on their kids. (I hate that show because they're all so mean to each other, and I don't find it at all funny.) And Marie can kick rocks too - she's smothering. Although I wonder if she would have been that way with a daughter.


Oh, really? I liked him. I liked how close he and Samantha were; I love my dad but I didn't have the kind of relationship with him where I confided in him as a teen. My parents were my parents, not my friends. I thought they had a sweet relationship.

My thoughts exactly.

Never minded Tony as a dad. He was a good dad, but Tony himself was terribly annoying especially when he was around Angela.

Fred MacMurray in My Three Sons was very pragmatic. I guess he had to be with three sons and no girls in the house!

I might have had to leave the house at a young age if Bill Cosby or Mike Brady were my dads.

Just posed the question to my husband and he said Jonathan Hart...for obvious reasons - even though they didn't have kids. In addition to being rich, they were pretty cool people.

Just borrowed Season One discs of "Picket Fences" and have to say that it wouldn't have been bad to have Jimmy and Jill Brock as my parents. They had a great marriage (well, until Contrivance stepped in during the last season, JMHO) and modeled good communication and respect for others, raised their children to value education and creativity and thinking, could be lots of fun, were respected in the town, actually listened to their kids, knew when to discipline (which was particularly important with Matthew) and were pretty cool for the most part - even with Jimmy being the Sheriff.

Or maybe I just wanted to live in Rome, Wisconsin.

Charles Ingalls..... for the stong, safe, and kind qualities.
or
Arthur from King of Queens.... for the comedy value !

I think Angela Bauer would make a cool mother. She loved Samantha like her own, was a kick ass role model for a young girl, and had a beautiful house, etc. the one thing I wish she ever would have done was tell Mona to shut up or ship out. I know Mona was supposed to be funny but I don't think it was too loving, the way she constantly criticized Angela and put her down.

In regard to really cool parents, from a kids' point of view, the parents from Spy Kids. They all loved each other very much, and valued and supported the kids. They kids got to have tons of cool gadgets and be spies!

I also think Clair Huxtable was a good mother. I know some people think she went over the top at times, and she did get angry, but parents do get angry at their kids. It was good to see a firm parenting style, with alot of love, instead of smart mouth kids acting like they have the stupidest parents in the world, completely disrespecting them, and getting away with it. That said, they were alot easier on Theo than they were on Vanessa/Denise but I guess no one is perfect!

I was just remembering the scene in one episode of Picket Fences, when Kimberly tries some kind of drug and Jill took her head off for it, as well she should have. I still remember "your brothers worship the ground you walk on. If they thought it was ok to to this because you did....." i just thought it was really real and to the point and well done.

I'll take Jack Bristow for a dad, please. He's just so awesome, and he'll move heaven and earth to keep daddy's little girl safe. Of course then I'd be lusting after my sister, but hey. Nothing's perfect.

I always wanted Jed Bartlet to be my father. The first obvious reason is how he treated his daughters. He could be distant or angry, but he always seemed like he deeply loved his children and TWW's snarky dialogue could get very good play when Jed interacted with his kids. One of my favorite lines in the show and one of the best "father TV lines" was Jed in Ellie talking to his middle daughter after a fight, "The only thing you had to do to make me happy was come home at the end of the day." The second less obvious reason is that Jed always seemed like he would be a great father just in how he interacted with the staff in S1-4. I usually don't see the familial dynamics in television shows- but damn, Sorkin West Wing does come close and Jed Bartlet's fatherly attitude is a big part of that.

Agree with you on Jed Bartlet. He was not only a pretty good dad to his own four daughters, but he was a great father figure to the staff, most of whom either had lost their fathers or were estranged from them (CJ was the exception, but then her Dad got Alzheimer's, the saddest sort of estrangement). I remember in "Two Cathedrals" during his tirade at God, he brought up Josh's shooting and said, "That was my son!" Figurative, certainly, and a nice bit of rhetoric, but it also rang very true. I also loved how he continued to treat Charlie like a son even after Zoe dumped him.

I know this is a wildly unpopular opinion in the world, but I wouldn't have wanted either Huxtable as a parent. I think they would have caused me to rebel, and rebel hard. While I certainly understand people's resentment of parents on TV (and real life) who let their smart-mouthed kids get away with murder, I wouldn't have easily tolerated parents who radiated such an air of "I'm always right" superiority, and found a way in just about every conversation to remind their kids that they don't have a say in anything.

Steve Keaton, on the other hand...now that's my kind of dad.

I thought Jed Bartlet had three daughters - Zoe, Ellie and Annabeth Gish with the cheating husband. Who's the fourth one?

You're right, it was only three. Not sure how I came to invent a fourth one.

I liked Jed Bartlet too. I didn't see alot of interaction with his daughters, but one scene that sticks out for me was when he was talkiing to Zoe, before he told her she couldn't bring Charlie to some event. Leo asked her how she was doing and she said "keeping it real" and Leo said "what does that mean" and Jed said, "who the hell knows." he then asked Zoe what textbook she had, and when she said it was herAmerican cinema text, and he said, 'well i certainly wouldnt be where I am today if not for American Cinema class"

At this point in my life I'd go with John Walton too. When I was younger I probably would have picked someone cooler and more hip and reckless, but now I really appreciate the values both Walton parents gave their kids and I wouldn't want to go through life without that kind of grounding. Fortunately I was lucky enough to get it from my own parents... although when I was a teen I didn't always think it was a good thing!

Jed Clampett - he was patient and caring with both Ellie May and his nephew Jethro (which could not have been easy). Although he was hoping to see Ellie May married off, he was not as worried about her ending up an old maid as Granny was - in the meantime Ellie got to wear jeans, live in a nice place (with a cement pond!), and provide a great home to a lot of animals. Plus Ellie didn't have to work; caring for her animals was all she really seemed to do (except for occasional dates with Dash Riprock!)

I'm going to come out and admit to wanting Hank Hill as a father. Sure, he was uptight, but he had a good head on his shoulders, and he always tried to guide Bobby the best way he knew how. That's admirable.

Dan Conner is also at the top of my list, along with Roseanne. The voice can be grating, and sometimes she was obnoxious, but she loved her children no matter what. This might be an unpopular opinion, but I really don't think she was a bad mother.

I'm also going to throw in Andy Taylor for his laid-back parenting style. He never lost his cool, and he was always there for Ope. I loved him.

I really want Richard Castle as my dad. He's rich, he loves his daughter, he jokes around, and it seems he can't get mad at her. I love my dad, but I'd still like Castle for a father!

I don't think Roseanne was a bad mother, either. Sure, she was snarky, but she loved those kids. Even in the later seasons, which were unwatchable, but I never doubted her love and devotion to her children. And look at how well Darlene turned out- that has to count for something.

And Dan Conner is choice for my TV dad all the way. I would actually prefer him to my real dad. And I think Hank Hill is a great TV dad, too. He really grew from his whole "That boy ain't right" thing from the beginning over the whole of the series. He had some mis-steps, but who doesn't? He was a much better parent than Peggy, and it is amazing that, with Cotton as a father, he is doing as well as he is.

For worst TV parents? Clay and Bloberta from "Moral Orel." I have never wanted to rescue a TV character and raise him as my own as much as I did with Orel. Especially in the last season and a half. My heart ached for that kid.

I wouldn't mind Richard Castle as a dad, but at my age, I'd rather have him as a husband. :)

I also like Mr. Trager on Kyle XY. He's a good dad, especially since his kids/wards all fall somewhere on the weird side of the spectrum..even the ones with bellybuttons. (But again, at my age...he's pretty hot too.)

I'd want Sandy Cohen to be my dad. Season 1 Sandy anyway; I stopped watching in Season 2 when he became kind of a douchebag with the random Kim Delaney plotline.

Capt. Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

I sometimes laugh when he would dress down his son Jake, because he reminds me so much of my aul' man, yet he let Jake follow his own path, and you knew for a fact that he loved his son. He held his own as a single parent with a difficult job to do. Run an entire space station on the outskirts of the quadrant.

He could cook, engineer/design a bad-arse space fighting machine. (Neither of which my aul' man can do)

I vote for Dan Conner from Roseanne. I have mentioned in the thread, that my dad passed away in February and they were so similar it was unreal. My dad was a big ole teddy bear, but you did not want to get him mad (i.e. Mother's Day salon episode)

If I was born out of wedlock, I think I would love Booth as my father (Bones). He seems so devoted to his son Parker, even if can't be with as much as he wants. I loved the scene where Parker's mother goes to see Boothe and work under the pretense of him coaching Parker's sport's team, he is like "You know I always do, so why are you really here?" and the season one Christmas episode, where he is begging Parker's mother to allow Parker to see him for a few minutes and the montage. Even in episodes where Parker isn't featured, like his speech where if God asked him to sacrifice Parker he wouldn't do it (his a practicing Catholic) or even the car seat he had in the back of his SUV. The only time his was ever stern with him is when Parker accepted ice cream from a serial killer stalking Bones, so it was justified.

I'm with you...I've been rewatching the series recently, and I just love how John is most times. He gives advice when it's needed, and just listens quietly when it's needed. Despite having 7 kids and seeing just about everything, he never seems to get too upset, unlike Olivia. Even if it's something that their general lifestyle would generally frown upon, John'll be all, "Well, Liv, maybe there was a reason..." or "Times are changin', Liv. We gotta remember that." Love the man!

As for more modern shows, I think I'd go with Joe Dubois from Medium. He's cool and encourages the girls to do what they want/like, but he's also shown to be stern and disciplinarian when they go out of bounds. Like John Walton, he seems to know when to actively do something and when to just step back and observe/listen.

Gomez Addams. He loved his kids, was involved with the neighborhood (whether they wanted him or not), good with money, never a dull moment.

Also Darrin Tyler. Any dad that could raise kids like Sharron, Aaron, and Jaye was an awesome dad.

Agreed on all counts, plus he never tried to push his children to fit into some stereotype, and he modeled great relationship behavior - he and Morticia were obviously crazy about each other, he was happy to take his mother-in-law and brother in to live with the family, and he had boundless enthusiasm for everything and everyone.

I always felt an affinity for Jed Barlet, the witty banter and knowledge of historical minutiae so resonant of my very own father. Toby Zeigler from WW too. The scene with his newborn twins is gold. Toby would stress education and a moral compass for community service. A bit morose sometimes, but hey, his Dad was a hit man.

Jason Bolt of long ago's Here come the Brides. I was only a tot, but I recognized that he was Daddy to that whole town of early Seattle without yet propagating.

Henry Fonda in the original movie Yours Mine and Ours. For so many reasons. Also includes the added bonus of Tim Matheson as a big bro.

Paul Dooley as the Sixteen Candles movie Dad. Sofa scene is Dream Dad 101, then again, he loses major points for forgetting her birthday.

Doug Heffernan from King of Queens would be a good Dad. Really fun for a young child, but probably useless when it comes to picking out a college (unless jr. got a football scholarship). Still love him, though. Glad the series wrapped up with them having 2 wee ones.

Also agree with the many Dan Conner votes - John Goodman has an apt in my neighborhood. No news flash, but he's a living doll.

Thanks for the new Gomez Adams insight. Never thought of him that way, you're right.

ETA: He's not fictional, but I would adore being the best-dressed adopted adult child of PR's Tim Gunn.