Top of the Pops: 6 Best Bits of Wisdom from TV Dads

Being a TV dad seems easy. Sitcom dilemmas are often resolved with a heartfelt talk and a well-timed quip in just under 30 minutes — well, more like 22 with commercials.

Shows may be more complex now than when Father Knows Best debuted in 1954 — Tony Soprano, unlike Jim Anderson, once encouraged a hit on his daughter’s ex-boyfriend — but TV dads love their kids deeply, whether they’re in high-def or black and white.

To celebrate Father’s Day, here are six timeless pieces of inspiration from iconic small-screen pops.

1. Encourage your kids to be themselves. Even if your son is a wolf boy

In an episode of The Munsters, son Eddie is taunted by schoolmates, not because he has fangs, but because he’s the shortest kid in class.

“The lesson I want you to learn is that it doesn’t matter what you look like,” his father Herman says. “You could be tall or short, or fat or thin, or ugly — or handsome, like your father — or you can be black or yellow or white, it doesn’t matter. But what does matter is the size of your heart and the strength of your character.”

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Philip Banks shared a similar sentiment with his son, Carlton, on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: “Courage is being the way you are no matter what anybody says about you.”

2. Work hard, even when it’s hard work

Life ain’t easy, but you provide for your family. That’s a lesson from numerous TV dads who struggled to pay the bills. “We are poor, and poor is one of three things people don’t want to be. Right next to sick and dead,” said James Evans, Sr., a Korean War vet, on Good Times. Evans’ work ethic — he often worked two jobs, from dishwasher to dock worker — earned the respect of his family.

In the series pilot of Little House on the Prairie, Pa worked several jobs to support his family and raise money for a farm. After falling from a tree, the injured Pa left his bed to finish the work, and impressed townspeople came to his aid. Through hard work, her father reaped an unexpected harvest, daughter Laura noted: a harvest of friends.

3. Don’t prioritize work over your family

Most TV dads hold a steady job, but they are not workaholics (see Simpson, Homer). Bob Belcher works long hours to keep his restaurant afloat on Bob’s Burgers, but he is deeply invested in his kids’ lives, whether attending school plays or helping with moral dilemmas.

In an early episode of The Brady Bunch, architect Mike Brady delayed an important meeting to help daughter Marcia with her homework, and she nominated him for a newspaper’s “Father of the Year” contest. Okay, in the real world, dissing your bosses might lead to unemployment rather than a media event, but the man named Brady knew his most important building project was the lives of his kids.