TV Moms and Dads - Old & New School Dads Round 3

 

TV Moms and Dads

They raised us! These are the moms and dads that we've all looked to over the years for advice, mentorship, and love. They've been our models for how to parent (and some of them have been our models for how NOT to parent). We've laughed, cried, and loved with them. But who's the greatest? There's only one way to find out. VOTE!

Old & New School Dads

(1) Andy Taylor v (4) Charles Ingalls

The dad we all wanted. Andy Taylor was the perfect father for Opie - he always had the right answers and he always knew just what to say. And even when Opie wasn’t around, Andy had something to teach Barney, Gomer, Goober, and the rest.

Compared to Charles Ingalls, the other dads on this bracket had it easy. The Ingalls family was making it work on the frontier while most of the rest of them were languishing in suburbia. Add in his daughter’s blindness and Nellie Oleson, and life (and being a dad) was hard.

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(6) Fred Sanford v (2) Mike Brady

Fred was a widowed junk dealer in his 60s, still trying to raise his 30-something song Lamont, and even though Fred was partial to some pretty big histrionics (“this time it's real, I'm a-comin' 'Lizabeth!"), but he always wanted Lamont to stay.

It’s hard enough parenting three boys, but when you add in three girls, a wife, and a housekeeper, well… being a father is kind of like a house of cards when there’s a big dog nearby. Mike Brady was always ready with a tender answer, a wise word, or a funny quip.

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(9) Dan Conner v (4) Tim Taylor

You gotta have some real substance to match wits with Roseanne. Even though she was the star, Dan was the backbone - always consistent, always in their corner, and always hilarious. Dan Conner is everyman, and he’s every dad.

When he wasn’t electrocuting himself, setting something on fire, or generally endangering his own life, Tim “the Toolman” Taylor was a great dad. Yes, he needed Wilson’s wisdom from time to time, but he also had the humility to ask, and that’s a rare thing.

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(3) Carl Winslow v (2) Philip Banks

It’s one thing to raise Laura, Eddie, and Judy, but it’s a whole ‘nother thing to have to put up with Steve Urkel while you’re doing it. Imagine spending all day defending your town as a police officer and then coming home to…. “Did I do thaaat?” Carl is a hero (just ask John McClane).

Yes, Uncle Phil has kids of his own, but we know him best as the dad that CHOSE to be one. When he and Aunt Viv took in Will, they completed their family. Phil fights for his kids, and he even defends Jazz once in a while.

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