Famous TV Dads

Since Father's Day is coming up, it's time to salute our “other dads”—the TV dads we grew up with. These dads may never have shown up at our dinner table or tucked us in at night, but they still influenced our views on parenting and fatherhood.

Sure, a lot of these fathers were flawed. Take Homer Simpson (The Simpsons) and Al Bundy (Married with Children), for example. These guys seemed to prefer a good punch line over their families. Archie Bunker (All in the Family), despite his many imperfections, made sure his daughter knew how much he loved her.

A great dad, whether or not he's on TV, is one who teaches his children valuable lessons. Andy Taylor (The Andy Griffith Show), Mike Brady (The Brady Bunch), Ward Cleaver (Leave It to Beaver), Pa Ingalls (Little House on the Prairie), and Ben Cartwright (Bonanza)—these dads always seemed to know all the answers. They weren't afraid of showing their children affection from time to time either.

And many times these fathers were just crazy, silly, fun dads, like Tim Taylor (Home Improvement), Herman Munster (The Munsters), and Hal Wilkerson (Malcolm in the Middle). These dads knew that what kids want most from a father is his time. They also knew it was vital to treat your children the way you wanted to be treated when you were a kid.

So thank you, TV dads, for being there, and entertaining us while we were growing up.

And as a special bonus, here's a video clip of one of the best TV dads telling a bedtime story.

Happy Father's Day!