Father Knows Best: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

Father Knows Best portrayed a family that was surprising similar to real people. The parents managed to ride through almost any family situation without violent injury to their dignity, and the three Anderson youngsters were presented as decently behaved children who respected and loved their parents. A newspaper critic at the time wrote that "Jim Anderson may be the first intelligent father permitted on TV since they invented the thing".

Series details

• Title: Father Knows Best
• Format: Scripted
• Language: English
• Genres: Comedy, Family
• Premiere date: 1954-10-03
• Final broadcast date listed: 1960-05-23
• Status in TVmaze: Ended
• Network listed by TVmaze: NBC
• Network country: United States
• Typical episode runtime: 30 minutes
• TVmaze community rating: 7.6/10
• TVMaze ID: 4537

Cast and credited roles

• Robert Young — James "Jim" Anderson, Sr.
• Jane Wyatt — Margaret Anderson
• Billy Gray — James "Bud" Anderson, Jr
• Elinor Donahue — Betty "Princess" Anderson
• Lauren Chapin — Kathy "Kitten" Anderson

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1: premiered 1954-10-03; final listed air date 1955-03-27; episode order: 26.
• Season 2: premiered 1955-08-31; final listed air date 1956-05-30; episode order: 37.
• Season 3: premiered 1956-09-12; final listed air date 1957-06-05; episode order: 37.
• Season 4: premiered 1957-09-25; final listed air date 1958-06-11; episode order: 33.
• Season 5: premiered 1958-09-15; final listed air date 1959-06-01; episode order: 38.
• Season 6: premiered 1959-10-05; final listed air date 1960-05-23; episode order: 32.

Source and licence

Adapted from Father Knows Best on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.