I wasn't quite 9 years old when "Father Knows Best" made its move to TV, so I didn't get to see any of the first episodes because we didn't get our first TV until a year later. But I vividly remember watching many episodes over its 10-year run. Robert Young as James 'Jim' Anderson, Sr. was written as the almost "perfect" father, and Jane Wyatt as Margaret Anderson was written as the almost "perfect" mother. More than anything else, thinking back, this was a series written as a model for what was generally considered the correct way for a family to live and interact back in the 1950s. Some viewers today might scoff at that notion, but coming just a few years after the big war, and running during much of the "cold war", as a youngster it was reassuring to see peace and harmony. We didn't have the big national news networks back then reporting everything that was bad, in gory detail, and today I see that as a blessing. Elinor Donahue as Betty Anderson, Billy Gray as 'Bud' Anderson, Jr., and Lauren Chapin as 'Kitten' Anderson completed the family. It is always fun to occasionally catch an old episode or two. While TV technical production values have improved, the 'messages' of the shows have not.
