"Pater Familias! Best TV Dad?" Topic

We've had the "Favorite Dadisms" poll -- now how about we establish with scientific certainty the Best TV Dad to deliver (or not) those scintillating pearls of wisdom?

Start listing your favorite TV Dads below! I'm trying to restrict the list to characters who were ALWAYS Dads and family authority figures, from the get-go, not guys who became Dads during the course of the show's run because the writers decided to introduce babies.

A beginning:

Ward Cleaver (Leave It to Beaver)
Jim Anderson (Father Knows Best)
John Walton (The Waltons)
Danny Williams (Make Room for Daddy)
Lew Marie (That Girl)
Martin Lane (The Patty Duke Show)
Archie Bunker (All in the Family)
Ben Cartwright (Bonanza)
Mike Brady (The Brady Bunch)
Homer Simpson (The Simpsons)
Al Bundy (Married with Children)

Only one facetious "Dad's Army" joke allowed per poster.

Gomez Addams

Ooh, excellent overlooked choice!! A great TV Dad and role model!

Andy Griffith

I second Andy Griffith.

Gomez wins best dad by miles!

Prize for most homicidal dad goes to Lucas McCain in The Rifleman who, with cohorts, killed 113–114 people in 5 seasons, many in front of his young son. That kid must have grown up to be a psychological mess:
link

Family man and dad Tony Soprano doesn't even beat that, with 92 fatalities done by all hands in 6 seasons:
link

Lucas McCain, the Rifleman.

The Psycho Rifleman, that cracks me up, miniMo!!

Looking over your list,my first thought is "best" for what?

Nevertheless,I'll play: how about Bentley Gregg (Bachelor Father)? He was always busy chasing women. Good for something, I suppose. . .

But Gomez forever!

Another overlooked one:

Steven Douglas (My Three Sons)

Andy Taylor (*as played by Andy Griffith) by a country mile.

* Can we please agree to put one name or the other in the poll so as not to split the vote?

Eddard Stark
Roose Bolton
Jaime Lannister

Eddie's Father (Bill Bixby). Just don't get him angry.

Tywin Lannister?

Commander Addama. (The original, of course.) With three children in the service, he embodies the Rhysling song "A Skipper is a Father to his Crew."

And I bet young McCain grew up to be a pretty good gunsmith.

Homicidal. Does Vincent (BATB) Chandler count? Admittedly, "only" 40-50 kills before son Jacob was christened, but they were all bare-handed.

Then there's Worf from ST:TNG

Tywin would have been on list but riding your horse into your grandson's hall and having it crap on the floor in front of him and your kids is bad form in my book

Herman Munster. And Teal'C from Stargate.

Howard Cunningham

Fred MacMurray: My Three sons

Steptoe?

OK probably not……

Vito Corleone – When it came to the job of fatherhood, he really killed it.

My serious vote would go to Andy Taylor/Andy Griffith

Robert Donley as Joseph "Rocky" Rockford aka Jim Rockford's dad.

Augie Doggy's Doggy Daddy!

Also, Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble.

And Ricky Ricardo.

Mike Baxter (Last Man Standing), Murray Goldberg (The Goldbergs), and Mike Heck (The Middle)…

Al Bundy is the best dead by the simple fact That he didn't murder suicide him self and his whole family after the first season.

But another vote for Gomez Adams

Al Bundy – only one in the list that is even slightly realistic.

Herman Munster deserves a mention too.

Peter griffith

Mike Heck from "The Middle"--possibly the only sit-com Dad who isn't a bumbling idiot, completely against the stereotype.

TVAG

Big John from the Hight Chaparral… father of all!…

Amicalement
Armand

Not my fave, but Charles "Pa" Ingalls from Little House on the Prairie.

Sarek, Spock's father, Star Trek (also in ST: TNG).
Captain Benjamin Sisko, Deep Space Nine
Rom, father of Nog, Deep Space Nine. When it's time to stand up for his boy's dream, he does!

Dr. Quest… Might be the coolest TV Dad ever, at least in terms of what he lets his son experience!

Gomez Addams

Sgt Nick Brody on Homeland

Peter Griffith

The "Halloween" guy?

He was a dad--but not a "TV Dad".

Sarek, Spock's father, Star Trek (also in ST: TNG).

IIRC, Counselor Troi's father was cool, too! Unlike her mother.

And then there was Vernon Albright, Margie's father on My Little Margie. The fact that he managed not to strangle his daughter is a minor miracle.

> IIRC, Counselor Troi's father was cool, too! Unlike her mother.

I don't think we ever get to see Troi's father. The tall guy with Troi's mother is a long suffering Butler type.

Ozzie Nelson. He taught his sons the value of work.

Very dry,Winston. Very dry.

Dr. Benton Quest, an excellent choice I wish I'd remembered!

And the missus is glad Pa Ingalls got a plug, too.

@Don Manser

Robert Donley only played Jim's father in the pilot episode. For the duration of the series Jim's father was played by Noah Beery Jr., son of a great character actor and nephew of the legendary Wallace Beery. And yeah, he was a great dad!

"Red" Forman (That 70's Show) .maybe not the best,but one of the funniest.

Don Alejandro de la Vega, father of Don Diego (aka el Zorro).