Diff'rent Strokes

Arguably the first of this type of show, it started in 1978, but the majority of its run was in the '80s. It follows the life of two boys who are adopted by a wealthy businessman after their mother dies. The man, Philip Drummond, also has a biological daughter of his own, but her mother is completely absent, too.

Punky Brewster

After her mother abandons her in a shopping center, Punky Brewster squats for a few days in an abandoned apartment before the grouchy building manager finds her and subsequently adopts her, because those are the strict rules to which all landlords must adhere. Incidentally, he is also a widower.

My Two Dads

This hilarious sitcom starts with the mother of a teenage girl dying. Then, two men who were both sleeping with the mother simultaneously co-adopt the teenage girl because neither one is really sure if he's the father or not.

Gimme a Break

A police chief with three daughters loses his wife to cancer and hires a maid. That's it.

Silver Spoons

While technically the mother is present in some of the episodes of the show, she ships her son off to boarding school when she marries a new man because the boy is not conducive to her new lifestyle. The boy escapes from the school and goes to live with his biological father, who had no idea the kid ever existed.

Full House

A sportswriter with three daughters loses his wife in a car accident and moves into a house with his best friend and his wife's brother because he needs their help raising the kids.

Who's the Boss?

A former professional baseball player moves to Fairfield, Connecticut, after his wife dies to raise his daughter away from the city. He moves in with a wealthy family as their housekeeper.

Blossom

Blossom and her two brothers live with their dad after their mother abandons the family and moves to Paris to start a new life. Even though this show didn't start until 1990, it's important to include, because Blossom and Diff'rent Strokes bookend the phenomenon.

Read more: Why Every '80s Sitcom Decided to Kill Off the Mom | Cracked.com http://www.cracked.com/blog/why-every-80s-sitcom-decided-to-kill-off-mom/#ixzz1yOR5yIRX

I don't think that's ENTIRELY true, because you had Andy Taylor (The Andy Griffith Show), Steve Douglas (My Three Sons), Mike Brady (The Brady Bunch), and Tom Bradford (Eight is Enough) as widowers (who all remarried) in the 60s-70s, and if you want to go back even further, Danny Williams lost his wife (but also later remarried) on Make Room For Daddy (aka The Danny Thomas Show) in the late 50s. Special mention goes to Jed Clampett (The Beverly Hillbillies), even though he never remarried and his only child was grown. I've always melted at their tender scene where he tells his daughter, Elly May, "you're the living picture of your ma", and then they hug. So sweet.

As far as the women go, Julia Baker (Julia), Kate Bradley (Petticoat Junction), and Doris Martin (The Doris Day Show) were all widows with children. Well, Doris' kids vanished with no explanation after awhile. Maybe they are on the Island of Misfit TV Characters along with Chuck Cunningham, Judy Winslow, Carl Dixon, etc. :lol:

Walt Disney did it in the 1930s when he killed off Bambi's mother.

I don't think that's ENTIRELY true, because you had Andy Taylor (The Andy Griffith Show), Steve Douglas (My Three Sons), Mike Brady (The Brady Bunch), and Tom Bradford (Eight is Enough) as widowers (who all remarried) in the 60s-70s, and if you want to go back even further, Danny Williams lost his wife (but also later remarried) on Make Room For Daddy (aka The Danny Thomas Show) in the late 50s. Special mention goes to Jed Clampett (The Beverly Hillbillies), even though he never remarried and his only child was grown. I've always melted at their tender scene where he tells his daughter, Elly May, "you're the living picture of your ma", and then they hug. So sweet.

As far as the women go, Julia Baker (Julia), Kate Bradley (Petticoat Junction), and Doris Martin (The Doris Day Show) were all widows with children. Well, Doris' kids vanished with no explanation after awhile. Maybe they are on the Island of Misfit TV Characters along with Chuck Cunningham, Judy Winslow, Carl Dixon, etc. :lol:
Tom Corbett (The Courstship of Eddie's Father) was also a widower.

Poor Ben Cartwright was a widower three times.:(

In the 50's and 60's, before TV was really allowed to portray divorce, there were an unusually high amount of widows and widowers.

You're both right.

What I've noticed is that widowers are more likely to remarry faster than widows. But it took Phil at least eight years chronologically to remarry after the first Mrs. Drummond died. When he did, he gained a wonderful woman and terrific stepson.

Tom Corbett (The Courstship of Eddie's Father) was also a widower.

.....and Bill Davis (Family Affair), though he was "Uncle" Bill, he became the un-wed guardian of 3.

I don't think that's ENTIRELY true, because you had Andy Taylor (The Andy Griffith Show), Steve Douglas (My Three Sons), Mike Brady (The Brady Bunch), and Tom Bradford (Eight is Enough) as widowers (who all remarried) in the 60s-70s, and if you want to go back even further, Danny Williams lost his wife (but also later remarried) on Make Room For Daddy (aka The Danny Thomas Show) in the late 50s. Special mention goes to Jed Clampett (The Beverly Hillbillies), even though he never remarried and his only child was grown. I've always melted at their tender scene where he tells his daughter, Elly May, "you're the living picture of your ma", and then they hug. So sweet.

As far as the women go, Julia Baker (Julia), Kate Bradley (Petticoat Junction), and Doris Martin (The Doris Day Show) were all widows with children. Well, Doris' kids vanished with no explanation after awhile. Maybe they are on the Island of Misfit TV Characters along with Chuck Cunningham, Judy Winslow, Carl Dixon, etc. :lol:

Eight is Enough, probably shouldn't count. It was not meant for Tom Bradford to be a widower with 8 children. That was just the result of the unexpected death of Diana Hyland (Joan). Besides, he soon was remarried to Abby!

no i dont think Diff'rent strokes had anything with the influence of other shows on death i thought it was cruel for the show to have something like that in the show, i would have thought maybe the mother could not control her two boys in the inner city ghetto because they were to bad for her to handle by herself so she sends them to stay with mr drummand for a better life and education it would have made a better plot that way we could see their mother pop in and out of some episodes just to visit them.

And Florida Evans (Esther Rolle) also became a widow on Good Times after James (John Amos) got killed off after the third season of that series. She remarried Carl Dixon (Moses Gunn) and went to Arizona with him, but he was never seen or heard of again after she returned in the final season.

It was assumed Florida and Carl have since divorced or they were working on storylines that fell through due to the end of the show.

I think that other TV shows pioneered the orphan bit, but "Diff'rent Strokes" perfected it. Everyone was talented, but without Gary Coleman's wonderful performances, I don't think we would be talking about it today.