I admit I got the idea for this topic from the LITB page, but it is a good question to ask here too. Who was your favorite character on FNB?

I pick Father as played by Robert Young. I think he was one of the best tv dads of all time. Plus unlike Ward Cleaver or Mike Brady he didn't always know best. He had a dark side that sometimes came thru. But he was also amazingly understanding and loving to his family. All the characters, however, are wonderful and work well together, just like a real family.

Great question, Buddy.

I assume you mean the major characters, the five family members. If you think about it, that really widens the field. IMHO, there are two Buds, two Kathys and two Bettys. (Jim and Margaret are pretty much the same throughout.)

The young Bud is a goofy, endearing rascal. The older Bud is a bit of a narcissistic jerk -- Mr. Hot Wheels. Betty -- same thing. The younger Betty, not only being wonderfully pretty and soft, was a girl with lots of heart. The older Betty -- oh, boy. Hard as Georgia Pine. And the biggest shift of all, of course, comes with Kathy. The 8, 9 , 10 year old Lauren Chapin -- through the first 3 seasons -- is for my money the cutest and funniest(and strangest) child in all of TV comedy history. But then, things changed. Lauren Chapin became very awkward looking, and was forced by the writers of the show to be this whining brat, always in the shadow of her glamourous sister. Still, the older Kathy is somehow more appealing than her two older siblings because she at least is not a hard ass.

So, in order:

1. Young Kathy
2. Young Bud
3. Young Betty
4. Jim
5. Margaret
6. Older Kathy
7. Older Bud
8. Older Betty

Very interesting perspective John, Thank you. I can't add much to it except to say that I think you are right!!

I like older Bud. He was hilarious!

I'll go with young Kathy. She was real cute!