In Honor of Father's Day...TV's Best Dads (MSNBC)

[Brian Damage]

Keith Mars, "Veronica Mars": There is no better father on television right now than Keith Mars (Enrico Colantoni). Like Jack Bristow (see below), Keith has an adventurous, unmanageable daughter, and the fact that Veronica is so young makes his task even more difficult. Keith battles protectiveness constantly, but he respects Veronica's talents enough to let her do a certain amount of detective work, reluctantly aware that she's good for business. And, of course, that she's going to do it anyway. His supposed death in the season finale and Veronica's resulting collapse drove home their reliance on each other, as did her relief when he showed up alive.

[Brian Damage]

Martin Crane, "Frasier": It's hard to remember the good things about "Frasier" anymore, considering how long it overstayed its welcome and how mercilessly it flogged a limited number of jokes (The Fancy Party Gone Horribly Wrong, for instance). But in spite of the accolades heaped upon its stars, it was Martin Crane (John Mahoney) that grounded the otherwise insufferable behavior of his sons. Remarkably, his ability to love them in spite of their obnoxious behavior never deserted him. Without Martin, there could have been no show, because without his exquisitely calibrated bull detector, the balance would have been hopelessly off.

[Brian Damage]

Jack Bristow, "Alias": There were a lot of things wrong with "Alias" over the years. A lot of things. But one of the things the show always had going for it was the spectacular Jack Bristow (Victor Garber), who always seemed destined to give his life for his daughter Sydney in one way or another -- and who eventually did. Jack made a few mistakes along the way in trying to watch over Sydney without smothering her, but he backed her up in traditional and nontraditional senses. Besides, what's better than being able to say your dad is a spy?

[Brian Damage]

Captain Stubing, "The Love Boat": Don't laugh. Sure, Vicki didn't seem to have any friends, and she was mostly left to the tender mercies of the ship's doctor, the bartender and the cruise director for entertainment. But she got to live on a cruise ship. "Maybe my dad will take me to live on a cruise ship" is up there with "maybe my dad will buy me several horses" when it comes to absurd fantasy. If you have to find out who your father is when you're 12, it's nice if he lives on a boat, spends a lot of time in Mazatlan, and knows Charo.

[Brian Damage]

Cliff Huxtable, "The Cosby Show": OK, there are no points for originality on this one. Granted, Cliff could go overboard with the constant assurances to his children that he couldn't wait until they were gone, and he guarded his daughters in a way that bordered on patronizing. But particularly with his son Theo, Cliff was good-humored, adoring and demanding in precisely the right proportions. The early lecture in which he snatched away Theo's Monopoly money to demonstrate how expenses add up for adults living on their own (on taxes: "The government comes for the regular people first") became an instant classic for a good reason, and it holds up 20 years later.