FKB and Me

[Commander Benson]

I have spent most of this Sunday morning reading the posts here on this show. It is wonderful to see how many people so warmly recall this show as I do.

As traitorous as it is to me to put any sitcom in front of my pet favourite, Hennesey , I have to put Father Knows Best as the best sitcom ever.

To those detractors here who charge FKB with being unrealistic, I point out that the show was never intended to be a representation of a real-life family during the 1950's. It was intended to be the model family. That was the point: not life as it was, but life as it should be--as it could be.

I grew up with George Reeves as Superman and Clayton Moore as the Lone Ranger, and these men were my heroes. Certainly, they were perfect in terms of deportment and morality, far better than anyone in real life could possibly be. But again, that was the point. They gave us something to strive for, to be as close to as we could get. That was the lesson they presented to us as viewers.

But even in view of these characters, my biggest hero was Robert Young, as "Jim Anderson". Jim Anderson represented the decency and heroism of the common man. No-one who knows me would ever mistake me for Jim Anderson, but he still represents the model man by whom I measure everything I do.

Over a decade ago, I finally screwed up the courage to write Robert Young a letter and tell him of this, and of my admiration and respect both for him and for his character of Jim Anderson. The upshot of my letter was that, while certainly no-one could or should expect Robert Young to be as perfect as Jim Anderson, there had to be a great deal of Jim Anderson in him for him to make the character so believable. It was a simple and heartfelt expression of my admiration.

A few weeks after mailing that letter, I received a delivery at home, which puzzled me, since I knew of nothing either my wife or myself had ordered. It turned out to be a lobby card (those old cardboard advertisements of movies which have been long since replaced by posters) of a movie about the Naval Academy in which Mr. Young had starred (Navy Blue and Gold ). In the corner was handwritten a small sentiment and signed by Mr. Young. Also enclosed was a small card by a gentleman (who turned out to be the male half of the couple who looked after Mr. Young in his later years), providing me a telephone number and asking me to call him.

I did so, and discovered that my letter had touched Mr. Young greatly, and mostly because, even at that late point in his life, he still received a great deal of fan mail--but that every letter had included some kind of request from him, for an autograph or photo or whatnot. Only mine had not asked for a thing from him. That was what impelled Mr. Young to send me the lobby card. I was asked to call back at a specific time, and when I did so, I was able to speak with Mr. Young himself. Anyone of you who has had the chance to speak with a longtime hero knows how that moment was for me. We spoke only a few times over the next couple of years, but apparently the exchanges were enjoyable for him, as well. I was even invited to Mr. Young's 91st birthday party (unfortunately, I was at sea at the time, and wouldn't have been able to attend, even if the invitation had arrived in time).

I can tell you this: Mr. Young was very proud of his rôle as Jim Anderson and the example his show set. It pleased him greatly to know that he was so well remembered with such affection by so many.

The one thing which is impossible for me to do is to pinpoint a favourite episode. There were so many excellent ones. "Short Wave" was one of the most brilliantly written episodes of any show of any type. It had humour, drama, sentiment, and had the quality of luring the viewer to the lesson without him being aware of where it was going ("Springfield--where nothing ever happens! ").

"A Great Guy" was the best Bud episode and actor Whit Bissell's best rôle in his long and varied career, as circulation manager Sinclair Bruder.

But the episode which stands out most in my mind when I think of FKB , is the episode "Father's Biography". That was the one where Margaret, believing that Jim is too self-effacing for his own good, pushes Jim to attend the Chamber of Commerce meeting, knowing that the group wants to elect him as its president. However, the meeting is scheduled for the same night as the PTA meeting at which Kathy will be reading her biography of her father. Margaret insists that, for once, Jim put his own welfare ahead of everyone else's and go to the Chamber of Commerce meeting. He does so, reluctantly.

The single scene which encapsulates the kind of man Jim Anderson was is the scene where a tearful Kathy begins to read her paper, when suddenly she beams as she sees her father hurry down the aisle toward the stage. The look on Jim's face is that getting there in time for Kathy was the most important thing in the world.

The tag shows wife Margaret and elder daughter Betty watching on from the audience, and Betty says, "Well, Kathy got what she wanted." and Margaret looks at Jim and thinks to herself, "And I've got what I want, too."

Jim Anderson, for all of his "perfection", strikes me as a much better rôle model than to-day's younger generation's preference for overpaid rock stars and sports figures.


Commander Benson

[Robert Mitchum]

Great job, Commander! And great post.

You're just the sort of stand-up person we need around here. Maybe you can lead the next TV Land petition drive when FKB is finally obliterated from that crappy network. (Estimated Obliteration Day: September 22, 2002.)

You see, the last petition was screwed up by one of the posters here who claimed that he had INSIDE knowledge that TV Land was actually taking tender care of this great series.

Now that Pavan***** has been proven to be a TV Land stooge, we need a new petition to get this series where it belongs:

On twice a day, in prime time, UNCUT, and no stupid logo at the bottom right.

You lead, Commander, and I'll follow!

Mitch

[Commander Benson]

Mitch,

I'll be glad to do anything I can do to ensure Father Knows Best appears on some on some channel.

I have two concerns--neither of which should be construed as an effort to put a damper on the idea of a petition.

1. On-line petitions are historically impotent, at least from the various sources I have consulted on this (best reference: www.snopes2.com). However, I will also allow that most of the on-line petitions do not concern support for a television show and a cable channel would have a greater interest in meeting an overwhelming request of its viewership; ergo, a petition along this line may not be as ineffective as petitions in other venues.

On the other hand, bear in mind, often other considerations--primarily, the availability and cost of broadcast rights--often dictate that stations not run shows, even when they know there is a widespread demand for them.

Still, you never know until you try.

2. TVLand has a reputation for being "viewer-unfriendly". I discovered this for myself several months ago when I sent their PR folks a friendly e-mail correcting them on some misinformation they had put out publicly about a television programme it was running. Needless to say, I double-checked several references to ensure my facts (even though I was sure of them already) and provided these references for their people to double-check.

In response, I got a curt and fairly impertinent e-mail from some official at TVLand stating that their information was correct and I was obviously in error. I went back to TVLand with word that I would certainly be willing to stand down, if I was ultimately proven incorrect, but would they please check the references I cited before making that decision. TVLand answered that it didn't have the time, nor the inclination, to double-check any facts.

I then consulted with the administators of a couple of web sites devoted to that particular television show--and whose knowledge was far more in-depth than mine was. They confirmed that the information I had sent to TVLand was correct and consented to send supporting e-mails to TVLand. They also warned me that they had gone through similar wickets with TVLand themselves, and their answers from the channel had been virtually the same those to me, in both substance and tone.

What both sources told me was TVLand prefers to set itself up as the authority on the shows it runs and does not want to be bothered with information provided by outsiders.

I will be more than glad to try to work with TVLand, again. It may be, though, that we would be better served by petitioning for FKB at a different home, such as the exceptional GoodTimes Channel.

Adam Benson

[BOBANDRUN]

Dear Commander Benson,

Pay no attention to VD-Land. They wouldn't know quality programming if it bit them in the ass.