To celebrate Father's Day, TiVo has put together a list of the Top 25 TV Dads. Here's the Top 5:
1. Cliff Huxtable (The Cosby Show)
2. Sheriff Andy Taylor (The Andy Griffith Show)
3. Pa Ingalls (Little House on the Prarie)
4. Howard "Mr. C" Cunningham (Happy Days)
5. Ward Cleaver (Leave it to Beaver)
The creepy Father Dowling publicity photo notwithstanding, I would have given Mr. C the top spot.
But I think a more interesting list would be The Worst TV Dads. I'll start you off with three...
Ross Geller (Friends) -- Entire seasons went by without even a mention of little Ben. They paraded out that kid from Big Daddy a few times, but Ross was borderline deadbeat. When Rachel was supposed to move to Paris with his second child, Ross didn't show an appropriate level of dismay. Like many unhappy parents, it seemed like the writers just regretted Ben's conception.
Frasier Crane (Frasier) -- He pissed away his thirties in the bar, then picked up and moved 3,000 miles away from his toddler son. It doesn't take a psychiatrist (or an insightful radio talk show host) to know Frasier had parenting issues.
Derek Morris (Saved By The Bell) -- The only way his son could get through to him was on a football-sized cell phone.
Who else?
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How about Darrin Stephens? didn't his kids have magical powers that he didn't let them use? poor tabitha.
Caleb Nichol on The O.C. Paul Young on Desperate Housewives.
Toby Zeegler on the west Wing. smart enough to write state of the unions but can't get his ex-wife to let him see the twins
Oh, i just thought of a terrible tv-dad that is outside the box. Richard Hatch from Survivor. Not only was he reality tv's first star, he was a bad dad. He got into trouble for making his kid (who was a tub) run a lot, in the early morning hours.
BooYa. That's a notch on my belt.
Joe Simpson, father of Jessica and Ashlee. It's bad enough that as his daughters' manager he traffics them in the skin trade and puts their every personal moment on camera to make a buck but if you watch the shows the guy is there at every half naked photo shoot leering from behind the camera. Creepiest dad ever!
Jor-El of Krypton - Sure, he saved his son and all, but a note wouldn't have hurt. Dear Kal, Just an fyi, if you run across any yellow suns, don't be surprised if can like fly, or anything.
Frank DeFazio - Obviously father issues kept Laverne from coming out.
Rick Marshall: Land of the Lost - Hey Kids, how'd you like to go on a routine rafting expedition...Great idea Mr. adventure. (come to think of it, we never saw Chaka's dad either)
artie lange
Hey bigfat, your comments are amazing. Glad you're part of the team.
ty.
you know Coulson is on the best dads list.
let's just hope he's getting a well-deserved "blogging" this am.