Television Program

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1. `Father Knows Best' marathon is a funny, touching tribute to Father........................................................... 1

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Document 1 of 1 `Father Knows Best' marathon is a funny, touching tribute to Father ProQuest document link Abstract (Abstract): The durable sitcom originally began on radio in 1949 and starred Robert Young as Jim Anderson, an insurance agent who lived in the town of Springfield with his wife and three children. The original title ended with a question mark, and the intent was a bumbling father. But that soon gave way to an emphatic Father Knows Best, with a wife and loving Jim Anderson protecting his family. Father Knows Best will be remembered (and repeated) today in a seven-hour marathon special, Father Still Knows Best: A Father's Day Special, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on cable's CBN Family Channel. Young was the only radio cast member to make the transition to television. The children's ages for the show were Betty (``Princess``), 17; Bud, 14; and Kathy (``Kitten``), 9. Today, the actors who played them are Elinor Donahue (Betty), 52; Billy Gray (Bud), 51; and Lauren Chapin (Kathy), 44. Robert Young is 82, and Jane Wyatt, who played Margaret Anderson, is 77. Full text: America first met the Andersons on Oct. 3, 1954, on CBS, and Robert Young became the first father figure television gave us. The durable sitcom originally began on radio in 1949 and starred Robert Young as Jim Anderson, an insurance agent who lived in the town of Springfield with his wife and three children. The original title ended with a question mark, and the intent was a bumbling father. But that soon gave way to an emphatic Father Knows Best, with a wife and loving Jim Anderson protecting his family. Father Knows Best will be remembered (and repeated) today in a seven-hour marathon special, Father Still Knows Best: A Father's Day Special, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on cable's CBN Family Channel. The original cast members will be on board this special, providing anecdotes about the show and each other. Each cast member chose his or her favorite episode for five of the seven segments. This funny, touching tribute will incorporate tributes to real-life fathers, too, with short segments from throughout the country of ``average`` people saying a few words about their fathers. Young was the only radio cast member to make the transition to television. The children's ages for the show were Betty (``Princess``), 17; Bud, 14; and Kathy (``Kitten``), 9. Today, the actors who played them are Elinor Donahue (Betty), 52; Billy Gray (Bud), 51; and Lauren Chapin (Kathy), 44. Robert Young is 82, and Jane Wyatt, who played Margaret Anderson, is 77. Although the show was well-received by critics, it was dropped after 26 weeks. One reason for its initial lack of success, according to the book, Total Television, by Alex McNeil, was that few children saw it because it was on at 10 p.m. Sundays. When CBS canceled the series, the public was outraged. In one of the first examples of viewers' saving a show, letters poured in asking for the show's reinstatement. And so NBC ran the program the following year. In all, 203 episodes were filmed between 1954 and 1960. The program became such a symbol of the ``typical`` American family that the United States Treasury Department commissioned the producers to film a one-hour special episode to help promote the 1959 U.S. Savings Bond Drive. The episode told how the Anderson children attempted to live one day under a make- believe dictatorship. The program was never aired on television but was distributed to churches, schools and civic organizations to demonstrate the importance of maintaining a strong American democracy. When the show came to a close, it didn't mean an ending. That is, Father Knows Best began playing in syndication and has been dubbed into many languages. In Japan, for example, one man reads the voices of everyone in the family. On May 15, 1977, NBC aired The Father Knows Best Reunion special, reuniting the cast. This is the first time

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the cast has been together since that reunion special. Father Knows Best airs regularly at 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday on the CBN Family Channel. Illustration BLACK AND WHITE PHOTO, CBN Family Channel, (2); COLOR PHOTO, CBN Family Channel; television: programs: father still knows best: 89; Caption: cast members of Father Still Knows Best: A Father's Day Special include Laurin Chapin, Jane Wyatt, Elinor Donahue and Billy Gray; Robert Young (ran on pg. 3); Robert Young (ran on pg. 1) Publication title: St. Petersburg Times Pages: 6 Number of pages: 0 Publication year: 1989 Publication date: Jun 18, 1989 Year: 1989 Section: TV DIAL Publisher: Times Publishing Co. Place of publication: St. Petersburg, Fla. Country of publication: United States Publication subject: General Interest Periodicals--United States Source type: Newspapers Language of publication: English Document type: NEWSPAPER ProQuest document ID: 262678575 Document URL: http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.rasmussen.edu/docview/262678575?accountid=40836 Copyright: Copyright Times Publishing Co. Jun 18, 1989 Last updated: 2012-02-25 Database: ProQuest Central,ProQuest Newsstand

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