Product Description

Copy: Maybe he didn't always know best, but insurance salesman Jim Anderson (Robert Young) of Springfield, Ohio, was America's favorite head of household. Father Knows Best premiered on CBS in October 1954 and has been part of the American cultural fabric ever since. Every week families gathered around the television set to join Jim, Margaret, "Princess", "Bud" and "Kitten" in their very first year as everyone's favorite 50's family. On DVD for the first time ever, this 4-disc set contains the Complete first season. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BONUS FEATURES
*New cast interviews
*Robert Young's home movies
*Rare behind the scenes color footage
*24 Hours In Tyrantland - special episode created for the U.S. government.
*Window On Main Street pilot episode - Robert Young's very next TV series.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16243 in DVD
• Brand: Universal Studios
• Released on: 2008-04-01
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Black & White, Closed-captioned, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 4
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 660 minutes

Amazon.com
It's telling that this family favorite began on radio as Father Knows Best? When the show came to CBS in 1954, the question mark disappeared. Contrary to popular opinion, however, Springfield, Ohio, insurance agent Jim Anderson (Emmy winner Robert Young) doesn't have all the answers. He and his wife, Margaret (fellow Emmy winner Jane Wyatt), come close, though. Were the show in production now, Anderson wouldn't smoke, but Father Knows Best reflects the standards of its time--separate beds and all. The sweet-natured pilot sets the tone when 14-year-old Bud (Billy Gray) frets about the school dance until Jim arranges for his 17-year-old sister, Betty (Elinor Donahue), to show him some steps. Other storylines revolve around community service and feeling needed, while "Thanksgiving Day" offers a glimpse of Jim's imperfect side when he dismisses a poem written by nine-year-old Kathy (Laurin Chapin), who overhears him; he realizes he was holding Kitten to impossible standards. As Chapin notes in the bonus interview (in which Donahue also features), the primary themes were cooperation and forgiveness. Naysayers can knock Father Knows Best for being square, but it espouses timeless values. And who's to say the lingo wasn't hip for the 1950s? Colorful examples include "goobers," "criminy," "creepers," "knot-head," and "simply utterly."

On the downside, these 26 episodes appear in unrestored, syndicated condition. Fortunately, the show doesn't look too bad for its age and abundant extras compensate, like special 1959 savings bond episode 24 Hours in Tyrantland and Young's home movies and behind-the-scenes footage, both with low-key narration by grandson Bill Proffitt. After Young put Father Knows Best to rest, he segued to 1960's Window on Main Street (this set includes the pilot) before scoring another hit with Marcus Welby, M.D.. Donahue followed suit with The Andy Griffith Show and Wyatt with Star Trek. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews

Thunderous Applause!!
I grew up in a very difficult, unconventional family during the 1950s that was anything but conservative. Nothing about it resembled the "average, American middle-class" family - the Anderson's - depicted so flawlessly on Father Knows Best. My family didn't look like the Anderson's, they didn't sound like the Anderson's, and they certainly didn't act like the Anderson's.

Nonetheless, I loved everything about that TV family just because it was so completely foreign to my life. I was totally, hopelessly captivated by their perfectly rosy lives. It wasn't that I wanted the Anderson's to be my family, I just loved visiting them each week, sort of like going to another planet without needing a space ship.

I grew up to be a liberal feminist, so nothing about my adult life now resembles the Anderson's in the least, even now. But, I STILL love them! I love the warmth, the messages, and even the strong patriarchal structure. In fact, that is exactly what distinguishes Father Knows Best from the other 50s all-white family shows, like Leave It To Beaver and the Donna Reed Show. Those other shows focus on the children, but it was the Dad that was paramount in this show - how he responded to his family and how they responded to him. So, major kudos to Shout!Factory for this wonderful release.

Father Knows Best was first a radio series on NBC Radio in 1949 before finally moving to CBS TV after more than four years. A Screen Gems production, the series aired from October 3, 1954 to May 23, 1960 for a total of 203 episodes. The series ended while it was still number 6 in the ratings. (Young left the series in 1960 at the height of the show's popularity, but reruns continued to air in prime time for another three years, on CBS from 1960-1962, and on ABC from 1962-1963. Following this, reruns were shown on ABC-TV in the early afternoon for several years.)

The Anderson family of Springfield, Mo., includes hardworking General Insurance agent Jim (Young), his levelheaded and lovely wife, Margaret (Jane Wyatt - who later became a cultural icon when she portrayed Spock's mother, Amanda, on Star Trek), and their kids, sophisticated teen Betty "Princess" (Elinor Donahue), befuddled James "Bud" Jr. (Billy Gray) and precocious Kathy "Kitty" (Laurin Chapin). Both Jim and Margaret where portrayed as responsible, caring parents, with Jim usually guiding the family (especially the children) through everyday problems and Margaret supporting them. Jim and Margaret always treated their children's youthful transgressions with authority, empathy and wisdom.

This first-ever DVD release of the series was endorsed and produced in tandem with the heirs of Robert Young and producer Eugene B. Rodney, co-proprietors of the TV series.

Father Knows Best: Season One DVD box set features all 26 classic episodes on four discs plus the never-before-seen episode 24 Hours in Tyrantland, which was created for the U.S. government in 1959, new cast interviews of the "kids," Young's Home Movies, rare "behind-the-scenes" color footage, and the pilot episode of Young's TV series Window On Main Street.

Season One Episodes (1954-1955) are: Bud Takes Up The Dance; Lesson In Citizenship; Motor Scooters; Football Tickets; Live My Own Life; Grandpa Jim's Rejuvenation; Bud's Encounter With The Law; Thanksgiving Day; Second Honeymoon; Typical Father; Margaret Goes Dancing; The Christmas Story; Sparrow At The Window; Boy's Week; A Friend of Old George's; Bud the Snob; The Promised Playhouse (Apparently, this episode was not intact in the archives, but was loaned for inclusion here by a private collector in Dallas who had a 16mm copy!); Jim The Farmer; Father of The Year; The Mink Coat; The Matchmaker; Bud the Bridesmaid; Proud Father; Father Delivers The Papers; No Partiality; and Close Decision.

DVD Special: 24 Hours In Tyrantland, the never-before-seen episode created especially for the U.S. government. In 1959 the U.S. Department of the Treasury paid to have a special episode produced. It was never broadcast, but was shown in schools, churches and civic groups for the purpose of selling U.S. Savings Bonds. When Betty, Bud and Kathy don't want to help sell U.S. Bonds, Jim teaches them a lesson by making them spend a day living under a tyrannical dictator - him!

I know, I know, Mrs. Anderson always dressed to the nines and NEVER worked out of the house, she and her husband slept in twin beds, their eldest daughter was nicknamed "Princess" and everything that was already perfect in their whiter-that-white world ended up even more perfect by the end of each episode. But, there was real love in the Anderson house. I know there was because my little-kid-self felt it. So, it may not be politically correct, but I rejoice in this show's release and look forward with eager anticipation to pulling my chair up to the Anderson's table for a very long-overdue home-cooked dinner.

Let's hope additional Season Sets on DVD of this TV Classic are forthcoming.

Father Knows Best. . . .but Shout Factory does not!
Father Knows Best was a wonderful television program. A review of the show would get 5 stars. These reviews are not supposed to be testimonials or nostalgic trips back to one's childhood; they should be reviews of the product. That is the reason I am awarding this product a single star. There is no excuse whatsoever for a company to give the buying public edited versions of tv shows that have been in existence for so many years. I wrongfully assumed that since the Young family trust gave its blessing to this project that the dvd set would be top notch and first class. Shout Factory could not even present episode number one in its original form. The first show was barely 22 minutes with complete opening sequence and closing credits. The editing to trim the show by the three minutes was done with a hatchet that a child of four could notice. I suppose this is better than no Father Knows Best at all, but not by much. My advice is to check the manufacturer of dvd's and make sure that Shout Factory had nothing to do with it. Otherwise, you will receive less than you hoped for and less than you paid for.

Very Bad News
Well folks, Shout! Factory has done it to us again. The same people who brought out the only "official" Ozzie & Harriet release in horrific cut-up form, is now doing their number on the 1950s popular art masterpiece "Father Knows Best". There is no "Head of the Family" pilot. The prints which were used on this Season One set are lousy, as is much of the sound. And that's the good news.

The bad news is that 14 of the 26 first-season episodes are the same ripped-apart versions we got from TVLand and every other syndication package over the past 20 years. These titles are 22 minutes(rather than the full-length 26 minutes):

"Bud Takes Up the Dance"
"The Motor Scooter"
"Football Tickets"
"Bud's Encounter With the Law"
"Second Honeymoon"
"The Christmas Story"
"Sparrow in the Window"
"Boy's Week"
"A Friend of Old George's"
"The Mink Coat"
"Bud the Bridesmaid"
"Proud Father"
"Father Delivers the Papers"
"Close Decision"

To look at these titles is to really get steamed, because some of these episodes("Second Honeymoon", "Close Decision", "Proud Father") have long been available on eBay and such places in original form, with commercials. Yes, the prints are not great, but if little ole me can punch up this stuff using Sony Vegas, imagine what Shout! could do if they cared. But they don't. For example, the flashback version of "Christmas Story" is very easy to obtain. If SF just took the original footage from within the flashback structure, they'd have 24 minutes, instead of 22. The fact that SF did not even make the attempt to retrieve easily retrievable uncut prints for FKB Season One -- why the uncut "Matchmaker", paired with a cut-up "Bud the Bridesmaid", considering they are two parts of one story, the only two-parter FKB ever had? -- proves the case against Shout.

A shameful release.

ADDENDUM. Believe it or not, there is major "ghosting" and frame-dropping on most episodes. :-( (Ghosting being visual artifacts left behind whenever there is fast movement by characters or objects.) Amazing! As fans of FKB know, the TVLand syndication package had these problems, which must mean that Shout! merely borrowed those eps rather than doing the hard and respectful work of finding the originals and remastering them. Also, as anyone can see who makes the mistake of buying this set, several times during each cut episode there are rapid fadeouts, sometimes in the middle of a sentence. Meaning: Shout! must have what is missing in those fades and for some reason -- probably so they could fit 26 eps onto 4 discs -- left the missing footage out.