Father Know Best Essay

Father Knows Best From 1954-1960 Father Knows Best was a top show on television. It started on the radio in 1949 and then debuted on CBS in October of 1954. The show took place post World War II in a town called Springfield. It was never stated what state the town was in but due to mentions of Altoona, a town in Pennsylvania, viewers are led to believe that it took place in Springfield, Pennsylvania, just fifteen minutes from where I live. This show was very popular because it was such an idyllic presentation of family life. Robert Young played Jim Anderson, the father of three who balanced his family and job as a salesman and manager of the General Insurance Company. Jane Wyatt acted as Margaret Anderson who was married to Jim and was a
Teenagers loved singers such as Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley, but because so many adults found performers like them to be disgraceful, the producers chose to leave rock music out of the show entirely. The producers wanted to avoid as much controversy as they could avoid which is different from today’s society. Today a show will usually put controversial subjects in their shows so they can make biased opinions and try to persuade viewers one way or another. Another interesting fact is that the title of Father Knows Best was originally “Father Knows Best?” but, Kent Cigarettes sponsored the show and wanted the question mark removed. Kent did not want the question mark there because Kent wanted the father to be shown as infallible so that Kent could present a stronger image for its product. That shows what a strong influence a sponsor of a show has on television. In the 1950s everyone smoked cigarettes and they were so common that having a cigarette company represent the show was no big deal. Today, cigarettes are considered the worst things for anyone to use. Although sponsors are still a big role in television, there are never any cigarette companies sponsoring