Remember Julia

I watched a bit of "The Andy Griffith Show" earlier today and something had occurred to me, something I had thought about before but never got a satisfactory answer to. Why did the story lines of so many TV programs have widower fathers or surrogate fathers (looking after children whose parents had died) as the main character? I can think of several off the top of my head.
• My Three Sons
• The Andy Griffith Show
• The Brady Bunch
• The Courtship of Eddie's Father
• Bachelor Father
• Family Affair
• Flipper
• The Rifleman
I know that television writers often pattern their plot lines after certain demographic groups and target those groups as viewers, but were there really that many orphans or widowers back in those days? Maybe it was more acceptable back then to write in a dead mother or dead parents than it was to write in a divorced father. Maybe part of it is to show the struggles of being a single parent, but it wasn't until the 1970's that a program featured a single mother, and she was divorced, not widowed. The other thing is that only on "Andy Griffith" and "Eddie's Father" did the child ever ask about his deceased mother. Maybe it happened on other shows, but I didn't watch all of them (I particularly disliked The Brady Bunch, even as a child). Anyhow, it's just one of things I've wondered about. One other thing is: What the hell did Ward Cleaver do for a living? He always went "to the office" in his suit and tie, but he never spoke much about what he did.  Though I didn't watch that show too much either.

I don't know where you're getting you stats from, but that one is bullshit.

63% of all Wikipedia editors support me on that. Support rises to 91% among left-handed amnesiacs, Scrabble-addicted lepers, and Oklahoma ferret fanciers.

I sit corrected.

63% of all Wikipedia editors support me on that. Support rises to 91% among left-handed amnesiacs, Scrabble-addicted lepers, and Oklahoma ferret fanciers.

Got any facts to back that up?

Oh, please. Those are facts. You can prove anything you like with facts.

Seriously: tight-lipped, controlling, goes off to some undefined office job that he never talks about, last guy you'd suspect, whereabouts unknown on Nov. 22 1963 - do the math, people. Ward Cleaver was a hired killer. 

You just wanted to say ass sassin'...

I think Ward Cleaver was some kind of assassin. It would explain a LOT. 

I watched a bit of "The Andy Griffith Show" earlier today and something had occurred to me, something I had thought about before but never got a satisfactory answer to. Why did the story lines of so many TV programs have widower fathers or surrogate fathers (looking after children whose parents had died) as the main character? I can think of several off the top of my head.
• My Three Sons
• The Andy Griffith Show
• The Brady Bunch
• The Courtship of Eddie's Father
• Bachelor Father
• Family Affair
• Flipper
• The Rifleman
I know that television writers often pattern their plot lines after certain demographic groups and target those groups as viewers, but were there really that many orphans or widowers back in those days? Maybe it was more acceptable back then to write in a dead mother or dead parents than it was to write in a divorced father. Maybe part of it is to show the struggles of being a single parent, but it wasn't until the 1970's that a program featured a single mother, and she was divorced, not widowed. The other thing is that only on "Andy Griffith" and "Eddie's Father" did the child ever ask about his deceased mother. Maybe it happened on other shows, but I didn't watch all of them (I particularly disliked The Brady Bunch, even as a child). Anyhow, it's just one of things I've wondered about. One other thing is: What the hell did Ward Cleaver do for a living? He always went "to the office" in his suit and tie, but he never spoke much about what he did.  Though I didn't watch that show too much either.

There was the show Julia in 1968. she was a young African-American woman working as a nurse. She is also a widow (her husband died in Vietnam) trying to raise a young son alone.

In Courtship of Eddie's Father, I remember them talking about the mom. I don't remember what happened to her.

I watched a bit of "The Andy Griffith Show" earlier today and something had occurred to me, something I had thought about before but never got a satisfactory answer to. Why did the story lines of so many TV programs have widower fathers or surrogate fathers (looking after children whose parents had died) as the main character? I can think of several off the top of my head.
• My Three Sons
• The Andy Griffith Show
• The Brady Bunch
• The Courtship of Eddie's Father
• Bachelor Father
• Family Affair
• Flipper
• The Rifleman
I know that television writers often pattern their plot lines after certain demographic groups and target those groups as viewers, but were there really that many orphans or widowers back in those days? Maybe it was more acceptable back then to write in a dead mother or dead parents than it was to write in a divorced father. Maybe part of it is to show the struggles of being a single parent, but it wasn't until the 1970's that a program featured a single mother, and she was divorced, not widowed. The other thing is that only on "Andy Griffith" and "Eddie's Father" did the child ever ask about his deceased mother. Maybe it happened on other shows, but I didn't watch all of them (I particularly disliked The Brady Bunch, even as a child). Anyhow, it's just one of things I've wondered about. One other thing is: What the hell did Ward Cleaver do for a living? He always went "to the office" in his suit and tie, but he never spoke much about what he did.  Though I didn't watch that show too much either.

Don't forget Rin Tin Tin.

Don't forget Rin Tin Tin.