Playback is currently unavailable for S1 E1 · Bud Takes Up the Dance. Episode details remain available below.
Father Knows Best
Family man Jim Anderson copes with the everyday problems among his wife Margaret and their three children as they experience day-to-day changes.
- Created by:
- Ed James
- Cast:
- Robert Young, Jane Wyatt, Elinor Donahue, Billy Gray
- Language:
- English
- Country:
- United States of America
- Network:
- CBS
Episode guide
Seasons
Season 1
Episodes
E01
Episode 1
Bud Takes Up the Dance
1954-10-03 · 30mBud tries to learn how to dance from a book for his first school dance.
Current episodeEpisode 2
Lesson in Citizenship
1954-10-10 · 30mJim tells his family to help others which leads to complications.
Watch progress · Not trackedEpisode 3
The Motor Scooter
1954-10-17 · 30mJim buys Bud a motor scooter but Margaret won't let him have it.
Watch progress · Not trackedEpisode 4
Football Tickets
1954-10-24 · 30mJim gets tickets to an important football game, and picks one of the kids to go with him—only to be blackmailed by an important client (who wants to go to the game, too) out of one of his tickets. He then tries frantically to find a second one.
Watch progress · Not trackedEpisode 5
Live My Own Life
1954-10-31 · 30mBud moves out, but discovers he can't clean, cook, or take care of himself.
Watch progress · Not trackedEpisode 6
Grandpa Jim's Rejuvenation
1954-11-07 · 30mJim comes to believe that he is over the hill.
Watch progress · Not trackedEpisode 7
Bud's Encounter With the Law
1954-11-14 · 30mBud becomes increasingly paranoid when Kathy (who has a fascination with the new washing machine, and puts everything in there) places a letter addressed to him by the police department in the washing machine, and ruins the letter, so he doesn’t know why he is asked to be there within seven days.
Watch progress · Not trackedEpisode 8
Thanksgiving Day
1954-11-21 · 30mKathy writes the best poem in the fourth grade on what Thanksgiving means to her, and Jim builds the poem up in his mind to unreasonable expectations for a fourth grader. When he actually finds out what the poem consists of, his hopes for Kathy’s future are deflated and he disparages the poem to Margaret, unwitting that Kathy has overheard.
Watch progress · Not trackedEpisode 9
Second Honeymoon
1954-11-28 · 30mJim's weekend retreat, just he and his wife, seems like a perfect idea, at first. But he doesn't want to pass this on to the kids when he learns that the kids have plans with them; and then when the kids take the news too easy, Jim and Margaret are befuddled. They leave, but soon they start thinking about their kids and after reaching the lodge they want to phone in - but no one answers the call...
Watch progress · Not trackedEpisode 10
Typical Father
1954-12-05 · 30mJim becomes worried that things between Betty and a new male friend of hers are getting too serious.
Watch progress · Not trackedEpisode 11
Margaret Goes Dancing
1954-12-12 · 30mJim and Margaret rarely disagree on anything. But when he finds out Margaret signed them up to take dancing lessons, Jim refuses to do so, and ends up defiantly going to his old club, leaving her to take lessons alone.
Watch progress · Not trackedEpisode 12
The Christmas Story
1954-12-19 · 30mJim takes the family into the woods to cut down their own tree, and they become stranded there.
Watch progress · Not trackedEpisode 13
Sparrow in the Window
1954-12-26 · 30mKathy discovers a wounded Sparrow on the windowsill of the house—which she then considers hers—and the whole family becomes involved in trying to help it get better.
Watch progress · Not trackedEpisode 14
Boy's Week
1955-01-02 · 30mJim receives a traffic ticket and Bud is appointed to be judge on that day.
Watch progress · Not trackedEpisode 15
A Friend of Old George's
1955-01-09 · 30mAn unwanted visitor that won't leave spoils Kathy's birthday party.
Watch progress · Not trackedEpisode 16
Bud the Snob
1955-01-16 · 30mBud is deemed a snob by the girls in school because he won’t speak to any of them. When Jim talks it over with him, he discovers that Bud‘s real problem is that he becomes tongue-tied around them.
Watch progress · Not trackedEpisode 17
The Promised Playhouse
1955-01-23 · 30mAfter making a big deal about people keeping their word, Jim is forced to put his words into practice to set a good example for his family.
Watch progress · Not trackedEpisode 18
Jim the Farmer
1955-01-30 · 30mJim wants to give up his office job in order to move into the country to lead a quiet, and less stressful, life as a farmer. Margaret doesn't think that he means it seriously, but he crosses more lines to fulfill his dream than he ever has before.
Watch progress · Not trackedEpisode 19
Father of the Year
1955-02-06 · 30mJim is happy to learn his kids are planning to enter him in a Father of the Year contest. But things, of course, don’t go smoothly.
Watch progress · Not trackedEpisode 20
The Mink Coat
1955-02-13 · 30mEven though finances have grown a little tight in the Anderson household, Jim buys Margaret a mink coat that ends up being more trouble than it’s worth.
Watch progress · Not trackedEpisode 21
The Matchmaker
1955-02-20 · 30mMargaret tries to get her cousin and her boyfriend married.
Watch progress · Not trackedEpisode 22
Bud the Bridesmaid
1955-02-27 · 30mMargaret's cousin (from the previous episode) is set to wed in the Anderson household, but things go wrong, due to the nervousness of the prospective bride and groom, and the wedding is called off. Poor Bud is reeled in to do a stand-in for the bride at the rehearsal.
Watch progress · Not trackedEpisode 23
Proud Father
1955-03-06 · 30mJim tries to help the children regain their confidence.
Watch progress · Not trackedEpisode 24
Father Delivers the Papers
1955-03-13 · 30mBud injures himself, so Jim delivers the papers on his route to avoid Bud being fired.
Watch progress · Not trackedEpisode 25
No Partiality
1955-03-20 · 30mKathy and Betty fight for the attention of the same man.
Watch progress · Not trackedEpisode 26
Close Decision
1955-03-27 · 30mMargaret worries the entire day over what will become of Bud’s future if he doesn’t develop good character. This is tied in with a baseball game Bud is trying to get to play in.
Watch progress · Not trackedCast
Robert Young
Jim Anderson
Jane Wyatt
Margaret Anderson
Elinor Donahue
Betty Anderson
Billy Gray
Bud Anderson
Lauren Chapin
Kathy Anderson