DAD: Gov. Gene Gatling (James Noble) / Widower DAD’S JOB: Governor KIDS: Katie (Missy Gold)(11) WHERE’S MOM?: Dead – went to a costume party dressed as a sugar cube and was attacked by a horse. STAND-IN “MOM”: Benson (Robert Guillaume) One link to think about and then just put it out of your mind: Benson worked with a stuffy assistant …
Archie Bunker’s Place
Aired: 1979-83 DAD: Archie Bunker (Carroll O’Connor) / Widower DAD’S JOB: Bartender KIDS: Stephanie (11) (Danielle Brisebois) WHERE’S MOM?: Edith died. Edith’s niece abandoned by dad. STAND-IN “MOM”: Mrs. Canby (Barbara Meek) Coming out of the ragged edges of the monumental All in the Family, this show pieced together life after Mike and Gloria Stivic moved away and Archie had …
Big Shamus, Little Shamus
Aired: 1979 DAD: Arnie Sutter (Brian Dennehy) / Unknown Marital Status DAD’S JOB: House Detective KIDS: Max Sutter (Doug McKeon) (13) WHERE’S MOM?: Unknown STAND-IN “MOM”: Unknown Two episodes. That’s how long this absolute stinker of a show lasted. Arnie Sutter was a hotel detective in the gambling resort of Atlantic City. I don’t know about how or why he …
The Mackenzies of Paradise Cove
Aired: 1979 DAD: Cuda Weber (Clu Gulager) / Single DAD’S JOB: Fishing Boat Operator KIDS: Timothy Mackenzie (Keith Mitchell) (7), Michael (Sean Marshall) (12), Bridget (Lory Walsh) (17), Kevin (Shawn Stevens) (17). WHERE’S MOM?: Drowned. So did Dad. STAND-IN “MOM”: Unknown I never saw this show, but based on the writeups I’ve seen, it’s not too much different from the …
Operation: Runaway!
Aired: 1978-79 DAD: David McKay (Robert Reed) / Single DAD’S JOB: Psychologist KIDS: Mark Johnson (Michael Biehn), Susan Donovan (Ruth Cox) (teens) WHERE’S MOM?: Unclear where the whereabouts of birth parents were. STAND-IN “MOM”: Karen Wingate (Karen Machon) / Girlfriend of David’s Kinda like a dead serious version of Bachelor Father. David McKay was a psychologist who counselled teen runaways, …
Hello Larry!
DAD: Larry Alder (McLean Stevenson) / Divorced DAD’S JOB: Radio Host KIDS: Diane(Donna Wilkes, then Krista Errickson) (16), Ruthie (Kim Richards) (13) WHERE’S MOM?: Divorced – played (occasionally) by Shelley Fabares STAND-IN “MOM”: Leona Wilson (Ruth Brown) The third series in the downward, post-M*A*S*H spiral of McLean Stevenson, it wasn’t much different than Frasier with two little girls at home. …
Big Hawaii
DAD: Barrett Fears (John Dehner) DAD’S JOB: Pineapple Rancher KIDS: Mitch Fears (early 20’s) WHERE’S MOM?: Dead, maybe STAND-IN “MOM”: none This was Dallas in the Aloha State. But the plot more closely resembled the Jack Klugman show You Again, where this successful conservative dad winds up with a radically different son. The show didn’t last long enough to worry …
The Dukes of Hazzard
Aired: 1979-85 DAD: Uncle Jesse Duke (Denver Pyle) DAD’S JOB: Old Coot, and retired Moonshine Runner KIDS: Bo (John Schneider), Luke (Tom Wopat), Daisy (Catherine Bach), Coy (Byron Cherry), Vance (Christopher Mayer) (all supposedly in their 20’s) WHERE’S MOM?: Who knows? The cousins and nephews of Jesse Duke are why there’s so many West Virginia jokes. STAND-IN “MOM”: none Update: …
BattlestaR Galactica
Aired: 1978 DAD #1: Commander Adama (Lorne Greene) / Widower DAD #1’S JOB: Defending refugees fleeing the Cylon tyranny KIDS OF DAD #1: Apollo (20-something), Athena (20-something) WHERE’S MOM #1 ?: Dead from Cylon attack STAND-IN “MOM #1”: none DAD #2: Captain Apollo (Richard Hatch) / Widower DAD #2’S JOB: Defending refugees fleeing the Cylon tyranny KIDS OF DAD #2: …
Land of the Lost
Aired: 1974-77 DAD: Rick Marshall (Spencer Milligan) / Unknown Marital Status DAD’S JOB: Some kind of river explorer KIDS: Will (Wesley Eure)(15), Holly (Kathy Coleman) (11) WHERE’S MOM?: Unknown – back on normal Earth, somewhere STAND-IN “MOM”: Unknown A Sid & Marty Krofft show. Dad wound up stranded in a time vortex that dropped Dad and the two kids into …