Aired: 1982-86 
DAD: Edward Stratton III (Joel Higgins) / Divorced (married final season) 
DAD’S JOB: Wealthy guy who plays with toys (just happened to own a toy company, too)
KIDS: Ricky Stratton (Ricky Schroeder) (11)
WHERE’S MOM?: Divorced. Mom dumped Ricky in military school. Ricky finagled a way to live with the Dad he never knew until he was 10.
STAND-IN "MOM": Kate Summers (Erin Gray)
This show qualifies by the skin of its teeth, as Dad married the secretary (Kate Summers) in the last season. Silver Spoons was about role reversals, mostly. Ricky was a lot more mature in attitude than Dad. The downside of Ricky was that he did not have as much fun as his old man. Ricky’s positive influence on his Dad was that he could reconcile his father with the more dour members of his family, especially Edward’s own father (played by John Houseman). Perhaps the best influence Ricky had on his Dad was in his ability to get Dad to focus on being a real parent, instead of just a selfish boy with expensive toys.