Who’s the daddiest TV dad of all time?
To celebrate Father's Day, The A.V. Club raises a cold one to the small screen's most quintessential dads
TV Features Dad
Clockwise from bottom left: Matthew Rhys in The Americans (Photo: FX), Homer Simpson of The Simpsons (Image: 20th Century Studios), James Gandolfini in The Sopranos (Photo: Anthony Neste/Getty Images), Peter Gallagher in The O.C. (Photo: Fox), Sterling K. Brown in This Is Us (Photo: NBC)
Dad…daddier…daddiest. For this Father’s Day-themed AVQ&A, we asked our staff that all-important, timely question: Who is the daddiest dad in TV history? It’s a surprisingly tricky one to answer, considering not just how many memorable fathers have graced the small screen but also what “daddiest” actually means anyway. Let us know your faves in the comments. (And, ahem, sorry in advance, Bob Belcher and Philip Banks.)
This article originally published in 2022. It was updated with new entries in June 2024.
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Uncle Phil and Dan ConnerThere are differing reasons for both of em. Uncle Phil seemed like a stern, strict father that ultimately had his kids’ best interests in mind. And he came off as pretty fair. He was a dad’s dad, if that makes sense. I think I’d quite possibly call him sir or father if he was my dad. Dan Conner reminded me of actual dads that lived around me. Wore jeans and flannels and jerseys and ball caps. And drank beer. Dan Conner has been to Hooters more than 6 times. The kind of dad you don’t wanna see come in the door if you’re dating his daughter.
And God help you if you’re hitting his sister-in-law.
Dan Conner {…} The kind of dad you don’t wanna see come in the door if you’re dating his daughter.A memorable specific scene, actually. “You can’t stop me from seeing your daughter.” “I can stop you from seeing tomorrow.” Whereupon the juvenile delinquent realizes that he is dealing with not just any protective dad, but one approximately the size of a Buick, and backs outta the situation…
You are right on both counts. Two high dad quotient dads there.
Imagine writing this list as if Cliff Huxtable is the Daddist TV dad.Btw, the clear number 1 is Bandit from Bluey, you absolute fools
I knew I wasn’t the only one to think it…
Bandit is the best Dad and more people need to watch Bluey. I was telling my parents they should watch and episode and they thought I was nuts. Then my dad talked to his old friend in Australia and he was like “Everyone in this country watches it!”
Btw, the clear number 1 is Bandit from Bluey, you absolute foolsIndeed.
Why can’t Cliff be on the list. Surely you can separate a fictional character from the actor who plays them.
He should absolutely be number 2 on this list
Except it’s the correct answer. The guy was America’s dad for a decade. Not sure what happened to the actor who played him.
I completely agree, it’s crazy that he isn’t anywhere on the list
Yeah, crazy that the TV dad doctor who plied his trade looking up womens’ vags from his office in the basement* and who was played by a real world goddamn serial rapist isn’t in this slideshow – can you imagine the fucking shitstorm that would ensue from that? lol I sure can.*Seriously, you’re not going to tell me there’s some connection there – sub-conscious or otherwise – with Cosby’s extracorricular activities…
We only saw his kids in maybe 5 episodes, but Agent Elliot Stabler was a dad. Therefore, Christopher Meloni wins! There was even an episode in his bedroom when all he was wearing were these tiny underpants. That sent me.
He did use his influence as a cop to get his daughter preferential treatment for her DWI. If manipulating the system unfairly for your progeny isn’t love, I don’t know what is!
Oh, I’m not saying Elliot Stabler was the best man on TV. I’m saying that I want to fuck Christopher Meloni.My apologies. I forgot it was also Father’s Day. I thought this “daddy” article was a Gay Pride themed post.
“I want to fuck Christopher Meloni” uhmmm get in line! behind his very fancy khaki clad buttocks and dozens of other lads and ladies. Best of luck though, Meloni seems like a catch. Watch “Happy!”
Right!? Best TV ‘Daddy’, for sure.
Well, obviously I wouldn’t fucking know.
Some username/comment synergy right there.
Guy’s been playing the long game for sure.
Al Bundy or GTFO
The problem with most TV dads is that, as supporting characters, they are entirely too involved in their kids’ lives (they don’t exist otherwise). I have no complaints about my dad, but he had no idea what I was up to 75% of the time, nor did he want to know. He had his own interests and hobbies and stuff to do and the stuff I was into was foreign to him at best. For the most part as long as no one was bleeding he didn’t need to know anything. So he was way closer to Al Bundy than Cliff Huxtable.
Mine collected planes.And bricks.
Such a wonderful father-son teaching moment.
Al Bundy was also the first thing that came to mind when I saw this headline.
Some of the episodes with Al and Kelly were my favorites. “Cheese, Cues and Blood” is my favorite. Kelly hustling pool and Al selling nine pints of to nine blood banks (and subsequently losing his mind) was hilarious. “The brain doesn’t need blood, you just need to keep the brain wet”. Anytime Al would call Kelly his “pumpkin” was genuinely sweet.
“They call him FLIPPER! FLIPPER!” — Al Bundy
GOAT
It’s canon that this man is a spectacular fuck with god-tier stamina.
Also a man who loves his lady curvy and will inject butter into her salad to keep it that way
Thats the correct choice right there .
Hard to imagine this guy not making the list, let alone not being number one by a long way.
A very complex dad.
The archetype:
he just wanted to spy for the Soviet UnionHe just wanted to line dance and drive sports cars
Exactly! He just wanted to FIT IN.
Phil Dunphy.
Yeah, if we’re going Daddiest Dad then I don’t know how he isn’t top 5.
Yes, he exists.
I will go to bat for Uncle Phil being the best TV dad. Period. The man fought for his family, his kids and his nephew. Sure, he was written as a caricature for laughs sometimes, but Uncle Phil proved time and time again he would do anything for his family. RIP James Avery.
And he had a secret double life menacing mutant turtles!
That hug (you know the one) breaks me every time I see it.
Melissa’s dad.
Home Movies always gets a star from me
And while we’re on subject of Squiggle vision, Dr. Katz of course. He has his hands full with Ben, but is always very loving.
Joe West on The FlashPat on Stargirl
The thing about the Jennings parental qualities are that they objectively are lacking, as most viceral seen in that “Slice of Life” scene, but they try goddamnit and Phillip Jennings try most of them both with the last remaining 20 % of his humanity.Another good scene I always loved is the one where he serves Paige her ass in one of those sparring lessons in frustration over she reads him as soft instead of him trying to preserve her humanity
“Where’s Henry?” was both of the Jennings’ catchphrase. Also I think that this is my favourite programme.
The judges would also have accepted: “I have a work emergency at the travel agency at 11 PM.”
Tony Shalhoub on “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and Eugene Levy on “Schitt’s Creek” were both some great choices as well.
How could you have Tony Soprano on this list but not include Walter White?Also, this is the best dad in all of TV, dumbasses:
100%. What other dad could create Robocop?
Wrong wrong wrong. Leland Palmer of “Twin Peaks” is the ultimate tv dad. In one character, we see the entire spectrum of fatherly behavior: the loving father, the corny dad who sings “Mairze Dotes”, and of course… Well, to say more would be telling.
Harold Weir FTW. omg, can’t get enough of him.
(And, ahem, sorry in advance, Bob Belcher and Philip Banks.)Um, ‘scuse me, but saying sorry in advance doesn’t make it right! I can’t be the only one who read “Best TV Dads” and immediately thought of this scene:(RIP James Avery)
Plus, he beat the shit outta some punks with a pool cue.
YEP
This is Eric Taylor erasure!
The daddest dad to ever dad:
He is actual unique in television as a career military father who is 100% with his kid not joining and actual supports his chosen career. Given what he has lost being in Star Fleet all his life it makes sense and is far more realistic of career military men then the idea that families have long traditions of everyone joining. Reminds me of my Dad, a proud marine, telling me when I was a teenager that I’m far to smart to join up and waste several years of my life.
Sisko was the only “family man” to be captain in all the Star Treks. He was my favorite, because he seemed more flawed (and more realistic) than the others. The “In the Pale Moonlught” episode sure showed that, as did ”For the Uniform.”
And a tip of the hat to Picard as a sort of surrogate dad to both Sisko (briefly and in a tough-love sort of way, but it really worked out in the long run) and Riker (whose real dad was, I think, supposed to have been a piece of work), not to mention one Acting Ensign Crusher…
Excellent choice. Apparently Brooks and Lofton became extremely close in real life, as well.And, while I think it was a great decision to not have Jake go into Starfleet, it’s damn shame the character was ultimately so poorly serviced by the writers. There are literally over 100 episodes of DS9 that don’t have Jake in them at all (despite being a “regular” character featured in the opening credits.)While Nog was given a masterful character arc, it was often at the expense of Jake, who either had nothing to do or simply wasn’t around at all.
Jake had plenty to do, and was given his due as much as any character on DS9 (no show serviced each and every character of it’s extended cast as well as DS9).Nog def got a lot of attention, but no one was left behind.
Jake most certainly did not have “plenty to do” and was not serviced to nearly the degree the other characters were.Did you read my entire post? Jake was in a meager 71 episodes out of Ds9’s total of 176. You couldn’t be more off base here.
And yet he went from bored teen to writer and war scarred reporter in those 71 episodes.I maintain DS9 serviced every one of it’s characters like no other show. Even Morn got backstory and stuff to do in the war effort, and his own episode.
Best Dad, Best Captain; just the best.
I wish my father got all Shakespeare in the Park when we argued like Avery Brooks did.
Disappointed they didn’t put him in the post, but glad he’s in the comments. The love he had for Jake radiated through the screen.
Coach Taylor should be on the list for sure.
How is he not even listed. He was dad to Julie, Matt Saracen, Tim Riggins, the Dillon Panthers, and the North Dillon football team. He was OUR dad.
I always thought Rick Marshall on Land Of The Lost was a great TV Dad. He loved his kids deeply and was fiercely protective of them but he also wasn’t going to put up with their bullshit.
You defend your kids from Sleestaks and you win Dad of the year
“They don’t like your kind in Belfast.”“My kind?”“PRICKS!”
Damn the AV Club’s done it to me again. I read a rehashed article forgetting I’ve seen it before. I then scan down the comments wondering if anyone’s mentioned XYZ. I then find, yes they have, and it was me.
Seems like you’re getting ahead of yourself there.
You gonna do it again this year?
Thankfully not this time. This time I vaguely remembered the article and thought I might have posted a comment previously, but was surprised to see it was about Gerry from Derry Girls.
oh, come on – bob belcher. anybody who goes undercover as a bronie wins hands down. non-canonical! non-canonical!
Bandit from Bluey. Paws down.
You’re gonna break your shoulder stretching to include David Lynch when there are so many better options staring you in the face?This guy for one
Dad from Kramer vs Kramer. His wife straight up abandons him, he has to learn the ropes of raising a kid on his own, and ultimately the wife comes back to take the kid away from him, using the fact he had to downsize his career to take care of his child as ammunition in the custody battle. Even though he gets to live with his kid at the end, he is still ultimately at the mercy of his wife as this was only possible because of her goodwill.
Shoot- I haven’t seen K v K since I was a little kid and I just realized you described my childhood from ages 8 to 16.My old man did get to keep us as well: the real joke being on me and my Sister as I found out later my Mom never went back to court for said custody battle. Still, after only seeing her twice in 2 years, at least we saw her like 6-8 times.I’m going to re-watch K v K now.
I remember that TV show.
Not Meryl Streep’s most fully-drawn character.
Surely Phil Dunphy? He’s the most Dad-focussed Dad on TV
I know his politics aren’t in favor in these parts, but Tim Taylor seems like he would be up there pretty high.
Well since I guess we’re not counting Bob Burger and Uncle Phil…
The article and all but a few of the responses seem to have a curiously hard cutoff sometime in the 80s, despite the prominence of family dramas and comedies, usually with the most period-stereotypically daddy Dads, in the three decades previously…
Right? Ward Cleaver? Herman Munster? Archie Bunker? George Jetson or Fred Flinstone if we’re gonna mention Homer…
Homer also nods to Father Knows Best by being set in an amorphously located Springfield. As it ended, along came My Three Sons, which with its widowed dad (anbd an uncle who did a pretty good job as Fun Dad) set the table for later shows that, through the lens of humor, examined the family as a more complicated thing.Which makes me think of a conspicuously dadless show from an earlier decade: Lassie. I think Jeff’s mom in the first few years was a war widow. Although per the sensibilities of the era and audience it usually happened offscreen or in backstory, stuff got real in Calverton, the show’s sometimes treacly image notwithstanding. And how are we even having a discussion of TV dads without practically writing a book about The Rifleman?
Dan Conner, Sandy Cohen, Jack Arnold.
Archie Bunker? maybe not, but he was doing his best.
Oh Dear, no Cliff Huxtable!!!
Rupert Fucking Giles
“(And, ahem, sorry in advance, Bob Belcher and Philip Banks.)“How the heck is Uncle Phil not on this list?
I know Mr. Four Touchdowns didn’t have a chance, but leaving Uncle Phil off?
don’t make me tap the sign.
I really can’t stand Hank’s unwillingness to let Bobby be Bobby.
I always thought Rick Marshall in Land Of The Lost was a great TV dad. He obviously loved his kids and would go to hell and back for them but he also wasn’t going to stand for their bullshit.
Hey look. The same list as last year. Didn’t even wipe the comments. Anyways for his year I nominate this guy Not just a dad but the surrogate dad for an entire Battlestar and a rag tag fleet of refugees.
In no particular order:Al BundyUncle PhilThe father from Malcolm in the Middle (was his name Hal? I can’t remember.)
Jeff BoonchuyPhil DunphyGoliathSplinterIsaac SumdacBruce Wayne (Beyond)
No love for Phil Dunphy?
He got voted in his third year on the ballot.Also, “Phil’s niceness is so steadfast that it feels almost unreal even for a fictional TV figure” glosses over that he usually knows when he’s the butt of the joke or being mocked. He tends to bottle it up but Burrell’s got enough of an edge that when he lets loose you can feel what’s going on under the surface.
You do know that TV didn’t begin in the late 80s, right? You’ve skipped over DECADES of famous television dads, although that did allow you to ignore one Clint Huxtable.
Can I nominate Red Green? He may not be a dad, but to me The Red Green show was one of the “daddest” shows of all time. His dad jokes were the best, he was a father to his fellow Possum Lodgers, and there was something so comforting about him spinning folksy, homespun wisdom about duct tape and women finding you handsome if they didn’t find you handy. As far as I’m concerned, he was a dad to his viewers.
Liam Neeson in any number of roles kicks their asses. If I were a daughter in peril, he’s the only one I’d want.
Another recycled list that forgets there was TV before the 1990s…..Where are John Walton (Ralph Waite, “The Waltons” (1972-1984)) and Steve Douglas (Fred MacMurray, “My Three Sons” (1960-1972))?And more recently, what about Hank Hill and Bob Belcher?
…or Andy Griffith?
reposting old articles fuckin sucks! no thanks!
It’s sad to see how vibrant and engaged this community used to be, even two years ago.
I didn’t even recognize this as an old post until I started seeing the random years. Whoops.
What about Andy Taylor?
WHERE THE FUCK IS BOB BELCHER?!?
I just rewatched The Americans. Phil & Elizabeth’s continual neglect of Henry to focus on Paige feels like a running joke at first before it becomes entirely problematic. They wholeheartedly chose her only to have her reject them due to their selfishness.