The brainchild of the series' star Robert Young, who played insurance salesman Jim Anderson, and producer Eugene B. Rodney, Father Knows Best first debuted as a radio sitcom in 1949. In the audio version, the title of the show ended with a question mark, suggesting that father's role as family leader and arbiter was dubious. The partners' production company, Rodney-Young Enterprises, transplanted the series to television in 1954-without the question mark-where it ran until 1960, appearing at various times on each of the three U.S. networks (CBS reran it from 1960 to 1962; ABC broadcast reruns from 1962 to 1963).

     Young and Rodney, friends since 1935, based these­ ries on experiences each had with wives and children; thus, to them, the show represented "reality." Indeed, careful viewing of each of the series' 203 episodes reveals that the title was actually more figurative than literal. Despite the lack of an actual question mark, father did not always know best. Jim Anderson occasionally lost his temper, and he was not always right. Although Wife Margaret Anderson, played by Jane Wyatt, was stuck in the drudgery of domestic servitude, she was nobody's fool, often besting her husband and son, Bud (played by Billy Gray). Daughter Betty Anderson (Elinor Donahue), known affectionately to her father as Princess, could also take the male Andersons to task, as could the precocious Kathy (Lauren Chapin), the baby of the family, who was also called "Kitten."

     Like Leave It to Beaver creators Bob Mosher and Joe Connelly, Young and Rodney were candid about their attempts to provide moral lessons throughout the series. While none of the kids experienced the sort of social problems some of the real-life actors faced (Young was an alcoholic and the adult Chapin became a heroin addict), this was more the fault of television's then-myopic need for calm than Young and Rodney's desire to sidestep the truth. The series certainly avoided the existence of the "Other America," as did most other American institutions.

     Young won two Emmy Awards for his role, and Wyatt won three. A well-known film actor before his radio and television days, Young went on to later success in the long-running series Marcus Welby, M.D., which may have been more appropriately called "Doctor Knows Best." After Father Knows Best moved into prime-time reruns in 1960, Donahue played Sheriff Andy Taylor's love interest, Miss Ellie, on The Andy Griffith Show. In 1977 NBC brought the Andersons back in two reunion specials, Father Knows Best: The Father Knows Best Reunion (May I 977) and Father Knows Best: Home for the Holidays (December 1977).