Today’s Fathers: Do They Know Best?

The sitcom dad has been a staple since the early ‘50s, when William Bendix played the funny, bumbling Chester A. Riley on the long-running comedy “The Life of Riley.” But most of the pops of the 1950s--Jim Anderson (Robert Young) from “Father Knows Best,” Ozzie (Ozzie Nelson) from “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet,” and Ward Cleaver (Hugh Beaumont) of “Leave It to Beaver”--were almost too perfect and good to be true. They were loving, understanding and didn’t seem to have an angry bone in their bodies.

The 1960s introduced the widower father trying to play both mom and dad to their children while getting back into the dating world, with Andy Griffith on “The Andy Griffith Show,” Fred MacMurray in “My Three Sons” and Bill Bixby on “The Courtship of Eddie’s Father.” The ‘70s brought with it the irreverent sitcom dad--Carroll O’Connor’s politically incorrect Archie Bunker on “All in the Family” and Sherman Hemsley’s opinionated George Jefferson on “The Jeffersons.”

Bill Cosby’s wisecracking Dr. Cliff Huxtable on “The Cosby Show” was the dominant father of the ‘80s. Though he shared some qualities with Jim Anderson, he guided his brood with a firm but loving hand. The second-most popular ‘80s dad was Steve Keaton (Michael Gross), a flower child father attempting to keep his liberal views while raising his family of three on “Family Ties.”

The most popular dad to emerge from the ‘90s is Ray Romano’s neurotic, almost adolescent father of three in “Everybody Loves Raymond,” which is entering its sixth season. This season, four actors are throwing their hats into the sitcom dad ring. On CBS, Daniel Stern plays the divorced father of two teenagers in “Danny.” Jim Belushi stars as a married dad of three young children in ABC’s “According to Jim.” Bob Saget, who played a widower with three children on ABC’s “Full House,” plays another widower, this time with two children, on the WB’s “Raising Dad.” And Flex Alexander, who appeared a few seasons ago on the UPN comedy “Homeboys From Outer Space,” is back on that network as a divorced father of a teenage girl in “One on One.”

Belushi, Saget and Stern have a lot of experience playing dads--Belushi has two children in real life, and Saget and Stern have three each. Alexander and his wife are expecting their first child, a girl, next month.

Though Stern declined to participate in this article, Belushi, Saget and Alexander were more than willing to offer information on their characters and what makes them so endearing.

FLEX ALEXANDER

‘One on One”

Mondays at 8:30 p.m. on UPN. Already premiered.

Vital Statistics:

Name: Flex Washington

Age: “That hasn’t been determined. He’s 28 or 30, something like that.”

Height: 6 feet, 4 inches

Weight: 180 pounds

Occupation: sportscaster

Children: a teenage daughter

Marital status: divorced

Most endearing quality: “His heart. He’s a charming guy. He’s trying to juggle now having full custody of his daughter and still date and everything, because he’s kind of a ladies’ man. He is a charismatic guy. You can’t help but love him because he is doing things very earnestly from the heart.”

Inspiration for his role: “I conceived the show. My inspiration is that I have close friends who are single dads who are good fathers who are not what America would stereotype as deadbeat dads. They are good dads who have relationships with their daughters.”

JIM BELUSHI

“According to Jim”

Wednesdays at 8:30 p.m. on ABC. Premieres Sept. 26.

Vital Statistics

Name: Jim

Age: 44

Height: 6 feet

Weight: 230 pounds

Occupation: contractor

Children: two daughters and a son

Marital status: married

Most endearing quality: “He is good with children. He makes up good games with the children. One is called ‘Frozen Man.’ That is where I am frozen, and the way I get thawed out is by the kids playing in the backyard. It’s a long thaw, but not as long as hide-and-go-seek. They hide, and you know what? I just can’t find them.”

Inspiration for his role: “I am playing close to myself. [Creators and producers] Jonathan Stark and Tracy Newman always talk to me--they want to know [about me]. What is wonderful about this work is that you find more depth to the character and more family situations as you go. And you can pick your relatives.”

BOB SAGET

“Raising Dad”

Fridays at 9:30 p.m. on the WB. Already premiered.

Vital Statistics

Name: Matt Stewart

Age: 40-ish

Height: 6 feet, 4 inches

Weight: 193 pounds

Occupation: “He’s an English lit teacher in high school. His daughter goes to the same school, but she can’t be in his class.”

Children: two daughters

Marital status: “Somebody asked me, ‘Why do you always play a man with a dead wife?’ I said, ‘A man can dream can’t he?’ ”

Most endearing quality: “His hair, because he still has it! No, I think his most endearing quality is that he kind of has the youth of his students. He’s immature, like the people in his school, and he really treats younger people like they are no younger than him. He treats them as an equal.”

Inspiration for his role: “I think--more so than ever on anything else I have done--I am playing myself. This part is much more like what I am in my life. I am not the irreverent comic when I do stand-up. I am more of a whirling dervish. I am not very tactile. I don’t clean up anything. I am more sarcastic, like I am in my general life. Whenever there is something confrontational and difficult, I kind of diffuse it with humor.”

DANIEL STERN

“Danny”

Fridays at 8:30 p.m. on CBS. Premieres this Friday.

Vital Statistics

Name: Danny Age: 40

Height: 6 feet, 2 inches

Weight: unknown

Occupation: dedicated head of the local community center

Children: a son and a daughter

Marital status: divorced

Most endearing quality: Great rapport with the children at the community center, especially when he agrees to be a substitute teacher for a girls’ ballet class.

Inspiration for his role: Stern’s Danny is a variation on the lovable neurotic he has played in such films as “Breaking Away,” “Diner” and “City Slickers.”