Readers see their own fathers personified in small-screen characters

Readers see their own fathers personified in small-screen characters

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By William Loeffler
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, June 17, 2007

Television dads Ward Cleaver, Cliff Huxtable and Mike Brady don't
simply live on in re-runs.

Many readers see their characters reflected in the love and wisdom of
their own fathers.

For our TV Dads We Love contest, we asked readers to tell us which
television dad best exemplified their real-life father. Nearly every
dad who ever graced the cover of TV Guide was represented, from Ray
Romano to Cliff Huxtable to, er, Herman Munster.

Abby Yurga, 7, of New Kensington, wrote that her 6-foot, 6-inch dad
resembled the Munsters patriarch, minus the green skin.

"My dad is really tall and looks a little scary," Abby wrote of her
dad, Rob. "But he's really cool and funny."

Maureen Stefancin, of Hempfield, says Archie Bunker, the cantankerous
dad from "All in the Family," took the words out of her own dad's
mouth.

"My sister married a hippie," says Stefancin, 52. "My dad always
called him Meathead."

She says her father, Melvin Baird, now 78, coined the nickname years
before Archie, Edith, daughter Gloria and her husband, Mike, made
their television debut. Baird also wasn't shy about sharing his
opinions and had his own chair that was off limits to everyone else.

"It's so comical that when we used to watch Archie, our life was
playing out," Stefancin says. "We thought, 'Oh my God, how do these
writers know what our life was like?'"

Long before Tim Allen first hit his thumb with the hammer on "Home
Improvement," Jennifer Potocnak's father, Jim, was an accident waiting
to happen.

According to his daughter, Jim Potocnak fell off the roof of their New
Kensington home twice. The second time, he stepped on a nail that was
sticking out of a board, which necessitated a trip to the emergency
room. He also put a hole in his thumb while installing a new spring on
their garage door.

"These are not made-up stories," she says. But, she adds, "My dad is
just a great guy. He's just a really great dad."

Television dads have not exactly matured. The '50s gave us unflappable
sages like Ward Cleaver in "Leave it to Beaver" and Jim Anderson in
"Father Knows Best." The '70s gave us hip dads with perms and bell-
bottoms. Think Mike Brady in "The Brady Bunch" and Tom Corbett, played
by Bill Bixby, in "The Courtship of Eddie's Father."

By the '90s, dads had regressed into buffoons like Al Bundy in
"Married With Children" and Ray Romano in "Everybody Loves Raymond."
And, of course, Homer Simpson.

"Now we've moved to more of a parody of a dad," says Robert Thompson,
professor of media and culture at Syracuse University. "The parents
would probably be better off being fathered by the children rather
than vice versa. Certainly Lisa Simpson would be a better parent than
Homer."

Rick DeMoss, 55, of Lower Burrell, says his late father, Art,
resembled Jim Anderson, played by Robert Young, in "Father Knows
Best."

"He had a sense of humor, but he ruled the house," DeMoss says. "He
told you to do something, and he expected it to be done. If it wasn't
done, there would be consequences."

He tries to apply the same old-fashioned values when raising his
children.

Johanna Satariano, of Brighton Heights, says her dad was like none of
the TV dads.

"None of them would have had the nerve to don a silly hat and been the
first one on the dance floor, possessing no rhythm whatsoever," she
says. She gave her daughter her father's middle name. James Schuztman
was a civil engineer. His granddaughter, Angela James Bowman, lives in
Richmond.

More than a few entrants said their fathers possessed the qualities of
Cliff Huxtable, the mischievous Dr. Dad played by Bill Cosby on "The
Cosby Show."

Nancy Semoni, of New Kensington, remembers when her father pulled a
prank on her and her sister when they were in elementary school --
something that would have made Cliff Huxtable proud.

"He told us we couldn't have our cake until we ate our lunch," says
Semoni, now 56. "When we went to get the cake, we realized it was a
real sponge. We tried to put the fork in it, and it wouldn't go. ...
And we said, 'Oh, Dad!' Then he started laughing and we started
laughing and he gave us our real cake."

But her father, Bud Kearney, was more than a practical joker, she
says.

"My dad always listened to us. He always told us we could be anything
we wanted to be, no matter what. I always had a speech problem and he
said 'Don't let that hold you back.' "

Every Father's Day, Linda Balog, of North Huntingdon, places a balloon
and flowers on the grave of her father, George Bobbin.

"I've done it for as long as he's been gone," she says. "I still miss
him. He was my very best friend."

She says he exemplified the self-sacrifice and patience of Charles
Ingalls, played by Michael Landon, on "Little House on the Prairie."

When she was a little girl, she brought home a wounded puppy that her
father helped nurse back to health. The dog, Candy, became the family
pet for 16 years.

When she was 6, she began accompanying her dad on his travels as a
long-haul truck driver.

"We went all over the United States, and I slept in the bed of the
truck with him," she says. "That was my vacation. ... We went to
Florida. We went to California. We went to Canada."

--

Life imitates art

Mazie Bradley, 7, of Rostraver

Father: Ed Bradley

TV dad most like her dad: Andy Griffith

"He's caring. He's there when I need him. He lets me make my own
mistakes to learn," she says.

--

Chuck Weber, Ross

Father: Anthony Weber

TV dad most like his dad: Fred Flintstone

(He's) "a cranky loudmouth."

--

Geoff McBride, 45, Greensburg

Father: Eddie McBride

TV dad most like his dad: Tom Corbett, played by Bill Bixby, on "The
Courtship of Eddie's Father"

"I couldn't wait to get home from school and watch that show, because
it reminded me of my dad. He died when I was 8. But we loved spending
time together, just like Eddie and his dad. I wish it was still on one
of these TV Land channels."

--

Janet Pruszynski, 46, of Shaler

Father: Tom DeCesare

TV dad most like her dad: Cliff Huxtable, played by Bill Cosby, on
"The Cosby Show."

When Janet and her sister were growing up, their father surprised them
by stashing money in the ceiling fan, something in keeping with
Cosby's TV character. "After eating our grilled-cheese sandwiches, my
dad was complaining how hot it was and asked my sister to turn on our
ceiling fan. ... All of a sudden, money started falling as if from the
sky."

--
William Loeffler can be reached at (412) 320-7986.

I think my dad was like the Sanford & Son dude, mostly.

On Jun 18, 5:54 pm, Lisa Drake wrote:
I think my dad was like the Sanford & Son dude, mostly.

God bless Redd Foxx's smutty soul! I grew up in a neighborhood that
bordered Watts when Sanford and Son was on the air. I wished that
Fred Sanford was my dad. If he was, I could steal Grady's beer in a
paper bag. I could see all of those naked girls in pictures that
Bubba was always talking about. If I got caught, Fred would fake a
heart attack and I would feel bad. There would be one drawback, Aunt
Ester, I would have to watch what I said and did around her. Why
can't there be another show like Sanford and Son? I guess it would be
wrong in a politically correct sort of way today, but god I miss that
show!

G.L-Yeah, that's right!