Here’s an awesome CBS Father’s Day publicity photo from 1967. This was tweeted by the mighty Steve Hoffman (https://twitter.com/SteveHoffmanTV).
Clockwise from upper left, we have Billy Mumy, Barry Livingston, Ron Howard, Johnny Whitaker, Clint Howard, Anissa Jones and Stanley Livingston (center).
All of the fathers represented on these TV shows, with the possible exception of the Lost in Space father, who was for some reason very very distant even as he was very very handsome, are much clearer in my memory than my own reserved and distant father. Of course, genetics and nurture (even passive nurture of the kind favored by my papa) determines everything. I have grown up to be an exact replica in size and temperament of my actual father despite my desire to turn out more like Andy Taylor the wise sheriff or Uncle Bill the wealthy Uncle with beautiful, cultured girlfriends who were perfect in every way except they didn’t want to take care of poor Buffy, Jody and Cissy.
Sadly, the lesson is clear: Parents, your kids will learn from you despite the obvious superiority of role models on television.
