Over the years, television has portrayed dads in a wide variety of ways. While most have been from the traditional two-parent family, others have been divorced, some have been widowers, and one or two have even been aliens from outer space!
In honor of the upcoming Father's Day holiday, the television column this week will look at TV dads, past and present. It is impossible to look at each and every dad on each and every television series over the years. Some sort of criteria, therefore, needed to be used.
The criteria used for this examination was that the dad or television series had to be significant in some way or another. This week we look at four dads from the 90s and today, as well as four TV dads from the 1950s, '60s, '70s, and '80s.
TV Dads from the 90s and today:
DEEP SPACE NINE (syndicated, 1/13/93 to 1999) This third incarnation of the STAR TREK franchise features one of the strongest father-son relationships on modern-day television. Avery Brooks stars as Captain Benjamin Sisko, a widower who must cope with the duties of running a deep space station and raising his young son, Jake (Cirroc Lofton).
While the bulk of the adventures focus on the deep space station where Sisko is commander, the most touching stories have featured the captain's loving relationship with his son.
I attended a tribute to DS:9 at the Museum of Radio and Television in Los Angeles a few years ago. At the tribute Brooks said one of the things he was most proud of was the relationship between the captain and his son. He hoped it provided a good role model for African-American youth.
DIAGNOSIS MURDER (CBS, 10/29/93 to present) Veteran motion picture and television star Dick Van Dyke plays Dr. Mark Sloan. Van Dyke's television son, Police Detective Steve Sloan, is played by his real-life son, Barry. Though the son in this case is a grown man, the two have a wonderful relationship on-screen. The series shows how a father and son can grow in their relationship to become good friends. The two interact often in the series because Dr. Sloan is a consultant to the LAPD, for whom his son coincidentally works.
