Does Father Know Best

From the ImBD page of Billy Gray - who played "Bud Anderson" on Father Knows Best

[in 1983, on his Father Knows Best (1954) years] I wish there was some way I could tell kids not to believe it--the dialogue, the situations, the characters--they were all totally false. The show did everybody a disservice. The girls were always trained to use their feminine wiles, to pretend to be helpless to attract men. The show contributed to a lot of the problems between men and women that we see today . . . I think we were all well motivated, but what we did was run a hoax. Father Knows Best (1954) purported to be a reasonable facsimile of life. And the bad thing is that the model is so deceitful. It usually revolved around not wanting to tell the truth, either out of embarrassment or not wanting to hurt someone . . . If I could say anything to make up for all the years I lent myself to that kind of (snip) it would be: "YOU Know Best".

So is Billy right about these shows like Leave it to Beaver, Bachelor Father, Family Affair, ect?

On the Andy Griffin show, Andy would often fib to not hurt someones feelings or to help someone....

I have read where the moms on FKB and LITB - received many letters from viewers who wished they had a family like that.

Jane Wyatt (Margaret Anderson) stated:
"Our shows were written to be entertaining, but the writers had something to say. Every script always solved a little problem that was universal. It appealed to everyone. I think the world is hankering for a family. People may want to be free, but they still want a nuclear family."

On the converse side - a show such as Rossanne - "told it like it was"

Open for discussion.