I don’t know if All in the Family did this first, (there was The Honeymooners before that), but that show seemed to be the catalyst, with dads becoming more and more reprehensible and ugly, with every new television season.

The difference between Archie Bunker, and Al Bundy from Married with Children, is that Archie was willing to grow. He was a bigot, with some serious issues, but he also had depth, and was willing to change. Bundy was simply a vile and stupid man. Raymond from Everybody loves Raymond was also another one that I absolutely hated. The man was an utter nincompoop. Unlike with the Bundys, I kept wondering why his wife stayed. At least with Peggy Bundy, I understood that she was as lazy and obnoxious as her husband.

My favorite dad is Hank from King of the Hill, who at first seems doltish, but is really just a man with deep convictions. He’s set in his ways, and believes things should be a certain way, but he’s willing to change his mind. He is willing to grow and change, while trying to love and raise a sensitive son, that he doesn’t understand, and his sometimes overbearing, overconfident wife Peggy. It is the people around Hank who try his patience.

Another one of my favorites is the dad from Cloudy with Meatballs, voiced by Terry Crews, who tells his son he loves him at every opportunity, and Miles dad from Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse, who, in much the same way as Hank, is trying to raise a son he buts heads with, but he is really trying.

So yeah, I cherish depictions of good “dadsmanship”😊, having grow up without mine. Good dads are out there, because at least some writers are doing the work, but unfortunately, you either have to look long and hard for them, or stumble over them by accident.