Back in the 1950s, as televisions began to populate more and more American homes, one show defined the “aura” of the period, that Eisenhower-fueled, white picket fence (key word there being white) sensibility people wanted to believe in. The show was Father Knows Best. Now Fox’s New Regency wants to bring it back, 21st century style. The company’s hired Michael McCullers, writer/director of Baby Mama, to tackle the project, which will be “a multi-generational story about a father of a suburban family with a modern parenting approach who’s thrown for a loop when his own father, with a different attitude, comes to live with them.” [L.A. Times]
It’s actually kind of disappointing news. McCullers hit a solid double with Baby Mama, which took on the surrogate parenting debate in a fresh, funny way. This adaptation feels about as tired as the Father Knows Best show feels today, which is to say that “21st century style” might be for naught.
That said, the logline description comes from a story published long before McCullers was brought on, so maybe bigger changes are underway. Let’s hope so.
Have you seen Father Knows Best? Was it your kind-of racist grandpa you watched it with?