Danny Tanner, Dan Conner & More of the Most Beloved TV Dads of the ’80s and ’90s
TV dads of the 1980s and 1990s evolved from a distant father who just worked all the time to a more emotionally present and educated dad like Jason Seaver (Alan Thicke) in Growing Pains, Steven Keaton (Michael Gross) in Family Ties, or Danny Tanner (Bob Saget) in Full House, who also enlisted a little help from friends and family, to the likes of brother in-law Uncle Jesse (John Stamos) and best freind Joey (Dave Coulier) to help make the family circle complete.
Others, like Carl Winslow (Reginald VelJohnson) on Family Matters, still played the strict father but were also softies at heart, or the jovial dads like Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor (Tim Allen) on Home Improvement, made dad time fun.
On the other side of the spectrum, you had Al Bundy (Ed O’Neill) on Married…With Children, which was more of the cynical suburban dad, along with another blue-collar dad, Dan Conner (John Goodman) on Roseanne, both paved the way for Homer Simpson (Dan Castellaneta) in The Simpsons in the years to come.
This Father’s Day, celebrate some of our favorite TV Dads from the 1980s and 1990s and find out just what made them so special.
Tony Micelli, Who’s the Boss?
(1984-92)
Columbia Pictures Television/Courtesy: Everett Collection
He loved New York, but he loved his daughter Samantha more. Sensitive young widower and hunky former baseball major leaguer Tony Micelli (Tony Danza) moved from Brooklyn to a Connecticut suburb to work as a live-in housekeeper for single working mom Angela (Judith Light) to give Samantha (Alyssa Milano) a different life. While Tony and Angela’s will-they-or-won’t-they chemistry made the ABC sitcom Who’s the Boss? a Top 10 hit, Tony showing Sam that an ambitious woman should be respected and supported — whether as a friend or an eventual lover — encouraged a generation of impressionable viewers to expect the same.
Dr. Jason Seaver, Growing Pains
(1985-92)
Everett Collection
For seven seasons, Alan Thicke’s Long Island shrink dispensed all sorts of good advice as the work-from-home father who always seemed to know best. Together with wife Maggie (Joanna Kerns), Jason helped their kids — lothario Mike (Kirk Cameron), brainiac Carol (Tracey Gold), and troublemaker Ben (Jeremy Miller) — navigate copious crises with warmth and wit, which came in handy when Maggie unexpectedly announced that a fourth child was due in Season 4. Jason was so good at his job that, in the final season, he even took in a homeless teen who grew up to become Oscar-winning Leonardo DiCaprio.
Al Bundy, Married… With Children
(1987–97)
Columbia Pictures Television/Courtesy: Everett Collection
Not every dad is perfect. That was especially so with the brash Al Bundy (played by Ed O’Neill, who would also go on to play Modern Family patriarch Jay Pritchett) in the 11-season-long FOX sitcom Married… With Children. He was an obnoxious pleasure-seeking shoe salesman who thrived on rude insults and putting down his family: wife Peggy (Katey Sagal), flirty Kelly (Christina Applegate), and girl-crazy Bud (David Faustino). He fantasized about the old days playing high school football in Chicago and could never seem to pay off his 1971 Dodge. And though he was pretty mean (and problematic) sometimes, he still sacrificed his happiness plenty for his family.
Danny Tanner, Full House
(1987-95)
Warner Bros./Courtesy: Everett Collection
The ABC family sitcom Full House ran from 1987-95, with comedian Bob Saget starring as Danny Tanner, a widowed father of three girls — D.J. (a pre-Bure Candace Cameron), Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin), and Michelle (alternately played by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen) — in San Francisco. Danny was a TV personality in San Francisco, first as a sportscaster and then as cohost of the Wake Up, San Francisco morning talk show. Danny was an obsessive neat freak and was generally annoyed by D.J.’s friend Kimmy Gibbler (Andrea Barber).
Following the death of his wife, Pam, in a car accident caused by a drunk driver, Danny enlisted longtime BFF Joey Gladstone (Dave Coulier), a goofball comedian, and brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis (John Stamos), an irresponsible rock musician, to help raise his daughters.
As deputy dads, Jesse and Joey were initially in over their heads and often caused more mischief with the girls than they prevented. But as D.J., Stephanie, and Michelle grew, so did their uncles. Jesse eventually became a respectable nightclub owner, married Danny’s cohost Rebecca (Lori Loughlin, before she made news headlines for all the wrong reasons) and became the father of twin boys. Joey matured over the course of the series, but never lost his love of comedy or cartoons. Joey grew up as an only child, so he reveled in being a big part of the Tanners’ extended family.
Dan Conner, Roseanne
(1988–1997)
Carsey-Werner Company
Dan (John Goodman) is an easygoing, working-class father to Becky (Lecy Goranson), Darlene (Sara Gilbert), D.J. (Michael Fishman), and, much later, baby Jerry (Cole and Morgan Roberts, though he was later removed from the narrative in The Conners). He is usually more laid-back and lets his wife, Roseanne (Roseanne Barr), run things in the household. But on the rare occasions he gets angry, everyone pays attention. He tries to be supportive of his children in everything that they do. He loves his daughters, Becky and Darlene, and is always suspicious of their boyfriends and husbands until they prove themselves. He is even open to the idea of Darlene going to art school in Chicago. Dan loves sports and his Chicago teams. He also enjoys playing poker and fixing motorcycles with his friends. His jobs may change, but above all, he just wants to be a good influence on his kids. He is maybe the most important part of the Conner household and keeps everybody going just with his presence.
Carl Winslow, Family Matters
(1989-97)
Everett Collection
When your pop is a cop, you’d better behave! Good-natured Carl Winslow (Reginald VelJohnson, who gained fame as an LAPD sergeant in the Die Hard movie franchise) was a Chicago police officer and married father of three in the sitcom Family Matters (a Perfect Strangers spinoff). Protective, penny-pinching Carl and his kids were constantly (and humorously) annoyed by the show’s breakout character, nerdy, pesky next-door neighbor Steve Urkel (Jaleel White). He was always breaking things that Carl, a DIY-er, had to fix.
Frank Constanza, Seinfeld
(1989–1998)
Columbia TriStar Television/Everett Collection
Frank’s greatest claim to fame is probably his invention of the Christmas alternative holiday, Festivus, which he created in protest of the commercialization of Christmas. Now, wouldn’t any kid be thrilled to say their father invented a holiday as cool as that? Well, not really the case when it came to Frank Constanza (Jerry Stiller), he wasn’t the loving, guiding father a child needs. Frank was never shy about his feelings towards his son George (Jason Alexander). He and his son George are not close, as both want to get as far away from the other as possible. He is married to Estelle (Estelle Harris) and has two sons, George and a brother who is never named.
Philip Banks, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
(1990-96)
Everett Collection
“I looked at my kingdom/I was finally there/to sit on my throne as the prince of Bel-Air,” Will Smith raps in the comedy’s opening credits. But the true sovereign was Will’s Uncle Phil (James Avery), an imposing lawyer with a booming voice and commanding presence, who didn’t put up with his nephew’s shenanigans. Or anyone’s shenanigans for that matter. The comic relief on the comedy often came courtesy of his outbursts at Will’s antics (“Look, you big-eared freeloader …” began one rant). When he roared, we roared with laughter.
Tim Taylor, Home Improvement
(1991–99)
Everybody say, “Ruh ruh ruh ruh!” Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor, the suburban dad Tim Allen played on ABC’s 1991-99 sitcom Home Improvement, was the epitome of manliness and masculinity, with his affinity for cars, power tools, and, yes, delivering that signature grunt. But beneath the tool belt, Tim was a softy who had nothing but love for his wife (Patricia Richardson) and sons (Zachery Ty Bryan, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, and Taran Noah Smith). For advice, he’d turn to neighbor Wilson (Earl Hindman), whose sage words of wisdom Tim would try to repeat … and mangle in the way only he could.
Raymond Barone, Everybody Loves Raymond
(1996–2005)
CBS/Everett Collection
Everybody Loves Raymond‘s Ray Barone (played by Ray Romano, who loosely based the character on himself) certainly didn’t always feel loved. The stressed-out and sarcasm-loving sportswriter lived with his family — overworked wife Debra (Patricia Heaton) and their three children — in Long Island. Ray’s parents, veteran Frank (Peter Boyle), overbearing Marie (Doris Roberts), and quirky police officer brother Robert (Brad Garrett) lived across the street, constantly stirring up trouble for Ray and Debra and leaving Ray to try to walk a fine line whenever there was a disagreement between his wife and mother. Which was often.
These are excerpts from the Best of TV Dads Issue of TV Guide Puzzler Magazine and Best TV Dads June 2020 ReMIND Magazine Issue. You can purchase the full issue at the link below.
Remind 