#17: Bob Saget and the Xennial Sitcom dad
The mid to late 1980s were a breeding ground for non conventional dad characters. Read on!
I should apologize for this week’s post. I feel like it could be REALLY something awesome. I love the idea that in the second half of the 80s a whole array of shows blossomed with non traditional families. As a kid, and a member of a non traditional family, I could look at these shows and be like “hey, they’re fucked up like we are!”. Most of the shows I mention below resonate with me in this way. But this week our youngest is home from school for like the 100th time because of a COVID outbreak and I’m traveling for work so this week has been a little nuts. I hope to revisit this idea of Xennial Sitcom Dads sometime soon to give it more love and attention. But for now, you’ll have to do with the little bit of attention I was able to direct to this week’s newsletter.
Full House premiered in the fall of 1987 — a weird year if you’re thinking of a “generational” comedy. Not quite a Gen X show (my older brother and sister would say the only sitcom dad worth mentioning is the dad from Good Times), and not quite a Millennial show (the kids born in the late 80s would wonder where the Tanner home PC is). No, Full House to me is firmly an Xennial show.
Xennials aren’t really a generation; it’s more like a wedge designed to fill in the awkward gap at the end of Generation X (people born between 1965 and 1980) and Millennials (born between the early 80s and late 90s). The shows born in the mid to late 80s cater, without having realized it at the time, to Xennials. They’re full of single dads, two dads, multiple dads, dads who worked as housekeepers, and a variety of other scenarios you would never have thought of in a previous generation. So when Bob Saget died this past week at the age of 65, it almost felt like a part of my childhood died. Like “that dude wasn’t my dad but he coulda been my dad if we lived in a bitchin house in the Bay Area that would cost a billion dollars in 2022 money”. He’s gone. And as the Xennial Sitcom dads start to fade away, it made me realize that I need to rank them, to preserve them in some way so that when my kids are older I can say, “see Lil and Nora, the 80s had more pop culture to offer us than The Breakfast Club and the New Wave Radio station I listen to on Pandora”. So, without further ado, here’s my ranking of Xennial Sitcom Dads.
The Top Dads
#1. Danny Tanner (Full House) — Bob Saget gets the top spot mostly because he just recently passed away. Am I allowed to say that? I loved Bob Saget as a comedian. He was bawdy, a little wild, and his comedy kinda teetered on the edge a bit. All things I love in a comedian. But his character, Danny, was everything I am likely not as a father. He was fastidious. I am an approximator. He was a cleaner. My car would suggest that I am….not. He was a bit of a worrisome dad, most likely a result of being a widower to 3 kids. I let my kids climb things they 100% should not be allowed to climb. But he was a sweet and wholesome guy and Full Story is a cornerstone show for people in the Xennial age range.
#2. Lester Jenkins (227) — I had a weird obsession with 227 as a kid. It is quite likely that I was the only white kid at Teague Middle school in Houston Texas in 1989 who said that 227 was his favorite show. Regina King, the teenage daughter, was roughly my age and I thought to myself “I would totally date her” (30 years later and Regina King is still a super babe). Marla Gibbs, the mom, took no shit from nobody. Jacque was wild and free and hilarious. But Lester Jenkins was a softer, easier version of the dad from Good Times (see honorable mention below). He was the dad you wanted; he was handy (I think he was a contractor or something). He was tough when he needed to be. And he ALWAYS bowed down to mom when things got heated.
#3. Jason Seaver (Growing Pains) — Growing Pains is probably the most conventional family in this list. A doctor, Jason Seaver, and his wife and kids live in a nice neighborhood with nice friends (with weird names. hello Boner). The kids encounter the usual 80s contrived stunts. But something about how cool Dr. Seaver was all the time resonated with me. I wanted to be chill like him! Also, sidenote, both Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio guest starred on this show. #themoreyouknow
#4. Joey Harris / Michael Taylor (My two Dads) — I always had a softs spot for this show. The two dads were pulled right out of a writer’s 101 workshop class. Joey was an artist and free spirit (he was the “dad”). Michael was the more serious, keep it straight man (he was the “mom” if we’re painting stereotypical parental roles). But the tension between the two of them made for good TV. Also the daughter was hot (if you’re noticing a theme that I thought all the teenage daughters were hot you would not be wrong).
#5. Tony Micelli (Who’s the Boss) — ok, here’s the sitch. I watched this show religiously as a kid. I was partly entranced by the sex craving grandma, Mona (which, by the way, any one named “Mona” definitely wants to party), but I was mostly pissed off that they made Tony Danza’s character a dumb ex baseball player. I was a baseball player growing up and if there’s any sport that’s full of dumb jocks, it ain’t baseball (that’s what football is for). Baseball is full of dumb rednecks which is a very different thing. But as a kid in the late 80s, I found it really novel that the dad character was basically a housekeeper for a rich, single woman. Again, it comes back to taking old narratives and turning them on their head. I loved that.
#6. Al Bundy (Married…with children) — unpopular opinion. Married with Children was an overrated show. And Al Bundy, the shoe salesman / belching husband / clueless dad was kinda gross. There, I said it. I’ve been wanting to give that confession for almost 30 years.
#7. Edward Stratton III (Silver Spoons) — what kind of asshole lets their kid have a damn railroad in the living room? And a race car for a bed? And now Ricky Shroder is now a MAGA, civil war instigating terrorist which just proves what happens when you give your kids WHATEVER THEY WANT.
The Top Non Dads
Jesse Katsopolis / Joey Gladstone — If I’m looking at Full House through a totally objective lens, I’m saying that Jesse and Joey are the best “dads” in that house. Joey was full of dad jokes (my wife disagrees; “he was a comedian!”. no, he was a dad jokester) and Jesse was obviously the cool dude by virtue of having been in a band. But they helped introduce the kids to a variety of walks of life. They were the yin to Danny’s yang. They balanced him out. Balance is what you strive for as parents.
Honorable Mention
James Evans (Good Times) — so yes, I know this show ended when I was 2 years old in 1979. And yes I only know this show from reruns. But there was something about Mr. Evans that I both feared AND admired. Clearly not a Xennial dad, Mr Evans falls into honorable mention only because of the timing of the show.
Not mentioned because he’s a creep
Bill Cosby (The Cosby Show) — which pains me because Bill Cosby was probably one of my favorite dads in the 80s. But yeah, he’s a rapist so here he sits.
Ok, which Xennial dads did I miss? Who else should be on this list? Add to the comments below!