May 27, 2026
The TV Dads Who Shaped How We Think About Fatherhood (Uncle Phil, Cliff Huxtable & More)
Long before "emotionally available" was a phrase people said out loud, Gomez Addams was already doing it in a gothic suit. And before any of us had language for surrogate fatherhood, Uncle Phil Banks was catching a broken kid in a Bel-Air mansion and making every person watching feel it in their chest.
On Episode 109 of Parallel Frequencies, Just Blane and Coco take on the TV dads who weren't just characters — they were the blueprints. Some of us had great dads at home. Some of us didn't. And some of us had a television set that quietly filled in the blanks.
This episode moves through Cliff Huxtable's complicated but undeniable legacy, Mike Brady as the first stepdad treated with real dignity on network TV, Red Foreman's gruff emotional unavailability as an accidental time capsule, and what Al Bundy actually represents beyond the punchline — a man who felt trapped, stayed anyway, and never once dealt with it. That's not funny. That's a lot of households.
They also make the case for Carl Winslow as one of the most honest portrayals of working-class fatherhood ever put on screen, and close with the scene — you know the one — that made Uncle Phil the emotional center of an entire generation's idea of what it means for a man to show up.
Which TV dad shaped how you think about fatherhood? Subscribe to Parallel Frequencies and come find out.
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Transcript
WEBVTT
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Lean in, get close, and listen, because today
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we're going somewhere I didn't think would hit
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me as hard as it did when we started mapping
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this episode out. We're talking about TV dads.
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And before you go, oh, that sounds cute, pump
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the brakes, because the conversation, it got
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deep fast. Because the dads we grew up watching
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on TV, they weren't just characters. They were
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blueprints, whether we knew it or not. Some of
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us grew up with a great dad in the house. Some
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of us didn't. And some of us had a TV set that
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filled in the blanks. It's not sad. It's just
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real. So let's talk about it. Parallel frequencies.
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I am just playing. She is Coco. You are the freaks.
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I'm excited today, Coco. This was. This did get
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me thinking. Yeah. This did get me thinking.
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Yeah. Influence of TV dads. I'm sure you can
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talk about yourself as you are a dad now. Yeah.
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Yeah. I'd love to be a TV dad, but we'll get
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to that. What TV have you watched lately? Did
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you finish White Lotus? I finished season one.
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Okay. I don't know why I'm getting into this,
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like, binge watching or starting shows I've never
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thought of starting. And I also started, what
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is it? Margo's Got Money Troubles? Oh. Money
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Troubles? Yeah. How is that? That's on Apple.
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The new one on Apple, I think. Elle Fanning,
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Michelle Pfeiffer, Nick Offerman. Which we're
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going to talk about later. I got to talk about
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Nick Offerman. Okay. Okay. So good. What a good
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show. I'm hooked. Does she wrestle in that? Is
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that the one? I believe. No, I haven't seen all
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of it. But I saw a little, like, image. I was
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like, wait a minute. Is that Nicole Kidman? Nicole
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Kidman. And I think Chris Jericho. Chris Jericho,
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the pro wrestler. And podcast. There is pro wrestling
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in there. Yeah, Nick Hoffman played the former
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wrestler. I'll have to check this show out. You
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know what? I'm on an Apple kick, too. Widow's
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Bay. Holy shit. The new episode that just dropped
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at midnight. I happened to watch at midnight.
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This show is getting some lost vibes. Big time.
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It's wild. You got to watch it. Five episodes
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deep. Apple TV+. Widow's Bay. Matthew Rhys. I
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like him. There's a dad for you on The Americans.
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He played a Russian spy and had to be a dad.
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Now, we could get deep on that and have its own
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episode, but we better not. We better not because...
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We got a lot of dads that we want to talk about.
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We're not even going to get to all of them today.
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There's no way. I have a list that's a mile long.
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But we did those with TV moms, too. And there
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was just more and more and more that came up
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even after we stopped talking. It's wild. I mean,
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but here's the thing about TV dads specifically.
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And tell me if you see this differently. But
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they exist in like this weird space where they're
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both aspirational and. Ridiculous at the same
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time. Like nobody's real dad was that wise at
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exactly the right moment. Nobody's real dad had
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a perfect callback ready after the commercial
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break. You know, like that's not how life works.
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But we still measured our real dads against them
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consciously or not. But that's the power of storytelling.
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TV, you know, sitcoms, even if it wasn't a sitcom,
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it gave us mythology of fatherhood. It made me.
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yes, I'm a dad now. And I look back and I'm like,
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man, am I being uncle Phil or Al Bundy right
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now? You know, I'm thinking these kinds of things,
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but I think that it's, it's, it's, I think it's
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beautiful, but I think there were some harmful
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ones in there as well. And then some of these
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dads are just hilarious. So we've got to honor
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all of them. Oh yeah. I think, I think we've
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got to honor all of them. Who do you want to
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kick it off with? Oh gosh. Or do you want me
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to? Well, The one that keeps coming up in searches
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when I say, like, all right, give me some ideas,
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some TV dads. You know, let's look at some lists
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that people have made out there. And the one
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that seemed to come up number one, and we talked
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about this on the Mother's episode, Moms of TV,
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is Danny Tanner, Full House. I still hold to
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that. He deserves the mom role. I feel like stepping
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in as a widower, raising his three girls, he
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took on the role that most of the moms seem to
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take on, you know, traditionally. We're going
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to talk about roles and stuff like that. But
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but the one that held all of that mental load,
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as well as physical load of caring and nurturing
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for the children. And I'm going to get a little
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bit on some soapbox today. But, you know, in
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comparison to some dads we saw on TV that were
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like what not to do. Oh, yeah. So you had, like,
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Uncle Jesse and Uncle Joey as kind of, you know,
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stepping in to play, I don't know, more of that
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traditional dad role to the kids in the show.
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They did. They really did. Danny deserves the
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mom trophy. He's on that spectrum. Yeah. He really
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does. He really does. I'm going to start off
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with the elephant in the room. I know. I know.
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Cliff Huxtable. As a character, okay? Yeah. One
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of the greatest TV dads ever written. Full stop.
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Right there. 100%. You know, he was aspirational
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black fatherhood on primetime television at a
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time when that was radical. Like, that was, this
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was, I'm white. Look at me. I'm white, okay?
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White, grew up in the South on a farm. But you
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better believe the Cosby show was on every night
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in my house. Like this had an impact on me. Cliff
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Huxtable had a huge impact on me. We can't ignore
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that. It's a complicated legacy. But, you know,
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we're grown enough here that we can we can sit
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down and say that and say that the character
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Cliff Huxtable is one of the greatest TV dads
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ever. Such a good role model, an example of like
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the non -toxic masculinity, the sort of nurturing.
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masculinity of you know he he was great at highlighting
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and supporting his wife in her role as a lawyer
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and breadwinner of the family as well i mean
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he just he slid into place as a like a true partner
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and co -parent he knew just about the kids where
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they were where they were going who their teachers
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were the things that you know moms often hold
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he showed an example of like And I remember that
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episode. I'll never forget where Claire is like,
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sometimes she's talking to her future son -in
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-law with the whole macho masculine thing. And
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she's like, sometimes he brings me a cup of tea.
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And sometimes I bring him a cup of tea. I love
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that scene, but it's true. Cliff Huxtable. He
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was a great example. We can separate that out
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from the actor and we can just say TV dad. I
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mean, what the man who played him did in real
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life. That's a completely separate. devastating
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conversation that we're not going to do here.
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We're talking about TV deaths. Mike Brady. All
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right. I know it was kind of a different one.
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He's corny. We'll just say it, you know, but
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he's also endlessly, beautifully corny. Here's
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my actual take on Mike Brady because, and I won't
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push back if necessary, but Mike Brady was the
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first. TV stepdad we ever saw that was really
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handled with dignity. I mean, think about this.
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The man married in to a family with three daughters.
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He had three sons of his own. Blended the whole
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situation and never once treated those kids any
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differently than his own. In the 70s on network
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television, that was a statement. The timing
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is all there. But the corniness is the rapping.
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And that's how they kind of broke through. The
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message inside was... This family's real and
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love makes it so. So, yeah, I think that was
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a huge turning point for TV dads. Was Mike Brady?
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Yeah, showing that blended families could make
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it work. Although that was the time where TV
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was showing, like, idealistic sort of situations.
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Like, we know this isn't what real life looks
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like, but we're going to show you what we would
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like it to look like. That when you blend a family,
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it just blends that. well and as this and, and
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that no one has any resentment towards their
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step -parent for being not the mom or not the
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dad and all of that. And, you know, he had plenty
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of time and you often wonder like, when did he
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work? Cause he had time for the kids and he always
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had time to, you know, his wife and all of the
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things. So this was kind of, you know, coming
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from the era of TV that was a little bit, um,
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unrealistic. We knew that. I mean, Let me fight
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on that a little bit because Mike Brady was an
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architect. I think he designed their own house,
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didn't he? Yes. When? He was building things.
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I don't know. He was building stuff. I mean,
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that's a metaphor and I'm taking it. He would
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walk through the house with a model once in a
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while, you know, or a draft or one of those T
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-squares or something. He would, like, walk through
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the house and be like, got to get to work. Exactly.
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That was it. That's all you ever saw. Okay. Give
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me another one. Who's on your list over there,
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Coco? What you got? Well, I said we'd bring it
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up because Nick Offerman playing the dad in the
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new show that I was watching. Now, Nick Offerman,
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famously married to Megan Mullally in real life,
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is not a dad. And I've heard them kind of talk
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about it. I've listened to their podcast together.
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They're a power couple to idolize. But Nick Offerman,
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there's nobody I can think of that has such dad
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energy. Even his role in Parks and Recreation
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as Ron Swanson, I feel like deserves a place
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on our list because he was like dad, right? He
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was dad of the office. He was dad of, you know,
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he. You're telling me Nick Offerman doesn't have
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kids in real life? Right. That's what I'm telling
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you. That's wild. I know, right? That's wild.
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No, I'm saying, I mean, because you're right.
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Like he is the most dad. Yeah. Like, everything
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he does gives off those, like, and I mean that
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in the best kind of way. Yes. Again, very masculine,
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but very safe. I just feel like his voice, his
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demeanor, I would never feel like, oh, no, I
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hope this guy doesn't yell at me any second.
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Like, I hope he doesn't get mad and then I'm
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scared for my life. Like, you know, there's a
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lot of. trauma we could talk about with how we
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feel about men. And sometimes, you know, there
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were moments watching Roseanne where when David
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would get upset and like throw a chair, I would
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physically react at home. And I love that show.
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Don't get me wrong. That was one of my favorite
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shows of all time. Just, just to put that out
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there first, but there were moments where I would
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tense. I'd be like, Oh no, this is a dad getting
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mad. Right. And my dad didn't. It's not from
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my experience from a dad, but I think it's just
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inherited trauma. We just kind of have that.
00:11:23.279 --> 00:11:26.899
Yeah. I like Nick Offerman's way of just the
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quiet, calm presence that you know it's like,
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I got this. I can take care of you. I can take
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care of any situation. I'm in charge here. I
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love that. Not that this is becoming a competition,
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but I think I've got the opposite of that. Red
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Foreman. That 70s show. Dumbass. Right? But look,
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is that not the complete opposite of what you
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were just talking about? I mean, Red Foreman
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is not a good dad by modern standards, alright?
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Depending on who you talk to. But he's gruff,
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withholding, chronically unable to say I love
00:12:06.929 --> 00:12:10.490
you without it being a crisis. But he's honest.
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He's the dad that a huge portion of the audience
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Actually had, you know, so very 70s, right? This
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is a lot, but probably a lot of people experience
00:12:24.590 --> 00:12:27.389
a dad like Red Foreman. And I said that kind
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of tiptoeing around it, but the show did it right
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because they never completely really let him
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off the hook. You know, they never they never
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let him turn into a full blown villain either.
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But he shows up, he works, he sacrifices, you
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know. A lot of dads are Red Foreman, and a lot
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of kids are Red Foreman's dads, are still processing
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that, you know? Yeah. It's just one of those
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things, but I think that's, you know, the sternness
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and the strictness. I loved him. I love Red Foreman.
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But, yeah, I'm terrified of him, too. Yeah. Yeah?
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Yeah. I love their dynamic, too. We talked about
00:13:05.610 --> 00:13:07.470
this on the Moms of TV with Kitty. I mean, she
00:13:07.470 --> 00:13:11.350
kind of humanized him, and she... But I do resent
00:13:11.350 --> 00:13:14.190
a little bit of the fact that... It's that old
00:13:14.190 --> 00:13:17.629
trope of like the woman gets to be the emotional
00:13:17.629 --> 00:13:21.070
and nurturing one because dad can't like it's
00:13:21.070 --> 00:13:23.990
not in his nature or, you know, he talks about
00:13:23.990 --> 00:13:26.909
he's seen he's been through a war. So he's definitely
00:13:26.909 --> 00:13:29.370
playing the part of somebody who's like emotionally
00:13:29.370 --> 00:13:33.129
stunted. Let's put this into perspective, though,
00:13:33.169 --> 00:13:36.750
because this show is that 70s show, but it wasn't
00:13:36.750 --> 00:13:41.039
made in the 70s. So they were highly aware. of
00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:45.759
what red was and what kitty was like they were
00:13:45.759 --> 00:13:47.480
they were highly aware of what they were doing
00:13:47.480 --> 00:13:51.659
and highlighted some of these things even more
00:13:51.659 --> 00:13:55.159
so than than you probably would am i right yeah
00:13:55.159 --> 00:13:58.240
yeah yeah just like they did that no they made
00:13:58.240 --> 00:14:02.399
the reboot that 90s show so all of us who were
00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:05.200
watching that 70s show in the 90s now get to
00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:09.139
see our generation played back again in our faces
00:14:10.129 --> 00:14:13.889
Exactly. And it's, yes, very much highlighting
00:14:13.889 --> 00:14:19.490
the negative, but not always, sometimes the positive,
00:14:19.529 --> 00:14:22.669
too. So, yeah. Who's your next one? Well, this
00:14:22.669 --> 00:14:26.549
is not so much a sitcom or comedy, but we talked
00:14:26.549 --> 00:14:28.889
about Gilmore Girls back when we were doing all
00:14:28.889 --> 00:14:33.230
of our Mother's Day things. And one of the actors,
00:14:33.610 --> 00:14:37.289
let me see if I can say his name right. Milo
00:14:37.289 --> 00:14:46.389
Ventimiglia. I should have practiced before we
00:14:46.389 --> 00:14:49.889
started. Anyway, he plays Jack Pearson on This
00:14:49.889 --> 00:14:55.190
Is Us. And that entire show, really, truly, if
00:14:55.190 --> 00:14:58.070
you look at the crux of the entire show, circles
00:14:58.070 --> 00:15:03.450
around Jack. jack pearson their dad even though
00:15:03.450 --> 00:15:06.350
um you know the kids as they've grown up and
00:15:06.350 --> 00:15:08.250
they're in their 40s and what's going on with
00:15:08.250 --> 00:15:10.470
their own families and their own lives the effect
00:15:10.470 --> 00:15:12.590
of their father's death when they were young
00:15:12.590 --> 00:15:16.029
how that played out in their lives i mean it
00:15:16.029 --> 00:15:22.250
was i mean and people cannot deny that the jack's
00:15:22.250 --> 00:15:26.600
death moment of this show was television history
00:15:26.600 --> 00:15:30.340
like all i hadn't known it when everybody else
00:15:30.340 --> 00:15:32.600
was seeing it all i saw was that social media
00:15:32.600 --> 00:15:36.200
was flooded with crockpots and the image of crockpots
00:15:36.200 --> 00:15:40.279
and i was like what is this what is gonna happen
00:15:40.279 --> 00:15:42.679
i hadn't gotten there yet i just knew we knew
00:15:42.679 --> 00:15:44.679
that jack dies because we see the future right
00:15:44.679 --> 00:15:46.659
and they talk about their father's death when
00:15:46.659 --> 00:15:49.799
they and but when the actual episode came it
00:15:49.799 --> 00:15:54.350
broke all of our hearts it broke us all I think
00:15:54.350 --> 00:15:56.370
I've heard of this, but I've never seen this,
00:15:56.509 --> 00:15:58.409
but I might have to check it out. I'm looking
00:15:58.409 --> 00:16:01.730
on IMDb right now. I've never seen a show that
00:16:01.730 --> 00:16:04.929
is streaming on so many services. Oh, really?
00:16:05.090 --> 00:16:08.610
Yeah, I can imagine that. Mandy Moore plays his
00:16:08.610 --> 00:16:13.570
wife. Such a good show. Hulu, Disney, Bravo,
00:16:14.029 --> 00:16:22.100
E!, NBC, SyFy, Telemundo, Tubi. Yep. Amazon?
00:16:22.320 --> 00:16:26.299
This is wild. It would be crazy if you had missed
00:16:26.299 --> 00:16:29.799
this show. Now, I will just say with This Is
00:16:29.799 --> 00:16:33.860
Us, I remember watching it and I remember thinking,
00:16:34.019 --> 00:16:37.799
oh, my gosh, this is us. I think they did a really
00:16:37.799 --> 00:16:40.100
good job of taking all these different things
00:16:40.100 --> 00:16:43.139
about a family that could happen to real families
00:16:43.139 --> 00:16:45.759
and then highlighting and showing that. I have
00:16:45.759 --> 00:16:49.059
an adopted son. So the dynamics of like what
00:16:49.059 --> 00:16:52.100
it's like to kind of. come to terms with parenting
00:16:52.100 --> 00:16:53.899
and parenthood and how you're doing when you
00:16:53.899 --> 00:16:58.340
have an adopted son. They play all that out.
00:16:58.399 --> 00:17:01.360
They show that dynamic. They show the struggles
00:17:01.360 --> 00:17:05.019
and the differences and how that feels. Jack
00:17:05.019 --> 00:17:07.839
struggles with alcoholism and there's a moment
00:17:07.839 --> 00:17:10.519
where Mandy Moore's character has to look at
00:17:10.519 --> 00:17:13.180
her and say, how do you feel like you're doing
00:17:13.180 --> 00:17:17.019
as a parent? Because I... I feel like one out
00:17:17.019 --> 00:17:21.160
of ten, I'm an 11 most days. I'm killing it as
00:17:21.160 --> 00:17:24.980
a mom. I'm doing great. But how do you feel you're
00:17:24.980 --> 00:17:29.299
doing? And it kind of like jolts him awake. He's
00:17:29.299 --> 00:17:33.599
like, I need to stop drinking. Like I can't be
00:17:33.599 --> 00:17:38.680
that good of a dad if I'm an alcoholic. I love
00:17:38.680 --> 00:17:42.089
that. This is a great one. This is a good that's
00:17:42.089 --> 00:17:43.589
a great one that you pulled out right there.
00:17:43.730 --> 00:17:46.269
I love that. Is this the same Mandy Moore from
00:17:46.269 --> 00:17:47.970
from the singing career that had the singing
00:17:47.970 --> 00:17:50.549
career? Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. OK, I got
00:17:50.549 --> 00:17:55.250
a mom younger and she they in in makeup. She
00:17:55.250 --> 00:17:59.369
plays the old mom for the 40 year olds. So they
00:17:59.369 --> 00:18:02.950
have her play the role on both ends. Oh, I got
00:18:02.950 --> 00:18:06.569
I'm going to check this out. All right. On to
00:18:06.569 --> 00:18:09.450
the next day. And this one this one's a shocker.
00:18:09.769 --> 00:18:12.930
This one, this guy was out here doing the work
00:18:12.930 --> 00:18:17.890
before emotionally availability was a phrase
00:18:17.890 --> 00:18:19.509
people said out loud. I'm talking about Gomez
00:18:19.509 --> 00:18:23.430
Adams from the Adams family. Was it really? Because
00:18:23.430 --> 00:18:26.990
I put him on there because he's genuinely one
00:18:26.990 --> 00:18:30.089
of the most loving fathers in TV history, and
00:18:30.089 --> 00:18:34.829
nobody ever leads with that fact. He adored Morticia.
00:18:35.029 --> 00:18:38.430
For that alone, he gets a top ranking on my list,
00:18:38.529 --> 00:18:42.109
yeah. celebrated all his kids, everything, darkness
00:18:42.109 --> 00:18:44.329
instead of trying to fix them. You know, he celebrated
00:18:44.329 --> 00:18:48.990
that. And he was emotionally expressive, wildly
00:18:48.990 --> 00:18:52.609
enthusiastic, and fully himself. Wednesday Adams,
00:18:52.950 --> 00:18:56.410
Wednesday, the one that we love now, she is who
00:18:56.410 --> 00:18:59.369
she is because her father never tried to make
00:18:59.369 --> 00:19:01.950
her be anything else. Full acceptance, unconditional
00:19:01.950 --> 00:19:05.390
love. That's progressive parenting wrapped up
00:19:05.390 --> 00:19:07.829
in a gothic suit right there, though. I love
00:19:07.829 --> 00:19:11.410
Gomez Adams. Absolutely. That's funny. I don't
00:19:11.410 --> 00:19:14.109
want to talk about TV dads, but my favorite Gomez
00:19:14.109 --> 00:19:17.529
Adams was the movie. That's my personal favorite
00:19:17.529 --> 00:19:20.390
with them. Angelica Houston playing Morticia.
00:19:20.789 --> 00:19:25.009
Yeah. That was the movie that was out when we
00:19:25.009 --> 00:19:28.230
were younger, right? Yeah. The 90s. Christina
00:19:28.230 --> 00:19:35.029
Ricci. 91. Adams Family Values. Ryle Julia was
00:19:35.029 --> 00:19:40.470
Gomez. Ryle Julia. Yes, he's no longer with us,
00:19:40.549 --> 00:19:43.849
but he was fantastic. I just think he did the
00:19:43.849 --> 00:19:47.049
best job. That's my favorite. Yeah. Who's your
00:19:47.049 --> 00:19:51.369
next one there? Well, I feel like I can't not
00:19:51.369 --> 00:19:55.509
mention some of the TV dads that kind of play
00:19:55.509 --> 00:19:58.230
into the what not to do trope. I mean, we're
00:19:58.230 --> 00:20:00.430
talking about like the Homer Simpson types, right?
00:20:00.509 --> 00:20:04.109
There you go. Oh, man. I feel frustrated with
00:20:04.109 --> 00:20:06.539
the Simpsons. Even as I am one of the biggest
00:20:06.539 --> 00:20:10.279
fans of that show, always will be. It's like
00:20:10.279 --> 00:20:12.319
one of those you play it to go to sleep kind
00:20:12.319 --> 00:20:15.480
of shows you love so much. But you can't help
00:20:15.480 --> 00:20:17.759
but be a little bit like, why does Marge have
00:20:17.759 --> 00:20:21.599
to put up with this? Why does she have to be
00:20:21.599 --> 00:20:24.500
the one who holds it all together all the time?
00:20:24.519 --> 00:20:29.160
And as I've grown and become a mom and see my
00:20:29.160 --> 00:20:32.940
friends as moms and wives. This is where I get
00:20:32.940 --> 00:20:38.019
in my soapbox a little bit, but the women or
00:20:38.019 --> 00:20:39.980
the wives or the mothers, they end up having
00:20:39.980 --> 00:20:44.240
to hold it all together all the time because
00:20:44.240 --> 00:20:46.799
their husband's just kind of like the bare minimum
00:20:46.799 --> 00:20:50.859
of dadhood. Is good enough. The bar is so low.
00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:53.420
That like. They would say something like. Well
00:20:53.420 --> 00:20:56.119
I changed a diaper at least. And my dad never
00:20:56.119 --> 00:20:58.420
changed a diaper. You know. So you're like. Okay.
00:20:58.480 --> 00:21:00.799
But the bar is still pretty low. You know. You
00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:02.740
can do bare minimum. And still be called a good
00:21:02.740 --> 00:21:07.420
dad. And I'm like. No thanks. So. If we're talking
00:21:07.420 --> 00:21:10.240
about anti -dads. And I got the. I got the. The
00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:12.880
king of the king. Al Bundy. I've already mentioned
00:21:12.880 --> 00:21:14.980
him once. Let's do it. I mean. But here's the
00:21:14.980 --> 00:21:18.470
thing. This show was literally built. As a parody
00:21:18.470 --> 00:21:21.670
of the family sitcom. I just did a whole rewatch.
00:21:21.750 --> 00:21:27.130
All 11 seasons. They are so aware. Of what they're
00:21:27.130 --> 00:21:30.230
doing. Peg the way she is. Al the way he is.
00:21:30.549 --> 00:21:36.410
It's on purpose. Al hated his job. Hated his
00:21:36.410 --> 00:21:41.170
life. Broke. Underappreciated. And spiritually
00:21:41.170 --> 00:21:44.289
defeated by the universe. He even. meets the
00:21:44.289 --> 00:21:46.150
devil and goes to hell in the final season. Like,
00:21:46.170 --> 00:21:49.630
it's wild. But here's the thing. He never left.
00:21:50.130 --> 00:21:53.869
He never quit. He complained every single day
00:21:53.869 --> 00:21:58.069
and still came home every single night. There's
00:21:58.069 --> 00:22:00.710
something in that that isn't funny at all when
00:22:00.710 --> 00:22:03.670
you really look at it, you know? But Al Bundy,
00:22:03.750 --> 00:22:07.250
this is going to be controversial probably, but
00:22:07.250 --> 00:22:09.789
Al Bundy is what happens when a man feels trapped
00:22:09.789 --> 00:22:12.710
and stays anyway because leaving feels worse.
00:22:13.230 --> 00:22:16.490
And I'm not celebrating that. I'm just saying
00:22:16.490 --> 00:22:19.009
that at the time this show came out, that was
00:22:19.009 --> 00:22:21.390
real for a lot of families. Yes. And this show
00:22:21.390 --> 00:22:23.250
knew it. It still is, yeah. Married with the
00:22:23.250 --> 00:22:26.609
children knew it. It still is. Yeah. But, yeah,
00:22:26.750 --> 00:22:29.950
anti -dam. And then we get into, like, you know,
00:22:29.970 --> 00:22:34.309
my whole soapbox thing, which is men taking care
00:22:34.309 --> 00:22:38.740
of their mental health. It's better. for everyone
00:22:38.740 --> 00:22:40.980
i mean i know that the whole like happy wife
00:22:40.980 --> 00:22:44.880
happy life is a is a thing but just as much as
00:22:44.880 --> 00:22:47.579
women need to take care of themselves first you
00:22:47.579 --> 00:22:49.460
put their own oxygen mask on first and take care
00:22:49.460 --> 00:22:51.839
of their families al bundy is a great example
00:22:51.839 --> 00:22:53.480
of what happens when you don't take care of yourself
00:22:53.480 --> 00:22:56.119
so you can be there for your family if you're
00:22:56.119 --> 00:23:00.369
a miserable guy you hate your job, you don't
00:23:00.369 --> 00:23:04.210
seek any healing or self -awareness or anything
00:23:04.210 --> 00:23:07.609
that's going to maybe level up your life, then
00:23:07.609 --> 00:23:10.349
people around you just have to tolerate your
00:23:10.349 --> 00:23:16.089
misery with you. And that sucks. And then again,
00:23:16.230 --> 00:23:18.690
the bare minimum of like, well, he didn't cheat
00:23:18.690 --> 00:23:22.230
on her. He didn't leave. So I guess he's still
00:23:22.230 --> 00:23:26.609
okay. I'm like, no, let's do better, guys. Let's
00:23:26.609 --> 00:23:29.849
do better, men. We can all do better than that.
00:23:29.910 --> 00:23:34.950
Yeah. I got two more, and the last one's going
00:23:34.950 --> 00:23:38.569
to be the all -time great for me. But who's your
00:23:38.569 --> 00:23:44.349
next one? Who you got? So on the other spectrum,
00:23:44.410 --> 00:23:47.829
we've got Homer Simpson and the animated dads.
00:23:48.650 --> 00:23:50.690
We have Bob Belcher. We talked a little bit about
00:23:50.690 --> 00:23:53.009
that when we talked about Linda on the Moms of
00:23:53.009 --> 00:23:57.490
TV. But Bob Belcher is the opposite of that Homer
00:23:57.490 --> 00:24:00.970
Simpson trope. You know, like Al Bundy, Homer
00:24:00.970 --> 00:24:05.150
Simpson, you know, Peter Griffin, family guy.
00:24:05.329 --> 00:24:09.269
These are all like, or, oh, what's the dad in
00:24:09.269 --> 00:24:12.769
South Park? Stan's dad. Oh, yeah. Stan's dad.
00:24:13.089 --> 00:24:19.299
Mr. Marsh. Yeah. But you've got like these. idiotic,
00:24:19.299 --> 00:24:22.299
buffoonery dads who are like, what are you even
00:24:22.299 --> 00:24:24.720
doing? You're just ruining your family. You're
00:24:24.720 --> 00:24:26.839
just ruining life for your family and your kids.
00:24:26.940 --> 00:24:28.700
And your wife has to pick up the pieces and that
00:24:28.700 --> 00:24:32.799
sucks. But Bob Belcher is like such a good dad.
00:24:33.920 --> 00:24:37.619
He is so much just as involved with his kids
00:24:37.619 --> 00:24:40.779
as Linda is. They are truly a team together.
00:24:40.980 --> 00:24:43.240
And she might be a little wacky and a little
00:24:43.240 --> 00:24:46.660
wild, but he is there for it. He loves her for
00:24:46.660 --> 00:24:49.799
it. He lets her be her. And I am here for it.
00:24:49.960 --> 00:24:53.859
Did you watch Bob's Burgers? Love Bob's Burgers.
00:24:55.019 --> 00:24:58.859
Nothing against it. It just never got on my radar.
00:24:58.980 --> 00:25:01.299
I don't think it was a time when I was. But I've
00:25:01.299 --> 00:25:03.900
seen some episodes and love what I see, so I
00:25:03.900 --> 00:25:06.200
had to go back and watch that one. So we're making
00:25:06.200 --> 00:25:08.720
a list for our summer here. I've got This Is
00:25:08.720 --> 00:25:13.180
Us and Bob's Burgers on my list so far. I've
00:25:13.180 --> 00:25:18.240
got to get to my, we'll say, underrated dad.
00:25:18.559 --> 00:25:21.039
People really don't think about. Maybe they do.
00:25:21.500 --> 00:25:25.039
Carl Winslow from Family Matters is criminally
00:25:25.039 --> 00:25:28.759
underrated. And I'll die on this hill. Here's
00:25:28.759 --> 00:25:33.279
why. Here's a cop, working class, Chicago, dealing
00:25:33.279 --> 00:25:36.460
with the kid next door, Steve Urkel, who is genuinely,
00:25:36.480 --> 00:25:40.599
objectively a chaos agent. And Carl Winslow showed
00:25:40.599 --> 00:25:44.039
up every week, exasperated, hilarious, but present.
00:25:44.240 --> 00:25:47.680
He wasn't the flashy dad. He wasn't the profound
00:25:47.680 --> 00:25:51.640
speech dad. He was the dad that came home tired
00:25:51.640 --> 00:25:55.400
and still tried. That's most dads. That's most
00:25:55.400 --> 00:25:58.579
dads out there. That was probably my dad. Growing
00:25:58.579 --> 00:26:01.319
up right here was a Carl Wendlow, you know, that's
00:26:01.319 --> 00:26:03.400
the dad a lot of us had. And we don't talk about
00:26:03.400 --> 00:26:06.859
that version enough. I think that this version
00:26:06.859 --> 00:26:11.339
of a dad is undervalued. The tired but still
00:26:11.339 --> 00:26:15.420
trying day. But we need to celebrate that, you
00:26:15.420 --> 00:26:19.359
know, because it was real. Yep. Yep. Came home
00:26:19.359 --> 00:26:22.220
after work and he and he jumped right in and
00:26:22.220 --> 00:26:30.440
he was parenting and. Let's not say that so lightly,
00:26:30.660 --> 00:26:33.500
though. He came home after being a police officer
00:26:33.500 --> 00:26:38.400
in Chicago. Like, that's something. He made the
00:26:38.400 --> 00:26:39.900
switch. He was able to make the switch when he
00:26:39.900 --> 00:26:43.259
got home. And that's crazy. Like I said, that's
00:26:43.259 --> 00:26:45.359
a lot of dads out there. Give me one more, and
00:26:45.359 --> 00:26:47.740
I'm going to get to my main, my biggest. You
00:26:47.740 --> 00:26:51.079
better not say it first. I know you know. No,
00:26:51.180 --> 00:26:53.640
I was trying to guess which one you were going
00:26:53.640 --> 00:26:55.440
to say, and I think you're still going to say
00:26:55.440 --> 00:26:57.400
the one I think you're going to say, but I'm
00:26:57.400 --> 00:27:00.839
going to pivot totally off course here and give
00:27:00.839 --> 00:27:03.519
you one you probably wouldn't have thought. All
00:27:03.519 --> 00:27:07.720
right. Eddard Ned Stark from Game of Thrones.
00:27:08.160 --> 00:27:11.880
Whoa! I absolutely, just like on This Is Us,
00:27:12.039 --> 00:27:14.519
that was centered around Jack, even though Jack
00:27:14.519 --> 00:27:19.019
is not in it as much. Eddard Stark, Ned Stark,
00:27:19.319 --> 00:27:22.819
in Game of Thrones, the original series, is the
00:27:22.819 --> 00:27:26.619
main character of the series. And he dies in
00:27:26.619 --> 00:27:30.960
the first season. Think about that. That's insane
00:27:30.960 --> 00:27:35.380
to me, that he is the central character that
00:27:35.380 --> 00:27:38.980
triggers everything that happens and everybody
00:27:38.980 --> 00:27:43.099
who's connected to him in some way and influenced
00:27:43.099 --> 00:27:46.980
by him in some way. It's wild. It's wild that
00:27:46.980 --> 00:27:49.220
they wrote an entire show with eight seasons
00:27:49.220 --> 00:27:52.259
based on a character that dies in the first season.
00:27:53.000 --> 00:27:57.099
Incredible point. And he's not just a father.
00:27:57.180 --> 00:27:59.799
He's somebody that's trying to protect a legacy,
00:27:59.980 --> 00:28:03.660
like the blood, the entire... That's a great
00:28:03.660 --> 00:28:05.019
one. That might beat mine, but I don't think
00:28:05.019 --> 00:28:08.079
so. The ripple effect of being such an honorable
00:28:08.079 --> 00:28:11.059
man, because I think that, like, that was passed
00:28:11.059 --> 00:28:12.960
on to his sons, right? You could see that in
00:28:12.960 --> 00:28:17.329
his sons and... who he called a son, those of
00:28:17.329 --> 00:28:19.269
you who haven't watched Game of Thrones, his
00:28:19.269 --> 00:28:23.690
bastard son, Jon Snow, you see that the ripple
00:28:23.690 --> 00:28:27.069
effect of raising kids with honor being the central
00:28:27.069 --> 00:28:30.549
focus, like be an honorable person versus the
00:28:30.549 --> 00:28:33.269
Lannisters where there's like no honor whatsoever
00:28:33.269 --> 00:28:37.269
or honesty or... It's just like power and control
00:28:37.269 --> 00:28:40.410
and gold are the highest value in their family.
00:28:41.150 --> 00:28:43.849
Versus all these other major families and major
00:28:43.849 --> 00:28:47.049
players, you see the Stark family being a ripple
00:28:47.049 --> 00:28:50.170
effect of what they were taught by Ned Stark,
00:28:50.329 --> 00:28:54.049
which is all there is your currency. That's a
00:28:54.049 --> 00:28:56.910
great one right there. I think you win the prize
00:28:56.910 --> 00:29:01.930
today. Mine and my all -time favorite, and it's
00:29:01.930 --> 00:29:05.140
not... Anything out of the blue. It's one that
00:29:05.140 --> 00:29:07.599
if I didn't mention people out there, the freaks
00:29:07.599 --> 00:29:13.220
would be yelling at me. And in 1990, a young
00:29:13.220 --> 00:29:15.960
kid named Will Smith stepped onto a set. I knew
00:29:15.960 --> 00:29:20.559
it. But not just him. There was a man named James
00:29:20.559 --> 00:29:25.259
Avery, also known on the show as Uncle Philip
00:29:25.259 --> 00:29:28.259
Banks. It gave me chills just saying that. And
00:29:28.259 --> 00:29:33.430
the impact that. Philip Banks had on all of us,
00:29:33.470 --> 00:29:36.849
I guarantee you all of us, is incredible. And
00:29:36.849 --> 00:29:40.170
here's what's wild about Philip Banks is he was
00:29:40.170 --> 00:29:43.069
supposed to be the antagonist, like the stuffy,
00:29:43.069 --> 00:29:46.089
rich guy that Will had to rebel against, which
00:29:46.089 --> 00:29:48.329
is kind of in the first couple seasons. But you
00:29:48.329 --> 00:29:50.430
can still see, if you go back and watch now,
00:29:50.509 --> 00:29:53.809
you can see the later Uncle Phil. He's in there.
00:29:54.569 --> 00:29:58.859
He's in that. But James Avery. made him something
00:29:58.859 --> 00:30:02.740
entirely he made him real that scene and i know
00:30:02.740 --> 00:30:05.579
you know the one i'm talking about when will's
00:30:05.579 --> 00:30:09.160
real dad shows up yes that's what i was gonna
00:30:09.160 --> 00:30:14.740
say and and he leaves again and will breaks down
00:30:14.740 --> 00:30:18.480
and uncle phil catches him how come he don't
00:30:18.480 --> 00:30:22.380
want me man that's the line that will says gives
00:30:22.380 --> 00:30:26.099
me chills and tears every time i see it i don't
00:30:26.099 --> 00:30:29.099
care who you are where you're from what your
00:30:29.099 --> 00:30:31.500
relationship with your own father looks like
00:30:31.500 --> 00:30:34.599
that scene hits you and philip banks was not
00:30:34.599 --> 00:30:38.859
perfect he was judgmental look at his job you
00:30:38.859 --> 00:30:42.700
know he was bougie he had blind spots but when
00:30:42.700 --> 00:30:47.799
it mattered he showed up every single damn time
00:30:47.799 --> 00:30:50.819
like that's what we remember that's what last
00:30:50.819 --> 00:30:55.359
james Avery, rest and power. That man gave us
00:30:55.359 --> 00:30:58.900
something real that we are that will never. I
00:30:58.900 --> 00:31:01.519
can watch that now. You can watch that anytime
00:31:01.519 --> 00:31:05.039
and watch Uncle Phil do his thing. And you feel
00:31:05.039 --> 00:31:07.380
something with it. You feel something with it.
00:31:07.460 --> 00:31:11.000
And that's a big loss. Taking a kid in, you know,
00:31:11.000 --> 00:31:13.839
and playing the father figure for a kid that's
00:31:13.839 --> 00:31:18.240
not yours. I mean, that kind of tests his patience,
00:31:18.299 --> 00:31:24.880
tests his. I don't know his commitment to it,
00:31:24.940 --> 00:31:29.019
but you know, to be dad to his own kids is one
00:31:29.019 --> 00:31:32.599
thing, but then to have, you know, what is clearly
00:31:32.599 --> 00:31:34.819
in the first few seasons, you see that inconvenience
00:31:34.819 --> 00:31:38.380
of like, this is my wife's sister's kid. I got
00:31:38.380 --> 00:31:42.680
to take in and play father figure too. And then
00:31:42.680 --> 00:31:45.940
he steps into that role. But you see that growth
00:31:45.940 --> 00:31:48.579
arc, like I said, like from the early seasons,
00:31:48.660 --> 00:31:52.079
he's this stuffed shirt rich uncle. And then
00:31:52.079 --> 00:31:55.240
he becomes the man who caught a broken kid when
00:31:55.240 --> 00:31:58.519
no one else could. That's a big jump. He went
00:31:58.519 --> 00:32:02.920
from the punch line to the really the later seasons.
00:32:02.960 --> 00:32:04.940
He's the emotional center. Like he's the show.
00:32:05.640 --> 00:32:10.420
Yeah, I agree. You know, who's your number one?
00:32:10.920 --> 00:32:13.500
Freaks, who's your number one? Coco, you don't
00:32:13.500 --> 00:32:14.799
have to answer. You can think on that. Maybe
00:32:14.799 --> 00:32:16.740
we come back and you've got another one. A lot
00:32:16.740 --> 00:32:21.319
of number ones I think I gave today. But I want
00:32:21.319 --> 00:32:23.420
to know the freaks. What are your favorite TV
00:32:23.420 --> 00:32:28.200
dials we did not mention? Yeah. One that I didn't
00:32:28.200 --> 00:32:30.500
mention that I think I have to say because it
00:32:30.500 --> 00:32:35.799
was on my list originally was Frasier. So I'm
00:32:35.799 --> 00:32:38.759
not super thrilled about Frazier's choice after
00:32:38.759 --> 00:32:42.900
Cheers to go move however many miles away from
00:32:42.900 --> 00:32:47.759
Boston to Seattle, away from his son. As a psychologist,
00:32:47.920 --> 00:32:50.420
I would be like, hey, buddy, don't you know better?
00:32:50.859 --> 00:32:53.539
Yeah. Your son's going to have a complex about
00:32:53.539 --> 00:32:56.079
this, I'm sure, because for whatever reason you're
00:32:56.079 --> 00:32:58.599
doing it, it's still not really cool, and he's
00:32:58.599 --> 00:33:02.220
probably not going to love it. He does come back.
00:33:02.910 --> 00:33:05.269
Yeah, and then they have the reboot too, which
00:33:05.269 --> 00:33:07.710
they get to kind of hash some of that out. Freddie
00:33:07.710 --> 00:33:11.430
has grown up now and has to confront the disconnect
00:33:11.430 --> 00:33:14.869
that they have as father and son, which is mirroring
00:33:14.869 --> 00:33:18.650
the relationship that Fraser had. He comes to
00:33:18.650 --> 00:33:21.450
Seattle to reconnect with his father and that
00:33:21.450 --> 00:33:23.730
father -son relationship that they have being
00:33:23.730 --> 00:33:26.349
so different. So I feel like for Father's Day,
00:33:26.509 --> 00:33:33.210
we couldn't not mention that TV dad. Martin Crane
00:33:33.210 --> 00:33:37.450
being another TV dad that I think was one of
00:33:37.450 --> 00:33:40.750
my favorites. Love that. I love that. And here's
00:33:40.750 --> 00:33:44.509
where we're going to land this spaceship for
00:33:44.509 --> 00:33:49.670
today, because it really could take off and we
00:33:49.670 --> 00:33:52.529
could go a whole lot longer. But we talk about
00:33:52.529 --> 00:33:55.710
representation a lot in media and we should,
00:33:55.809 --> 00:33:58.970
but we don't talk enough about what we absorbed.
00:34:00.420 --> 00:34:04.539
accidentally from TV dads. We learned what patience
00:34:04.539 --> 00:34:06.519
looked like or what it didn't look like. Look
00:34:06.519 --> 00:34:10.119
at Al Bundy. We learned how men handle failure,
00:34:10.239 --> 00:34:13.739
how they handle grief, how they talk or don't
00:34:13.739 --> 00:34:16.320
talk to their kids. Some of it was beautiful.
00:34:16.480 --> 00:34:20.960
Some of it was unrealistic expectations is what
00:34:20.960 --> 00:34:24.059
they were setting. And some of it filled a void
00:34:24.059 --> 00:34:28.360
that needed filling. That's all worth examining.
00:34:29.289 --> 00:34:31.969
Not to cancel anything. Like you watch Al Bundy
00:34:31.969 --> 00:34:34.130
now and you're like, oh, my God, I don't know
00:34:34.130 --> 00:34:36.030
how this was on the air. We're not doing that.
00:34:36.110 --> 00:34:38.070
That's not what we're saying. That was a where.
00:34:38.329 --> 00:34:41.050
But we got to understand ourselves a little bit
00:34:41.050 --> 00:34:44.869
better. The shows that we watched shaped the
00:34:44.869 --> 00:34:49.570
adults that we are now. I'm an adult only by
00:34:49.570 --> 00:34:54.329
age, you know, not in mind. But that's not a
00:34:54.329 --> 00:34:57.530
small thing. So the question me and Coco are
00:34:57.530 --> 00:34:59.989
going to leave you with, the freaks. Yeah. Which
00:34:59.989 --> 00:35:03.110
TV dad shaped how you think about fatherhood?
00:35:03.269 --> 00:35:05.949
Yeah, because it may have shaped your parenting
00:35:05.949 --> 00:35:08.489
style or how you chose to show up as a parent.
00:35:09.409 --> 00:35:11.889
Maybe contradicted how you were parented from
00:35:11.889 --> 00:35:14.190
your own dad and saw something different on TV.
00:35:14.789 --> 00:35:18.349
And also for some of us, it was a choice of like,
00:35:18.389 --> 00:35:22.400
who do I want to marry? When for straight women,
00:35:22.460 --> 00:35:25.360
I'm being, you know, I'm focusing in on that
00:35:25.360 --> 00:35:27.119
because it's a completely different thing when
00:35:27.119 --> 00:35:29.800
you, you know, you're looking for another lady
00:35:29.800 --> 00:35:32.079
to have a family with. But if you're looking
00:35:32.079 --> 00:35:35.960
for a dad to have a family with, how did it shape
00:35:35.960 --> 00:35:38.900
how you chose that partner who you thought, yeah,
00:35:38.960 --> 00:35:42.460
parenting children with this person? What a great
00:35:42.460 --> 00:35:44.619
episode. And we're right here at Father's Day,
00:35:44.679 --> 00:35:48.139
too. So look at. Coco looking ahead at the schedule
00:35:48.139 --> 00:35:52.320
and planning for the holiday. I love that. But
00:35:52.320 --> 00:35:55.199
yeah, that's going to wrap this episode up. And
00:35:55.199 --> 00:35:56.880
like I said, it got a whole lot deeper than we
00:35:56.880 --> 00:35:59.519
thought it would, but we, we've been talking
00:35:59.519 --> 00:36:03.380
about this for, I feel like months. So there
00:36:03.380 --> 00:36:06.239
was a lot of thought in this. So hope you enjoyed
00:36:06.239 --> 00:36:09.159
it. Since parallel frequencies, I am just Blaine.
00:36:09.179 --> 00:36:11.380
She is Coco and you are the freaks. We'll see
00:36:11.380 --> 00:36:12.480
you on the other side.
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.779
Lean in, get close, and listen, because today
00:00:03.779 --> 00:00:05.679
we're going somewhere I didn't think would hit
00:00:05.679 --> 00:00:07.519
me as hard as it did when we started mapping
00:00:07.519 --> 00:00:11.679
this episode out. We're talking about TV dads.
00:00:12.080 --> 00:00:14.519
And before you go, oh, that sounds cute, pump
00:00:14.519 --> 00:00:17.579
the brakes, because the conversation, it got
00:00:17.579 --> 00:00:20.460
deep fast. Because the dads we grew up watching
00:00:20.460 --> 00:00:23.019
on TV, they weren't just characters. They were
00:00:23.019 --> 00:00:26.579
blueprints, whether we knew it or not. Some of
00:00:26.579 --> 00:00:28.640
us grew up with a great dad in the house. Some
00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:32.200
of us didn't. And some of us had a TV set that
00:00:32.200 --> 00:00:35.020
filled in the blanks. It's not sad. It's just
00:00:35.020 --> 00:00:38.640
real. So let's talk about it. Parallel frequencies.
00:00:38.799 --> 00:00:41.179
I am just playing. She is Coco. You are the freaks.
00:00:41.460 --> 00:00:44.479
I'm excited today, Coco. This was. This did get
00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:46.659
me thinking. Yeah. This did get me thinking.
00:00:47.460 --> 00:00:52.420
Yeah. Influence of TV dads. I'm sure you can
00:00:52.420 --> 00:00:55.719
talk about yourself as you are a dad now. Yeah.
00:00:56.799 --> 00:00:59.659
Yeah. I'd love to be a TV dad, but we'll get
00:00:59.659 --> 00:01:02.340
to that. What TV have you watched lately? Did
00:01:02.340 --> 00:01:04.620
you finish White Lotus? I finished season one.
00:01:05.159 --> 00:01:08.200
Okay. I don't know why I'm getting into this,
00:01:08.200 --> 00:01:11.280
like, binge watching or starting shows I've never
00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:13.859
thought of starting. And I also started, what
00:01:13.859 --> 00:01:17.260
is it? Margo's Got Money Troubles? Oh. Money
00:01:17.260 --> 00:01:20.299
Troubles? Yeah. How is that? That's on Apple.
00:01:20.480 --> 00:01:22.379
The new one on Apple, I think. Elle Fanning,
00:01:22.540 --> 00:01:26.489
Michelle Pfeiffer, Nick Offerman. Which we're
00:01:26.489 --> 00:01:28.230
going to talk about later. I got to talk about
00:01:28.230 --> 00:01:33.290
Nick Offerman. Okay. Okay. So good. What a good
00:01:33.290 --> 00:01:37.250
show. I'm hooked. Does she wrestle in that? Is
00:01:37.250 --> 00:01:39.650
that the one? I believe. No, I haven't seen all
00:01:39.650 --> 00:01:43.489
of it. But I saw a little, like, image. I was
00:01:43.489 --> 00:01:46.469
like, wait a minute. Is that Nicole Kidman? Nicole
00:01:46.469 --> 00:01:51.109
Kidman. And I think Chris Jericho. Chris Jericho,
00:01:51.230 --> 00:01:54.590
the pro wrestler. And podcast. There is pro wrestling
00:01:54.590 --> 00:01:58.090
in there. Yeah, Nick Hoffman played the former
00:01:58.090 --> 00:02:01.969
wrestler. I'll have to check this show out. You
00:02:01.969 --> 00:02:04.829
know what? I'm on an Apple kick, too. Widow's
00:02:04.829 --> 00:02:07.569
Bay. Holy shit. The new episode that just dropped
00:02:07.569 --> 00:02:09.569
at midnight. I happened to watch at midnight.
00:02:10.550 --> 00:02:15.189
This show is getting some lost vibes. Big time.
00:02:16.250 --> 00:02:19.009
It's wild. You got to watch it. Five episodes
00:02:19.009 --> 00:02:23.469
deep. Apple TV+. Widow's Bay. Matthew Rhys. I
00:02:23.469 --> 00:02:28.219
like him. There's a dad for you on The Americans.
00:02:28.419 --> 00:02:33.539
He played a Russian spy and had to be a dad.
00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:36.680
Now, we could get deep on that and have its own
00:02:36.680 --> 00:02:40.300
episode, but we better not. We better not because...
00:02:40.590 --> 00:02:42.430
We got a lot of dads that we want to talk about.
00:02:42.710 --> 00:02:44.469
We're not even going to get to all of them today.
00:02:44.550 --> 00:02:46.810
There's no way. I have a list that's a mile long.
00:02:46.949 --> 00:02:49.430
But we did those with TV moms, too. And there
00:02:49.430 --> 00:02:51.169
was just more and more and more that came up
00:02:51.169 --> 00:02:54.409
even after we stopped talking. It's wild. I mean,
00:02:54.409 --> 00:02:57.509
but here's the thing about TV dads specifically.
00:02:58.210 --> 00:03:01.530
And tell me if you see this differently. But
00:03:01.530 --> 00:03:04.889
they exist in like this weird space where they're
00:03:04.889 --> 00:03:09.759
both aspirational and. Ridiculous at the same
00:03:09.759 --> 00:03:13.000
time. Like nobody's real dad was that wise at
00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:15.719
exactly the right moment. Nobody's real dad had
00:03:15.719 --> 00:03:18.259
a perfect callback ready after the commercial
00:03:18.259 --> 00:03:21.240
break. You know, like that's not how life works.
00:03:21.300 --> 00:03:23.360
But we still measured our real dads against them
00:03:23.360 --> 00:03:27.099
consciously or not. But that's the power of storytelling.
00:03:27.979 --> 00:03:31.460
TV, you know, sitcoms, even if it wasn't a sitcom,
00:03:31.639 --> 00:03:35.199
it gave us mythology of fatherhood. It made me.
00:03:35.879 --> 00:03:37.819
yes, I'm a dad now. And I look back and I'm like,
00:03:37.860 --> 00:03:40.479
man, am I being uncle Phil or Al Bundy right
00:03:40.479 --> 00:03:42.740
now? You know, I'm thinking these kinds of things,
00:03:42.840 --> 00:03:47.120
but I think that it's, it's, it's, I think it's
00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:49.000
beautiful, but I think there were some harmful
00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:52.139
ones in there as well. And then some of these
00:03:52.139 --> 00:03:55.620
dads are just hilarious. So we've got to honor
00:03:55.620 --> 00:03:58.120
all of them. Oh yeah. I think, I think we've
00:03:58.120 --> 00:03:59.300
got to honor all of them. Who do you want to
00:03:59.300 --> 00:04:01.539
kick it off with? Oh gosh. Or do you want me
00:04:01.539 --> 00:04:05.889
to? Well, The one that keeps coming up in searches
00:04:05.889 --> 00:04:08.270
when I say, like, all right, give me some ideas,
00:04:08.310 --> 00:04:10.930
some TV dads. You know, let's look at some lists
00:04:10.930 --> 00:04:13.069
that people have made out there. And the one
00:04:13.069 --> 00:04:14.830
that seemed to come up number one, and we talked
00:04:14.830 --> 00:04:17.889
about this on the Mother's episode, Moms of TV,
00:04:18.110 --> 00:04:24.069
is Danny Tanner, Full House. I still hold to
00:04:24.069 --> 00:04:28.430
that. He deserves the mom role. I feel like stepping
00:04:28.430 --> 00:04:31.050
in as a widower, raising his three girls, he
00:04:31.050 --> 00:04:33.730
took on the role that most of the moms seem to
00:04:33.730 --> 00:04:35.949
take on, you know, traditionally. We're going
00:04:35.949 --> 00:04:38.189
to talk about roles and stuff like that. But
00:04:38.189 --> 00:04:42.470
but the one that held all of that mental load,
00:04:42.569 --> 00:04:44.709
as well as physical load of caring and nurturing
00:04:44.709 --> 00:04:47.490
for the children. And I'm going to get a little
00:04:47.490 --> 00:04:49.629
bit on some soapbox today. But, you know, in
00:04:49.629 --> 00:04:52.709
comparison to some dads we saw on TV that were
00:04:52.709 --> 00:04:57.769
like what not to do. Oh, yeah. So you had, like,
00:04:57.870 --> 00:05:02.230
Uncle Jesse and Uncle Joey as kind of, you know,
00:05:02.250 --> 00:05:05.509
stepping in to play, I don't know, more of that
00:05:05.509 --> 00:05:08.689
traditional dad role to the kids in the show.
00:05:08.790 --> 00:05:10.949
They did. They really did. Danny deserves the
00:05:10.949 --> 00:05:15.370
mom trophy. He's on that spectrum. Yeah. He really
00:05:15.370 --> 00:05:17.670
does. He really does. I'm going to start off
00:05:17.670 --> 00:05:21.709
with the elephant in the room. I know. I know.
00:05:22.649 --> 00:05:27.310
Cliff Huxtable. As a character, okay? Yeah. One
00:05:27.310 --> 00:05:30.350
of the greatest TV dads ever written. Full stop.
00:05:30.829 --> 00:05:36.389
Right there. 100%. You know, he was aspirational
00:05:36.389 --> 00:05:41.670
black fatherhood on primetime television at a
00:05:41.670 --> 00:05:44.829
time when that was radical. Like, that was, this
00:05:44.829 --> 00:05:47.009
was, I'm white. Look at me. I'm white, okay?
00:05:47.089 --> 00:05:49.970
White, grew up in the South on a farm. But you
00:05:49.970 --> 00:05:52.589
better believe the Cosby show was on every night
00:05:52.589 --> 00:05:55.819
in my house. Like this had an impact on me. Cliff
00:05:55.819 --> 00:05:58.699
Huxtable had a huge impact on me. We can't ignore
00:05:58.699 --> 00:06:02.339
that. It's a complicated legacy. But, you know,
00:06:02.360 --> 00:06:04.279
we're grown enough here that we can we can sit
00:06:04.279 --> 00:06:07.459
down and say that and say that the character
00:06:07.459 --> 00:06:10.540
Cliff Huxtable is one of the greatest TV dads
00:06:10.540 --> 00:06:14.480
ever. Such a good role model, an example of like
00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:18.079
the non -toxic masculinity, the sort of nurturing.
00:06:19.270 --> 00:06:22.550
masculinity of you know he he was great at highlighting
00:06:22.550 --> 00:06:26.509
and supporting his wife in her role as a lawyer
00:06:26.509 --> 00:06:29.970
and breadwinner of the family as well i mean
00:06:29.970 --> 00:06:33.550
he just he slid into place as a like a true partner
00:06:33.550 --> 00:06:36.970
and co -parent he knew just about the kids where
00:06:36.970 --> 00:06:39.029
they were where they were going who their teachers
00:06:39.029 --> 00:06:42.129
were the things that you know moms often hold
00:06:42.129 --> 00:06:45.500
he showed an example of like And I remember that
00:06:45.500 --> 00:06:47.819
episode. I'll never forget where Claire is like,
00:06:47.920 --> 00:06:51.139
sometimes she's talking to her future son -in
00:06:51.139 --> 00:06:53.759
-law with the whole macho masculine thing. And
00:06:53.759 --> 00:06:55.720
she's like, sometimes he brings me a cup of tea.
00:06:55.759 --> 00:06:58.360
And sometimes I bring him a cup of tea. I love
00:06:58.360 --> 00:07:01.240
that scene, but it's true. Cliff Huxtable. He
00:07:01.240 --> 00:07:04.459
was a great example. We can separate that out
00:07:04.459 --> 00:07:08.740
from the actor and we can just say TV dad. I
00:07:08.740 --> 00:07:10.939
mean, what the man who played him did in real
00:07:10.939 --> 00:07:14.139
life. That's a completely separate. devastating
00:07:14.139 --> 00:07:16.000
conversation that we're not going to do here.
00:07:16.040 --> 00:07:20.199
We're talking about TV deaths. Mike Brady. All
00:07:20.199 --> 00:07:23.860
right. I know it was kind of a different one.
00:07:23.899 --> 00:07:26.139
He's corny. We'll just say it, you know, but
00:07:26.139 --> 00:07:32.060
he's also endlessly, beautifully corny. Here's
00:07:32.060 --> 00:07:36.019
my actual take on Mike Brady because, and I won't
00:07:36.019 --> 00:07:39.160
push back if necessary, but Mike Brady was the
00:07:39.160 --> 00:07:43.199
first. TV stepdad we ever saw that was really
00:07:43.199 --> 00:07:44.920
handled with dignity. I mean, think about this.
00:07:45.160 --> 00:07:48.519
The man married in to a family with three daughters.
00:07:48.579 --> 00:07:51.360
He had three sons of his own. Blended the whole
00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:53.480
situation and never once treated those kids any
00:07:53.480 --> 00:07:56.600
differently than his own. In the 70s on network
00:07:56.600 --> 00:08:00.279
television, that was a statement. The timing
00:08:00.279 --> 00:08:03.860
is all there. But the corniness is the rapping.
00:08:04.040 --> 00:08:05.879
And that's how they kind of broke through. The
00:08:05.879 --> 00:08:08.629
message inside was... This family's real and
00:08:08.629 --> 00:08:11.509
love makes it so. So, yeah, I think that was
00:08:11.509 --> 00:08:15.750
a huge turning point for TV dads. Was Mike Brady?
00:08:15.970 --> 00:08:18.050
Yeah, showing that blended families could make
00:08:18.050 --> 00:08:20.329
it work. Although that was the time where TV
00:08:20.329 --> 00:08:25.550
was showing, like, idealistic sort of situations.
00:08:25.569 --> 00:08:28.610
Like, we know this isn't what real life looks
00:08:28.610 --> 00:08:30.910
like, but we're going to show you what we would
00:08:30.910 --> 00:08:33.429
like it to look like. That when you blend a family,
00:08:33.529 --> 00:08:39.470
it just blends that. well and as this and, and
00:08:39.470 --> 00:08:41.529
that no one has any resentment towards their
00:08:41.529 --> 00:08:43.950
step -parent for being not the mom or not the
00:08:43.950 --> 00:08:46.590
dad and all of that. And, you know, he had plenty
00:08:46.590 --> 00:08:48.549
of time and you often wonder like, when did he
00:08:48.549 --> 00:08:51.990
work? Cause he had time for the kids and he always
00:08:51.990 --> 00:08:55.350
had time to, you know, his wife and all of the
00:08:55.350 --> 00:08:56.850
things. So this was kind of, you know, coming
00:08:56.850 --> 00:08:59.389
from the era of TV that was a little bit, um,
00:08:59.509 --> 00:09:03.740
unrealistic. We knew that. I mean, Let me fight
00:09:03.740 --> 00:09:05.500
on that a little bit because Mike Brady was an
00:09:05.500 --> 00:09:07.659
architect. I think he designed their own house,
00:09:07.799 --> 00:09:10.139
didn't he? Yes. When? He was building things.
00:09:10.179 --> 00:09:12.840
I don't know. He was building stuff. I mean,
00:09:12.860 --> 00:09:14.960
that's a metaphor and I'm taking it. He would
00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:16.779
walk through the house with a model once in a
00:09:16.779 --> 00:09:19.879
while, you know, or a draft or one of those T
00:09:19.879 --> 00:09:21.620
-squares or something. He would, like, walk through
00:09:21.620 --> 00:09:24.299
the house and be like, got to get to work. Exactly.
00:09:24.340 --> 00:09:27.379
That was it. That's all you ever saw. Okay. Give
00:09:27.379 --> 00:09:29.519
me another one. Who's on your list over there,
00:09:29.580 --> 00:09:31.710
Coco? What you got? Well, I said we'd bring it
00:09:31.710 --> 00:09:34.350
up because Nick Offerman playing the dad in the
00:09:34.350 --> 00:09:37.750
new show that I was watching. Now, Nick Offerman,
00:09:37.990 --> 00:09:42.049
famously married to Megan Mullally in real life,
00:09:42.169 --> 00:09:45.669
is not a dad. And I've heard them kind of talk
00:09:45.669 --> 00:09:47.389
about it. I've listened to their podcast together.
00:09:47.590 --> 00:09:53.129
They're a power couple to idolize. But Nick Offerman,
00:09:53.309 --> 00:09:56.110
there's nobody I can think of that has such dad
00:09:56.110 --> 00:10:01.049
energy. Even his role in Parks and Recreation
00:10:01.049 --> 00:10:04.710
as Ron Swanson, I feel like deserves a place
00:10:04.710 --> 00:10:08.950
on our list because he was like dad, right? He
00:10:08.950 --> 00:10:11.509
was dad of the office. He was dad of, you know,
00:10:11.549 --> 00:10:13.789
he. You're telling me Nick Offerman doesn't have
00:10:13.789 --> 00:10:16.730
kids in real life? Right. That's what I'm telling
00:10:16.730 --> 00:10:19.590
you. That's wild. I know, right? That's wild.
00:10:19.649 --> 00:10:21.610
No, I'm saying, I mean, because you're right.
00:10:21.690 --> 00:10:25.620
Like he is the most dad. Yeah. Like, everything
00:10:25.620 --> 00:10:28.980
he does gives off those, like, and I mean that
00:10:28.980 --> 00:10:32.440
in the best kind of way. Yes. Again, very masculine,
00:10:32.500 --> 00:10:36.759
but very safe. I just feel like his voice, his
00:10:36.759 --> 00:10:40.919
demeanor, I would never feel like, oh, no, I
00:10:40.919 --> 00:10:42.899
hope this guy doesn't yell at me any second.
00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:45.799
Like, I hope he doesn't get mad and then I'm
00:10:45.799 --> 00:10:49.080
scared for my life. Like, you know, there's a
00:10:49.080 --> 00:10:53.350
lot of. trauma we could talk about with how we
00:10:53.350 --> 00:10:55.830
feel about men. And sometimes, you know, there
00:10:55.830 --> 00:10:58.990
were moments watching Roseanne where when David
00:10:58.990 --> 00:11:02.409
would get upset and like throw a chair, I would
00:11:02.409 --> 00:11:04.970
physically react at home. And I love that show.
00:11:05.009 --> 00:11:06.490
Don't get me wrong. That was one of my favorite
00:11:06.490 --> 00:11:08.889
shows of all time. Just, just to put that out
00:11:08.889 --> 00:11:11.269
there first, but there were moments where I would
00:11:11.269 --> 00:11:14.429
tense. I'd be like, Oh no, this is a dad getting
00:11:14.429 --> 00:11:18.139
mad. Right. And my dad didn't. It's not from
00:11:18.139 --> 00:11:20.000
my experience from a dad, but I think it's just
00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:22.460
inherited trauma. We just kind of have that.
00:11:23.279 --> 00:11:26.899
Yeah. I like Nick Offerman's way of just the
00:11:26.899 --> 00:11:32.039
quiet, calm presence that you know it's like,
00:11:32.120 --> 00:11:35.980
I got this. I can take care of you. I can take
00:11:35.980 --> 00:11:39.620
care of any situation. I'm in charge here. I
00:11:39.620 --> 00:11:44.039
love that. Not that this is becoming a competition,
00:11:44.279 --> 00:11:46.909
but I think I've got the opposite of that. Red
00:11:46.909 --> 00:11:52.190
Foreman. That 70s show. Dumbass. Right? But look,
00:11:52.330 --> 00:11:54.730
is that not the complete opposite of what you
00:11:54.730 --> 00:11:56.210
were just talking about? I mean, Red Foreman
00:11:56.210 --> 00:11:59.850
is not a good dad by modern standards, alright?
00:12:00.950 --> 00:12:03.309
Depending on who you talk to. But he's gruff,
00:12:03.330 --> 00:12:06.929
withholding, chronically unable to say I love
00:12:06.929 --> 00:12:10.490
you without it being a crisis. But he's honest.
00:12:11.409 --> 00:12:14.950
He's the dad that a huge portion of the audience
00:12:15.930 --> 00:12:21.610
Actually had, you know, so very 70s, right? This
00:12:21.610 --> 00:12:24.590
is a lot, but probably a lot of people experience
00:12:24.590 --> 00:12:27.389
a dad like Red Foreman. And I said that kind
00:12:27.389 --> 00:12:30.830
of tiptoeing around it, but the show did it right
00:12:30.830 --> 00:12:33.450
because they never completely really let him
00:12:33.450 --> 00:12:37.309
off the hook. You know, they never they never
00:12:37.309 --> 00:12:39.370
let him turn into a full blown villain either.
00:12:39.450 --> 00:12:42.710
But he shows up, he works, he sacrifices, you
00:12:42.710 --> 00:12:45.789
know. A lot of dads are Red Foreman, and a lot
00:12:45.789 --> 00:12:48.110
of kids are Red Foreman's dads, are still processing
00:12:48.110 --> 00:12:51.850
that, you know? Yeah. It's just one of those
00:12:51.850 --> 00:12:55.549
things, but I think that's, you know, the sternness
00:12:55.549 --> 00:12:58.750
and the strictness. I loved him. I love Red Foreman.
00:12:59.450 --> 00:13:02.269
But, yeah, I'm terrified of him, too. Yeah. Yeah?
00:13:02.649 --> 00:13:05.610
Yeah. I love their dynamic, too. We talked about
00:13:05.610 --> 00:13:07.470
this on the Moms of TV with Kitty. I mean, she
00:13:07.470 --> 00:13:11.350
kind of humanized him, and she... But I do resent
00:13:11.350 --> 00:13:14.190
a little bit of the fact that... It's that old
00:13:14.190 --> 00:13:17.629
trope of like the woman gets to be the emotional
00:13:17.629 --> 00:13:21.070
and nurturing one because dad can't like it's
00:13:21.070 --> 00:13:23.990
not in his nature or, you know, he talks about
00:13:23.990 --> 00:13:26.909
he's seen he's been through a war. So he's definitely
00:13:26.909 --> 00:13:29.370
playing the part of somebody who's like emotionally
00:13:29.370 --> 00:13:33.129
stunted. Let's put this into perspective, though,
00:13:33.169 --> 00:13:36.750
because this show is that 70s show, but it wasn't
00:13:36.750 --> 00:13:41.039
made in the 70s. So they were highly aware. of
00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:45.759
what red was and what kitty was like they were
00:13:45.759 --> 00:13:47.480
they were highly aware of what they were doing
00:13:47.480 --> 00:13:51.659
and highlighted some of these things even more
00:13:51.659 --> 00:13:55.159
so than than you probably would am i right yeah
00:13:55.159 --> 00:13:58.240
yeah yeah just like they did that no they made
00:13:58.240 --> 00:14:02.399
the reboot that 90s show so all of us who were
00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:05.200
watching that 70s show in the 90s now get to
00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:09.139
see our generation played back again in our faces
00:14:10.129 --> 00:14:13.889
Exactly. And it's, yes, very much highlighting
00:14:13.889 --> 00:14:19.490
the negative, but not always, sometimes the positive,
00:14:19.529 --> 00:14:22.669
too. So, yeah. Who's your next one? Well, this
00:14:22.669 --> 00:14:26.549
is not so much a sitcom or comedy, but we talked
00:14:26.549 --> 00:14:28.889
about Gilmore Girls back when we were doing all
00:14:28.889 --> 00:14:33.230
of our Mother's Day things. And one of the actors,
00:14:33.610 --> 00:14:37.289
let me see if I can say his name right. Milo
00:14:37.289 --> 00:14:46.389
Ventimiglia. I should have practiced before we
00:14:46.389 --> 00:14:49.889
started. Anyway, he plays Jack Pearson on This
00:14:49.889 --> 00:14:55.190
Is Us. And that entire show, really, truly, if
00:14:55.190 --> 00:14:58.070
you look at the crux of the entire show, circles
00:14:58.070 --> 00:15:03.450
around Jack. jack pearson their dad even though
00:15:03.450 --> 00:15:06.350
um you know the kids as they've grown up and
00:15:06.350 --> 00:15:08.250
they're in their 40s and what's going on with
00:15:08.250 --> 00:15:10.470
their own families and their own lives the effect
00:15:10.470 --> 00:15:12.590
of their father's death when they were young
00:15:12.590 --> 00:15:16.029
how that played out in their lives i mean it
00:15:16.029 --> 00:15:22.250
was i mean and people cannot deny that the jack's
00:15:22.250 --> 00:15:26.600
death moment of this show was television history
00:15:26.600 --> 00:15:30.340
like all i hadn't known it when everybody else
00:15:30.340 --> 00:15:32.600
was seeing it all i saw was that social media
00:15:32.600 --> 00:15:36.200
was flooded with crockpots and the image of crockpots
00:15:36.200 --> 00:15:40.279
and i was like what is this what is gonna happen
00:15:40.279 --> 00:15:42.679
i hadn't gotten there yet i just knew we knew
00:15:42.679 --> 00:15:44.679
that jack dies because we see the future right
00:15:44.679 --> 00:15:46.659
and they talk about their father's death when
00:15:46.659 --> 00:15:49.799
they and but when the actual episode came it
00:15:49.799 --> 00:15:54.350
broke all of our hearts it broke us all I think
00:15:54.350 --> 00:15:56.370
I've heard of this, but I've never seen this,
00:15:56.509 --> 00:15:58.409
but I might have to check it out. I'm looking
00:15:58.409 --> 00:16:01.730
on IMDb right now. I've never seen a show that
00:16:01.730 --> 00:16:04.929
is streaming on so many services. Oh, really?
00:16:05.090 --> 00:16:08.610
Yeah, I can imagine that. Mandy Moore plays his
00:16:08.610 --> 00:16:13.570
wife. Such a good show. Hulu, Disney, Bravo,
00:16:14.029 --> 00:16:22.100
E!, NBC, SyFy, Telemundo, Tubi. Yep. Amazon?
00:16:22.320 --> 00:16:26.299
This is wild. It would be crazy if you had missed
00:16:26.299 --> 00:16:29.799
this show. Now, I will just say with This Is
00:16:29.799 --> 00:16:33.860
Us, I remember watching it and I remember thinking,
00:16:34.019 --> 00:16:37.799
oh, my gosh, this is us. I think they did a really
00:16:37.799 --> 00:16:40.100
good job of taking all these different things
00:16:40.100 --> 00:16:43.139
about a family that could happen to real families
00:16:43.139 --> 00:16:45.759
and then highlighting and showing that. I have
00:16:45.759 --> 00:16:49.059
an adopted son. So the dynamics of like what
00:16:49.059 --> 00:16:52.100
it's like to kind of. come to terms with parenting
00:16:52.100 --> 00:16:53.899
and parenthood and how you're doing when you
00:16:53.899 --> 00:16:58.340
have an adopted son. They play all that out.
00:16:58.399 --> 00:17:01.360
They show that dynamic. They show the struggles
00:17:01.360 --> 00:17:05.019
and the differences and how that feels. Jack
00:17:05.019 --> 00:17:07.839
struggles with alcoholism and there's a moment
00:17:07.839 --> 00:17:10.519
where Mandy Moore's character has to look at
00:17:10.519 --> 00:17:13.180
her and say, how do you feel like you're doing
00:17:13.180 --> 00:17:17.019
as a parent? Because I... I feel like one out
00:17:17.019 --> 00:17:21.160
of ten, I'm an 11 most days. I'm killing it as
00:17:21.160 --> 00:17:24.980
a mom. I'm doing great. But how do you feel you're
00:17:24.980 --> 00:17:29.299
doing? And it kind of like jolts him awake. He's
00:17:29.299 --> 00:17:33.599
like, I need to stop drinking. Like I can't be
00:17:33.599 --> 00:17:38.680
that good of a dad if I'm an alcoholic. I love
00:17:38.680 --> 00:17:42.089
that. This is a great one. This is a good that's
00:17:42.089 --> 00:17:43.589
a great one that you pulled out right there.
00:17:43.730 --> 00:17:46.269
I love that. Is this the same Mandy Moore from
00:17:46.269 --> 00:17:47.970
from the singing career that had the singing
00:17:47.970 --> 00:17:50.549
career? Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. OK, I got
00:17:50.549 --> 00:17:55.250
a mom younger and she they in in makeup. She
00:17:55.250 --> 00:17:59.369
plays the old mom for the 40 year olds. So they
00:17:59.369 --> 00:18:02.950
have her play the role on both ends. Oh, I got
00:18:02.950 --> 00:18:06.569
I'm going to check this out. All right. On to
00:18:06.569 --> 00:18:09.450
the next day. And this one this one's a shocker.
00:18:09.769 --> 00:18:12.930
This one, this guy was out here doing the work
00:18:12.930 --> 00:18:17.890
before emotionally availability was a phrase
00:18:17.890 --> 00:18:19.509
people said out loud. I'm talking about Gomez
00:18:19.509 --> 00:18:23.430
Adams from the Adams family. Was it really? Because
00:18:23.430 --> 00:18:26.990
I put him on there because he's genuinely one
00:18:26.990 --> 00:18:30.089
of the most loving fathers in TV history, and
00:18:30.089 --> 00:18:34.829
nobody ever leads with that fact. He adored Morticia.
00:18:35.029 --> 00:18:38.430
For that alone, he gets a top ranking on my list,
00:18:38.529 --> 00:18:42.109
yeah. celebrated all his kids, everything, darkness
00:18:42.109 --> 00:18:44.329
instead of trying to fix them. You know, he celebrated
00:18:44.329 --> 00:18:48.990
that. And he was emotionally expressive, wildly
00:18:48.990 --> 00:18:52.609
enthusiastic, and fully himself. Wednesday Adams,
00:18:52.950 --> 00:18:56.410
Wednesday, the one that we love now, she is who
00:18:56.410 --> 00:18:59.369
she is because her father never tried to make
00:18:59.369 --> 00:19:01.950
her be anything else. Full acceptance, unconditional
00:19:01.950 --> 00:19:05.390
love. That's progressive parenting wrapped up
00:19:05.390 --> 00:19:07.829
in a gothic suit right there, though. I love
00:19:07.829 --> 00:19:11.410
Gomez Adams. Absolutely. That's funny. I don't
00:19:11.410 --> 00:19:14.109
want to talk about TV dads, but my favorite Gomez
00:19:14.109 --> 00:19:17.529
Adams was the movie. That's my personal favorite
00:19:17.529 --> 00:19:20.390
with them. Angelica Houston playing Morticia.
00:19:20.789 --> 00:19:25.009
Yeah. That was the movie that was out when we
00:19:25.009 --> 00:19:28.230
were younger, right? Yeah. The 90s. Christina
00:19:28.230 --> 00:19:35.029
Ricci. 91. Adams Family Values. Ryle Julia was
00:19:35.029 --> 00:19:40.470
Gomez. Ryle Julia. Yes, he's no longer with us,
00:19:40.549 --> 00:19:43.849
but he was fantastic. I just think he did the
00:19:43.849 --> 00:19:47.049
best job. That's my favorite. Yeah. Who's your
00:19:47.049 --> 00:19:51.369
next one there? Well, I feel like I can't not
00:19:51.369 --> 00:19:55.509
mention some of the TV dads that kind of play
00:19:55.509 --> 00:19:58.230
into the what not to do trope. I mean, we're
00:19:58.230 --> 00:20:00.430
talking about like the Homer Simpson types, right?
00:20:00.509 --> 00:20:04.109
There you go. Oh, man. I feel frustrated with
00:20:04.109 --> 00:20:06.539
the Simpsons. Even as I am one of the biggest
00:20:06.539 --> 00:20:10.279
fans of that show, always will be. It's like
00:20:10.279 --> 00:20:12.319
one of those you play it to go to sleep kind
00:20:12.319 --> 00:20:15.480
of shows you love so much. But you can't help
00:20:15.480 --> 00:20:17.759
but be a little bit like, why does Marge have
00:20:17.759 --> 00:20:21.599
to put up with this? Why does she have to be
00:20:21.599 --> 00:20:24.500
the one who holds it all together all the time?
00:20:24.519 --> 00:20:29.160
And as I've grown and become a mom and see my
00:20:29.160 --> 00:20:32.940
friends as moms and wives. This is where I get
00:20:32.940 --> 00:20:38.019
in my soapbox a little bit, but the women or
00:20:38.019 --> 00:20:39.980
the wives or the mothers, they end up having
00:20:39.980 --> 00:20:44.240
to hold it all together all the time because
00:20:44.240 --> 00:20:46.799
their husband's just kind of like the bare minimum
00:20:46.799 --> 00:20:50.859
of dadhood. Is good enough. The bar is so low.
00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:53.420
That like. They would say something like. Well
00:20:53.420 --> 00:20:56.119
I changed a diaper at least. And my dad never
00:20:56.119 --> 00:20:58.420
changed a diaper. You know. So you're like. Okay.
00:20:58.480 --> 00:21:00.799
But the bar is still pretty low. You know. You
00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:02.740
can do bare minimum. And still be called a good
00:21:02.740 --> 00:21:07.420
dad. And I'm like. No thanks. So. If we're talking
00:21:07.420 --> 00:21:10.240
about anti -dads. And I got the. I got the. The
00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:12.880
king of the king. Al Bundy. I've already mentioned
00:21:12.880 --> 00:21:14.980
him once. Let's do it. I mean. But here's the
00:21:14.980 --> 00:21:18.470
thing. This show was literally built. As a parody
00:21:18.470 --> 00:21:21.670
of the family sitcom. I just did a whole rewatch.
00:21:21.750 --> 00:21:27.130
All 11 seasons. They are so aware. Of what they're
00:21:27.130 --> 00:21:30.230
doing. Peg the way she is. Al the way he is.
00:21:30.549 --> 00:21:36.410
It's on purpose. Al hated his job. Hated his
00:21:36.410 --> 00:21:41.170
life. Broke. Underappreciated. And spiritually
00:21:41.170 --> 00:21:44.289
defeated by the universe. He even. meets the
00:21:44.289 --> 00:21:46.150
devil and goes to hell in the final season. Like,
00:21:46.170 --> 00:21:49.630
it's wild. But here's the thing. He never left.
00:21:50.130 --> 00:21:53.869
He never quit. He complained every single day
00:21:53.869 --> 00:21:58.069
and still came home every single night. There's
00:21:58.069 --> 00:22:00.710
something in that that isn't funny at all when
00:22:00.710 --> 00:22:03.670
you really look at it, you know? But Al Bundy,
00:22:03.750 --> 00:22:07.250
this is going to be controversial probably, but
00:22:07.250 --> 00:22:09.789
Al Bundy is what happens when a man feels trapped
00:22:09.789 --> 00:22:12.710
and stays anyway because leaving feels worse.
00:22:13.230 --> 00:22:16.490
And I'm not celebrating that. I'm just saying
00:22:16.490 --> 00:22:19.009
that at the time this show came out, that was
00:22:19.009 --> 00:22:21.390
real for a lot of families. Yes. And this show
00:22:21.390 --> 00:22:23.250
knew it. It still is, yeah. Married with the
00:22:23.250 --> 00:22:26.609
children knew it. It still is. Yeah. But, yeah,
00:22:26.750 --> 00:22:29.950
anti -dam. And then we get into, like, you know,
00:22:29.970 --> 00:22:34.309
my whole soapbox thing, which is men taking care
00:22:34.309 --> 00:22:38.740
of their mental health. It's better. for everyone
00:22:38.740 --> 00:22:40.980
i mean i know that the whole like happy wife
00:22:40.980 --> 00:22:44.880
happy life is a is a thing but just as much as
00:22:44.880 --> 00:22:47.579
women need to take care of themselves first you
00:22:47.579 --> 00:22:49.460
put their own oxygen mask on first and take care
00:22:49.460 --> 00:22:51.839
of their families al bundy is a great example
00:22:51.839 --> 00:22:53.480
of what happens when you don't take care of yourself
00:22:53.480 --> 00:22:56.119
so you can be there for your family if you're
00:22:56.119 --> 00:23:00.369
a miserable guy you hate your job, you don't
00:23:00.369 --> 00:23:04.210
seek any healing or self -awareness or anything
00:23:04.210 --> 00:23:07.609
that's going to maybe level up your life, then
00:23:07.609 --> 00:23:10.349
people around you just have to tolerate your
00:23:10.349 --> 00:23:16.089
misery with you. And that sucks. And then again,
00:23:16.230 --> 00:23:18.690
the bare minimum of like, well, he didn't cheat
00:23:18.690 --> 00:23:22.230
on her. He didn't leave. So I guess he's still
00:23:22.230 --> 00:23:26.609
okay. I'm like, no, let's do better, guys. Let's
00:23:26.609 --> 00:23:29.849
do better, men. We can all do better than that.
00:23:29.910 --> 00:23:34.950
Yeah. I got two more, and the last one's going
00:23:34.950 --> 00:23:38.569
to be the all -time great for me. But who's your
00:23:38.569 --> 00:23:44.349
next one? Who you got? So on the other spectrum,
00:23:44.410 --> 00:23:47.829
we've got Homer Simpson and the animated dads.
00:23:48.650 --> 00:23:50.690
We have Bob Belcher. We talked a little bit about
00:23:50.690 --> 00:23:53.009
that when we talked about Linda on the Moms of
00:23:53.009 --> 00:23:57.490
TV. But Bob Belcher is the opposite of that Homer
00:23:57.490 --> 00:24:00.970
Simpson trope. You know, like Al Bundy, Homer
00:24:00.970 --> 00:24:05.150
Simpson, you know, Peter Griffin, family guy.
00:24:05.329 --> 00:24:09.269
These are all like, or, oh, what's the dad in
00:24:09.269 --> 00:24:12.769
South Park? Stan's dad. Oh, yeah. Stan's dad.
00:24:13.089 --> 00:24:19.299
Mr. Marsh. Yeah. But you've got like these. idiotic,
00:24:19.299 --> 00:24:22.299
buffoonery dads who are like, what are you even
00:24:22.299 --> 00:24:24.720
doing? You're just ruining your family. You're
00:24:24.720 --> 00:24:26.839
just ruining life for your family and your kids.
00:24:26.940 --> 00:24:28.700
And your wife has to pick up the pieces and that
00:24:28.700 --> 00:24:32.799
sucks. But Bob Belcher is like such a good dad.
00:24:33.920 --> 00:24:37.619
He is so much just as involved with his kids
00:24:37.619 --> 00:24:40.779
as Linda is. They are truly a team together.
00:24:40.980 --> 00:24:43.240
And she might be a little wacky and a little
00:24:43.240 --> 00:24:46.660
wild, but he is there for it. He loves her for
00:24:46.660 --> 00:24:49.799
it. He lets her be her. And I am here for it.
00:24:49.960 --> 00:24:53.859
Did you watch Bob's Burgers? Love Bob's Burgers.
00:24:55.019 --> 00:24:58.859
Nothing against it. It just never got on my radar.
00:24:58.980 --> 00:25:01.299
I don't think it was a time when I was. But I've
00:25:01.299 --> 00:25:03.900
seen some episodes and love what I see, so I
00:25:03.900 --> 00:25:06.200
had to go back and watch that one. So we're making
00:25:06.200 --> 00:25:08.720
a list for our summer here. I've got This Is
00:25:08.720 --> 00:25:13.180
Us and Bob's Burgers on my list so far. I've
00:25:13.180 --> 00:25:18.240
got to get to my, we'll say, underrated dad.
00:25:18.559 --> 00:25:21.039
People really don't think about. Maybe they do.
00:25:21.500 --> 00:25:25.039
Carl Winslow from Family Matters is criminally
00:25:25.039 --> 00:25:28.759
underrated. And I'll die on this hill. Here's
00:25:28.759 --> 00:25:33.279
why. Here's a cop, working class, Chicago, dealing
00:25:33.279 --> 00:25:36.460
with the kid next door, Steve Urkel, who is genuinely,
00:25:36.480 --> 00:25:40.599
objectively a chaos agent. And Carl Winslow showed
00:25:40.599 --> 00:25:44.039
up every week, exasperated, hilarious, but present.
00:25:44.240 --> 00:25:47.680
He wasn't the flashy dad. He wasn't the profound
00:25:47.680 --> 00:25:51.640
speech dad. He was the dad that came home tired
00:25:51.640 --> 00:25:55.400
and still tried. That's most dads. That's most
00:25:55.400 --> 00:25:58.579
dads out there. That was probably my dad. Growing
00:25:58.579 --> 00:26:01.319
up right here was a Carl Wendlow, you know, that's
00:26:01.319 --> 00:26:03.400
the dad a lot of us had. And we don't talk about
00:26:03.400 --> 00:26:06.859
that version enough. I think that this version
00:26:06.859 --> 00:26:11.339
of a dad is undervalued. The tired but still
00:26:11.339 --> 00:26:15.420
trying day. But we need to celebrate that, you
00:26:15.420 --> 00:26:19.359
know, because it was real. Yep. Yep. Came home
00:26:19.359 --> 00:26:22.220
after work and he and he jumped right in and
00:26:22.220 --> 00:26:30.440
he was parenting and. Let's not say that so lightly,
00:26:30.660 --> 00:26:33.500
though. He came home after being a police officer
00:26:33.500 --> 00:26:38.400
in Chicago. Like, that's something. He made the
00:26:38.400 --> 00:26:39.900
switch. He was able to make the switch when he
00:26:39.900 --> 00:26:43.259
got home. And that's crazy. Like I said, that's
00:26:43.259 --> 00:26:45.359
a lot of dads out there. Give me one more, and
00:26:45.359 --> 00:26:47.740
I'm going to get to my main, my biggest. You
00:26:47.740 --> 00:26:51.079
better not say it first. I know you know. No,
00:26:51.180 --> 00:26:53.640
I was trying to guess which one you were going
00:26:53.640 --> 00:26:55.440
to say, and I think you're still going to say
00:26:55.440 --> 00:26:57.400
the one I think you're going to say, but I'm
00:26:57.400 --> 00:27:00.839
going to pivot totally off course here and give
00:27:00.839 --> 00:27:03.519
you one you probably wouldn't have thought. All
00:27:03.519 --> 00:27:07.720
right. Eddard Ned Stark from Game of Thrones.
00:27:08.160 --> 00:27:11.880
Whoa! I absolutely, just like on This Is Us,
00:27:12.039 --> 00:27:14.519
that was centered around Jack, even though Jack
00:27:14.519 --> 00:27:19.019
is not in it as much. Eddard Stark, Ned Stark,
00:27:19.319 --> 00:27:22.819
in Game of Thrones, the original series, is the
00:27:22.819 --> 00:27:26.619
main character of the series. And he dies in
00:27:26.619 --> 00:27:30.960
the first season. Think about that. That's insane
00:27:30.960 --> 00:27:35.380
to me, that he is the central character that
00:27:35.380 --> 00:27:38.980
triggers everything that happens and everybody
00:27:38.980 --> 00:27:43.099
who's connected to him in some way and influenced
00:27:43.099 --> 00:27:46.980
by him in some way. It's wild. It's wild that
00:27:46.980 --> 00:27:49.220
they wrote an entire show with eight seasons
00:27:49.220 --> 00:27:52.259
based on a character that dies in the first season.
00:27:53.000 --> 00:27:57.099
Incredible point. And he's not just a father.
00:27:57.180 --> 00:27:59.799
He's somebody that's trying to protect a legacy,
00:27:59.980 --> 00:28:03.660
like the blood, the entire... That's a great
00:28:03.660 --> 00:28:05.019
one. That might beat mine, but I don't think
00:28:05.019 --> 00:28:08.079
so. The ripple effect of being such an honorable
00:28:08.079 --> 00:28:11.059
man, because I think that, like, that was passed
00:28:11.059 --> 00:28:12.960
on to his sons, right? You could see that in
00:28:12.960 --> 00:28:17.329
his sons and... who he called a son, those of
00:28:17.329 --> 00:28:19.269
you who haven't watched Game of Thrones, his
00:28:19.269 --> 00:28:23.690
bastard son, Jon Snow, you see that the ripple
00:28:23.690 --> 00:28:27.069
effect of raising kids with honor being the central
00:28:27.069 --> 00:28:30.549
focus, like be an honorable person versus the
00:28:30.549 --> 00:28:33.269
Lannisters where there's like no honor whatsoever
00:28:33.269 --> 00:28:37.269
or honesty or... It's just like power and control
00:28:37.269 --> 00:28:40.410
and gold are the highest value in their family.
00:28:41.150 --> 00:28:43.849
Versus all these other major families and major
00:28:43.849 --> 00:28:47.049
players, you see the Stark family being a ripple
00:28:47.049 --> 00:28:50.170
effect of what they were taught by Ned Stark,
00:28:50.329 --> 00:28:54.049
which is all there is your currency. That's a
00:28:54.049 --> 00:28:56.910
great one right there. I think you win the prize
00:28:56.910 --> 00:29:01.930
today. Mine and my all -time favorite, and it's
00:29:01.930 --> 00:29:05.140
not... Anything out of the blue. It's one that
00:29:05.140 --> 00:29:07.599
if I didn't mention people out there, the freaks
00:29:07.599 --> 00:29:13.220
would be yelling at me. And in 1990, a young
00:29:13.220 --> 00:29:15.960
kid named Will Smith stepped onto a set. I knew
00:29:15.960 --> 00:29:20.559
it. But not just him. There was a man named James
00:29:20.559 --> 00:29:25.259
Avery, also known on the show as Uncle Philip
00:29:25.259 --> 00:29:28.259
Banks. It gave me chills just saying that. And
00:29:28.259 --> 00:29:33.430
the impact that. Philip Banks had on all of us,
00:29:33.470 --> 00:29:36.849
I guarantee you all of us, is incredible. And
00:29:36.849 --> 00:29:40.170
here's what's wild about Philip Banks is he was
00:29:40.170 --> 00:29:43.069
supposed to be the antagonist, like the stuffy,
00:29:43.069 --> 00:29:46.089
rich guy that Will had to rebel against, which
00:29:46.089 --> 00:29:48.329
is kind of in the first couple seasons. But you
00:29:48.329 --> 00:29:50.430
can still see, if you go back and watch now,
00:29:50.509 --> 00:29:53.809
you can see the later Uncle Phil. He's in there.
00:29:54.569 --> 00:29:58.859
He's in that. But James Avery. made him something
00:29:58.859 --> 00:30:02.740
entirely he made him real that scene and i know
00:30:02.740 --> 00:30:05.579
you know the one i'm talking about when will's
00:30:05.579 --> 00:30:09.160
real dad shows up yes that's what i was gonna
00:30:09.160 --> 00:30:14.740
say and and he leaves again and will breaks down
00:30:14.740 --> 00:30:18.480
and uncle phil catches him how come he don't
00:30:18.480 --> 00:30:22.380
want me man that's the line that will says gives
00:30:22.380 --> 00:30:26.099
me chills and tears every time i see it i don't
00:30:26.099 --> 00:30:29.099
care who you are where you're from what your
00:30:29.099 --> 00:30:31.500
relationship with your own father looks like
00:30:31.500 --> 00:30:34.599
that scene hits you and philip banks was not
00:30:34.599 --> 00:30:38.859
perfect he was judgmental look at his job you
00:30:38.859 --> 00:30:42.700
know he was bougie he had blind spots but when
00:30:42.700 --> 00:30:47.799
it mattered he showed up every single damn time
00:30:47.799 --> 00:30:50.819
like that's what we remember that's what last
00:30:50.819 --> 00:30:55.359
james Avery, rest and power. That man gave us
00:30:55.359 --> 00:30:58.900
something real that we are that will never. I
00:30:58.900 --> 00:31:01.519
can watch that now. You can watch that anytime
00:31:01.519 --> 00:31:05.039
and watch Uncle Phil do his thing. And you feel
00:31:05.039 --> 00:31:07.380
something with it. You feel something with it.
00:31:07.460 --> 00:31:11.000
And that's a big loss. Taking a kid in, you know,
00:31:11.000 --> 00:31:13.839
and playing the father figure for a kid that's
00:31:13.839 --> 00:31:18.240
not yours. I mean, that kind of tests his patience,
00:31:18.299 --> 00:31:24.880
tests his. I don't know his commitment to it,
00:31:24.940 --> 00:31:29.019
but you know, to be dad to his own kids is one
00:31:29.019 --> 00:31:32.599
thing, but then to have, you know, what is clearly
00:31:32.599 --> 00:31:34.819
in the first few seasons, you see that inconvenience
00:31:34.819 --> 00:31:38.380
of like, this is my wife's sister's kid. I got
00:31:38.380 --> 00:31:42.680
to take in and play father figure too. And then
00:31:42.680 --> 00:31:45.940
he steps into that role. But you see that growth
00:31:45.940 --> 00:31:48.579
arc, like I said, like from the early seasons,
00:31:48.660 --> 00:31:52.079
he's this stuffed shirt rich uncle. And then
00:31:52.079 --> 00:31:55.240
he becomes the man who caught a broken kid when
00:31:55.240 --> 00:31:58.519
no one else could. That's a big jump. He went
00:31:58.519 --> 00:32:02.920
from the punch line to the really the later seasons.
00:32:02.960 --> 00:32:04.940
He's the emotional center. Like he's the show.
00:32:05.640 --> 00:32:10.420
Yeah, I agree. You know, who's your number one?
00:32:10.920 --> 00:32:13.500
Freaks, who's your number one? Coco, you don't
00:32:13.500 --> 00:32:14.799
have to answer. You can think on that. Maybe
00:32:14.799 --> 00:32:16.740
we come back and you've got another one. A lot
00:32:16.740 --> 00:32:21.319
of number ones I think I gave today. But I want
00:32:21.319 --> 00:32:23.420
to know the freaks. What are your favorite TV
00:32:23.420 --> 00:32:28.200
dials we did not mention? Yeah. One that I didn't
00:32:28.200 --> 00:32:30.500
mention that I think I have to say because it
00:32:30.500 --> 00:32:35.799
was on my list originally was Frasier. So I'm
00:32:35.799 --> 00:32:38.759
not super thrilled about Frazier's choice after
00:32:38.759 --> 00:32:42.900
Cheers to go move however many miles away from
00:32:42.900 --> 00:32:47.759
Boston to Seattle, away from his son. As a psychologist,
00:32:47.920 --> 00:32:50.420
I would be like, hey, buddy, don't you know better?
00:32:50.859 --> 00:32:53.539
Yeah. Your son's going to have a complex about
00:32:53.539 --> 00:32:56.079
this, I'm sure, because for whatever reason you're
00:32:56.079 --> 00:32:58.599
doing it, it's still not really cool, and he's
00:32:58.599 --> 00:33:02.220
probably not going to love it. He does come back.
00:33:02.910 --> 00:33:05.269
Yeah, and then they have the reboot too, which
00:33:05.269 --> 00:33:07.710
they get to kind of hash some of that out. Freddie
00:33:07.710 --> 00:33:11.430
has grown up now and has to confront the disconnect
00:33:11.430 --> 00:33:14.869
that they have as father and son, which is mirroring
00:33:14.869 --> 00:33:18.650
the relationship that Fraser had. He comes to
00:33:18.650 --> 00:33:21.450
Seattle to reconnect with his father and that
00:33:21.450 --> 00:33:23.730
father -son relationship that they have being
00:33:23.730 --> 00:33:26.349
so different. So I feel like for Father's Day,
00:33:26.509 --> 00:33:33.210
we couldn't not mention that TV dad. Martin Crane
00:33:33.210 --> 00:33:37.450
being another TV dad that I think was one of
00:33:37.450 --> 00:33:40.750
my favorites. Love that. I love that. And here's
00:33:40.750 --> 00:33:44.509
where we're going to land this spaceship for
00:33:44.509 --> 00:33:49.670
today, because it really could take off and we
00:33:49.670 --> 00:33:52.529
could go a whole lot longer. But we talk about
00:33:52.529 --> 00:33:55.710
representation a lot in media and we should,
00:33:55.809 --> 00:33:58.970
but we don't talk enough about what we absorbed.
00:34:00.420 --> 00:34:04.539
accidentally from TV dads. We learned what patience
00:34:04.539 --> 00:34:06.519
looked like or what it didn't look like. Look
00:34:06.519 --> 00:34:10.119
at Al Bundy. We learned how men handle failure,
00:34:10.239 --> 00:34:13.739
how they handle grief, how they talk or don't
00:34:13.739 --> 00:34:16.320
talk to their kids. Some of it was beautiful.
00:34:16.480 --> 00:34:20.960
Some of it was unrealistic expectations is what
00:34:20.960 --> 00:34:24.059
they were setting. And some of it filled a void
00:34:24.059 --> 00:34:28.360
that needed filling. That's all worth examining.
00:34:29.289 --> 00:34:31.969
Not to cancel anything. Like you watch Al Bundy
00:34:31.969 --> 00:34:34.130
now and you're like, oh, my God, I don't know
00:34:34.130 --> 00:34:36.030
how this was on the air. We're not doing that.
00:34:36.110 --> 00:34:38.070
That's not what we're saying. That was a where.
00:34:38.329 --> 00:34:41.050
But we got to understand ourselves a little bit
00:34:41.050 --> 00:34:44.869
better. The shows that we watched shaped the
00:34:44.869 --> 00:34:49.570
adults that we are now. I'm an adult only by
00:34:49.570 --> 00:34:54.329
age, you know, not in mind. But that's not a
00:34:54.329 --> 00:34:57.530
small thing. So the question me and Coco are
00:34:57.530 --> 00:34:59.989
going to leave you with, the freaks. Yeah. Which
00:34:59.989 --> 00:35:03.110
TV dad shaped how you think about fatherhood?
00:35:03.269 --> 00:35:05.949
Yeah, because it may have shaped your parenting
00:35:05.949 --> 00:35:08.489
style or how you chose to show up as a parent.
00:35:09.409 --> 00:35:11.889
Maybe contradicted how you were parented from
00:35:11.889 --> 00:35:14.190
your own dad and saw something different on TV.
00:35:14.789 --> 00:35:18.349
And also for some of us, it was a choice of like,
00:35:18.389 --> 00:35:22.400
who do I want to marry? When for straight women,
00:35:22.460 --> 00:35:25.360
I'm being, you know, I'm focusing in on that
00:35:25.360 --> 00:35:27.119
because it's a completely different thing when
00:35:27.119 --> 00:35:29.800
you, you know, you're looking for another lady
00:35:29.800 --> 00:35:32.079
to have a family with. But if you're looking
00:35:32.079 --> 00:35:35.960
for a dad to have a family with, how did it shape
00:35:35.960 --> 00:35:38.900
how you chose that partner who you thought, yeah,
00:35:38.960 --> 00:35:42.460
parenting children with this person? What a great
00:35:42.460 --> 00:35:44.619
episode. And we're right here at Father's Day,
00:35:44.679 --> 00:35:48.139
too. So look at. Coco looking ahead at the schedule
00:35:48.139 --> 00:35:52.320
and planning for the holiday. I love that. But
00:35:52.320 --> 00:35:55.199
yeah, that's going to wrap this episode up. And
00:35:55.199 --> 00:35:56.880
like I said, it got a whole lot deeper than we
00:35:56.880 --> 00:35:59.519
thought it would, but we, we've been talking
00:35:59.519 --> 00:36:03.380
about this for, I feel like months. So there
00:36:03.380 --> 00:36:06.239
was a lot of thought in this. So hope you enjoyed
00:36:06.239 --> 00:36:09.159
it. Since parallel frequencies, I am just Blaine.
00:36:09.179 --> 00:36:11.380
She is Coco and you are the freaks. We'll see
00:36:11.380 --> 00:36:12.480
you on the other side.