Father Knows Best

Jun 29, 2026

In 1959 the producers were approached to do a U.S. Savings Bond benefit for the American Federation of Labor and the Treasury Department. Though never aired on television, it was distributed to schools, churches, and civic groups. Extremely rare copies can still be found.

Jun 29, 2026

Jun 29, 2026

Oct 03, 1954

Bud tries to learn how to dance from a book for his first school dance.

Oct 10, 1954

Jim tells his family to help others which leads to complications.

Oct 17, 1954

Jim buys Bud a motor scooter but Margaret won't let him have it.

Oct 24, 1954

Jim gets tickets to an important football game, and picks one of the kids to go with him—only to be blackmailed by an important client (who wants to go to the game, too) out of one of his tickets. He then tries frantically to find a second one.

Oct 31, 1954

Bud moves out, but discovers he can't clean, cook, or take care of himself.

Nov 07, 1954

Jim comes to believe that he is over the hill.

Nov 14, 1954

Bud becomes increasingly paranoid when Kathy (who has a fascination with the new washing machine, and puts everything in there) places a letter addressed to him by the police department in the washing machine, and ruins the letter, so he doesn’t know why he is asked to be there within seven days.

Nov 21, 1954

Kathy writes the best poem in the fourth grade on what Thanksgiving means to her, and Jim builds the poem up in his mind to unreasonable expectations for a fourth grader. When he actually finds out what the poem consists of, his hopes for Kathy’s future are deflated and he disparages the poem to Margaret, unwitting that Kathy has overheard.

Nov 28, 1954

Jim's weekend retreat, just he and his wife, seems like a perfect idea, at first. But he doesn't want to pass this on to the kids when he learns that the kids have plans with them; and then when the kids take the news too easy, Jim and Margaret are befuddled. They leave, but soon they start thinking about their kids and after reaching the lodge they want to phone in - but no one answers the call...

Dec 05, 1954

Jim becomes worried that things between Betty and a new male friend of hers are getting too serious.

Dec 12, 1954

Jim and Margaret rarely disagree on anything. But when he finds out Margaret signed them up to take dancing lessons, Jim refuses to do so, and ends up defiantly going to his old club, leaving her to take lessons alone.

Dec 19, 1954

Jim takes the family into the woods to cut down their own tree, and they become stranded there.

Dec 26, 1954

Kathy discovers a wounded Sparrow on the windowsill of the house—which she then considers hers—and the whole family becomes involved in trying to help it get better.

Jan 02, 1955

Jim receives a traffic ticket and Bud is appointed to be judge on that day.

Jan 09, 1955

An unwanted visitor that won't leave spoils Kathy's birthday party.

Jan 16, 1955

Bud is deemed a snob by the girls in school because he won’t speak to any of them. When Jim talks it over with him, he discovers that Bud‘s real problem is that he becomes tongue-tied around them.

Jan 23, 1955

After making a big deal about people keeping their word, Jim is forced to put his words into practice to set a good example for his family.

Jan 30, 1955

Jim wants to give up his office job in order to move into the country to lead a quiet, and less stressful, life as a farmer. Margaret doesn't think that he means it seriously, but he crosses more lines to fulfill his dream than he ever has before.

Feb 06, 1955

Jim is happy to learn his kids are planning to enter him in a Father of the Year contest. But things, of course, don’t go smoothly.

Feb 13, 1955

Even though finances have grown a little tight in the Anderson household, Jim buys Margaret a mink coat that ends up being more trouble than it’s worth.

Feb 20, 1955

Margaret tries to get her cousin and her boyfriend married.

Feb 27, 1955

Margaret's cousin (from the previous episode) is set to wed in the Anderson household, but things go wrong, due to the nervousness of the prospective bride and groom, and the wedding is called off. Poor Bud is reeled in to do a stand-in for the bride at the rehearsal.

Mar 06, 1955

Jim tries to help the children regain their confidence.

Mar 13, 1955

Bud injures himself, so Jim delivers the papers on his route to avoid Bud being fired.

Mar 20, 1955

Kathy and Betty fight for the attention of the same man.

Mar 27, 1955

Margaret worries the entire day over what will become of Bud’s future if he doesn’t develop good character. This is tied in with a baseball game Bud is trying to get to play in.

Aug 31, 1955

Jim tries to encourage Bud to take after him in salesmanship.

Sep 07, 1955

Jim comes home tired one day and is harangued by the kids. So, he and Margaret set up new rules to give him some time to relax—but it ends up backfiring.

Sep 14, 1955

A new highway is getting built, and for that the old community hall is going to be pulled down. That's something Jim wouldn't like to see since the hall is a historical monument, and also, memories from his youth are connected with this hall. Everyone from the family sees how much the hall means to Jim, and they use different ways to organize help.

Sep 21, 1955

Bud loses a job to a boy who fakes his resumé, which leads him to believe it is alright to do this himself

Sep 28, 1955

Margaret is forced to invite a woman over who makes her uncomfortable because she is Jim's friend's wife.

Oct 05, 1955

Bud learns that the girl he likes is dating his best friend.

Oct 12, 1955

Kathy gets a new magic set, from a trade with a friend, and becomes convinced she can truly wield magic.

Oct 19, 1955

Betty has recently taken up tennis at school and is chosen for a photo shoot for the paper. This causes friction between her and her doubles partner, Eula, who is the team’s best player.

Oct 26, 1955

Bud is accused of cheating because he is suddenly getting high grades in class.

Nov 02, 1955

After commenting on a sitcom (“Father Does It Again”) the family watches together one night, Jim speaks about how TV fathers are often portrayed as dumb in comparison with their families. Later, he plans on going hunting and starts believing that Margaret and the kids are secretly trying to get him to stay.

Nov 09, 1955

When Jim gets an invitation to a dance for his class reunion—class of ‘33—the kids start behaving as if their parents are ancient. Then, when the kids at their alma mater treat them the same, Jim and Margaret deal with the thought of getting older.

Nov 16, 1955

Bud gets irritated by a girl (whom he refers to as “Dumb Dora”) who has a crush on him, hurts her feelings when his irritation leads to cruelty, and must make amends.

Nov 30, 1955

Margaret has a premonition of danger for Jim’s upcoming business trip, and tries to get Jim to postpone it. But Jim believes it’s a bunch of superstitious nonsense, and insists on going anyway.

Dec 07, 1955

Tate Idsen saves a stagecoach from savage Indians in a flashback sequence.

Dec 14, 1955

Bud gets in trouble when his latest friend turns out to be a kleptomaniac.

Dec 28, 1955

Betty is indignant when Jim arranges a date for her with an old insurance salesman buddy’s son, Carter.

Jan 04, 1956

Jim comes home early from work, after a long, hard day, and expects to gain comfort from his family, but is quickly disillusioned when they all are too absorbed in their own interests and tasks to pay attention to him. This just makes his mood more sour and he declares at dinner that if he must, he will become a tyrant. This leads to unwelcome consequences.

Jan 11, 1956

Bud is having trouble in school and the family are hard-pressed to find out why. Eventually, Jim and Margaret come to the conclusion that, since he’s entered high school, he’s lost his confidence over being constantly compared to Betty and her accomplishments.

Jan 18, 1956

Betty gets a job to pay for a new, expensive formal for the Cinderella Ball at the country club.

Jan 25, 1956

Jim has a bet with Betty and Margaret concerning human nature, integrity and the man painting their house—Mr. Everett.

Feb 01, 1956

Bud seems determined not to go to a Senior/Freshman dance that is Sadie Hawkins-themed.

Feb 08, 1956

Betty becomes irritable with her family as she goes through an existential crisis.

Feb 15, 1956

Kathy is taught about fair trading from her father—and ends up trading her doll for a real baby.

Feb 22, 1956

When Bud receives an assignment to write a term paper about a Revolutionary War hero, he ends up researching the life of a relative—Major Nathaniel Oliver Anderson.

Feb 29, 1956

Jim’s old college friend, Charlie Bradley, a successful industrial tycoon, is in town. Charlie, along with Jim, were a part of a group known as The Four Musketeers, in college. Of the four, Jim appears to be the least ‘successful.’

Mar 07, 1956

Bud’s new friend, Fred, won't leave the Anderson house.

Mar 14, 1956

The family tries to think up excuses to keep from going to Margaret's family reunion.

Mar 28, 1956

Betty tells a wealthy friend, Eloise Sanders, that she’s going to a charity dinner at a club. But it’s expensive and she hasn’t asked her father, yet.

Apr 04, 1956

Bud gets in a tussle with a boy, Eddie, at school, then dreads facing him the next day because the kid wants to fight him. Jim makes Bud face him in a boxing ring to settle it, knowing that Bud will have to face Eddie, eventually. Later, Jim has Bud take boxing lessons.

Apr 11, 1956

Betty takes a vocational guidance course and signs up to get practical experience to become an engineer, but she gets a lot of flack for it because she’s a girl.

Apr 18, 1956

Jim and a family friend, Frank, fight over an insurance claim and dissolve their friendship over it. Betty and his son, Bob, are dating and this affects them, too.

Apr 25, 1956

Margaret is asked to represent her branch of the PTA by giving a speech, but later decides against doing so because of some mischief Betty gets into.

May 02, 1956

Bud boasts to his friends, Sandy and Kippy, that his dad can get Duke Snider’s All-Stars to come to Springfield.

May 09, 1956

Jim fights the elements to collect plants for Kathy's nature folder.

May 16, 1956

Jim makes a bet: the kid who doesn't tattle for one week will receive ten dollars.

May 23, 1956

Kathy finds a receipt for $25 from the adoption center and believes she was adopted.

May 30, 1956

While the family is readying for Betty’s graduation, Betty becomes conflicted about the event.

Sep 12, 1956

Bud tries to prove he's not tied to his mother's apron strings.

Sep 19, 1956

On a dude ranch, Betty falls in love with a cowboy only to discover the relationship won't last.

Sep 26, 1956

Jim and Margaret are excited about Betty going to the state college they attended. Betty, who wants to, at first, changes her mind.

Oct 03, 1956

Kippy promises Bud a date with his beautiful cousin, Marissa.

Oct 10, 1956

Jim tries discouraging Betty from moving into an apartment. Bud and the family await the arrival of Charlie, a homing pigeon.

Oct 17, 1956

The Andersons entertain an aspiring writer—aspiring for 30 years.

Oct 24, 1956

After listening to a lecture in class on the origins of giving gifts, Betty announces that she doesn't want a birthday party or presents.

Oct 31, 1956

To teach Bud a lesson, Jim gives him ten dollars a week for allowance, but he's not to spend the money on anyone else but himself.

Nov 07, 1956

Jim and Margaret complain about the children's sloppy clothes.

Nov 14, 1956

Betty's esteem is low after another girl gets all the attention she used to get.

Nov 21, 1956

Nov 28, 1956

Dec 05, 1956

Dec 12, 1956

The Andersons try bringing an old man out of his dream world.

Dec 19, 1956

Dec 26, 1956

The boss's son goes to work in Jim's office.

Jan 02, 1957

A Spanish immigrant, Frank, fixes the Andersons lawn and then charges a high price.

Jan 09, 1957

The Anderson family becomes shipwrecked on a deserted island.

Jan 16, 1957

Jan 23, 1957

Bud tells the family they are to set up for a lawn party that is tomorrow.

Jan 30, 1957

While listening to Bud’s short wave radio, the family overhears a distress call from a boat.

Feb 06, 1957

Bud squanders Jim's money at a carnival.

Feb 13, 1957

Betty's new boyfriend, a jet pilot, is transferred to Alaska.

Feb 20, 1957

Looking for adventure, Bud travels to a neighboring town.

Feb 27, 1957

The Anderson home is disrupted by a visit from actor Cornel Wilde.

Mar 13, 1957

Bud buys a car for $10.

Mar 20, 1957

When Bud receives a traffic ticket, he is forced to become a crossing guard.

Mar 27, 1957

Bud…a hero? A chain reaction of events, starting with a girl who wants to use Bud to make her boyfriend jealous, leads to Bud becoming a hero of the town.

Apr 03, 1957

Betty becomes flower queen and wins a track race, all in the same day.

Apr 17, 1957

Apr 24, 1957

Kippy takes credit for a church donation Bud made, and Bud plans to get even.

May 01, 1957

Jim and Margaret take care of a baby Betty is supposed to babysit, so she can go out.

May 08, 1957

Henry Pruett, a traveling salesman, knocks on the Anderson’s door. It turns out she, Jim and Henry all attended college together.

May 15, 1957

Bud gets advice from Jim on how to win over Judy, while she is asking Margaret.

May 22, 1957

Margaret tries to help a young woman overcome her fear of having a baby.

May 29, 1957

Jim and Margaret are called in to help Margaret's dad, who's about to hand over his printing office and retire.

Jun 05, 1957

Sageman helps the Andersons regain their self-confidence.

Sep 25, 1957

Bud must decide if he should stand up for a teacher or join the class in a revolt.

Oct 02, 1957

Betty tutors a football player who will escort her to a dance as payment.

Oct 09, 1957

Margaret receives a new house which she plans to rent out.

Oct 16, 1957

Bud becomes the chairman for the planning of his high school picnic.

Oct 23, 1957

The Anderson's gardener, Frank, is forced to get a real job and then winds up in court.

Oct 30, 1957

Margaret enrolls in an English class in college and is put in Betty's class.

Nov 06, 1957

Bud is not able to play in the football game because he wouldn't go to bed early.

Nov 13, 1957

Kathy competes in an essay contest judged by Greer Garson.

Nov 20, 1957

Jim tries to teach Margaret how to drive a car.

Dec 04, 1957

Bud is given the pleasure of raising Kathy when he says they are doing it all wrong.

Dec 11, 1957

Betty is going through a phase where she thinks selfishness is the sole motivator in people's lives.

Dec 25, 1957

When Kathy finds a horseshoe and she wishes for a horse, and gets one.

Jan 01, 1958

A girl thinks Bud is going into the Army and throws a going away party.

Jan 08, 1957

At summer camp Kathy rebels after her counselor, Betty, keeps pushing her to do better.

Jan 15, 1958

Bud practices the bongo drums to impress his new girlfriend.

Jan 22, 1958

Jim can either attend a business meeting or see Kathy read his biography.

Jan 29, 1958

Betty has two dates for the same night and doesn't plan to break either one.

Feb 05, 1958

Bud practices mind reading, and Betty tries to make the debating team.

Feb 12, 1958

The family gets mad when Margaret keeps helping a furniture maker and his wife.

Feb 19, 1958

Bud is in trouble when he is accused of causing damage to a neighbor's property.

Feb 26, 1958

26Feb58 Betty teases Bud saying he is sloppy when some very influential people come over.

Mar 05, 1958

The Anderson's cousin, Milly, arrives for a visit and to look at the college.

Mar 12, 1958

Bud believes that his father is henpecked when he willingly does everything Margaret wants him to.

Mar 19, 1958

Betty tries to help an old man fix up his restaurant so he isn't evicted by Jim's company.

Mar 26, 1958

Bud falls in love with an older woman at the grocery store who is married.

Apr 02, 1958

Chaos strikes when Betty hides a pair of skates for a friend of hers.

Apr 16, 1958

A very talented dog shows up and takes residence in the Anderson's house.

Apr 23, 1958

When Jim plans to build a case for trophies, and Margaret sets out to win a medal.

Apr 30, 1958

Betty tries to use her feminine wiles on a young man to get him to take her out.

May 14, 1958

Jim is bombarded with questions when he is getting ready for a business trip.

May 21, 1958

When Bud meets a successful business man who quit school and Bud plans to do the same.

Jun 04, 1958

Bud is chosen as the most popular boy in his class at school.

Jun 11, 1958

Betty tries to make a man remove a hedge that blocks the view on a road.

Sep 15, 1958

Betty and Ralph plan to get married, but find it is not as happy as they thought.

Sep 22, 1958

Bud thinks Betty has an ulterior motive when she is kind to him.

Sep 29, 1958

Kathy's new boyfriend is more interested in Jim than of Kathy.

Oct 06, 1958

Bud prepares for the arrival of the homecoming queen.

Oct 13, 1958

Frank tries to console Kathy by telling her that his family are entertainers.

Oct 20, 1958

Jim tries to teach the children a lesson when they are constantly not planning ahead.

Oct 27, 1958

Betty talks Jim and Margaret into getting married again for their anniversary.

Nov 03, 1958

Bud finds a dent on the back of the car he is watching for a friend.

Nov 10, 1958

Betty plays the founder of Springfield's wife in a play of what really happened.

Nov 17, 1958

An Indian exchange student arrives for the weekend from Betty's college.

Nov 24, 1958

Dec 01, 1958

In a raffle, Margaret wins a car and uses it to help the orphans home.

Dec 08, 1958

Jim attempts to get the family to broaden their horizons and disaster strikes.

Dec 15, 1958

The family recalls as they are putting up the Christmas tree, how Jim wanted them to cut their own tree, and in the process got stranded in a cabin.

Dec 22, 1958

Jim becomes the coach of Bud's basketball team.

Dec 29, 1958

Kathy is elected by the family to control Bud's lawn moving company.

Jan 05, 1959

5Jan59 Bud must do a good deed for an English report and ends up resenting the whole world.

Jan 12, 1959

Uncle Charlie believes the children are spoiled when they forget Jim's birthday.

Jan 19, 1959

Bud gets into hot water when he tries to buy Margaret a bottle of expensive perfume.

Jan 26, 1959

Leo visits and takes advantage of the whole family until something surprising happens.

Feb 02, 1959

When Bus refuses dates, the girl launch an anti-Bud campaign.

Feb 09, 1959

Bud tries to save Betty from her boyfriend but Betty resents the help.

Feb 16, 1959

Kathy says she wants to be treated as if she was an adult.

Feb 23, 1959

Jim learns that he is to be appointed as an outstanding person in the community.

Mar 02, 1959

Betty is faced with a hard decision that will affect her future.

Mar 09, 1959

Margaret must decide to attend a luncheon or go with Jim on an important trip.

Mar 16, 1959

Bud has a hard time when he must decide between two girls to take to the prom.

Mar 23, 1959

The Anderson's are visited by an author on African Culture.

Mar 30, 1959

Apr 06, 1959

Strange things begin to happen when Jim's dreams start to come true.

Apr 13, 1959

Bud tries to impress a wealthy girl by taking her to an expensive restaurant.

Apr 20, 1959

A flashback show about building a playhouse for Kathy.

Apr 27, 1959

Bud regrets writing a bad article about a professor after the professor finds the article.

May 04, 1959

This is a recut version of episode 5 with the same name where Bud goes out on his own and tries to make good.

May 11, 1959

Bud blames his professor when it appears he will not pass Physics.

May 18, 1959

The Andersons act out a detective story when the television breaks down.

May 25, 1959

Margaret wants Jim to take her dancing. She tries to trick him into dance lessons.

Jun 01, 1959

1Jun59 Bud feels that there is no use for tradition so he starts to break all traditions.

Oct 05, 1959

While on the way to visit Margaret's parents, the car breaks down leaving the family stranded on a deserted road.

Oct 12, 1959

Bud falls in love with his college French professor.

Oct 19, 1959

Frank is chosen to represent the town at the opening of a park, but when the town council meets Frank, they want another person to represent their city- someone who looks more like an average American.

Oct 26, 1959

Betty becomes involved with a young lawyer pretending to be the owner of a radio store.

Nov 02, 1959

Bud decides to date the coach's daughter in order to make sure he gets on the football team.

Nov 09, 1959

Jim's plans for a quiet bicycle trip end up with Jim and Margaret arguing

Nov 16, 1959

Bud tells Kathy about the job he didn't get when another boy faked his credentials.

Nov 23, 1959

Jim and Margaret tease one another about people they dated as their college reunion nears.

Nov 30, 1959

The family tries to change Kathy from a tomboy into a beautiful girl.

Dec 07, 1959

Bud wants a part-time job at a service station in order to get enough money to buy a boat.

Dec 14, 1959

Both Jim and Kathy are doublecrossed by their friends.

Dec 28, 1959

Margaret tricks the family into believing that she has been elected chairwoman of the children's clinic building program.

Jan 04, 1960

Betty wins a trip to Hollywood because she looks like a famous movie star.

Jan 11, 1960

This is a recut version of episode 30. It is not part of the current syndication package and is considered ""lost"".

Jan 18, 1960

Betty is campaigning for safe driving, while Bud is accused of reckless driving.

Jan 25, 1960

A reporter visits the family in order to do an article on family togetherness.

Feb 01, 1960

Betty competes in the college fencing tournament.

Feb 08, 1960

Kathy, desperate for a date at the community picnic, makes up a story about a boyfriend.

Feb 15, 1960

Kathy, desperate for a date at the community picnic, makes up a story about a boyfriend.

Feb 22, 1960

Betty arranges a match between Frank and a worker in a flower shop.

Feb 29, 1960

Jim is surprised by his family's lack of interest when he is named Father of the Year.

Mar 07, 1960

When Bud reaffirms and old man's belief in life, he decides to open his own insurance company and hire Bud as his assistant.

Mar 14, 1960

Bud invests money in a phony stock scheme and winds up losing fifty dollars

Mar 21, 1960

The Andersons get a check from an admirer and must find out which member of the family the check was meant for.

Mar 28, 1960

While Kathy is trying to repair her birth certificate frame, she recalls the time she thought she was adopted.

Apr 04, 1960

Kathy destroys a picture of a family competing against hers in a photo contest

Apr 11, 1960

Bud falls in love with his English Tutor

Apr 18, 1960

Betty dates a boy everyone regards as a loser

Apr 25, 1960

Betty becomes frustrated when every college contest she enters, she loses to Cliff Bowman, who may even steal her job, too

May 09, 1960

Bud spends more money than he has in order to impress a girl in Chicago.

May 16, 1960

Betty is caught in the middle of an argument between two of her friends who are planning to marry.

May 23, 1960

When Kathy refuses to graduate from high school, the family tells her about Betty's reluctance to graduate from High School, too. This is a recut version of episode 63. It is not part of the syndication package and is considered ""lost"".