Top 28 TV Dads of All Time

Warm, wise, useless, terrifying: television has produced every kind of father, and they all share one ballot.

1
Andy Taylor
The Andy Griffith Show's widowed small-town sheriff, the original calm and decent TV dad.
1000pts
2
Jack Pearson
This Is Us' idealized father whose flaws and early death shaped three children's lives.
784pts
3
Hal Wilkerson
Malcolm in the Middle's manic, hobby-obsessed dad barely surviving four sons.
565pts
4
Sandy Cohen
The O.C.'s idealistic public defender who took Ryan Atwood into his Newport Beach home and became the show's moral center.
550pts
5
Homer Simpson
The Simpsons patriarch who strangles his son one minute and gives up everything for him the next.
498pts
6
Eric Taylor
Friday Night Lights' coach, a father to his daughter and half of Dillon's teenagers.
498pts
7
Ward Cleaver
Leave It to Beaver's 1950s father, the template every later sitcom dad reacted against.
440pts
8
Charles Ingalls
Little House on the Prairie's farmer and carpenter, Pa to Laura and her sisters as the family works the land in Walnut Grove, Minnesota.
440pts
9
Tony Soprano
The Sopranos' New Jersey mob boss, who tried to keep Meadow and A.J. away from the life he led while confessing it all to his therapist.
440pts
10
Jim Anderson
Father Knows Best's insurance agent in Springfield, the calm 1950s dad whose advice usually settled the episode's problem.
440pts
11
Andre Johnson
Black-ish's advertising executive Dre, a father of five who worries that his family's comfortable suburban life is costing his kids their cultural identity.
440pts
12
Peter Griffin
Family Guy's oblivious man-child, proof that being a TV dad is not the same as being good at it.
440pts
13
Al Bundy
Married... with Children's shoe salesman, forever reliving the four touchdowns he scored in one high school game while his family ignores him.
440pts
14
Steve Brady
Sex and the City's Brooklyn bartender who became Miranda's partner and a devoted father to their son, Brady.
372pts
15
Ben Cartwright
Bonanza's widowed rancher on the Ponderosa, raising three sons by three different wives across 14 seasons of the western.
372pts
16
Philip Banks
Uncle Phil from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, a tough judge who became Will's real father figure.
293pts
17
Walter White
Breaking Bad's chemistry teacher who started cooking meth to provide for his family and kept insisting he did it all for them.
293pts
18
Red Forman
That '70s Show's ex-Navy dad, all threats and gruffness with real affection underneath.
293pts
19
Dan Conner
Roseanne's drywall contractor and motorcycle fan, a working-class dad in Lanford, Illinois, who met money troubles and teenage chaos with dry humor.
293pts
20
Bob Belcher
Bob's Burgers' burger-flipping dad who never once mocks his kids' weirdness.
293pts
21
Phil Dunphy
Modern Family's relentlessly upbeat realtor dad who parents by cool-dad enthusiasm.
293pts
22
Cliff Huxtable
The Cosby Show's obstetrician father of five, who ran his Brooklyn brownstone with jokes, sweaters and gentle lectures through eight seasons on NBC.
293pts
23
Howard Cunningham
Happy Days' Milwaukee hardware store owner, a patient 1950s father to Richie and Joanie who also treated Fonzie as one of the family.
200pts
24
Danny Tanner
Full House's obsessively tidy widower raising three daughters with hugs and life lessons.
200pts
25
Mike Brady
The Brady Bunch's architect who married a widow with three daughters, bringing his own three sons and a steady supply of calm advice.
200pts
26
Archie Bunker
All in the Family's bigoted Queens dock worker, whose arguments with his liberal son-in-law brought politics into 1970s prime time.
0pts
27
Frank Costanza
Seinfeld's short-fused father of George, who invented the pole-and-grievances holiday Festivus and tried to calm his temper by shouting 'Serenity now!'
28
Carl Winslow
Family Matters' Chicago police officer and father of three, whose patience was tested for nine seasons by Steve Urkel, the clumsy neighbor who called him 'Big Guy'.

TV shows421 comedy168 classics501 characters133

Photo credits

Actor Milo Ventimiglia, who played Jack Pearson — Toglenn, CC BY-SA 4.0
Actor Bryan Cranston, who played Hal Wilkerson — Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0
Actor Peter Gallagher, who played Sandy Cohen — Kristin Dos Santos from Los Angeles, California, United States, CC BY-SA 2.0
Actor Kyle Chandler, who played Eric Taylor — Kevin Paul, CC BY 4.0
Actor James Gandolfini, who played Tony Soprano — gdcgraphics, CC BY-SA 2.0
Actor Anthony Anderson, who played Andre Johnson — PhilipRomanoPhoto, CC BY-SA 4.0
Actor Ed O'Neill, who played Al Bundy — iDominick, CC BY-SA 2.0
Actor James Avery, who played Philip Banks — John Mathew Smith, CC BY-SA 2.0
Actor Bryan Cranston, who played Walter White — PhilipRomano, CC BY-SA 4.0
Red Forman — Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0
Actor John Goodman, who played Dan Conner — Alan Light, CC BY 2.0
Actor Ty Burrell, who played Phil Dunphy — Rubenstein, CC BY 2.0
Actor Bill Cosby, who played Cliff Huxtable — The World Affairs Council of Philadelphia, CC BY 2.0
Actor Bob Saget, who played Danny Tanner — Luigi Novi, CC BY 3.0
Actor Jerry Stiller, who played Frank Costanza — Unknown photographer, rights holder
Actor Reginald VelJohnson, who played Carl Winslow — Unknown photographer, rights holder

Comments 2

Homer arrived in a sixty-second segment on The Tracey Ullman Show on 19 April 1987. Philip Banks is written to be admired; this one to be forgiven: https://youpick.best/articles/the-simpsons-ranked-many-ways

ypb-teamAug 21

Peter Griffin made it too, the one list where the two cartoon fathers face Red Forman and Uncle Phil: https://youpick.best/articles/simpsons-vs-family-guy-ranked

ypb-teamOct 9