Eight Is Enough
Father Knows Best
TV Flash files “Father Knows Best” as a desk essential hour — Eight Is Enough (1977–1981) on ABC, season 5, episode 22, aired 1981-05-23, 45 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S05E22: listed hour 112 of 112 in the Eight Is Enough guide, last listed hour of season 5. It aired 1981-05-23 (45 min). The listed hour before it is “Goals” (S05E21). No later hour is listed in this guide.
Essential hour: “Father Knows Best”. Father Knows Best is the 1981 closer, borrowing a 1950s title. Five seasons of newspaper-dad sprawl, then an ironic bow: this father knew mess, not freeze-frame sweetness.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Father Knows Best sit in the Eight Is Enough guide?
S05E22 is listed hour 112 of 112 — last listed hour of season 5, season 5 episode 22.
When did Eight Is Enough S05E22 air?
Father Knows Best aired 1981-05-23 and is listed at 45 minutes.
Is this just The Brady Bunch with more kids?
No. It allows grief, remarriage, and teenage mess the Brady hour would not. Warmth without freeze-frame sweetness.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Dick Van Patten's newspaper columnist fathers eight Sacramento kids, then the series does what The Brady Bunch would not: grief, remarriage, and teenage mess without freeze-frame sweetness. Betty Buckley steps in as Abby; the brood sprawls like a soap that still wants to hug you every week.
Never Try Eating Nectarines Since Juice May Dispense — the opener's title already admits a census, not a punchline. Newspaper columnist Tom Bradford steers eight children through adolescence, loss, and a second marriage in ABC's Eight Is Enough (1977–1981), from William Blinn, based on the life and book of columnist Thomas Braden. Five seasons, 112 hours. Dick Van Patten heads the Sacramento brood. Betty Buckley steps in as Abby; Grant Goodeve, Willie Aames, Adam Rich, and the rest sprawl like a soap that still…
Filed against
- Dick Van Patten as Tom Bradford
Dick Van Patten’s Nels grew up on Mama’s live immigrant warmth, then Eight Is Enough made him a Sacramento columnist with a brood — 1950s catalog gentleness into 1970s catalog grief and remarriage the Bradys would not touch. TV Flash…
- Betty Buckley as Abby Bradford
Betty Buckley’s Abby Bradford stepped into Eight Is Enough after the sitcom did what The Brady Bunch would not — grief, remarriage, teenage mess without freeze-frame sweetness. Dick Van Patten’s newspaper columnist, eight Sacramento kids,…
- Grant Goodeve as David Bradford
Grant Goodeve played David Bradford, the eldest in Eight Is Enough — Dick Van Patten's Sacramento brood, grief and remarriage the Brady template would not touch, Betty Buckley stepping in as Abby. A soap that still wanted to hug you. TV…
- Willie Aames as Tommy Bradford
Willie Aames’s Tommy Bradford sprawled Eight Is Enough into teenage mess The Brady Bunch would not touch — Dick Van Patten’s newspaper columnist fathering eight Sacramento kids, grief, remarriage, Betty Buckley stepping in as Abby. A…
- Adam Rich as Nicholas Bradford
Adam Rich’s Nicholas Bradford was the youngest weather on Eight Is Enough — Dick Van Patten’s Sacramento columnist, eight kids, grief and remarriage the Brady template would not touch. Betty Buckley stepping in as Abby, a brood that…