Father Knows Best
A Man of Merit
TV Flash files “A Man of Merit” as hour 157 of 203 in the TV Flash guide — Father Knows Best (1954–1960) on CBS/NBC, season 5, episode 24, aired 1959-02-23, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S05E24: listed hour 157 of 203 in the Father Knows Best guide, hour 24 of 38 in season 5. It aired 1959-02-23 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Kathy Grows Up” (S05E23). Next is “Betty Makes a Choice” (S05E25).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Jim discovers a secret that he will win a community award, while Margaret is told of the selection and the rest of the family make plans to celebrate. Confusion reigns as the telegram does not arrive as promised at 9:00 PM.
Viewer FAQ
Where does A Man of Merit sit in the Father Knows Best guide?
S05E24 is listed hour 157 of 203 — hour 24 of 38 in season 5, season 5 episode 24.
When did Father Knows Best S05E24 air?
A Man of Merit aired 1959-02-23 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Where should I start?
Start with the 1954 opener, then Lesson in Citizenship. Those two teach the civic-handbook tone. Jump to a Betty-forward hour if you want the polish to crack.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Mahogany calm as a weekly product: Young’s counsel, a daughter the scripts almost let have a career, a title that is a verdict. Watch the polish later satire needed as a target — then notice the anxious edges the speeches only partly mop up.
October 1954: a boy takes up dancing, a father prepares the correct attitude, and television files a claim on the American living room that later writers would spend careers contesting. Father Knows Best had already lived on radio. The TV version is the polished object — Robert Young as Jim Anderson, a Springfield that looks like a furniture catalog, three children as case studies in how to grow up without scuffing the brand. The title is the argument. Not a question. A verdict. Max’s era will sell you messy…
Filed against
- Robert Young as Jim Anderson
Robert Young’s Jim Anderson sold middle-class calm as destiny on Father Knows Best — polished patriarch sitcom, a Springfield that looks like a furniture catalog, a title that is a verdict. Later satire never stopped targeting the…
- Jane Wyatt as Margaret Anderson
Jane Wyatt’s Margaret Anderson is Father Knows Best as the stage the speeches need — pipe smoke, good shoes, a polished patriarch sitcom that sold middle-class calm as destiny. She keeps the house running so the title can pretend it is an…
- Elinor Donahue as Betty Anderson
Elinor Donahue played Betty Anderson on Father Knows Best — the daughter Robert Young's Springfield almost let have a career, inside a patriarch sitcom that sold middle-class calm as a weekly product. TV Flash files her as the pressure…
- Billy Gray as Bud Anderson
Billy Gray was Bud Anderson on Father Knows Best — the polished patriarch sitcom’s teenage son when middle-class calm sold as destiny. Later decades rewrote the myth he helped brand. TV Flash files him as 1950s family hierarchy in a…
- Lauren Chapin as Kathy Anderson
Lauren Chapin’s Kathy Anderson is Father Knows Best’s youngest case study — Robert Young’s Springfield as destiny, mahogany calm as a weekly product, a patriarch sitcom that later satire needed as a target. Two networks, polished…