Real dads not quite keeping pace with TV dads, survey suggests
People who grew up basking in TV’s warm, glowing warming glow have suspected for years that their own families simply do not measure up to the Cleavers, Bradys, Huxtables, Cunninghams, Tanners, etc. And now, depressingly, there is statistical evidence to prove it. As part of its Uphill Both Ways blog, DadGifts.com has compiled census and other data to compare the socioeconomic achievements of television dads to those oft-disappointing real life ones upon whom they’re supposedly based. Breaking down its findings by decade, this informal study covers 68 different TV families from the 1950s (Make Room For Daddy) to the 2000s (Malcolm In The Middle). The results say a lot about the way pop culture alternately reflects and fails to reflect the lives of those in the audience.