Why are sitcom dads still so inept?

[TexasTowelie]

by Erica Scharrer, Professor of Communication, University of Massachusetts Amherst


From Homer Simpson to Phil Dunphy, sitcom dads have long been known for being bumbling and inept.

But it wasn’t always this way. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, sitcom dads tended to be serious, calm and wise, if a bit detached. In a shift that media scholars have documented, only in later decades did fathers start to become foolish and incompetent.

And yet the real-world roles and expectations of fathers have changed in recent years. Today’s dads are putting more time into caring for their children and see that role as more central to their identity.

Have today’s sitcoms kept up?

I study gender and the media, and I specialize in depictions of masculinity. In a new study, my co-authors and I systematically look at the ways in which portrayals of sitcom fathers have and haven’t changed.

Read more: https://tucson.com/entertainment/television/why-are-sitcom-dads-still-so-inept/article_b021e28c-241d-590e-9628-c67abbbdec6f.html

[MuseRider]

1. I never saw Phil Dunphy

as inept. He was a little odd and quirky but not inept. He did mess things up but whenever there is a Mom or another person who actually takes care of the kids more, the other person seems less able. Cameron seemed better as a take care of things father because he was there more than Mitchell. I am sure there are shows or will be shows that reverse that image of the inept father as we get along the journey of the changing family. It did used to be really bad and I confess I do not watch a lot of these shows and am hoping they are better than they were. I have friends who are stay at home dads, some are gay and some are not and I see little or no difference in their ability to do the task compared to my mothering and the mothering of my friends.

You study this so my observation means little but I really never saw Phil as inept. Goofy in his own way but he added a lot to the family. JMO

[Lord Ludd]

2. One '50s exception to the serious sitcom dads

was Chester A. Riley (William Bendix) in The Life of Riley. As a kid, I found his good-natured bumbling & get-rich-quick schemes a lot more amusing than the know-it-all Ward Cleavers & Jim Andersons of the era.

[Midnight Writer]

3. Because "ept" Dads are not funny?

[patricia92243]

6. Bingo!

[LessAspin]

4. 🌟 Stargirl 🌟

Not a sitcom per se but the step-dad step-daughter relationship on Stargirl is an interesting one. Mainly thanks to Luke Wilson playing it just right.

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[LessAspin]

5. DCU MCU

TV showed the DCU and MCU how to put the humanity back into the super hero genre..

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