Father rarely knows best on prime-time TV anymore.

Fathers are central, recurring figures on only 15 of 102 prime-time network comedies or dramas, and only four of these programs portray the dad as both competent and caring, the National Fatherhood Initiative reported earlier this month.

"For millions of America's children, the primary daily contact they have with the idea of a father is the time they spend watching a father on television," the group's "Fatherhood & TV" viewer analysis concluded.

The findings were based on a five-week review of the prime-time programming on the ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox and WB networks during the late autumn of 1998. Shows were rated if they met three criteria: a father was a recurring character, the relationship between the father and his children was a defining feature, and the father's children were 18 or younger.

The reviewers found only 15 programs, or 14.7 percent, that featured fatherhood enough to be rated. NBC's "Frasier" did not meet the criteria, for instance, because the central character's son lives across the country in Boston with his mother.

The study rated only four programs as portraying fathers positively: "7th Heaven" on WB, "Promised Land" on CBS, "Smart Guy" on WB, and "Two of a Kind" on ABC.

Cox News Service

Pub Date: 3/22/99