The Best Episodes of Father Knows Best Season 1

Episode Rankings

1. #1 Fan Favorite
   

   7.1/10(150 votes)

   #1 - Bud Takes Up the Dance

   S1:E110/3/1954

   Bud tries to learn how to dance from a book for his first school dance.

   Director:James Neilson

   Writer:Dorothy Cooper

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   Director:James Neilson

   Writer:Dorothy Cooper
2. 

   7.9/10(98 votes)

   #2 - Lesson in Citizenship

   S1:E210/10/1954

   Jim tells his family to help others which leads to complications.

   Director:Peter Tewksbury

   Writer:Paul West

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   Director:Peter Tewksbury

   Writer:Paul West
3. 

   7.8/10(89 votes)

   #3 - The Motor Scooter

   S1:E310/17/1954

   Jim buys Bud a motor scooter but Margaret won't let him have it.

   Director:William D. Russell

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:William D. Russell

   Writer:Unknown
4. 

   7.6/10(81 votes)

   #4 - Football Tickets

   S1:E410/24/1954

   Jim gets tickets to an important football game, and picks one of the kids to go with him—only to be blackmailed by an important client (who wants to go to the game, too) out of one of his tickets. He then tries frantically to find a second one.

   Director:William D. Russell

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:William D. Russell

   Writer:Unknown
5. 

   7.6/10(76 votes)

   #5 - Live My Own Life

   S1:E510/31/1954

   Bud moves out, but discovers he can't clean, cook, or take care of himself.

   Director:William D. Russell

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:William D. Russell

   Writer:Unknown
6. 

   7.7/10(77 votes)

   #6 - Grandpa Jim's Rejuvenation

   S1:E611/7/1954

   Jim comes to believe that he is over the hill.

   Director:William D. Russell

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:William D. Russell

   Writer:Unknown
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7. 

   7.7/10(68 votes)

   #7 - Bud's Encounter With the Law

   S1:E711/14/1954

   Bud becomes increasingly paranoid when Kathy (who has a fascination with the new washing machine, and puts everything in there) places a letter addressed to him by the police department in the washing machine, and ruins the letter, so he doesn’t know why he is asked to be there within seven days.

   Director:William D. Russell

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:William D. Russell

   Writer:Unknown
8. 

   7.1/10(84 votes)

   #8 - Thanksgiving Day

   S1:E811/21/1954

   Kathy writes the best poem in the fourth grade on what Thanksgiving means to her, and Jim builds the poem up in his mind to unreasonable expectations for a fourth grader. When he actually finds out what the poem consists of, his hopes for Kathy’s future are deflated and he disparages the poem to Margaret, unwitting that Kathy has overheard.

   Director:William D. Russell

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:William D. Russell

   Writer:Unknown
9. 

   7.3/10(69 votes)

   #9 - Second Honeymoon

   S1:E911/28/1954

   Jim's weekend retreat, just he and his wife, seems like a perfect idea, at first. But he doesn't want to pass this on to the kids when he learns that the kids have plans with them; and then when the kids take the news too easy, Jim and Margaret are befuddled. They leave, but soon they start thinking about their kids and after reaching the lodge they want to phone in - but no one answers the call...

   Director:William D. Russell

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:William D. Russell

   Writer:Unknown
10. 

    7.7/10(67 votes)

    #10 - Typical Father

    S1:E1012/5/1954

    Jim becomes worried that things between Betty and a new male friend of hers are getting too serious.

    Director:William D. Russell

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:William D. Russell

    Writer:Unknown
11. 

    7.5/10(65 votes)

    #11 - Margaret Goes Dancing

    S1:E1112/12/1954

    Jim and Margaret rarely disagree on anything. But when he finds out Margaret signed them up to take dancing lessons, Jim refuses to do so, and ends up defiantly going to his old club, leaving her to take lessons alone.

    Director:William D. Russell

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:William D. Russell

    Writer:Unknown
12. 

    8.3/10(110 votes)

    #12 - The Christmas Story

    S1:E1212/19/1954

    Jim takes the family into the woods to cut down their own tree, and they become stranded there.

    Director:William D. Russell

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:William D. Russell

    Writer:Unknown
13. 

    8.1/10(67 votes)

    #13 - Sparrow in the Window

    S1:E1312/26/1954

    Kathy discovers a wounded Sparrow on the windowsill of the house—which she then considers hers—and the whole family becomes involved in trying to help it get better.

    Director:William D. Russell

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:William D. Russell

    Writer:Unknown
14. 

    7.9/10(70 votes)

    #14 - Boy's Week

    S1:E141/2/1955

    Jim receives a traffic ticket and Bud is appointed to be judge on that day.

    Director:William D. Russell

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:William D. Russell

    Writer:Unknown
15. 

    7.1/10(67 votes)

    #15 - A Friend of Old George's

    S1:E151/9/1955

    An unwanted visitor that won't leave spoils Kathy's birthday party.

    Director:William D. Russell

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:William D. Russell

    Writer:Unknown
16. 

    7.7/10(68 votes)

    #16 - Bud the Snob

    S1:E161/16/1955

    Bud is deemed a snob by the girls in school because he won’t speak to any of them. When Jim talks it over with him, he discovers that Bud‘s real problem is that he becomes tongue-tied around them.

    Director:William D. Russell

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:William D. Russell

    Writer:Unknown
17. 

    7.3/10(65 votes)

    #17 - The Promised Playhouse

    S1:E171/23/1955

    After making a big deal about people keeping their word, Jim is forced to put his words into practice to set a good example for his family.

    Director:William D. Russell

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:William D. Russell

    Writer:Unknown
18. 

    7.8/10(61 votes)

    #18 - Jim the Farmer

    S1:E181/30/1955

    Jim wants to give up his office job in order to move into the country to lead a quiet, and less stressful, life as a farmer. Margaret doesn't think that he means it seriously, but he crosses more lines to fulfill his dream than he ever has before.

    Director:William D. Russell

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:William D. Russell

    Writer:Unknown
19. 

    7.5/10(62 votes)

    #19 - Father of the Year

    S1:E192/6/1955

    Jim is happy to learn his kids are planning to enter him in a Father of the Year contest. But things, of course, don’t go smoothly.

    Director:William D. Russell

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:William D. Russell

    Writer:Unknown
20. 

    7.5/10(63 votes)

    #20 - The Mink Coat

    S1:E202/13/1955

    Even though finances have grown a little tight in the Anderson household, Jim buys Margaret a mink coat that ends up being more trouble than it’s worth.

    Director:William D. Russell

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:William D. Russell

    Writer:Unknown
21. 

    7.5/10(64 votes)

    #21 - The Matchmaker

    S1:E212/20/1955

    Margaret tries to get her cousin and her boyfriend married.

    Director:William D. Russell

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:William D. Russell

    Writer:Unknown
22. 

    7.5/10(64 votes)

    #22 - Bud the Bridesmaid

    S1:E222/27/1955

    Margaret's cousin (from the previous episode) is set to wed in the Anderson household, but things go wrong, due to the nervousness of the prospective bride and groom, and the wedding is called off. Poor Bud is reeled in to do a stand-in for the bride at the rehearsal.

    Director:William D. Russell

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:William D. Russell

    Writer:Unknown
23. 

    7.7/10(66 votes)

    #23 - Proud Father

    S1:E233/6/1955

    Jim tries to help the children regain their confidence.

    Director:William D. Russell

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:William D. Russell

    Writer:Unknown
24. 

    7.9/10(71 votes)

    #24 - Father Delivers the Papers

    S1:E243/13/1955

    Bud injures himself, so Jim delivers the papers on his route to avoid Bud being fired.

    Director:William D. Russell

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:William D. Russell

    Writer:Unknown
25. 

    6.9/10(61 votes)

    #25 - No Partiality

    S1:E253/20/1955

    Kathy and Betty fight for the attention of the same man.

    Director:William D. Russell

    Writer:John Kohn

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    Director:William D. Russell

    Writer:John Kohn