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The Best Episodes of Father Knows Best Season 1

Every episode of Father Knows Best Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Father Knows Best Season 1!

Binge this in 12h 30m•Peaking at 8.3/10

Family man Jim Anderson copes with the everyday problems among his wife Margaret and their three children as they experience day-to-day changes.

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Father Knows Best Season 1 Episode 12 - The Christmas Story
    8.3/10(117 votes)

    S1:E12

    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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  2. Father Knows Best Season 1 Episode 13 - Sparrow in the Window
    8.1/10(74 votes)

    S1:E13

    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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  3. Father Knows Best Season 1 Episode 14 - Boy's Week
    8.0/10(77 votes)

    S1:E14

    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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  4. Father Knows Best Season 1 Episode 2 - Lesson in Citizenship
    7.9/10(104 votes)

    S1:E2

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

    Director:Peter Tewksbury
    Writer:Paul West

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  5. Father Knows Best Season 1 Episode 26 - Close Decision
    7.9/10(69 votes)

    S1:E26

    Margaret worries the entire day over what will become of Bud’s future if he doesn’t develop good character. This is tied in with a baseball game Bud is trying to get to play in.

    Director:William D. Russell
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. Father Knows Best Season 1 Episode 3 - The Motor Scooter
    7.8/10(96 votes)

    S1:E3

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

    Director:William D. Russell
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. Father Knows Best Season 1 Episode 18 - Jim the Farmer
    7.8/10(69 votes)

    S1:E18

    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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  8. Father Knows Best Season 1 Episode 24 - Father Delivers the Papers
    7.8/10(76 votes)

    S1:E24

    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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  9. Father Knows Best Season 1 Episode 5 - Live My Own Life
    7.7/10(85 votes)

    S1:E5

    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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  10. Father Knows Best Season 1 Episode 6 - Grandpa Jim's Rejuvenation
    7.7/10(85 votes)

    S1:E6

    Jim comes to believe that he is over the hill.

    Director:William D. Russell
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. Father Knows Best Season 1 Episode 7 - Bud's Encounter With the Law
    7.7/10(75 votes)

    S1:E7

    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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  12. Father Knows Best Season 1 Episode 10 - Typical Father
    7.7/10(73 votes)

    S1:E10

    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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  13. Father Knows Best Season 1 Episode 23 - Proud Father
    7.7/10(73 votes)

    S1:E23

    Jim tries to help the children regain their confidence.

    Director:William D. Russell
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. Father Knows Best Season 1 Episode 4 - Football Tickets
    7.6/10(87 votes)

    S1:E4

    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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  15. Father Knows Best Season 1 Episode 11 - Margaret Goes Dancing
    7.6/10(72 votes)

    S1:E11

    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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  16. Father Knows Best Season 1 Episode 16 - Bud the Snob
    7.6/10(75 votes)

    S1:E16

    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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  17. Father Knows Best Season 1 Episode 19 - Father of the Year
    7.6/10(68 votes)

    S1:E19

    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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  18. Father Knows Best Season 1 Episode 20 - The Mink Coat
    7.5/10(70 votes)

    S1:E20

    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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  19. Father Knows Best Season 1 Episode 21 - The Matchmaker
    7.5/10(71 votes)

    S1:E21

    Margaret tries to get her cousin and her boyfriend married.

    Director:William D. Russell
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. Father Knows Best Season 1 Episode 17 - The Promised Playhouse
    7.4/10(71 votes)

    S1:E17

    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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  21. Father Knows Best Season 1 Episode 22 - Bud the Bridesmaid
    7.4/10(71 votes)

    S1:E22

    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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  22. Father Knows Best Season 1 Episode 9 - Second Honeymoon
    7.3/10(77 votes)

    S1:E9

    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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  23. Father Knows Best Season 1 Episode 8 - Thanksgiving Day
    7.2/10(90 votes)

    S1:E8

    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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  24. Father Knows Best Season 1 Episode 15 - A Friend of Old George's
    7.2/10(74 votes)

    S1:E15

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

    Director:William D. Russell
    Writer:Unknown

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  25. Father Knows Best Season 1 Episode 1 - Bud Takes Up the Dance
    7.1/10(163 votes)

    S1:E1

    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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Season 1 Ratings Summary

"The Christmas Story" is the best rated episode of "Father Knows Best" season 1. It scored 8.3/10 based on 117 votes. Directed by William D. Russell and written by Unknown, it aired on 12/19/1954. This episode is rated 0.2 points higher than the second-best, "Sparrow in the Window".