25 TV Dads we wish were ours
By Sundi Rose
Photo: CBS
Jed Clampett – Beverly Hillbillies
I prefer my TV dads with a Southern accent. Call it my regional bias or my penchant for all things vintage, but Jed Clampett was a no nonsense kind of father. Having a daughter as pretty and as wide-eyed as Ellie Mae made it super hard.
Jed and his family, daughter Ellie Mae, nephew Jethro, and Granny, hit the big city of Beverly Hills after finding oil in their Tennessee backyard, and they were misfits, to say the least. The entire premise of the show was based on their constant struggles to fit in in the ritzy neighbor in which they bought a huge mansion. They lived next door to their greedy banker, and he was a real contrast to their down-to-earth ways. We were constantly laughing at their backwoods ways and ignorance of the “real world.”
Really, we should have been taking notes. Granny had more wisdom about the world than any banker or leader, and Jed had a compassionate heart we could all learn from. Jed may not have known what an in-ground pool was, but he certainly knew how to make people feel special. Just ask Ms. Hathaway, the mousy, brainy bank secretary that had a monster crush on him.