25 TV Dads we wish were ours

Photo: CBS

Andy Taylor – The Andy Griffith Show

Be still my TV-loving heart. Growing up in the South, Andy Taylor from The Andy Griffith Show was both familiar and aspirational. Everybody saw something in Andy that reminded them of their own Southern dad, but he was also wildly patient and long-suffering. If I had to have a spanking (and heaven knows I got my fair share of those) I sure would have loved to get one from Andy, or as Opie called him, “Paw.”

Not only was he a single father to Opie, played by a very young Ron Howard, he was a father figure to every person in Mayberry under the age of 30. He was wise, handsome, dashing, and a little self-deprecating. He was kind of the perfect man, much less father. He was particularly influential in his Barney’s tutelage and mentoring. The deputy was notoriously inept and bumbling, yet Andy never let it get to him.

It’s a pity that Andy never married, but to do so would have upset the delicate balance he’d created at home with his young son, who still got whoopings sometimes, and the elderly Aunt Bea.

Andy Griffith went on to play some pretty iconic roles, but the small-town Sheriff is the best of the bunch.