Father Knows Best

Bud has to sell sauce boats which he thinks will be an easy sell. He soon learns there is more to selling than just asking people to buy. Jim helps him learn some selling tips.

Jim thinks the children ask him to solve their problems too much. He decides they need to start finding their own solutions.

The town is undergoing new construction, and when Jim learns the old meeting house is being torn down, he is upset. It is a memorial for the town since has history. Jim teaches civics to the children by trying to keep the old building.

Bud applies for a job in a sports department. His resume has some embellishments, but his father tells him to only tell the truth. When he applies, he does not get the job because someone else embellished their resume and was hired.

Virge, an old friend of Jim's visits Jim at work and announces he and his wife have moved to Springfield. Jim & Margaret invite the couple to dinner. While Virge is well liked and enjoyed, his wife is not so pleasant.

A new family moved into the area. They have a son Kathy's age and a daughter Bud's age. Kathy and Grover become friends. Bud and his friend Joe both like April. Turns out April is a flirt who tries to get all the boys to do her bidding.

Kathy trades her skates for a friend's magic set, and then believes she can make anything disappear or change appearance as long as she waves the magic want. When she does magic while Bud tries smoking a cigar, she thinks she made Bud sick.

A newspaper reporter takes pictures and writes an article for the paper on the school's tennis team. The picture is Betty, the rawest member of the team, and it looks like she is the champion player. The team captain is not happy.

Bud studies a lot for a big test. For once, he knows the material and does well on the test. Since this is a change from his previous tests, the teacher assumes he must have cheated.

Jim watches a family sitcom on television and thinks the father is displayed as an idiot who needs his wife to always save the day. The next day, Jim suspects his own family is trying to show Jim how much Margaret has to save the day.

Bud thinks his parents are old, but Jim & Margaret do not feel old. Jim receives an invitation for his college reunion. Jim & Margaret attend the reunion. They realize that while they are not old, they are not teenagers and are glad of it.

When a classmate calls Bud, he is rude to her because she is the least popular girl in school and considered a nerd. Jim finds out Bud was rude and tells Bud he has to apologize. Bud tries, but the girl does not accept his apology.

Margaret has a few lucky coincidences about things she thinks about and things that happen. Everyone tells her she has premonition and she starts to believe it. She makes a prediction about Jim and he does not want to follow her advice.

Robert Young plays the role of Tate Ibsen, one of six passengers riding a stagecoach through Arizona in the year 1860. One passenger has been convicted of murder and is handcuffed to a deputy. Tate Ibsen's plan to spring him loose before they reach the Yuma Penitentiary runs into complications when the stage is attacked by Indians.

Bud starts hanging out with a new friend in school. The friend takes things from the store without paying for them. Bud gets blamed. Everyone later finds out Bud's friend suffers from kleptomania.

Betty is horrified when her father sets her up on a blind date, the son of one of Jim's business associates. Betty plans to make sure the date is a bad one, but she finds she actually likes the date.

Jim comes home after a bad day at work. Wanting to tell the family about his day, he is miffed when they ignore him. He starts complaining about everyone and everything around the house. Then he finds out Kathy broke a neighbor's window.

While Kathy is proud of her big sister Betty, Bud has to always follow her in her footsteps at school and he finds it hard to do. Everyone expects more of Bud because Betty always gave so much. Bud starts to do worse in his classes.

It seems like only bills are coming in the mail, and everyone is asking for money. When Betty asks for money to buy a dress for a country club dance, Jim tells her to earn the money herself. She gets a job but no one knows where.

The Anderson's hire someone to paint the house. Jim and Margaret have a discussion about whether someone does the job for the money or for the sense of accomplishment. They make a bet to see who is right, and then ask the painter why.

Bud is upset that none of the girls asked him to the Sadie Hawkins Dance. He feels he has become unpopular. Bud decides to plan a camping trip the same day as the dance as a way to show he does not care.

Betty is depressed and finds every day events dull. She is not sure what she is looking for. Betty finds a paper written by Bud about a bus that goes nowhere. This is how she feels. She reads the paper and finds her answer.

Kathy trades her baby doll for a neighborhood friend's baby sibling.

Bus has to write a paper on a historical figure from the Independence War. Jim suggests an ancestor - Major Nathaniel Anderson, and says he must be important if he was a major. Bud researches, and finds the major was a minor in the war.

Jim is excited to tell his family that his college friend Charlie is being interviewed on television. Charlie is quite successful. The more Jim talks about Charlie's success, the more Jim feels he is not a success.