I'm liking a lot of these answers. I was curious what would come to mind for a lot of people, and there are some pretty varied responses I hadn't considered as possibilities already.
@Master_Live: Uncle Phil is a pretty good answer. I mean heck, the guy was a great parent even for being an uncle lol. I think it's been so long since I watched the Simpsons that I don't have a great memory of examples of Marge's parenting moments. Alfred is another great answer, that's a pretty devoted butler.
@SOedipus: Why did you say that name!? lol.
Aunt May I can certainly agree with, though it might be more fair to say that Peter is equally as much her caretaker, depending on what Spider-man universe we're considering. The Matthews and the Tanners are again some pretty good examples of parents. William Russ had some great scenes on Boy Meets World. Actually that brings up yet another possible parental character with Mr. Feeny.
@br0kenrabbit: Mufasa is an interesting example, it kind of brings the "King and Prince" element into the parental relationship. I don't think I've ever sat and watched the Secret of NIMH, but Mrs. Brisby was also the protagonist of that movie as well right? The Bradys, I guess that is also a good answer, though it has been so long since I've sat and watched an episode so I can't remember exact examples of how the parents handled situations. Weirdly, I probably would sit and watch an episode these days if it popped on TV lol. Andy Taylor is a really good answer also.
@uninspiredcup: This is along the lines of an answer I'd expect from a true Scotsman, lol.
@heathen75: The thing I like about the Bundys is that the whole family will come together if they feel threatened enough by some other family, and like beat them up or something lol.
Admittedly I haven't watched enough of Raising Hope or Malcolm in the Middle to know how the parents were. I always remembered Bryan Cranston's character being a bit strange on MitM, but that's going from childhood memory.
Red and Kitty are good answers. I watched a lot of episodes of TSS these past few months, and while my parents were never really like the Formans, I did find myself relating to a few situations with them and Eric, and even Lauri.
Roseanne and Dan Connor are, again, pretty great answers. Actually, they remind me a bit of my own parents, and my childhood. While the Bundys are definitely the extreme end of poverty lol, I always felt like Roseanne was a show that captured the lower-middle class well in the 90's. And I think for me that is kind of what family was like, a little sarcastic and goofy at times but always loving.
@Ovirew: Well, to respond to my own question the very first person that came to my mind when I asked myself this question was Pa Ingalls from Little House on the Prairie. In particular, from the TV show, played by Michael Landon.
I think as an actor, Landon did a great job capturing the qualities and image of a strong and loving father, and I guess that has always kind of been the idealized image I've had in my head of what a great parent would be.
The very first answer I got to this question, before I decided to ask it here, was one that was also kind of unexpected for me. A friend named Dr. Glassman from The Good Doctor. Now I've never really watched the show, but I decided to check out some clips to better understand my friend's reasoning. The show is about an autistic, young doctor. Dr. Glassman is his superior and runs the hospital where he works, and they are not related. While the main character is already pretty good at his job, what Dr. Glassman offers him isn't so much professional knowledge, as it is life knowledge and soft skills. It brings the parent/guardian dynamic to the mentor role in an interesting way.
I had thought about a few other answers that nobody has mentioned so far, but I'll kind of wait and see if anybody else names them. I held off on providing my own answer right away because I wanted to see where other people went with their answers, I didn't want to influence anyone's thinking with this question.
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