The Anderson family of Springfield was a stable of early television for many years in the half-hour sit-com,"Father Knows Best". Starring Robert Young as Jim, Jane Wyatt as Margaret, Elinor Donahue as Princess, Billy Gray as Bud, and Lauren Chapen as Kitten, the Andersons were the model family for America in the 50's and early 60's. Young had come from a very successful career as a film star and Wyatt also had big screen experience (Lost Horizon) and later on became Spocks's mother on the Star Trek series and in one of the major films. Elinor Donahue , who starts out at 17 on the show, was a child star, as was Billy Gray (The Day The Earth Stood Still). Chapin was really the only newcomer and being only 9, she held up well in acting.

The shows all centered around a problem that someone in the family had and the scripts were light enough so everything got settled and happy in the 30 minutes it was on every week.

The dvd set consists of 4 discs and contains all Season One's episodes. What is a bummer is the fact that Shout Factory used syndicated copies of the shows , that have a lot trimmed from each episode, making them come in at only 22 minutes, when the original shows waere 26. While I can rant about this, Shout Factory felt these episodes were good enough, along with the estate of Robert Young. Just be aware that these episodes have not been restored and are edited.

Print quality varies as any show would be that is 50 years old. Sound also has some flaws with distortions and a few glitches.

Extras are plentiful and interesting. There is an episode that was never broadcast that was made for the US Government about buying Savings Bonds. The epsidoe "24 Hours In Tyrantland" has Jim turning into a house dictator to show the kids what living under a dictatorship would be like. There is also some rare color footage, Robert Young's home movies, new footage of the kids from the show, and a pilot episode of Robert Young's next television show "Window On Main Street".

For people of my generation, this is a sentimental favorite with a lot of people and I'm sure Shout Factory will sell a lot of these sets. I wish they had taken the time to find the original negatives and restore the quality somewhat for a show that a lot of people really loved.