The Fess Parker Show

As one of the very few people alive who actually saw The Fess Parker Show on March 28, 1974, I feel qualified to comment. Parker is cast in this Don Fedderson production as a widower, whose best friend is also a widower. In Fedderson's universe, like his previous productions, Family Affair and My Three Sons, parents die, they don't divorce. When those shows started out, 1960 and 1966 respectively, a single dad with three daughters on TV could be considered pushing the envelope, however, by 1974, audiences were ready for discussions of divorce and the quaint plot device of widowhood to explain a single father's dilemma was just so, well quaint. Also, having a best friend who is also widowed, has three sons and coincidently lives next door is pushing the limits of believability.

And as in the above named previous Don Fedderson productions the main character is involved in construction and/or engineering.

In 1974 I was a young kid and a complete and a huge fan of Fess Parker, Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone. The fact that the Davy Crockett phenomenon was about 15 years old, and Daniel Boone off the air for about 4 years in no way diminished my anticipation for the Fess Parker show.

So, when it did air and I saw Fess Parker in a cardigan reading a newspaper in an easy chair,I thought, "Hey, where's his coonskin hat?" So, did everyone else in the country apparently. After making his name as an action star, this show was just a bit too sedentary for Parker fans.

As far as concepts for a show go, even if derivative, it is no better or worse than most other 60s/early 70s fare, and if it had aired about four years earlier when Daniel Boone ended in 1970, it may have had some legs to it, but as it was it was too little too late, for both the star and the producer.