I still love you, Ant! (I sent you a PM)

Might be a good idea if Jan were to lock this thread.

In the 2 1/2 years I've been on this board, I have seen this issue discussed so many times that it's beating a dead horse. No one changes their mind and everyone has different viewpoints becaue it's all persepective--each individuals as well as the times in which the show is to have taken place ...

In The Pressure Game , we meet the Bonner brothers. I don't believe Adam was an always well-behaved or saintly child. He must have gotten into trouble a few times like any other teen. What's with the assumption that the Bonner brothers were cutthroats when they were kids? Adam probably had his fair ...

In the 2 1/2 years I've been on this board, I have seen this issue discussed so many times that it's beating a dead horse. No one changes their mind and everyone has different viewpoints becaue it's all persepective--each individuals as well as the times in which the show is to have taken place ...

Just want to jump in here and mention my opinion on Ward Clever.

Well, he would get my vote too for father of the year BUT, we never got to see him live with 2 grown sons, so we really don't know what kind of disciplinarian he would be.The Beav and Wally were kids when we saw Ward and June worry ...

Southplains: Sorry, but the way I see it, respect is a two-way street.

Well, yes, that's certainly true, Hetty. Respect IS a two-way street. And I think Ben and his sons DID respect each other very much the majority of the time. I know that they were certainly a model family in the way they ...

There are also Ben chastizing scenes with Adam that are out of now where, for example towards the end of Jacknife Ben berates Adam for being more concerned about someone else and not enough for his own family
I wanted to bring that up, too, but figured I'd prattled on enough. Even Hoss was on Adam ...

Southplains: Sorry, but the way I see it, respect is a two-way street. I don’t see treating grown sons like naughty school boys as Ben respecting his sons. I wished so much that one of them would have stood up to him and said, “I’m not tired, I don’t think I’ll go to bed yet” or “we’re grown men, Pa ...

YES he was stern at times but THAT is the sign of a great father.
Stern I understand. It's the bad-bad-little-boys (boys being men in their 20s and 30s) scoldings and making them hang their heads in shame that some of us find offensive. Even we AdamGirls (yes, SP, it didn't take a rocket scientist ...

Laurence Laurent of the Washington Post wrote something like, "isn't it strange to have adult sons so dominated by a father." So you see, Southplains, it's not just Adam fans who saw a problem. The fact that there were great episodes in which Ben wasn't like that, and that LG himself wanted that ...