Top 10 TV Dads

I've wanted to count down the best TV dads for some time now. It's hard to do since some of the shows I haven't seen in years. So how can I properly assess their fatherhood skills? The answer is that I can't, so I'm kind of shooting from the hip.

This will only include shows that I've actually watched, so Howard Cunningham, Andy Taylor, and Charles Ingalls are off the table.

10. Ward Cleaver (Leave it to Beaver) - The standard package.
9. Dan Conner (Roseanne) - You'll see Homer Simpson on best TV dad lists, but not Roseanne's husband? You usually don't get the middle-america dads on TV, so he's kind of a rare bird.
8. Danny Tanner (Full House) - Single father, kept a tidy house while raising three girls. He did need reinforcements from Jesse and Joey in order to pull it off, so does he get penalized a bit?
7. Tony Micelli (Who's the Boss?) - I think Tony slips into the top 10. Another single dad, putting his ego aside to work as a housekeeper for a woman.
6. Mike Brady (The Brady Bunch) - He has to be on this list, representing TV dads of the Seventies. He gets a lot of credit for meshing this blended family together. But it kind of bugged me that he had that huge den downstairs while the kids were crammed three to a room upstairs.
5. Philip Drummond (Different Strokes) - I started him out at #9 and keep moving him up. You never see him get props in the 'best dad' race. But an older, single, rich father adopts a couple of black kids and moves them into his penthouse with his hottie teenage daughter and keeps it all together? My hat is off to you, Mr. Drummond.
4. Sandy Cohen (The OC) - He doesn't like living in Orange County, he has to live in a house owned by his wife's family, his father-in-law doesn't like him, and his wife - well, she's not exactly June Cleaver. And Sandy decided that not only was he going to deal with all the drama, but he would also take in a troubled teenager and raise him like a son.
3. Cliff Huxtable (The Cosby Show) - I think it's illegal to have a best dad list that doesn't include the venerable Dr. Huxtable. One of my enduring memories was when he humorously lectured Theo about standing in front of the refrigerator with the door open.
2. Keith Mars (Veronica Mars) - This list is filled with single dads. In his case, his wife flaked out after he lost his job as sheriff and left him to raise their teenage daughter. Performed the ultimate parental sacrifice when he risked his life to venture into a blazing fire to rescue Veronica.
1. Jason Seaver (Growing Pains) - A stay-at-home dad who also ran a psychiactric practice out of the home. He saw troublemaking Mike and intellectually gifted Carol through to adulthood. He had to take a backseat to his wife when she took a job doing TV news and became Maggie Malone. Plus, I believe he is the only one on this list who fathered a new child during the show's run. Jason handled all this with great aplomb.

"Gee, dad, I thought you'd do better than number 10!"