As a fan of non-dad TV people like Larry from Curb Your Enthusiasm, Ralph Kramden from the Honeymooners, and Comedian Anthony Jeselnik, this got me thinking (frighteningly enough.)  I don't think I'd get along with most of the dads I see on TV.  Not Red Foreman.  Not Homer Simpson.  Maybe Darrin Stephens (I'm passionate about Bewitched.)

Ah - I got it!  The dad from Malcolm in the Middle.  He's the one I probably most closely resemble.  Just trying to do the right stuff, not take himself too seriously, and occasionally losing his everloving freaking mind.  A good guy.

Well, the website howtowatch.com used Google Trends to find the television dad people like the most by state, and came up with 29 of these guys.

  • Number one overall?  Jack Pearson from This is Us, being most popular in Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.
  • This one shocked me, being such a throwback.  Coming in second is Gomez Addams from the 60s sitcom The Addams Family.  He's the fave in Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Oklahoma, and Texas.
  • Two dads carried four states (I'm making it sound like an election now for some reason.)  David Nolan, a.k.a. Prince Charming, from Once Upon a Time was the top dad in Alaska, Idaho, Kentucky, and South Carolina.
  • And, Colorado joins Illinois, Oregon, and Washington in leaning on Homer Simpson as the greatest dad on TV.  Perhaps it's no coincidence that these are four of the eight states where pot is legal.
  • Other winners were Joe West from the Flash, George from the Jeffersons, Carl Winslow from Family Matters, Richard from Gilmore Girls, Ward from Leave it to Beaver (so I guess maybe he wasn't too hard on the Beav' after all?), Steven Keaton from Family Ties, Ben Cartwright from Bonanza, and Walter White from Breaking Bad.

Here's the full breakdown.

 

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