24 Hours In Tyrantland: Father Knows Best (TV Episode)

Plot

This special episode of Father Knows Best was done one behalf of the United States Treasury Department in 1959, and was never aired on television -- it was, however, widely shown on 16mm prints at schools and churches, and to civic groups, to help sell U.S. Savings Bonds. Jim Anderson (Robert Young) is chosen to run a campaign to sell Savings Bonds through the Payroll Savings Plan and the Bond-a-Month Plan, and discovers that his three children are reluctant to participate. When he realizes the depth of their apathy, he decides to prove to them the importance of Savings Bonds and what they provide, in securing peace and freedom, by making them a bet -- that for 24 hours, they will not live in America, but in "Tyrantland," where a dictator in their home will control every aspect of their lives. He and Margaret (Jane Wyatt) play their roles to the hilt, eliminating all freedom of expression and choice for them for the next night and day. Betty (linor Donahue), Bud (Billy Gray), and Kathy (Lauren Chapin) are given numbers instead of names, and put on a rigid regimen of chores and errands. In the end, the three children recognize what they risk losing and relent. Like other, similar shows done for the Treasury Department (such as "Stamp Day For Superman"), "24 Hours In Tyrantland" was never part of the official list of episodes of its parent series, and only saw official commercial release in 2008, as part of the DVD set Father Knows Best: Season One. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Review

This is the strangest episode of Father Knows Best ever made, and with good reason -- it was never intended to be aired on television. Rather, it was done on behalf of the United States Department of the Treasury, in order to sell United States Savings Bonds, and was shown in schools, churches, and union meetings, amongst other gatherings. To say that it is message-laden is an understatement, as Jim Anderson (Robert Young) and his wife Margaret (Jane Wyatt) try to convince their children the importance of the freedoms for which America stands, and -- growing from that premise -- the reasons why Savings Bonds are important. But amid the extremely didactic script there are some interesting elements to be found -- as a result of the fact that this episode was outside the official run of the show, it offers some edges to the characters and the performances that would not have found their way into regular episodes; in that regard, this episodes can be regarded as the equivalent, in this context, of the 1960's-vintage "imaginary issues" of Superman comics, and Marvel's "What If" series, which explored storylines and elements of characterization that stood outside of any other continuity. There's also some surprisingly good writing at the end, when Jim Anderson finally lays it on the line for his daughter Betty (Elinor Donahue) about what all of the freedoms of which she's been deprived really mean; and an even better moment when, as scripted, Young and Wyatt step out of character to make their pitch -- you suddenly appreciate just how good their acting on the show was. The appearance by AFL-CIO head George Meany at the very tail-end of the show, as a sort of teaser, was gratuitous and unnecessary, however. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi