Trivia / Father Knows Best

• Breaking News Interruption: A rerun of the Season 3 episode "Man About Town" was airing on some ABC affiliates (mostly in the Western United States; as for a contrast New York's WABC-TV 7 was airing a rerun of The Ann Sothern Show) when the news of President John F. Kennedy's shooting and eventual death broke on November 22, 1963.
• Channel Hop: From CBS to NBC for Seasons 2-4, then back to CBS for Seasons 5-6.
• Hide Your Pregnancy: Elinor Donahue (Betty) was pregnant and starting to show near the end of Season 3; resulting in efforts being made to hide the pregnancy during the final episodes of the season.
• Un-Cancelled: Father Knows Best was officially cancelled after its first season on CBS. NBC picked it up with a new sponsor and it had a healthy run for several more years.
• What Could Have Been: When preparation was being made to move from radio to television, Ted Donaldson (who provided the voice of Bud in the radio version) was offered an opportunity to reprise the role for television; which Donaldson - who was 21 and not wanting to play a teenager in what would have been one of the earliest examples of Dawson Casting - turned down, a decision he later regretted; noting that rejecting the TV offer was "...one of the two or three most stupid things I have not done because not only would the salary have been very nice for five years, but the residuals would have also."

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