Throwback Tuesday: A Tribute to Fathers and Daughters on TV

Back on June 15, 2010 I posted an article paying tribute to fathers and daughters on TV. With Father’s Day just behind us, I thought it was the right time to do a Throwback Tuesday post highlighting that piece.

Here is the article:

In honor of Father’s Day, I felt it was only right to pay a special tribute to just some of the wonderful father and daughter teams that have graced our television sets in recent years. I don’t know about our readers, but I was very fortunate to have had a terrific relationship with my father – who passed away on August 13, 1994 – and in light of our special bond I always feel a special kinship with fathers and daughters as portrayed in my favorite TV shows. While each team highlighted below may or may not always have the best relationship, each of them was there for the other and could be counted on in times of trial as well as triumph.

So without further ado, here is a list of the father and daughter teams from just some of my favorite TV shows who I feel should be celebrated:

Richard and Alexis Castle

Richard and Alexis Castle (Nathan Fillion and Molly Quinn) on Castle – This father and daughter team from the popular ABC cop drama Castle (which airs on Monday nights at 10 PM) optimizes what I think all father and daughters should be: loving, silly, sometimes irreverent, and yes, sometimes irritated with each other. This is the first father-daughter team that I have seen on television that resembles my late father and I the most; and seeing them together fills me with joy and sadness all at once; but I’m always left with one thing when watching them on screen together: I BELIEVE they are father and daughter and that speaks to the talent of the actors portraying them.

Veronica and Keith Mars

Keith and Veronica Mars (Enrico Colantoni and Kristen Bell) on Veronica Mars – Veronica Mars was perhaps THE best show to come out of the now-defunct United Paramount Network (UPN), one of the few shows that also survived the union of UPN and the now-defunct WB Network (nee the CW) – even if for only one season. It is to the credit of these fine actors that the viewers got yet another insightful look inside a wonderful, loving father-daughter relationship. What drew this team apart from the Castle’s, though, is that Keith actually taught Veronica everything she knew about being a private investigator and Veronica had a much more difficult live than Alexis; but with a dad like Keith Mars she always had a strong supporter and defender.

Amy and Harold Abbott

Amy and Harold Abbott (Emily Van Camp and Tom Amandes) on Everwood – In the town of Everwood, Colorado, nestled beneath elegant white-peaked mountains, housed the father-daughter team of Amy and (Dr.) Harold Abbott, who didn’t always have a smooth relationship over the years that the series was on the WB, but they were always there for each other. Harold was stern with his daughter Amy and she, like most normal teenagers, rebuked his rules and rebelled; but in the end they both came out the better for it.

Sydney and James Hansen

James and Sydney Hansen (Melina Kanakaredes and Jim Farrell) on Providence – Unlike the previous three father-daughter teams, Dr. Sydney Hansen was a grown adult who moved back home to Providence, Rhode Island after the death of her mother. Her relationship with her father, (Dr.) James Hansen, may not have always been special in the same way as the aforementioned “teams”, but their bond was strong nonetheless.

Lori and Stephen Trager

Lori and Stephen Trager (April Matson and Bruce Thomas) on Kyle XY – The Trager family was your normal, average, all-American family who ended up with an extraordinary guest in their home when mom Nicole, a psychologist, brought home a patient, Kyle, who had no memory of his past and displayed savant-like qualities. Lori and her dad Stephen had what you could say was a normal, average relationship until Kyle came along and things changed (not to mention the changes a father and daughter go through as the daughter grows up); but their familial ties were always strong and they could count on us each no matter what.

Sydney and Jack Bristow

Sydney and Jack Bristow (Jennifer Garner and Victor Garber) on Alias – In one of the more complicated father-daughter relationships on television, Sydney Bristow started out the series as a college student with a huge secret: she was a spy. Eventually, she learned her father – as well as her mother – was also a spy, leading to one of the most dysfunctional, abnormal family units on television. While Jack did really seem to love his daughter, without ever saying the actual words to her, Sydney also loved her father despite her better judgment.

Kara Thrace and William Adama

Captain Kara “Starbuck” Thrace and Admiral William Adama (Katee Sackhoff and Edward James Olmos) on Battlestar Galactica – While Kara Thrace was not his biological daughter, she certainly was treated as such by William Adama. It also didn’t hurt that, at one point in time, she was engaged to his youngest son, Zach, who died tragically in a Viper training run. Over the course of time while the survivors of the second war with the Cylons struggled to survive on the outskirts of space, jumping from one solar system to another and both of them fighting their own inner demons, a familial relationship between this pseudo father-daughter team was always strong while at the same time complicated.

These are my favorite father and daughter teams from recent television series, but we here at NiceGirlsTV would love to know your favorites. Please share.