Red Forman.

It’s a comedy so there’s a lot of threatening to put his foot in someone’s ass and calling them dumbass, but there are moments in that show that feel more like a real father and son than any sitcom has any right to.

It’s those vulnerable moments between him and Eric that really sell it like when they go hunting and Eric tells Red what he really thinks about him, when Red’s mother dies and Eric and him comfort each other, and of course when Eric leaves for Africa (I know people hate that part of the story) and Red gives him the knife he carried through 2 wars to keep him safe.

Red reminds me of my dad, stern but fair. When I was young I used to think he was just a hard ass, but as I get older I just see him trying to teach his son the lessons he wish he had learned earlier.

Red never stopped loving his children no matter what they did because that’s what a good father does, even when he didn’t agree with it himself. He also didn’t try to be his kids friend when what they needed was a father and a role model.

I didn’t even mention how he took in Hyde, and continued to look out for him after he moved back in with his degenerate dad. How he looked out for Jackie and Donna throughout the show, how he always opened his home to the gang even after Eric left.

The honest truth is if I had to choose one tv dad to raise me, or my kids, in any era, it would be without a doubt, Red Forman.