seriousfic

Watching Castle, I realize that the late "50s sitcom dad" archetype, which was subverted to death by the "dumb, fat man-child with hot wife" archetype of Simpsons fame, has actually swung back around to a sort of reconstruction. Rick Castle is still a silly goof, but he's a great dad... understanding, loving, full of good advice, and with a daughter that's smart, well-behaved, and pretty. In fact, along with Taken, Castle is almost single dad porn--Alexis's mother is unreliable, but Castle always has enough time to play laser tag with Alexis, but she's still self-reliant enough for him to be able to run off and solve mysteries. Then there's his wealth, his fame, the bevy of beautiful women that in some cases basically hunt him down for sex... and yet, Castle's portrayal is self-deprecating enough (he screams like a girl on more than one occasion) to avoid pinging any liberal guilt on its way to the id-candy center of the brain.

I wonder how many other sitcoms have the same kind of "Badass Goofball Dad" archetype?