Wait Till Your Father Gets Home

Before Tom Bosley became a prime time superstar on Happy Days, he voiced the father in Wait Till Your Father Gets Home. I have fond memories of this series, which debuted almost half-a-century ago!! In some ways it was the more sedate prelude of The Simpsons.

This is one of my favorite show's from Hanna-Barbera. After years of placing families in the stone age, the space age and even in ancient Rome, Hanna-Barbera finally had a piece that took place in this century. The best thing about this show was the fact that the Boyles were played more or less like real people and it was a very humorous look at how conservative Harry dealt with not only his liberal kids, Alice and Chet, but with a changing world around him. However, the real star was Ralph, Harry's reactionary neighbor. He made Dale from "King of the Hill" look normal. Ralph was always looking for communists in every nook and cranny and he would always give Harry all sorts of crazy advice based on his wild theories. The only thing I found wrong with the show, however, was the poor job of animation (allegedly Hanna-Barbera "farmed out" the animation work to a Canadian company as a way to save money). All in all, though, despite the poor animating, this still is one of the funniest cartoons to come out of the 1970's.

I am an avid fan of the series. I am looking for others to share my interest in the DVD set. Let me know what you think. I believe I can help with any questions you may have as I have ran some fan clubs in the past for this great television comedy. I can remember seeing the show when I was a smaller one and really didn't get it, yet as I grew older I started to think about the material and what was said and was blown away. Some of the racial comments were treated lightly due to the cartoon style and I thought this was a crazy concept and I think that is why it has stayed with us in one way or another.

Thanks, Larry

I love this show. I was 10 when it came out but funny enough, don't remember watching it back in 1972. I guess I was too busy watching the Partridge Family and Brady Bunch. I'm glad it's on the Boomerang network, along with another childhood favorite, the Banana Splits. Thank God for DVR so I can tape them since it's on in the middle of the night. I hadn't seen mentioned here in detail that Jackie Earle Haley, later of the Bad News Bears and most recently, the movie "Little Children" (Oscar nominated) was the voice of youngest son Jamie. According to his IMDb bio WTYFGH was his first acting job, albeit vocally only.

This show is awesome and I'm sure was very topical for its time, for example, the episode when Chet wants to move in with his girlfriend. I'm surprised that the Jack Burns character was able to get away with talking about "Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Blacks" on a cartoon. He reminds me of a cartoon version of Archie Bunker, for sure.

Wow! When I first saw this when I was a kid, I had no idea this was Hanna Barbera. And I though to myself, finally, they made a show down to Earth, and something that reflected society, as the story of a dad, normal, white, tries to live a good life in the '70s despite his hippie son, and teenage liberal daughter, and each episode has a good lesson or a message filled with social commentary, much like The Simpsons, or King Of the Hill in the "Me Generation", or The Flintstones or Jetsons in the 70s. And Ralph is the most unforgettable and perhaps the funniest character in the whole series, as the conservative McCarthyist, as he said things about commies. Yes, it had the feel and sentiments of the Cold War days. Recommended to all those who love The Simpsons, King Of the Hill, and the Adult Swim shows. If they were to remake this, they should make Ralph the same, except they should make him say things about terrorists instead of the Reds. No swearing or violence.