16 Great TV Episodes To Watch With Dad On Father’s Day

In Season 3, Episode 14, Bandit (aka. the father no Millennial dad feels he can live up to) finally gets a Father’s Day episode. The episode opens with Bluey, Bingo, and Chilli sitting on the verandah making Father’s Day cards for the “big blue guy” himself and Bluey wants to make sure it’s perfect. She begins to think of all her favorite things to do with dad — lots of throwing games and silly jokes — to draw them, but “perfect” turns out to be pretty hard to accomplish. As Bluey becomes increasingly disheartened in her efforts, Chilli offers a valuable lesson about perseverance.

Watch Bluey on Disney+.

This episode is all about dads taking matters of appreciation into their own hands. Season 2, Episode 4 is all about Daddy’s Day. After all, that’s all Dre Johnson (played by Anthony Anderson) wanted from his self-absorbed family of six. Instead of waiting for his kudos, Dre and his friends invent their own holiday to celebrate, well, them! There are plenty of touching parenting moments in Black-ish, including Zoey’s graduation.

Watch Black-ish on Hulu and Disney+.

In Season 1, Episode 13 of Malcolm In The Middle, Hal finally finds something he is pretty good at and that’s rollerskating. Hal, played by Bryan Cranston, is the father of Francis, Reese, Dewey, Jamie, and of course, Malcolm. In the episode, Hal teaches Malcolm to skate so he can beat Reese’s team. Not only is it a great father-son bonding moment, but it’s also a great time for Hal to show off his skate skills and his blue sparkly outfit!

Watch Malcolm In The Middle on Hulu.

Danny DeVito and Rob McElhenney are quite the pair! Frank doesn’t get the “Best Dad” award, but what we can appreciate is his awful authenticity. In Season 5, Episode 4, titled “The Gang Gives Frank an Intervention,” Frank embarrasses himself at the funeral of a deceased relative when he becomes drunk and tries to hit on Aunt Donna. His friends and kids step in for a much-needed intervention, which includes a therapist and a gun. But in the end, everyone still ends up drinking wine out of a can. Go figure!

Watch It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia on Hulu.

Get your tissues for this one. In 2017, the guy cast of NBC’s This Is Us ranked this scene as the #1 saddest scene in Season 3. In the episode “The Trip,” Jack has a great bonding moment with his adopted son, Randall, when Randall’s karate instructor has Jack do push-ups with him on his back, a gesture to represent his support for him. And here’s the tear-jerker, even when the instructor says Jack can stop doing the push-ups, he continues, proving to Randall that he will never stop fighting for him — we love to see it.

Watch This Is Us on Hulu and Netflix.

Fans of the ‘90s sitcom Family Matters fans will appreciate this semi-bonding episode between Carl (played by Reginald Vel Johnson) and Steve Urkel (played by Jaleel White). In it, Carl and Steve got back in time in Steve’s time machine. While in the past, Carl leaves an envelope to his past self to invest in stocks, which results in him becoming a billionaire in his alternative future. However, although he has all the money in the world, he does not have those he loves to share it with. This is a great episode about the priceless value of family.

Watch Family Matters on Hulu and Max.

In Season 6, Episode 13, Homer tells the story of Maggie’s birth when Bart and Lisa ask why there are no pictures of her in the family album. YouTuber Metal Scan compiled scenes of Homer’s best moments as a dad and this episode was part of the list. “The very last one still hits home for me every single time,” one YouTuber commented about it. In the end, the Simpsons patriarch may be obnoxious, and good role modeling is questionable. But there are moments when he proves to be a loving parent.

Watch The Simpsons on Disney+, Hulu, and FOX.

In Season 2, Episode 13, the guys go hunting and the ladies play poker. The best part of the episode is how Fez snags his dinner with a whistle and a stick. In another fatherly episode, “The Battle of Evermore,” Red Foreman and Eric are involuntarily signed up for a father-son charity event by Kitty. Kitty hoped the event would help mend their relationship after Red sets out to ruin his son’s life after getting engaged to Donna. But instead, it makes it worse, especially when they learn they’re facing off against Eric’s arch-nemesis Mitch Miller and his father.

Watch That ‘70s Show on Peacock.

In Season 2, Episode 37, after spending some time with his dad, played by late actor Herbert Anderson, on Father’s Day, Dennis decides to spread the love to his neighbor Mr. Wilson as well. But as usual, with Dennis’ shenanigans, things don’t go as planned and he ends up bringing more chaos than care to his neighbor. But it’s the thought that matters right? In the end, Dennis helps Mr. Wilson out of a lawsuit concerning his dog Fremont, so all was well. Over the years, the ‘60s sitcom has been rebooted over the years into an animated series and three movies.

Watch classic episodes of Dennis the Menace on Amazon Prime Video.

Let’s face it, some kids are just not the best gift-givers, especially to their parents. And that seems to be the case with the Huxtables bunch. In this classic episode of The Cosby Show, Cliff is not too excited to see the gifts his kids got him for Father’s Day because, well, they’re never good. But for this particular Father’s Day, the Cosby kids made sure to put a little more extra thought into getting their dad something unique and special and the extra thought worked... well, sort of.

Watch The Cosby Show on Amazon Prime Video.

Nothing says Father’s Day like your best friend dating your dad! That’s one of a few skits the 2020 Saturday Night Live’s Father’s Day special includes. The show compiled some of its best dad skits into an 18-minute-laugh fest. The special features classic SNL sketches like “Get Off The Shed” featuring Will Ferrell. Another classic SNL Father’s Day special is the 2004 clip titled “Fathers and Sons,” in which Peter and his father, Gerry, played by Donald Trump, try to make their special relationship better. But it turns out their neighbors have a better relationship than they could ever have!

Watch Saturday Night Light on Peacock.

If your dad is a kid at heart and happens to be a Krypton fan, then he will appreciate this Superman cartoon. In this episode, Clark Kent (aka Superman) spends Father’s Day with his parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent. But those plans take a turn for the worse when the god Kalibak comes to Earth to destroy Superman, in an attempt to please his own father and prove to him that he is a worthy warrior. It seems some kids will do anything to please their parents but traveling across the universe to take out Earth’s mightiest superhero, in the DC universe, may be a bit of an overkill.

Watch Superman: The Animated Series on Max.

Even first-time dads get the jitters. In Season 1, Episode 17, Ross Geller, played by David Schwimmer, is getting ready to be a dad. He and his first wife, Carol, are expecting their first child together. But he is afraid he will be a terrible one. He even has a dream he used his son like a football. So he seeks advice from his own dad. This is a great episode for first-time dads and about that priceless father-son bond, once you stop thinking about your kid as a football.

Watch Friends on Max.

It’s those random occasions where your parents want to thank you- instead. But what happens when you don’t like the gift? In Season 4, Episode 8 of Fraiser, Martin wants to repay his sons for always stepping up to take care of him. So to show his gratitude, he buys a piece of expensive art for Fraiser, which Fraiser hangs up, even though he doesn’t really like it. When Fraiser finally spills the beans to his dad, the whole episode ends in a pent-up, emotional tear fest between Martin, Fraiser, and Niles expressing their built-up stress.

Watch Fraiser on Hulu and Paramount+.

The next time your dad can’t get something working instead of cursing, teach him to say “Serenity Now.” That was the phrase of the day in the classic Season 9 episode of Seinfeld. Frank Costanza’s doctor advises him to keep calm to alleviate his high blood pressure. He’s instructed to say “serenity now” anytime he feels stressed and to keep his blood pressure down. But instead of saying it, he yells it at the top of his lungs! The phrase quickly catches on to the rest of the characters and the outcome is hilarious.

Watch episodes of Seinfeld on Netflix.

Welcome to the Pritchett-Dunphy-Tucker world! In the 2016, Season 8 premiere everyone is in different spots for different reasons. The Dunphys are in New York, Jay and Gloria attend a wedding in Mexico, and Mitchell and Cameron are in Missouri for a funeral. But everyone returns home just in time for Father’s Day, only to face their usual messy lives. Nonetheless, there are also some, pretty cool bright moments like Haley’s new entrepreneurial career path and Gloria’s hot sauce business.

Watch Modern Family on Peacock.