Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: The Complete Series Blu-ray Review
There’s a lot to admire about “Wait Till Your Father Gets Home.”
For those that might be unaware of this animated sitcom, 1972’s “Wait Till Your Father Gets Home” is a Primetime Hanna-Barbera series that lasted 3 seasons and a total of 48 episodes. The show revolved around the Boyle family comprised of husband/father Harry (who is in the restaurant supplies biz), his wife Irma (a housewife/mother), and their 3 children Alice (a cultured and liberated 70s woman), Chet (a jobless hippie out of college) and Jamie (the youngest son who is often too young to hear many of the adult conversations despite being rather mature). Throughout the series, storylines involve Irma suspecting Harry of cheating on her, a party dress, Chet’s hippie friend, Alice’s dates and crushes, criminals, Chet getting jobs and dating, a car, Irma becoming a secretary (twice), a swimming pool, Alice’s birthday party, a hippie commune, Chet in a band, Harry taking a business trip to New York, Jamie taking up photography, a TV interview, Harry taking care of the house, Jamie’s school project, Harry in court, Alice losing weight, Chet moving out of the house, a family camping trip, family members, marriage counseling and more.
While “Wait Till Your Father Gets Home” has become somewhat forgotten over the years, I had fond memories of catching re-runs on USA Network and Cartoon Network in my childhood. For whatever reason, that earworm of a theme song is forever ingrained in my memory (and is arguably the best part of the show). Looking at the series now, there’s no doubt that it comes off as rather dated. Some shows are timeless and some shows are very much of the time. This show is very much the latter. With that said, this R.S. Allen and Harvey Bullock created series deserves credit. It was an ahead of its time adult animated program. The DNA of this show is certainly felt in now iconic animated shows like “The Simpsons” and “Family Guy.” The series showed that animation can be more than just cartoons with recycled plots. ‘Father’ is also notable for being a lot more grounded. Yes, there’s plenty of exaggerated humor and jokes, but the series explored gender roles, politics, generational divides, finances, adulthood, and societal changes in a very real fashion at times. Like any good family sitcom, you really find yourselves caring about the family too amid their daily struggles, squabbles, and stressful lives.
‘Father’ isn’t without its issues. The comedy doesn’t always land (as much as the laugh track tries to force the jokes), the paranoid conspiracy theorist and anti-communist neighbor character Ralph is profoundly annoying, and the animation is very bare bones and rudimentary. None of this detracts from the series as a whole though.
Video/Audio:
Presentation: 1.33:1 1080p. How does it look? Dirt specs and print scratches are present here, but the episode prints have been beautifully restored. The show has never looked better.
Audio Track: 2.0 DTS-HD MA. How does it sound? Viewers can expect a nice crisp 2.0 track.
Despite 2 extras being listed on the back, there are no extras on this set. There’s a rumor of a forthcoming disc 6 replacement program though.
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