# Wait Till Your Father Gets Home

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions that aired in first-run syndication in the United States from 1972 to 1974. The show originated as a one-time segment on Love, American Style called "Love and the Old-Fashioned Father". The same pilot was later produced with a live cast (starring Van Johnson), but with no success. The show was the first primetime animated sitcom to run for more than a single season since fellow Hanna-Barbera show The Flintstones more than ten years earlier, and would be the only one until The Simpsons seventeen years later. The show was inspired by All in the Family.

## Premise

The show features Harry Boyle, wife Irma, daughter Alice, and sons Chet and Jamie. Harry, a restaurant supply wholesaler, often butts heads with most of his family about the social issues of the day. Contrasting that is Harry's neighbor and friend, Ralph Kane, a paranoid militia fanatic whose extreme opinions and often dangerous actions Harry can barely tolerate as much as his kids' ideas.
Like many animated series created by Hanna-Barbera in the 1970s, the show contained a laugh track created by the studio. For this show, the studio added a third belly laugh to add a little more "variety" (the only TV series made by Hanna-Barbera to have this added laugh). In addition, the laugh track was also slowed considerably. Like The Flintstones and Top Cat, all the episodes feature a cold open, which is a small scene from the episode that takes place in medias res.

## Episodes

| Season | Episodes | Episodes | Originally released | Originally released |
| Season | Episodes | Episodes | First released | Last released |
| 1 | 24 | 24 | September 12, 1972 | February 20, 1973 |
| 2 | 20 | 20 | September 11, 1973 | January 29, 1974 |
| 3 | 4 | 4 | September 17, 1974 | October 8, 1974 |

## Voice cast

* Tom Bosley as Harry Boyle - harassed father.
* Joan Gerber as Irma Boyle - loyal wife and mother.
* Kristina Holland as Alice Boyle - overweight teenage daughter.
* David Hayward/Lennie Weinrib as Chet Boyle - unemployed adult son.
* Jackie Earle Haley/Willie Aames as Jamie Boyle - intelligent and financially astute younger son.
* Jack Burns as Ralph Kane - crazy next-door neighbor.
* Veteran Hanna-Barbera voice talents such as Daws Butler, Don Messick, and John Stephenson provided minor roles.

### Guest stars

* Don Adams
* Phyllis Diller
* Gene Eugene
* Monty Hall
* Don Knotts
* Rich Little
* Allan Melvin
* Joe E. Ross
* Isabel Sanford
* Jonathan Winters
* Casey Kasem (uncredited)
* Pat Morita (uncredited) "The New House"
* Ken Clark (Britain)
Other "guests" on the series included thinly disguised versions of celebrities who did not provide their own voices, such as guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. When a crooked car salesman appeared in another episode as an obvious parody of well-known Los Angeles car dealer Cal Worthington, Worthington sued Hanna-Barbera, the sponsors (Chevrolet) and the five NBC-owned stations that broadcast the show.

## Home media

In 2007, Warner Home Video released Season 1 of Wait Till Your Father Gets Home on DVD in Region 1 for the Hanna-Barbera Classics Collection. Warner Archive Collection released the complete series on Blu-ray on January 28, 2025.
Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: The Complete First Season :
| Set details | Set details | Special features | Release dates |
| 24 episodes 528 minutes 4-disc set 4:3 standard | 24 episodes 528 minutes 4-disc set 4:3 standard | Retrospective look at the classic show | Region 1 (DVD) June 5, 2007 |
| Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: The Complete Series |||||
| Set details | Set details | Special features | Release dates |
| 48 episodes 6-disc set 4:3 standard | 48 episodes 6-disc set 4:3 standard | Retrospective Featurettes: "Animation for the Nation" & "Illustrating the Times" | Region A (Blu-ray) January 28, 2025 |