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Benjamin Sisko and his son Jake.
This image is copyrighted, but used here under Fair Use guidelines. It is owned by Paramount Global (was ViacomCBS and/or Paramount Pictures and/or CBS Broadcasting, Inc.)
My all-time favourite father in a TV show is Benjamin Sisko from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
After his wife died in a tragic accident, he raised his son, Jake, as a single parent while simultaneously taking over command of the Deep Space Nine and helping Bajor’s recovery from the recently concluded Cardassian occupation.
(Cardassians and Bajorans were enemies at this point in the Star Trek timeline. They had recently called for a truce after a bloody war, but tensions were still running high to say the least).
If you are not a fellow Star Trek fan, don’t worry. Those are all of the details you need to know about this character’s occupation.
What I loved about Commander Sisko was how well he balanced every portion of his life. You might see him broker a peace deal between species that deeply mistrust each other or welcome refugees in one scene only to go play baseball or do some other father-son bonding activity with Jake in the next one.
He had a lot on his plate, but he was always a warm and loving father. If you watch this series through until the end, you’ll also see Jake grow up. I thought it was fascinating to see how he evolved as a character and what lessons he learned from watching his father juggle single parenting, dealing with grief, running a starbase, and even finding some time for dating in there as well.
Now that I’ve finished this post, I have the urge to rewatch a few classic Deep Space Nine episodes featuring this wonderful family. Maybe I’ll do just that this weekend!