YMMV / Wait Till Your Father Gets Home

• Animation Age Ghetto: What got the show canceled in its initial run. Moral Guardians didn't like that a cartoon was dealing with family unfriendly subjects, even if it was explicitly not for families. It didn't help that the show was originally designed for, and for the most part aired in, the new 7:30 family slot.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: In one episode, Harry and Irma are talking about squeezing a small vacation to Europe. As a gag, Harry lists all the things they have to do such as leaving at specific time(s) and even going on a two day layover in Iceland. Within 15-20 years after the show was made, Iceland became a very very popular tourist destination.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Ralph Kane's comments as well as his shtick of being a Right-Wing Militia Fanatic are a lot less funny after The '90s and way less funny in the 21st century. Both from the increase of Right-winged terrorism in the Americas and Europe, and from how emboldened the far right has become since The '70s.
  • The twenty first episode showcased a man being taken in by another who talked about how bad women were and how he should be glad to be leaving marriage. It sounds an awful lot like MGTOW ("Men going their own way") fifty years later.
• Once Original, Now Common: It can be difficult to appreciate how risky it was just to do an animated series exclusively for adults in the 1970s after their resurgence in the 90s.
• Retroactive Recognition: Harry Boyle is Howard Cunningham.
• Unintentional Period Piece:
  • The movie theatres are mentioned to run "X-rated films". A modern viewer would probably be confused since movie theatres stopped airing "X" rated films in The '80s.
  • The presence of hippies - which were very much a Sixties and Seventies thing.
  • Chicken being seen as a "cheap" meat. Fifty years later, fried chicken places were known for having lines wrapping around city blocks.
• Values Dissonance: Despite having plenty of Values Resonance, there's still some of it by virtue of it being set in The '70s:
  • In one episode, Jaime is fighting at school but the most punishment he gets is a note from his teacher. After The '90s he wouldn't get off so lightly.
  • Additionally, Harry is implied to use corporal punishment on Jaime. This was normal in The '70s but not so much now.
  • Many of the jokes about Alice being overweight are Played for Laughs in the sense the audience is supposed to laugh too - this would not fly today.
  • One episode mentions the characters being somewhat disappointed that they will be eating fried chicken for dinner. At the time, Chicken was seen as a "Cheap" meat.
• Values Resonance: One of the main reasons the show was Vindicated by History was that many of the issues the show tackled never really went away so much as they did take on new forms. Some of the show's handling of feminism (especially the episode where Irma gets a job at a law firm and the younger, prettier secretary is treated better than the older, plainer Irma), diversity hires ("Help Wanted"), far right extremism (Anything said by Ralph Kane), and population control ("Expectant Papa") are still relevant in the 21st century.
  • Another specific example came from the 21st episode wherein a newlywed couple (George and Mona) are depicted as having a tiff. George ends up bunking with a man who more or less fits the "Men Going their own Way" or "incel" archetype. George is also targeted by a few women who are clearly trying to get together with him but do not understand that "No" means "no". They're also not ugly either.
• Vindicated by History: It was actually canceled in its initial run because Moral Guardians did not think anything like this was suitable for TV. Some even view it as better than many shows that aired later, thanks to it not relying on Shock humour, reference humour, Cutaways, Rapid-Fire Comedy, and that it doesn't have hideous character designs.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: One of the first adult animated series, most people at the time saw cartoons as being frivolous kiddie fare, not helped by most of the studio's other content being exactly this. Cartoon Network even aired it in prime time during its inaugural years (this being before the creation of [adult swim]). Cartoon Network giving it a TV-G rating really doesn't help either. It wouldn't be until The Simpsons came along in the late 1980s for people to see the light.

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