The situation comedy was a staple of early American television, with many shows featuring familiar, domestic settings that besides entertaining audiences also tended to reinforce "traditional" ideas of family life, including conventional roles for men and women.
Indeed, a frequent source of humor in the sitcoms of the 1950s and 1960s were scenarios in which the men's authority was momentarily challenged — when, say, the father in Father Knows Best actually didn't seem to know best — although more often than not the established household hierarchy would be ultimately restored in time for the closing credits.