Philly filmmakers’ ‘Grown Up Dad’ documentary series gets full season on PBS
The show about fathering started as a pilot last year. This weekend, the filmmakers are teasing the first season, which starts in June, at Bryn Mawr College.
Joseph Gidjunis, a professional photographer who lives in Manyunk, is the host of a new television show picked up by PBS, ''Grown Up Dad.'' (Emma Lee/WHYY)
From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!
“Grown Up Dad” is barely grown up itself. Just one year ago, the public television documentary series about fathering made its debut as a pilot on Father’s Day.
This year, the Philadelphia-based host and co-producer will roll out a full, five-part season on PBS stations across the country, including WHYY-TV, which plans to air “Grown Up Dad” in June.
“Every time we’re able to show a dad who’s loving their kids and loves being a dad, I feel like I’m countering decades of the bumbling-dad narrative on television,” said Joe Gidjunis of Manayunk, a photographer, TV host, and father of an 8-year-old boy.
“Those dads were funny and lovable, but they weren’t competent,” he said. “I want to be someone different for my own son.”
On Saturday, Gidjunis and his production partner Joshua Kagi will give a sneak peek of one of their new episodes at Bryn Mawr College as part of the Daddying Film Forum, a daylong seminar about fathering.
The forum was created by the online Daddying Film Festival, which gave “Grown Up Dad” its award for best short documentary.
What is ‘Grown Up Dad’?
The show looks at the shifting expectations of being a modern father. Gidjunis said that when he became a father eight years ago, he did not want to reprise the role established by his own father, who was a good provider but mostly absent.
Without a role model, Gidjunis felt adrift: How exactly is fathering done?
“I’m realizing I’m just wholly unprepared to do this. I want to be better than the father that I had,” he said. “Our generation today, I think fathers really are more active, are more present, but the challenges that we are facing now — it’s really a culturally important time.”
The seemingly intractable complexities of parenting have been highlighted recently by such things as last year’s publication of “The Anxious Generation,” in which author Jonathan Haidt connects the rise in mental illness and depression among modern teenagers to digital life and overprotective parenting; and this year’s popular Netflix drama “Adolescence,” about the killing of a child that may be linked to hyperaggressive male culture among teenagers.
Related Content
‘Fathers are a brotherhood’: A Philly mentor program doesn’t want dads to learn fatherhood alone
Focus on Fathers was established in 2001 to help new dads transition to fatherhood. Since then, the program has served over 250 fathers.
11 months ago
Gidjunis found his personal role model in an unlikely place: an Australian television cartoon about a family of Blue Heeler dogs.
“Bluey,” streaming on Disney+, follows the adventures of the title puppy who lives with her sister and parents. Her father is always present and willing to drop everything at any time to be available to his girls.
“His name’s Bandit. He is who I absolutely adore,” Gidjunis said. “He’s my ideal father.”
Perhaps too ideal.
In his pilot episode, Gidjunis boards a plane to Australia to seek out the origins of Bandit. He spoke with Australian reporter Dan Colasimone who attempted, in the name of journalism, to be as attentive to his own daughters as Bandit is to his for 24 hours.
He didn’t make it.
“You kind of feel a little inadequate when you’re watching it,” Colasimone said in the episode. “I try to play with my kids, but if I have to go to work I have to go to work.”
Modern fatherhood
Gidjunis approaches “Grown Up Dad” with a learning-as-we-go mentality. He put himself on camera, something he has never done before (“I’m not sure I like it yet,” he said), in order to create a first-person exploration of the modern parenting minefield.
“My son will be the first generation to have AI in his education throughout his entire K-12,” he said. “We’re talking about screen time limits. We’re talking about healthy masculinity. Looking at digital manipulation and media literacy. Also, for dads, talking about loneliness and friendship.”
“I think parents really live in a bubble sometimes,” Gidjunis said. “We’re not really sure where to get good advice from when we’re having problems.”
This Saturday, Gidjunis and Kagi will present an episode of “Grown Up Dad” about helping kids navigate technology at the Daddying forum in Bryn Mawr, with the paint still wet, so to speak. The episode was finished just the day before. The daylong seminar of film screenings and discussions runs from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Get daily updates from WHYY News!
WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Please give today.
WHYY News will host a screening of the PBS documentary short series “American Masters: Renegades” on Tuesday, Nov. 19.
6 months ago
Young filmmakers document gun violence in Philly’s Kensington neighborhood
Student filmmakers from North Philadelphia document gun violence in a new PBS documentary airing tonight on WHYY-TV 12.
7 months ago
Listen 2:19
Philly Lullaby Project pairs artists with parents to write songs for their babies
The ongoing program pairs artists with parents to write lullabies for their babies, crystalizing their first years in song.
2 years ago
Listen 3:13