One of the problems with the promotion of involved fatherhood is that it is rather tough to find a good spokesman. Regular guys -- outside of your occasional local newspaper story -- just can't get enough attention to be influential, and famous kid-centric dads are easily dismissed as utterly unlike Joe Father. I presume that if I were making a couple of films a year and bathed in hundred-dollar bills, I'd be even more involved in my child's life.

That said, the fact that Bruce Willis is hosting "True Dads with Bruce Willis on Spike TV (the suddenly sociologically inclined Spike TV) is a good sign. Because even though I wouldn't turn to Bruce Willis for parenting advice, having him beat the drum can't but help. And Willis will give a selection of "Joe Fathers" the chance to get some airtime (along with Matt Lauer, Cedric the Entertainer, Jorge Posada, etc.). This is progress. I can't promise the show won't be saccharine, but it is being aired, after all, on Spike. They can't get too touchy-feely.

So set your TiVo -- Dec. 17, 9 p.m. -- to meet these guys:

NASCAR legacy -- Kerry Earnhardt talks candidly about the influence the relationship with his famous father, Dale Earnhardt, Sr. had on his own experience as a father. Kerry pushed racing aside to be present in his children's lives, but has recently decided to pursue the sport that took his own father's life;

-- Dr. Jonathan Clark, husband of late astronaut Laurel Clark who was killed in the 2003 Columbia Space Shuttle tragedy. Now a single parent, Dr. Clark has taken on the challenge of raising his now nine-year-old son on his own; This story includes never seen before NASA footage of Laurel talking to her husband and son from space;

-- The Daniel Men: the story of African-American father and son, Professor Jack Daniel and Poet Omari Daniel, who have penned a candid tale about their sometimes stormy relationship in their book, "We Fish: The Journey to Fatherhood;"

-- James Madison University football coach Mickey Matthews thought life was perfect when his son became a star quarterback. But after a car accident paralyzed his son, Coach Matthews' life goal shifted from doing whatever it takes to win games to doing whatever it takes to get his son to walk again;

-- Joseph T. Jones, a one-time heroin addict and deadbeat dad, Jones changed his life around and now wages a tenacious crusade to save Baltimore's children from the same fate, one father at a time;

-- First time father, Ben Passmore, experiences the amazing moment of the birth of his child -- a life altering event that reconnects him with his own father and teaches him that becoming a dad, is becoming a fully adult man.