Lazy Dads

Russ Mitchell Susan Molinari, co-anchors for CBS News Saturday Morning, and weather anchor Mark Danon, offer this report on recliner chairs. The segment airs June 20. Watch CBS News Saturday Morning on Saturdays from 8AM ET to 10AM ET (check local listings).size>

They're more than just retro, seductive and comfortable. Once again, easy chairs are hip. And they're the perfect Father's Day gift.

Perhaps it happened when Joey and Chandler bought a twin pair of overstuffed recliners on TV's culture-minded sitcom, Friends. Whatever the catalyst, sales of those lazy chairs are making a noteworthy climb. La-Z-Boy, the largest recliner manufacturer in America, slid up some seven percent in sales, selling roughly 1.5 million units in 1996.

And they're sliding under the backsides of a particularly large group: the baby boomers. Almost half of the chairs sold, according to industry publication Furniture Today, went to those age 35 to 54.

While this group certainly can still opt for the kind of chair their parents sat in, today's models offer more alternatives. More than just recline, today's models rocks, glide and swivel -- even vibrate, warm, and massage you. And in case you didn't know it, they are now part of a new industry category called "motion furniture."

So whether Dad is old enough to merit a replacement to his present La-Z-Boy or young enough to rock in the current movement furniture chic, a recliner could easily do the trick this June 21. And if you need any further witness to the powerful pull of this den staple, look no further than the La-Z-Boy recliner's inventor, Edwin Shoemaker. Nestled in one, he died last March.

But then, maybe you don't want to tell dad that.