For years, many of us tuned in at every opportunity to watch the Andy Griffith Show.
From 1960 until 1968, the show ranked at the top of the ratings. It final year it ranked as #1. It only ended, they say because Andy wanted to move on to other things. But the show was getting ragged and Opie was getting to old. But I think the main reason was we were growing up as a society and had been given a hard dose of reality with the civil rights struggle of the 60’s and the war in Vietnam.
But today we still see it occasionally in re-runs. I myself look forward to seeing the black and white episodes. By the time color came to Mayberry, as far as I think, the stories started to be weaker and the actors that came and went became too phony.
However, like twilight Zone, many of the old episodes remain embedded in a lot of people’s minds. I can remember a lot of them and like many of you, know the characters all by heart.
Who were you favorite characters?
What were you favorite episodes?
What was it about this series that made it find a place in a lot of people’s memories?
Andy Griffith Show web site: -http://www.andygriffithshow.net/
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Comments: 31
Goober, Otis, Floyd, Howard, Aunt Bee, Barney, et al. I guess that Don Knotts was my favorite, but I'll have to think about specific episodes; there were so many.....
BTW, if you ever get stopped by a cop, don't call him a "Barney Fife." It seems to upset them, lol.
I liked Otis. The way he would "lock himself up"
And Barney was such a goof ball
There was a bunch of episodes I liked, but the one that sticks out was when Andy & Helen got stuck in the cave in. They did manage to find a way out. When they realized Barney had set up a full-blown search & rescue for them, they went back into the cave in site so Barney wouldn't be made to be the village idiot.
I just liked the way they portrayed a simple time where everyone knew their neighbors and it was safe.
Even with all these drawbacks, we still loved the show and watched it faithfully every week. A show like that just had to make it into syndication, it was just that good.
The old shows were more entertaining with their story lines than today's blood and guts and naked women used to draw viewers.
Ron Howard has been doing great work in the past ten years. His movies are much broader and reveal an inner quality that I find appealing. We are close in age. I feel as if my life has somehow been attached to his even after all of these years. He was great as Opie. The other aspect of the Andy Griffith episodes was the fact that they were not the perfect family. So much of television in those days was a display of perfection that I don't miss. But, the humor was of better quality. These people actually made fun of themselves which is the key to a great comedian. The humor of today pokes fun at stereotypes and complains about life in general. In those days, humor was mostly a restatement of the personal mistakes that the humorist made. I find that much more pleasurable than what we see today.
Thanks for a little walk down memory lane, Dexter.
You hint on a very good point , Joe... respect of everyone and the value of humanity was a strong theme in their writing. There was a time that in this country, humility and forgiveness was considered a virtue instead of a weakness. Where even a criminal was a hu,am being with some worth.
Thank-You for the fond memories.