The Andy Griffith Show

Ran for 8 seasons of gentle comedy...wasn't the same once Don Knotts left, but that Mrs. Sprague was a cunt!

Actually her son would be great here on DL since he was obviously dating lavenders.

The show went to color the same season that Don Knotts & the original writers left. It became a very different - and substantially inferior - show.

You want to see a real cunt? Look no further than Frances Bavier - Aunt Bee.

The show had the best lines ever spoken on tv: "I've lived in Raleigh. I've been around."

I know the show has a reputation for being occasionally a "dramedy" but there are actually some classic comedy moments from this series -- thank you Don Knotts!

Andy and his girlfriend Peggy (Joanna Moore) singing "Down In the Valley" is beautiful. (Joanna Moore, once married to Ryan O'Neal, is the mother of Tatum O'Neal.)

There are few shows that hold up 50 years later...Andy Griffith does. Cast turnover did hurt the show in the final 3 years (Warren and Emmitt were two of the worst characters, and a little of Goober goes a long way), but the first five years were golden.

[R7] Peggy?? What happened to Helen??

R9: F*ck Helen! What happened to Miss Ellie?

Ellie and Peggy were great. Helen Crump was a humorless bitch who ruined the show.

I don't know that I would call it "gentle comedy." The scenes between Andy Griffith and Don Knotts are classics, and the first five years of the show are excellent storytelling with great character development.

When I think of gentle comedy, I think of those Britcoms that elude me, like "Are You Being Served?" or "Keeping Up Appearances." They are less funny as much as they are amusing.

The Andy Griffith Show was the #1 show when it went off the air in 1968. The only other shows to go out rated #1 for their final season were I Love Lucy and Seinfeld.

Helen Crump only lasted as Andy's girlfriend because the actress was screwing Andy Griffith. On the show she was horrid.

After the fifth season, the show was scheduled to be cancelled so that Gunsmoke could stay on the air. Don Knotts signed a contract with Disney and when the show was given a last minute reprieve couldn’t return because of his Disney obligations.

R12 You have it backwards, imho.

R15 Actually, not quite. The Andy Griffith Show was doing very well in the ratings and was in no danger of being cancelled but Andy let it be known that he was leaving after 5 years and the show would be no more. Don Knotts believed him and signed on for other projects. Then at the last minute Andy changed his mind and agreed to do more shows - which left Don in a bind. He was obligated to other show biz contracts and couldn't return although I think he did a few guest appearances. The show wasn't the same without Don/Barney Fife but it still continued to do well in the ratings.

The famous duo of Andy and Barney.

Aunt Bee and Company. I think she was the only regular female character on the show. The other females seemed to come and go.

Barbara Eden guest starring on the show.

Yeah, Gilligan's Island was the recipient of cancellation when the head of CBS discovered his wife's favorite show Gunsmoke was on the chopping block. He directed CBS to find another show to cancel and GI, still doing well in the ratings and after being given the go-ahead for a 4th season, became the target.

R17, I got my shows mixed up. It was supposedly due to the intervention of DL Fave Babe Paley with her husband Bill, president of CBS that Gunsmoke was saved.

Yes, I think only the black and white episodes hold up. I don’t watch the ones in color. Opie was better as a child actor. He was boring once he hit puberty.

In the early shows, Andy was the comic, with Barney as the nervous straight man. After about 8 episodes, Andy saw that there was more potential in switching their roles.

Andy is decidedly more country bumpkin and hick like in the early episodes. I’m glad that got toned down.

Favorite character has to be Ernest T. Bass!

^ played by the brilliant Howard Morris. Don't forget The Darling Family and Otis the town drunk. Classic TV. Unwatchable after Knots left.

Helen Crump was fine when Thelma Lou was around, she made Helen softer, but when Betty Lynn left the Helen character became a mean shrew. No wonder Andy Taylor was so grumpy those last seasons.

Where the south has no black folks!

M̶r̶s̶ Howard Sprague w̶a̶s̶ had a cunt!

Reta Shaw as one of the escaped female co victory was comedy gold.

The backdoor pilot for "The Andy Griffith Show" was an episode of "Make Room For Daddy."

One of my favorite episodes, the 1st episode of season 1. Go to 23:50 where Aunt Bee's early morning departure (because Opie wasn't clicking with her) is interrupted by Opie insisting that she not leave, because "If she goes, what'll happen to her?! She doesn't know how to do anything!"

Everybody was gay IRL except for little Ronnie, right?

[quote]F*ck Helen! What happened to Miss Ellie?

Elinor Donahue asked to be let out of her contract after the first year claiming a lack of chemistry on screen or off. Sounds like they just didn't like each other.

I also remember reading that the show runners didn't find Peggy and Andy believable as a couple which I don't doubt since she seemed out of his league.

Both characters were pretty much strong women so maybe that didn't sit well with AG.

And, yup, r14. It's no secret that AG and AC were having a hot affair BTS. I always found her pretty unlikable on screen though.

The show didn't have the same heart once Don Knotts and Betty Lynn left.

R40, that was interesting. I thought I read somewhere - but of course don't recall where - that Elinor was surprised when she was let go after the first season so I hadn't known that she asked out. Either way, she knew that Andy didn't really want her as his gf.

It was eventually evident that Andy had trouble with a romantic interest. I thoroughly enjoyed both Elinor and Joanna Moore as his love interests. Elinor stood up for herself a bit more, but Peggy didn't exactly let him run amok.

I recently watched a sweet episode where Opie falls for Thelma Lou (for a minute), and was wondering why they saddled her with Barney. She was thoughtful and lighthearted, but also mature. I wish she would have been paired with Andy, so Helen and Barney could have their tantrums together.

Loved when Clara Edwards got her own wig after giving Aunt Bee the stink-eye for wearing one.

Best Episode was when Gomer met Mary Grace, his date for the dance....”She’s nice!!...She’s real nice!!”

Remember when Barney came back for a guest appearance all geared up to see Thelma Lou, and then found out she married someone else. I didn't see that coming.

R41 In one interview Elinor said she was going through personal problems and she didn't think she was very good on the show, so she asked to be let out of her contract. All I know is Ellie, Peggy and Mary the county nurse were all better than Helen Grump.

[quote]I recently watched a sweet episode where Opie falls for Thelma Lou (for a minute), and was wondering why they saddled her with Barney.

Barney preferred Juanita, because she put out.

It was obviously never explicit, but I suspect Juanita was a whore.

For you r45.

I also remember the other County Nurse, Mary (played by Sue Ann Langdon) who I think only lasted one episode.

Love the name Helen Grump and I guess Andy Griffith was right that he didn't really know how to write for women beyond the passive/aggressive Helen against poor, misunderstood "Ange."

AC's only acting talent at least on this show seemed to be fuming in that "well if you don't know I'm not going to tell you" way.

Return to Mayberry (1986) featuring the upbeat 80s version of the theme...

Does anyone have any more links to this TV movie?

Really? Aunt Bee needed "a ride to town" in one of the episodes?

Even though she was still alive at the time, Frances Bavier was either not asked to, or refused to participate in, "Return to Mayberry." So they wrote her character as having died already.

She was asked but had retired from public life by '86.

One of my favorite scenes to this day is Barney busting up the still and Andy behind him catching the liquid shrapnel with a big smile.

This thread is why I love Datalounge.

Between the bitchiness, snarkiness, jokes about Mrs. Patsy Ramsey, formerly of Boulder, CO DL members love The Andy Griffith Show.

I love you motherfuckers!

Captain Kirk in Mayberry.

R50 - Your head is liable to explode (hopefully so!) when you see this pic. It's essentially the same view as what you posted, just slightly larger. Aunt Pittypat's house - yes, Scarlett O'Hara's Aunt Pittypatt (related by marriage, not by blood) from Gone with the Wind - is *right next door* to the Andy Taylor house! If Aunt Bee had made a trip to Atlanta, she no doubt would have insisted on a car...which seems rather pretentious when it turns out that Atlanta is even closer to her house than downtown Mayberry!

[quote] Even though she was still alive at the time, Frances Bavier was either not asked to, or refused to participate in, "Return to Mayberry." So they wrote her character as having died already.

Frances Bavier was still alive but in poor health. By that point, she had retired from public life and was living as a recluse, holed up in her house in Siler City. She was invited to participate in Return to Mayberry--though I'm sure those extending the offer had to know it would not be accepted, given her condition at the time.

Mayberry gave me the creeps. No minorities, no due process protections given that the sheriff could incarcerate at will, and no questioning of authority.

Was Andy Griffith really a nasty man off-camera--of the sort he played brilliantly in "Face in the Crowd'?

If Aunt Bee's real name is Beatrice, why isn't it spelled Aunt Bea?

Cause she has a stinger in her pussy.

[quote]Was Andy Griffith really a nasty man off-camera--of the sort he played brilliantly in "Face in the Crowd'?

I get a closeted gay vibe from Andy Griffith. I think his rumored nastiness may have been an offshoot of having to live a double life.

I love how even in the "Return to Mayberry" movie no mention was ever made of Andy's second child with Helen.

I liked how on the early years Andy wasn't always so "straight up by the book." He would do things, not illegal or immoral but kind of in the gray area. By the time Barney left, he was all "always by the book."

Howard was a gay and Emmett's "fix it shop" undoubtedly fixed horse races.

My favorite episode. I still get giggle fits watching it.

Is it true this show is popular among young people? The early episodes are genius.

You creeps haven't mentioned me!!

[quote] Frances Bavier was still alive but in poor health. By that point, she had retired from public life and was living as a recluse, holed up in her house in Siler City. She was invited to participate in Return to Mayberry--though I'm sure those extending the offer had to know it would not be accepted, given her condition at the time.

She was much too busy hoarding cats.

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