The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised on CBS between October 3,
1960 and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays the widowed sheriff of the fictional small
community of Mayberry, North Carolina. His life is complicated by an inept, but well-meaning
deputy, Barney Fife, a spinster aunt and housekeeper, Aunt Bee, and a precocious young son, Opie.
Local ne'er-do-wells, bumbling pals, and temperamental girlfriends further complicate his life. Griffith
said in a Today Show interview, about the time-period of the show: "Well, though we
never said it, and though it was shot in the 1960s, it had a feeling of the 1930s. It was
when we were doing it, of a time gone by.". However, in the fourth episode of the second
season, a distinct reference was made to the current year being 1961. In the episode, a
municipal bond issued in 1861 was discovered and was payable for exactly 100 years of interest.
The series never placed lower than seventh in the Nielsen ratings and ended its final
season at number one. It has been ranked by TV Guide as the 9th-best show in American
television history. Though neither Griffith nor the show won awards during its eight-season
run, series co-stars Knotts and Bavier accumulated a combined total of six Emmy Awards. The show,
a semi-spin-off from an episode of The Danny Thomas Show titled "Danny Meets Andy Griffith",
spawned its own spin-off series, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., a sequel series, Mayberry R.F.D.,
and a reunion telemovie, Return to Mayberry. The show's enduring popularity has generated
a good deal of show-related merchandise. Black and white reruns currently air on TV Land,
and the complete series is available on DVD. All eight seasons are also now available by
streaming video services such as Netflix.
Origin Sheldon Leonard, producer of The Danny Thomas
Show, and Danny Thomas, hired veteran comedy writer Arthur Stander to create a pilot show
for Andy Griffith, featuring him as justice of the peace and newspaper editor in a small
town. At the time, Broadway, film, and radio star Griffith was interested in attempting
a television role, and the William Morris Agency told Leonard that Griffith's rural
background and previous rustic characterizations were suited to the part. After conferences
between Leonard and Griffith in New York, Griffith flew to Los Angeles and filmed the
episode. On February 15, 1960, The Danny Thomas Show episode "Danny Meets Andy Griffith" aired.
In the episode, Griffith played fictional Sheriff Andy Taylor of Mayberry, North Carolina,
who arrests Danny Williams for running a stop sign. Future players in The Andy Griffith
Show, Frances Bavier and Ron Howard, appeared in the episode as townspeople Henrietta Perkins
and Opie Taylor. General Foods, sponsor of The Danny Thomas Show, had first access to
the spinoff and committed to it immediately. On October 3, 1960 at 9:30 pm, The Andy Griffith
Show made its debut. Production notes
The show's production team included producers Aaron Ruben and Bob Ross. First-season writers
included Jack Elinson, Charles Stewart, Arthur Stander and Frank Tarloff, Benedict Freedman
and John Fenton Murray, Leo Solomon and Ben Gershman, and Jim Fritzell and Everett Greenbaum.
During season six, Greenbaum and Fritzell left the show and Ruben departed for Gomer
Pyle, U.S.M.C., a show which he owned in part. Writer Harvey Bullock left after season six.
Bob Sweeney directed the first three seasons save the premiere.
The show was filmed at Desilu Studios, with exteriors filmed at Forty Acres in Culver
City, California. Woodsy locales were filmed north of Beverly Hills at Franklin Canyon.
Don Knotts, who knew Griffith professionally and had seen The Danny Thomas Show episode,
called Griffith during the developmental stages of the show and suggested the Sheriff character
needed a deputy. Griffith agreed. Knotts auditioned for the show's creator and executive producer,
Sheldon Leonard, and was offered a five-year contract playing Barney Fife.
The show's theme music, "The Fishin' Hole", was composed by Earle Hagen and Herbert Spencer,
with lyrics written by Everett Sloane, who also guest starred as Jubal Foster in the
episode, "The Keeper of the Flame". Whistling in the opening sequence, as well as the closing
credits sequence, was performed by Earle Hagen. One of the show's tunes, "The Mayberry March",
was reworked a number of times in different tempo, styles and orchestrations as background
music. The show's sole sponsor was General Foods,
with promotional consideration paid for by Ford Motor Company.
Plot and characters
The series plot revolves around Sheriff Andy Taylor and his life in sleepy, slow-paced
fictional Mayberry, North Carolina. Sheriff Taylor's level-headed approach to law enforcement
makes him the scourge of local moonshiners and out-of-town criminals, while his abilities
to settle community problems with common-sense advice, mediation, and conciliation make him
popular with his fellow citizens. His professional life, however, is complicated by the gaffes
of his inept deputy, Barney Fife. Barney is portrayed as Andy's cousin in the first, second,
and sixth episodes, but is never again referenced as such. Andy socializes with male friends
in the Main Street barber shop and dates various ladies until a schoolteacher becomes his steady
interest in season three. At home, Andy enjoys fishing trips with his son, Opie, and quiet
evenings on the front porch with his maiden aunt and housekeeper, Aunt Bee. Opie tests
his father's parenting skills season after season, and Aunt Bee's ill-considered romances
and adventures cause her nephew concern. Andy's friends and neighbors include barber
Floyd Lawson, service station attendants and cousins Gomer Pyle and Goober Pyle, and local
drunkard Otis Campbell. There were two mayors: Mayor Pike, who was more relaxed, and Mayor
Stoner, who had a more assertive personality. On the distaff side, townswoman Clara Edwards,
Barney's sweetheart Thelma Lou and Andy's schoolteacher sweetheart Helen Crump become
semi-regulars. Ellie Walker is Andy's girlfriend in the first season. Ernest T. Bass made his
first appearance in Episode #94. In the color seasons, County Clerk Howard Sprague and handyman
Emmett Clark appear regularly, while Barney's replacement deputy Warren Ferguson appears
in season six. Unseen characters such as telephone operator Sarah, and Barney's love interest,
local diner waitress Juanita Beasley, as mentioned in the first season, are often referenced.
In the series' last few episodes, farmer Sam Jones debuts, and later becomes the lead of
the show's sequel, Mayberry R.F.D.. Don Knotts, Aneta Corsaut, Jack Dodson, and
Betty Lynn also appeared on Andy Griffith's later show Matlock
Griffith's development of Andy Taylor Initially, Griffith played Taylor as a heavy-handed
country bumpkin, grinning from ear to ear and speaking in a hesitant, frantic manner.
The style recalled that used in the delivery of his popular monologues such as "What it
Was, Was Football". He gradually abandoned the 'rustic Taylor' and developed a serious
and thoughtful characterization. Producer Aaron Ruben recalled:
"He was being that marvelously funny character from No Time for Sergeants, Will Stockdale
[a role Griffith played on stage and in film]...One day he said, 'My God, I just realized that
I'm the straight man. I'm playing straight to all these kooks around me.' He didn't like
himself [in first year reruns]...and in the next season he changed, becoming this Lincolnesque
character."
As Griffith stopped portraying some of the sheriff's more unsophisticated character traits
and mannerisms, it was impossible for him to create his own problems and troubles in
the manner of other central sitcom characters such as Lucy in I Love Lucy or Archie Bunker
in All in the Family, whose problems were the result of their temperaments, philosophies
and attitudes. Consequently, the characters around Taylor were employed to create the
problems and troubles, with rock-solid Taylor stepping in as problem solver, mediator, advisor,
disciplinarian and counselor. Aunt Bee, for example, was given several wayward romances
requiring Andy's intervention, Opie suffered childhood missteps that needed a father's
counsel and discipline, and Barney engaged in ill-considered acts on the job that required
Sheriff Taylor's professional oversight and reprimand.
Andy Griffith has also said that he realized during the earlier episodes of the program
that it was much funnier for him to play the straight man to Knotts' "Barney," rather than
his being the originator of the comedic scenes between them.
Episodes
The show comprises 8 full seasons and 249 episodes—159 episodes in black and white
and 90 in color. Griffith appears in all 249 episodes with Howard coming in second at 209.
Only Griffith, Howard, Bavier, Knotts, and Hope Summers appeared in all eight seasons.
Knotts left the show at the end of season five to pursue a career in films but returned
to make five guest appearances as Barney in seasons six through eight. His last appearance
in the final season in a story about a summit meeting with Russian dignitaries "ranked eleventh
among single comedy programs most watched in television between 1960 to [1984], with
an audience of thirty-three and a half million." The color episodes of the show in its later
years are markedly different from the black-and-white episodes of the first five seasons. New writers
took over the scriptwriting for the post-Knotts color seasons, and they generally abandoned
the character-based sitcom format in favor of dry humor revolving around rather mundane
aspects of life in a small town. Reruns, spinoffs, and reunions
In 1964, daytime reruns began airing and the show was retitled Andy of Mayberry to distinguish
the repeat episodes from the new episodes airing in prime time; this alternate title
has continued to turn up in some syndication prints. As of 2011, the show has been seen
in syndication for 48 years. Most off-network series, in comparison, do not last longer
than ten years in syndication. At the end of season four, the backdoor pilot
"Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C." aired, and, the following September, the spin-off series Gomer Pyle,
U.S.M.C. debuted with Jim Nabors in the role of Gomer and Frank Sutton as drill instructor
Sergeant Vince Carter. In the last episodes of the series, the character
Sam Jones, played by Ken Berry, was introduced, and a sequel series, Mayberry R.F.D., was
fashioned around him for the fall of 1968. Several performers reprised their original
roles in the sequel, with Bavier becoming Sam's housekeeper. To create a smooth transition
from the original series to RFD, Andy and Helen were married in the first episode, remained
for a few additional episodes, and then left the show, with a move to Raleigh effectively
ending their appearances. After RFD's cancellation in 1971, George Lindsey played Goober for
many years on the popular country-variety show Hee Haw.
In 1986, the reunion telemovie Return to Mayberry was broadcast with several cast members reprising
their original roles. Absent, however, was Frances Bavier. She was living in Siler City,
North Carolina in ill health, and declined to participate. In the TV movie, Aunt Bee
is portrayed as deceased, with Andy visiting her grave.
Reception Ratings
The Andy Griffith Show consistently placed in the top ten during its run.
Note: The highest average rating for the series is in bold text.
A Nielsen study conducted during the show's final season indicated the show ranked No.
1 among blue collar workers followed by The Lucy Show and Gunsmoke. Among white collar
workers, the show ranked No. 3 following Saturday Movies and The Dean Martin Show. The show
is one of only three shows to have its final season be the number one ranked show on television,
the other two being I Love Lucy and Seinfeld. In 1998, more than 5 million people a day
watched the show's re-runs on 120 stations. Awards and nominations
Emmys 1961
Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role by an Actor or Actress in a Series: Don Knotts
– Won Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field
of Humor – Nominated 1962
Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role by an Actor: Don Knotts – Won
Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Humor – Nominated
1963 Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role
by an Actor: Don Knotts – Won 1966
Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Comedy: Don Knotts for "The Return
of Barney Fife" – Won 1967
Outstanding Comedy Series – Nominated Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting
Role in a Comedy: Don Knotts for "Barney Comes to Mayberry" – Won
Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Comedy: Frances Bavier
– Won TV Land Awards
Favorite Second Banana: Don Knotts – Won Single Dad of the Year: Andy Griffith – Won
Legend Award – Won Merchandise and pop culture
Dell Comics published two The Andy Griffith Show comic books during the show's first run.
In 2004, copies in near-mint condition were priced in excess of $500 each. The show's
enduring popularity has spawned considerable merchandise since its first run, including
board games, bobblehead dolls, kitchenware, books, and other items. In 2007, a line of
canned foods inspired by the series was made available in grocery stores across America.
Griffith's hometown of Mount Airy, North Carolina annually hosts a week-long "Mayberry Days"
celebration featuring concerts, parades, and appearances by the show's players.
In 1997, the episode "Opie the Birdman" was ranked No. 24 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes
of All Time. In 2002, TV Guide ranked The Andy Griffith Show ninth on its list of the
50 Best Shows of All Time. Bravo ranked Andy Taylor 63rd on their list of the 100 greatest
TV characters. The cable television network TV Land erected
bronze statues of Andy and Opie in Mount Airy and Raleigh, North Carolina.
The Taylor Home Inn in Clear Lake, Wisconsin, is a bed-and-breakfast modeled after the Taylor
Home. The Mayberry Cafe in Danville, Indiana features
Aunt Bee's Fried Chicken and a replica of Andy's Ford Galaxie police car.
In 2013, TV Guide ranked The Andy Griffith Show #15 on their list of the 60 Greatest
Shows of All Time. Video releases
In the late 1980s, Premier Promotions released various episodes on VHS. Most tapes had either
two or four episodes. In the early to mid-1990s, United American Video released VHS tapes of
various episodes. They either had two or three episodes. These compilations were culled from
episodes early in the show's run that had lapsed into the public domain; these episodes
continue to be circulated on unofficial video releases.
Between 2004 and 2006, Paramount Home Entertainment and later in 2006, CBS DVD released all eight
seasons as single-season packages on Region 1 DVD. The complete series was released as
a boxed set in 2007 and includes the pilot from The Danny Thomas Show, the telemovie
Return to Mayberry, and an episode from Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. featuring Ron Howard. Sixteen
episodes from the season three are available on discount DVDs. The public domain status
of these 16 episodes has been challenged however by CBS Operations Inc v. Reel Funds International
Inc. which restored the copyright status of these episodes.
Note: The Region 1 release of The Third Season contains two episodes edited for syndication:
"The Darlings Are Coming", which had several scenes cut, and "Barney Mends a Broken Heart",
which had its epilogue cut. References
Notes
Further reading Beck, Ken; Clark, Jim. The Andy Griffith Show
Book. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-03654-X. Beck, Ken, and Clark, Jim. Mayberry Memories.
Rutledge Hill Press, 2000. Fann, Joey. The Way Back to Mayberry. Broadman
and Holman, 2001. ISBN 0-8054-2420-2. Vaughn, Don Rodney. "Why "The Andy Griffith
Show" is Important to Popular Culture". Journal of Popular Culture.
Kelly, Richard. The Andy Griffith Show. John F. Blair, 1981. ISBN 0-89587-043-6.
External links The Andy Griffith Show at TV.com
The Andy Griffith Show at TV Guide Watch full episodes of The Andy Griffith Show
on TVLand.com Public domain episodes of The Andy Griffith
Show The Andy Griffith Show at the Internet Movie
Database The Andy Griffith Show at epguides.com
Behind The Scenes of The Andy Griffith Show The Andy Griffith Show-related interview videos
at the Archive of American Television