I have never been a fan of the Andy Griffith show. Sure, I've watched, and know the characters, but never really got into it for some reason. Look how little Opie has grown though.



TIS

Wow, this is almost getting as analytical as "The Godfather Trilogy".

What about Otis? Blatant alcoholism on a family show; a damn shame.

There was an episode where Andy kept mediating an ongoing fight between a husband and wife. The husband was played by Jesse White (The Maytag Repairman). Anyway, he kept making references to "belting his wife right in the mouth." It was played for laughs, this husband and wife beating each other up, but can you imagine if it was today?

And of course there is Nirvana's song "Floyd the Barber" which puts a whole nother spin on people's look at the whole show.

There was also an episode when a temporary deputy made up some charts predicting crime in Mayberry and one of them was wife-beating. In the 60s apparently, such abuse was still being treated with a certain alacrity.

In another episode a rich spoiled boy was upset that he was forbidden to ride his bike for a week by Andy because of numerous transgressions. The boy's father was upset with Andy until the brat threw a tantrum at the end insisting that his father serve a couple days in jail so the brat could ride his bike. The father realized that he had been wrong in spoiling the kid and he needed a beating. At the end Andy smiled and told the dad that there was a wood shed in the back where he'd find a nice stick suitable for the job.

That endidng would be deleted today.

Probably true Kly. How times and attitudes have changed.

However, one aspect of the show though that hasn't changed much if at all: Barney was so anal and aggressive like alot of cops, thus representing the worst charicature of the southern cop. As I said, I'm not sure that much has changed in that regard in the south. Of course, cops anywhere can manifest sucvh characteristics, but the stereotype applies particularly in the south and among Sheriff's departments. One things for sure though: Barney had one heck of a serious self-esteem problem.

Andy Griffith has said in interviews that he progressively lost interest in the series and by the last season was mostly phoning it in. I agree that the show was never the same once Don Knotts left and it went color. I never have interest in those episodes.

I once saw 'bubble & squeak' being prepared on an English cooking show (Two Fat Ladies - seriously, that was the name of the show!). It's seriously loaded with fat - good thing that butler took off or Opie would've turned into Danny Partridge.

Regarding the 'gay' theories:

Helen was meant to be a one- or two-time minor role as Opie's teacher; but eventually became Andy's girlfriend when the chemistry between the two actors became apparent. Since they eventually wed (as a way for Andy to get off the show), I doubt she can be included in the theory.

When Ken Berry took over the town, he too was a widower & immediately provided a love interest played by Arlene Golonka.

Howard Spraig - Gay as a picnic basket.

Aunt Bea - Dyke city (and according to some, recently re-incarnated in the form of Rachel Maddow).

Apple

Ron Howard has often said his favorite episode was the one where he nured a bird to health and then had to let it go.
Note that his movie production company is named "Skylark" after the bird.

I love the old Andy Griffith episodes, and agree it jumped the shark when Don Knotts left.

Perhaps the worst character in televiion history was Barney's replacement who lasted a whole season. I forget the guy's name.

Warren. And he was definitely porking Howard Sprague.

Yeah, I said it!

What about Alice on "Brady Bunch". If that hair next and combat shoes don't scream Dyke......

I don't think she was into Sam's pork.

And another show with single parents whose spouses disappear without explanation, although the show was about their second marriages! And if anyone was gay, it was Robert Reed. Oh, wait, he actually was.

I find that ironic with him being gay. I think Brady Bunch was the first show that showed the parents sleeping in the same bed.

I still can't get over how he was an architect, yet 6 kids shared one bathroom. He couldn't build another room?

But Alice the dyke had her own.

Warren and Howard? Did Floyd know?

Rachael Maddow is more of a man than anyone on these boards.

Have you seen Rachel's picture on her website? She looks like the Karate Kid.

Hell, she looks like she could kick the Karate Kid up and down the block.

Slept in the same bed and made those awful double entendres before turning off the lights.

I never understood why the downstairs of the Brady house seemed so huge, but the upstairs wasn't. I mean, that gigantic living room, dining room, kitchen, Alice's living quarters, the family room/den, Mike's office, yet they only had room upstairs for three bedrooms and two baths?? Greg had to live in the attic when he got older? Really????

If you ever saw The Brady Bunch Movie (groan) in which they almost lose their home for failure to pay back property taxes you'd understand Mr. Brady's limitations as an architect.

But back to Mayberry... there are a lot of things that would never pass muster in today's politically correct world. The town was segregated. Wife beating and child beating were winked at. Attendance at Church was compulsory. Women were subordinate to men. Oddly enough if the characters were openly gay, it would be a great HBO series today.

On the other hand DT, in a couple of episodes Ellie was a candidate for city council and Aunt Bee organized a political protest of and sit-in to prevent the county's exercise of eminent domain. Also, in at least one crowd scene there was a black woman. All quite progressive for TV in the early 60s.

Does anybody know why that is? Married couples on TV back then sleeping in seperate beds. If I remember right it was like that in A Christmas Story.

On Tuesday, 18 November 1947, a 15-minute program entitled Mary Kay and Johnny made its debut on the Dumont network. Like the more famous I Love Lucy series that followed it, Mary Kay and Johnny starred a real-life couple, actors Johnny and Mary Kay Stearns. The show caught on, and Mary Kay and Johnny, performed live, became television's first sitcom, eventually running for three years on three different networks (Dumont, NBC, and CBS).

Because of the inherent limitations of live television, most of the episodes of Mary Kay and Johnny were set in the couple's apartment. Mary Kay and Johnny's apartment included a bedroom (but not a bathroom), and their bedroom had but a single bed, which they shared. Also, don't forget The Munsters.

And DEFINITELY more of a man than Keith Olberman!!

You mean when Opie killed a bird w/ his slingshot and then nursed the 3 motherless chicks (Winkin, Blinkin & Nod) left behind in the nest?
And then grew attached to them but realized in the end he had to set them free?
And when he did mentioned how empty the cage was but then Andy said, "But don't the trees sound nice and full?"

That one? Yeah, it's one of my favorites too.

Really good one was where Opie had to deal with the bully who kept getting his lunch money...but then he stood up to the kid in the end and wound up with a black eye but said the other guy's was worse. Andy was so proud! Of course, another situation which probably couldn't be aired thanks to the politically correct boobs of today.

Apple

Yes thats the one with the birds... I forgot he killed the mother with a slingshot...which of course would not be allowed today either.

I like when Opie's friends wrote the poem about Barney.

There once was a Deputy named Fife.
Who carried a gun and a knife.
The gun was all dusty.
The knife was all rusty.
'cause he never caught a crook in his life.

Olberman's a man?

That was a great episode.

A great scene in the eminent domain episode is Barney trying to get the angry ladies to sing. They then start chanting, "We will NOT sing! We will NOT sing!" and the flustered Barney joins them.

Speaking of Barney Kly, where do we begin to list his insufficiencies, deficienies, inadequateness, etc., etc.? His self-esteem problems are monumental.