Farewell Andy. You made some fine TV shows and some fine films too.
But my favorite thing you ever did was the original Andy Griffith Show with Don Knotts as Barnie Fife. There were many tremendous episodes and I’d like to dedicate this thread for people to identify what they think is the funniest episode from that show.
I think it was the one where Opie and his friends got roped into selling some “salve” and Barney got Gomer to come with him to see the people who ran the salve company and pretended to be a veterenarian and said their salve would cure “The Mange”. Remember that one?
It was no wonder that Don Knotts won just about every Emmy he was ever eligible to win. What a comic genius!
Aunt Bea’s pickles. They were so uneatable the boys changed them to store bought ones. They told her the reason they were gone was because they were “gluttons gluttons gluttons”.
There are too many wonderful episodes to name! Not just funny, but touching and sweet.
The time Opie rescued the little birds.
The time the mountain man won the singing competition dressed in his overalls. He sang “Look down, look down, that lonesome road.”
The time the hard-driving businessman spent the day at Andy’s waiting for his car to get fixed, and learned how to stop and smell the flowers. He finally dozed off on Andy’s front porch while peeling an apple.
Times when Andy misjudged Opie and wound up apologizing to him.
Although our tastes today don’t find drunkenness funny, I loved the episode where there’s no room in the jail so Andy incarcerates Otis at home under Warden Aunt Bee. She works him harder than if he were on a Carolina chain gang!
The programs showed a deep understanding of human nature and friendship. The way Andy spared Barney’s fragile ego on so many occasions, because Andy was, frankly, a strong, gentle man and could do it with no loss to himself.
The show deteriorated in later years IMHO, when Opie got too big to be cute (God, he was a darling little kid), with the addition of Howard, and the antics of Ernest T. Bass. The show got away from its simple, down-to-earth values.
Aunt Bee buys a “tonic” which turns out to be alcoholic. Andy & Barney find her singing at the piano and Barney says “she’s tiddly!” later, a bunch of church ladies get blasted as well.
Any episode with Earnest T Bass. That rock throwing hillbilly was funny and unusually well known for a character that only appeared on something like 5 scattered episodes.
Pardon my for saying this. But IMO, the show went downhill for one reason only and that was the departure of Barney. The moment he left the show, it got real terrible instantly. There was not one good episode that I can remember after Barney left.
The day he left, they brought in Warren who lasted for about 5 episodes and was then gone like a fart in the wind. That’s when the brought in Howard. What a disaster he was. So sad they didn’t realize the real star of that show was Don Knots. But by all accounts, Don was far too much the gentleman to ever do anything to hurt his friend Andy.
When Don Knotts died, his friend Andy was at his bedside. It’s enough to bring tears to my eyes.
I loved Don Knotts as Barney. And hey! So did Thelma Lou!
Remember when Andy and Barney got real lucky and started busting stills?
Then Opie discovered these two old sisters had a “flower making machine” in their back room and they had been leaking the info about the other stills to shut down their competition.
Then there was the episode where Opie and his friends had a secret club and met in some old man’s barn. When the barn burned down, the old man accused Opie and the boys. But it turned out he was operating a still in his barn and he had started the fire by accident himself. This was one of those episodes where Andy didn’t believe Opie and had to apologize to him. Wonderful episode. Barmeu discovered the still when he took a drink of “water” but it turned out to be alcohol and he got blasted.
Funny almost always involved Barney. Off the top of my head, when he got a motorcycle and when he was undercover as a store mannequin to catch a shoplifter.
Touching almost always was Andy and Opie, my favorite being Mr. McBeeveee.
You are absolutely correct about this. Oh God, I had forgotten completely about Warren…what a dufus… I guess I blocked him out. Don Knotts was not only the star of the show, but he and Andy were both deep, rounded characters, and the relationship between them was subtle and loving and was, in fact, the template for why Mayberry was such a wonderful place to live. The later actors were not only not as good as Don, but there was no depth to their characters and the whole idea of Mayberry as a loving community was sacrificed to goofball humor that ridiculed its small-town ways.
I loved episodes where Andy’s integrity and common sense trumped smug, stuffed-shirt outsiders, especially law-enforcement outsiders.
Remember the one where the thief put boots on the cow’s feet to make it look like there were two thieves?
And I think Andy delivered a baby once, if I’m not mistaken.
My favorite Barney episode is the one where he has to pass a physical. There’s a weight requirement for cops. Aunt Bea tries fattening him up. They try everything. Barney is about to lose his job because he was a pound under.
Andy out smarts the rules. The rules say Barney is allowed his uniform, and a chain and id tag. So Andy gives him a one lb chain. LOL
Remember when Andy went away for half a day and Barney wanted to do a real good job while he was gone and he wound up arresting the whole town and put them all in jail?
Great minds think alike, and all that. Identical simulposts no less. Well, except for you taking the extra trouble of transcribing it into Gomer’s accent.
I have a few that come to mind.
The one where Opie tries to sway his had by throwing a temper tantrum; and Andy’s only response is: “don’t get your trousers dirty.” Then the bad-influence kid gets shown to the good old fashioned wood shed in the back once his dad realizes his kid is a brat.
The one where the boys befriend a man who turns out to be a bum; but Andy lets the boys figure it out for themselves.
The one where Andy feels inadequate around the rich people of Mayberry; but by the end of the episode he finds common ground in realizing their a bunch of guys who all like to go fishing.
