The goat that supposedly ate dynamite comes to mind.
“Otis spiked the spring water!”
Anything involving the Darlings and/or Ernest T. Bass was great. My personal favorite was “The Rehabilitation of Otis,” where Otis rides a cow through town and Barney decides it’s time to reform him.
I was always partial to appearances by the Darlings. They taught me a lot of nice, old-fashioned country/folk songs–and since I live & work near a road named Shady Grove, they’re often on my mind (“Aw, that one makes me cry, Paw.”)
I was going to say that one. Best line was when Otis walked in and Andy told him that one loaded goat was all they could handle.
Barney and the motorcycle, especially when Aunt Bea suggests stringing a wire across the road at neck level.
"We only got TWO RULES here at the ROCK.
And the first rules is: OBEY ALL THE RULES!"
That one, and I also like “The Lucky Letter” about a chain letter that goes around. In that one, we learn Barney has a subscription to a very racy magazine called “Love Magazine.” :eek:
Maybe it’s how Andy says it - southern and distasteful. Lhhuuv.
My favorite is the **Mr. McBeevy **episode. He walks in the trees and wears a shiney hat and has 12 extra hands on his belt.
Nip it in the bud. Nip it!
I loved the one where Alan Hale Jr. (aka The Skipper later in life) comes to town to find a wife. His method? Stand on the corner and, literally, pick them up!
I loved the one where Andy gets Barnie’s judo insructor to stand-in for deputy Fife in a dark alley against a bully.
Trivia: the Darling brothers were the bluegrass group The Dillards (and credited as “The Dillards” in the closing credits); at some point after the series ended, a couple of them left the group and were replaced, but the originals reunited (and were credited individually, presumably as “The Dillards” was now a different group of four people) for the reunion show.
More trivia: The Andy Griffith Show is pretty much the only show to have both a “sequel” (i.e. in character, set years later) and a “retrospective” (i.e. the actors as themselves talking about the show) reunion show.
My favorite Barney episode is probably the one where there is a group of troublemakers, and Andy makes them think that when Barney goes through some mannerisms (like tapping the handle of his gun), he’s about to get ruthless, so when they meet up with Barney, they run off - but then when somebody (Floyd, I think) tells them the truth about Barney and they return, Barney tells Andy to let him handle it himself, and in a rare moment of seriousness, he does.
OTOH, my favorite Barney moment is when he locks himself in the bank vault, and while they try to figure out how to get him out, he suddenly shows up in the bank; he noticed the bottom of the back of the vault was just part of the wall between the bank and the business (a beauty parlor, I think) next door, so you see him kick out the bottom of the wall and crawl out.
I recall the reunion/retrospective show as being pretty good. Andy, Don, Ron Howard and Jim Nabors sitting around the old courthouse set reminiscing. The TV movie sequel, “Return to Mayberry”, I had mixed feelings about. On one hand, it was fun to see the old gang again and the recreation of Mayberry itself. On the other hand, the story was pretty awful reminding me more of the later season shows after Don Knotts left. Alas, you can’t go home, even to Mayberry, again.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the show, but I liked the episode where Andy and Barney date the two wild girls. They’re driving down the road and one of the girls is hanging out the window and Andy says (paraphrased) “Barney, will you tell your girl to stop hanging her head out the window like a dog?”
“Poor Horatio”
It’s basically impossible to identify the funniest TAGS episode, because the vast majority of “the good ones” (i.e., those with Don Knotts) had great and/or funny moments, to wit:
“Boy, giraffes is selfish.”
“Winkin will tell Blinkin, Blinkin will tell Nod, Nod will tell Barney, and Barney will tell you.”
“That’s north to south.” (Spoken in such a forlorn, hopeless way that it never fails to crack me up.)
“He’s a NUT!”
Now that I think about it, Barney bears a striking resemblance to Daffy Duck in terms of mannerisms.
I did remember that they were a real group, but couldn’t remember the name. Those boys’d talk your ear off.
Thank you for reminding me of this. Here’s the exact quote, and film clip. God bless Don Knotts.
*“Here at ‘the Rock,’ we have two rules. Memorize them so you can say them in your sleep. Rule Number One: Obey all rules! Rule Number 2: No writing…on the walls…as it takes a lot of work…to erase writing…off of walls.”
*
Any episode with Ernest T. Bass. Ditto the Darlings.
I can’t seem to find it on YT, but my favorite was when Barney’s landlady discovers his forbidden hotplate. My favorite line from that episode is when he and his landlady have a bit of cider to make up when Andy comes to see how things are going, finding a tipsy Barney, says “Why Barney, you’re gassed!” as only he could say it.
But, that said, I’ve never seen a bad black and white episode of TAGS.