You’re right about “Have Gun, Will Travel” of course Doug and “Playhouse 90” sounds good too.
I’m also reminded of The Jack Benny show, and the Gary Moore Show (with Carol Burnett)
Does anybody remember Edward R. Morrow’s show?
What was it called? “See it Now”?
Fenris, Thanks for the link. I was seriously in lust with Emma Peel. 
I ‘remember’ Crusader Rabbit (and Rags), but not as its
own show (too young). I know it from being shown on
Deputy Dawg.
I gotta go with The Laura Petrie Show… er, I mean, The Dick VanDyke Show.
God I wanted to marry her when I grew up.
And to this day I won’t eat walnuts…
It was Leo G. Carroll (Man from U.N.C.L.E.'s Mr. Waverly)
“George Burns and Gracie Allen Show.” Probably the overall best.
Still, there are other great ones like Dick Van Dyke, Outer Limits, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, etc.
But sorry, Tommy, Andy Griffith was hardly worth mentioning. Too trite, bland, and stupid. I disliked Griffith intensely because of it up until “Hearts of the West.”
Trivia question: NBC was the first network to go all color. What was the last show they regularly broadcast in black and white?
Hey! I liked him ever since A FACE IN THE CROWD (1957). Which, I believe, was his first movie.
He was also pretty cool in MURDER IN COWETA COUNTY, a 1983 made-for-teevee film in which he played a wealthy and powerful Southern racist evildoer. Johnny Cash played the sheriff who brings him down. Worth seeing just for the out-in-left-field casting.
Griffith makes a fine heavy. Whoda thunk it?
Bumbazine, I remember “Crusader Rabbit”! Boy, does that go back…
Also, how about “Studio One”? They put on some excellent dramas in black and white. I’ll never forget the theme song…
Oooh, oooh—“Honey West!” She had a two-radio radio in her lipstick; how cool was THAT?
. . . Ummm, two-WAY radio.
See what happens? I got all a-flutter, remembering how I wanted to grow up to be a soigné blonde with a handsome assistant, a pet ocelot and a two-way radio/lipstick . . .
[begin total hijack]
“If you went by his business card his first name was Wire. (as in, Wire Paladin, San Francisco)”
Umm, you’re joking, right? That’s a telegraphic address, which were an easy-to-remember shortcut for sending telegrams (often merchandise orders) to medium and large businesses. It’s similar to having a business phone number like 1800GAS-INFO or such, only that it wasn’t just easier for people sending a message to remember, it made it clearer to the telegraph company exactly who among all the businesses in a given city was supposed to get the message. The address is a one word name followed by the city. For example, a shirt manufacturer named Wilson located in Chicago might pick the telegraphic address “WILSHIRTS, CHICAGO”. It would be printed on the company’s letterhead, bills, business cards, etc…
In a way, it was a sort of early “domain name,” with some of the squatting stunts that implies. There could only be one WILSHIRTS in Chicago, and if the Wilshire Shirt Company in Chicago wanted a telegraphic address, it would have to pick something else than Wilson’s “WILSHIRTS”. Which meant that the first or largest manufacturer or seller of some item in a given city often seized upon the bare name of that item as their address: “SHIRTS” or “CANDY” or “FURNITURE”, for instance. Western Union didn’t care that you weren’t really the only shirt, candy, or furniture company in Chicago, it just wanted you to have a clear and distinct address.
[end total hijack]
RealityChuck wrote:
Get real, Chuck. 
The Andy Griffith Show is, to this day, the best sitcom television has produced.
I maintain that almost any problem in life can be solved by reference to the appropriate episode of the Andy Griffith Show. I’m thinking of starting a cult.
I agree with most of what’s already been posted, except I didn’t like the westerns much.
The Dick Van Dyke show ruled! (Walnut episode, and the Flying Saucer episode.)
I Love Lucy - Vitameatavegamin!
I also loved Lassie. We never had a dog that smart. <sigh>
The Twilight Zone whetted my taste for sci-fi/horror.
Thank God for Nick at Nite!
Sorry, but nothing about the Andy Griffith Show appeals to me. It was never particularly funny, and the characters were rarely more than stereotypes (Don Knotts’ popularity is inexplicable). The stories were pretty lame, too – about as contrived as you ever could find. The entire show was so easygoing it was comatose.
The Best sitcom, ever? On what basis? Dozens were funnier (including things like Burns and Allen, Dick Van Dyke, The Honeymooners, I Love Lucy, and many, many others, not including later shows like Get Smart, MAS*H, Barney Miller, Taxi, and even, God help us, Seinfeld.).
Nostalgia is no replacement for quality.
RealityChuck-
I’m sure nothing I can say will convince you that The Andy Griffith Show is the greatest sitcom in TV history. However, I have a lot of company in thinking so. As bup pointed out, there are “Andy Griffith Show” clubs all over the country, with a near-religious devotion to the show. In fact, I can’t think of any TV show other than Star Trek which has such a large and devoted following. None of the shows you mention (Burns and Allen, Dick Van Dyke, The Honeymooners, I Love Lucy, Get Smart, MAS*H, Barney Miller, Taxi, or Seinfeld) have that sort of cult status.
Try typing in “Andy Griffith Show” on a search engine, and watch as your computer bursts into flames from the sheer volume of matches.
For you to call the show “trite” just proves that you haven’t watched the show very much. Though the show was a comedy, often a broad comedy, it dealt with human relationships in a way that few comedies had to that point (and few since, for that matter).
Andy Griffith was a single father (a widower, presumably) raising a son as best he could. Had any show before shown anything other than a traditional nuclear family?
The relationship between Andy and Opie was explored with considerable heart in several episodes. In the “Mr. McBeevey” episode, Andy makes a very tough choice to believe what his son is telling him, when Opie’s story sounds impossible.
In another poignant episode, Opie kills a bird on a nest, and Andy makes Opie raise the bird’s chicks. In the end they fly away. How many shows before had dealt with death in that way?
Andy’s relationships with Aunt Bea and Barney are explored in funny/poignant ways in other episodes. Watch Andy repeatedly go out of his way to preserve his friend’s delicate ego.
You can find episodes which, while being uproarously funny, offer serious lessons about such topics as pride, greed, prejudice, dignity, honesty, friendship, love, loyalty, etc.
Perhaps the show’s humor isn’t your cup of tea. That, I suppose, is a matter of personal taste. However, for you to call the show “trite” and “bland” is just demonstrably wrong.
I’ll be darned! Apparently, you really can build a religion around The Andy Griffith Show. Check this out!
How can anybody forget The Honeymooners. I wasn’t even born then, and it is still my favorite sitcom. The two male characters, Ralph and Ed, are easily the top-10 best characters ever on TV.
I sure don’t see any Andy Griffin Show marathons playing on free TV during the holidays. The Honeymooner’s marathon, on the other hand, consistently ourtrates most all other shows while it is on.
EVERY ONE of the AGS that dealt around Barney Fife were boob tube gems.
I still think the one where he gets the motorcycle at the police auction and gets the highway patrolman uniform (with johdpurs and helmet) as one of the all time screams. And of course, any that dealt with Barney and women were nailed classics (The THelma Lou episode where he takes her out and just quite get it right)
Anyway other’s shows that rocked:
McHale’s Navy
Second on the Ernie Kovacs show (a true Master of the craft)
The Steve Allen Show (Man on the street rocked)
One I have not seen in a loooong while
The Jerry Lewis Show (absolutely hilarious)
Adams and Eve starring Howard Duff and Ida Lupino - hysterically funny.
Our Miss Brooks starring Eve Arden - probably one of the funniest women ever in comedy.
Thriller - a horror anthology hosted by Boris Karloff.
Honey West with Anne Francis.
Definitely the Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
[hijack]Bumbazine and RealityChuck, If you are interested in reading the books on which the ‘Topper’ series was based, they were written by Thorne Smith and have recently been re-released.[/hijack]