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Your Theory: Why do Seasons 2-5 of the Andy Griffith Show hold up better

M

MattParker

Often stations won't run the later seasons. I've read a few will try to sneak later season episodes in to the rotation by running them in Black and White. When TBS had the show, they ran only the early seasons weekdays in prime time and the later seasons in the off-hours on weekends. It was a classic show that turned into another mediocre 60s sitcom. What happened?

Many people point to the loss of the Andy-Barney chemistry. I don't think that was the controlling factor. Even early on, Barney did not appear in all episodes in a given season. Some mention black and white giving the show a timeless quality. I think the problem was a different writer and producer who just didn't get it. They weren't writing for Mayberry, they were turning in BS that could have been submitted to any number of shows (and with minor changes, probably was). These people just didn't realize Mayberry was the star and they didn't appreciate the appeal to an idyllic small town (where everybody knows your name). They also got rid of the recurring characters which gave the show its flavor and texture, the ones people today remember: Otis the drunk, the pretentious mayors, the old maid sisters who ran a still, Ernest T. and the Darlings, the money grubbing store owner, the choir director who managed the hotel. And they drifted away from the premise of most early season episodes: A flawed big-city stranger comes to town and is redeemed by the experience of Mayberry. A new deputy to whom Andy could play straight man would have helped (not another actor reading lines written for Don Knotts); like MASH and Cheers later on, they should have brought in somebody who would offer a marked contrast to the character being replaced.
 
I think Andy's decision to (1) lose the drawl and speak in his
normal voice, and (2) to play straight man to Don Knotts is
the key to the success of seasons 2-5 (I do think Andy made
a mistake letting Elinor Donahue go, since Ellie didn't hesitate
to let him know when he was wrong). And yes, those are the
years of the great recurring characters: Ernest T. Bass, the
Darlings, et. al.

Bob Ross's shows (seasons six through eight) are just dull;
Howard and Emmett do nothing for me in terms of making me
laugh. Also, you are obviously referring to Jack Burns when you
refer to a deputy who simply reads Don Knotts' lines. And you're
right. I still wonder if Jerry Van Dyke would have made a better
replacement, and so does he--especially since he chose "My Mother
The Car" over a chance to be Andy's new deputy.
 
I don't think the later characters were as good or popular as the original ones. Whomever picked
Warren as the new deputy should have gotten fired. Howard was more annoying than entertaining.

Plus they seemed to get short on ideas at this time......going to Hollywood, Bea opens a Chinese
restrurant, etc. Don Knotts seemed to have left at the right time, although about 75% of the
shows without him are still enjoyable in my book.
 
I agree with a lot of things about The Andy Griffith Show and that the black and white episodes from Season 1 to Season 5 were excellent. There was a lot of funny shows among the black and white episodes and Andy and Barney were a great team and so were Andy and Opie as father and son and the other characters (Floyd, Otis, Gomer, Goober, Ellie, Helen) also made the show during that time.

I do like the color episodes (Seasons 6 to 8) but I felt like that Andy wanted to give the other characters a chance and new characters were introduced (Howard, Emmett, Millie and Sam towards the end) and surprisingly the show garnered its highest ratings then and when the show was cancelled (or better said morphed into Mayberry RFD) the show was #1 for the 1967-1968 season. Also, Opie was also growing up and some of the episodes with Opie attended to that and not only that Andy seemed to be a grouch in a few episodes. Come to think of it Andy was a grouch in a few of the black and white episodes as well (the episode where the Fun Girls, Daphne and Skippy are introduced for the first time as an example) so I got used to that with the color episodes where he was a grouch then.
 
I can see why Andy would be a grouch whenever the Fun Girls
showed up; it always seemed to be just when he and Barney
were about to leave for dates with Helen and Thelma Lou.
But I think the first real evidence of the grouchy Andy came in
the fifth season, when Opie was flunking arithmetic, and Andy
used heavy-handed methods (which didn't work) to get the
grades up.
 
The Morrison sisters, whose "front" was growing flowers.

Opie wanted some flowers for his teacher and the sisters told him to take any from
outside, but not to go into the greenhouse. He did. That's where the still was, but
to Opie it was a "flower-makin' machine."

Bits and pieces of the story finally got back to Ange and Barn, and...POW! POW! POW!
...the still was history.
 
I really don't like the color episodes. They just are not funny. For some reason they skewed toward an older audience. Except for Opie and his friends everybody was over 40 and probably in their 60's & 70's. Howard Sprauge was the hippest character on the show. No wonder the show got canceled in the purge. It may have had a big audience but I'll bet very few people under 40 were watching it. It had Lawrence Welk numbers.

Did you ever notice nobody in Mayberry was married? We really don't know what happened to Opie's Ma. Floyd must have been married at one time because in the talent show episode he had a son. Aunt Bee never married. Clara Edwards Johnson was a widow. Although Barney was a player he never got married. Certainly, Goomer & Goober never got married. I don't think Ernest T. Bass ever found his woman. Thelma Lou had to leave town to get married. So did Andy & Helen. Emmet was married but who cares? Oh yeah, Otis was married so I guess that makes him the most normal character on the show.
 
When WGN-Tv aired Andy Griffith reruns they ran them all 249 eps. as did WKBD-TV daily, except for when Chicago's Very Own Channel 9 had the Cubs or later, the White Sox on.
 
I believe Goober would have been a better NEW DEPUTY than Warren. He was already a Barney Jr. and could have easily stepped into his shoes. Gomer would have worked fine also, but he had his own show.

They probably should have created some new town characters or expanded on some they already had (like Sara the telephone lady, those two fast women could have opened a beauty shop or something).
They should have sent Howard and Emitt on a never ending fishing trip in Alaska.
 
I think Warren might have worked out a little better, except the writers felt they needed to work in the Jack Burns/Avery Schreiber routine (knowwhatImean, yeah, huh, yeah, huh) with Andy every so often..To me, that didnt belong in the show.
 
BobbyNBC10 said:
When WGN-Tv aired Andy Griffith reruns they ran them all 249 eps.
Click to expand...

I watch WGN on cable in Vancouver, BC. Andy is on at 1:30 and 2:00 am PST, 3:30 and 4:00 CST. They run every episode, including the odd one I had never seen before.
 
I tend to agree with some posters that no one could replace Don Knotts. The original cast (which debuted in 1961-62) were great. I am just sorry that the show's producers decided to dump Elinor Donahue because she did a good job as Ellie.

Howard, Goober, Warren, and the rest who came on board when the show went to color couldn't hold a candle to Floyd the Barber, Ernest T. Bass and of course Barney Fife.
 
It doesn't seem clear who decided the Elinor Donahue should leave the show. I've seen her quoted as saying she wasn't happy with how the role was written and Andy saying they didn't know how to write for her. Obviously she didn't need the money. She'd married her Father Knows Best producer (who was old enough to be her father and only slightly younger than Robert Young) and who had become head of Screen Gems (Columbia Pictures television unit).

They tried out other girl friends for Andy: Joanna Moore and Sue Ann Langdon before settling on Helen Crump. I've read she was supposed to be a one-shot appearance as Opie's teacher, which is why they gave her such an unattractive name. Of course, they could have changed it: They didn't hesitate to change other character's last names (Clara and Goober). In a lot of ways, the writers seemed to think the audience didn't pay attention or couldn't remember from one week to the next. Maybe they couldn't have realized that most of the show's audience would end up watching daily - not weekly - episodes and on an accelerated viewing schedules, continuity errors are far more important.

I agree, it was a mistake to get rid of the recurring "background" characters. Like Mr. Schwump.

No, they should have tried to replace Barney but they should have brought in a new deputy. Producers later learned how to do this: Henry Blake > Colonel Potter. Frank Burns > Charles Winchester. Diane Chambers > Rebbecca Howe.

But the biggest loss to the show was allow Aaron Ruben to go to Gomer Pyle, USMC - an inferior program, on which his talents as a writer and producer were largely wasted (I suppose he got more money out of the deal). My god, the man worked for Fred Allen, Sid Caesar, Uncle Miltie, and Bilko - besides Griffith. And then he became a schlockmeister.
 
MattParker said:
It doesn't seem clear who decided the Elinor Donahue should leave the show. I've seen her quoted as saying she wasn't happy with how the role was written and Andy saying they didn't know how to write for her. Obviously she didn't need the money. She'd married her Father Knows Best producer (who was old enough to be her father and only slightly younger than Robert Young) and who had become head of Screen Gems (Columbia Pictures television unit).
Click to expand...

It depends on which blog you read. One blogger wrote that the show's producers didn't feel there was the "right chemistry" between Donahue and Griffith. Another claimed that Griffith and the producers both decided that Donahue should be written out of the show because she was getting more attention than Don Knotts, who was a personal friend of Griffith's. There was even one story circulating that Donahue thought her contact was going to be renewed for the 1962 season only to find out over the phone that her role was eliminated.

What's interesting is Donahue's name was included in the opening credits; something that never happened with other supporting cast (except for Knotts).

Elinor Donahue has never really explained what happened. I wish she would just to put an end to this unanswered question.
 
Speaking of Andy's love life: What ever happened to Andy's first wife (Opie's mom). She's seldom mentioned. Never referred to by name. Doesn't say much about the relationship. Andy was sheriff and justice of the peace; there's a lot he could have covered up.

Possibilities:
  • They had to get married and she died giving birth to Opie. Andy was devastated and can't talk about his grief.
  • They never got married. He had a youthful fling with some "fun girl" from Mt. Pilot, Siler City or Raleigh. She didn't want the baby but he did. She went to some home for unwed mothers (remember this is pre-pill, birth control information was made hard to get and when abortion was illegal), had Opie and then Andy kept Opie and adopted him. This scenario explains why Andy was so uptight around the "Fun Girls."
  • Andy and wife went to the next county for a night-out after the baby was born. Andy had too much to drink and crashed the car on the way home, killing his wife. Sheriff Andy covered it up. This scenario explains why Andy doesn't want to talk about his late wife, his fervent pursuit of moonshiners and his compassion for Otis.
  • Andy is really gay (not that there's anything wrong with that). Opie's mom was a surrogate. Helen is an abuse survivor and celibate. She provides the perfect cover. After moving to Cleveland with Andy, she saw a shrink and got better but Andy wasn't interested. She moved to LA, changed her name to Judy, and had an affair with an LA cop named Pete Malloy. That didn't work out and she went back to Andy in Cleveland.
  • Everything that happened in Mayberry is a fantasy in the mind of an autistic kid in Boston. He doesn't have a mom, so his fantasies tend to have single dads.
 
Donahue was a big star at the time, that's why she was in the credits. She was a viewer
drawer for the show. If Phill Silvers had been on the show his name would have been
listed also. I never really got into her character, and I didn't see any real chemistry
between her and Andy. Did she ever say or do anything funny???

You could see chemistry between Helen and Andy though. She was a better match.

Andy's wife was murdered by an escaped convict, that's why he became the sheriff
(just kidding).
 
I remember once Opie asked Andy about his (Opie's) mother,
and Andy said, "We had the deepest kind of love." Somehow
I think the late Mrs. Taylor might have died in childbirth.

BTW, the announcer always mentioned Ronny (as he was known
then) Howard's name in the opening credits: "The Andy Griffith
Show. Starring...Andy Griffith. With Ronny Howard. Also starring
Don Knotts (or "with Elinor Donahue and Don Knotts")."
 
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