Shark Bytes

it jumped when Barney was no longer a
main character i agree w/ every1 who
voted exit... stage left [Barney Fife]
and Warren was terrible and i agree w/ the last commenter who said
not only did Barney Fife leave but so did the sense that Mayberry was in the Deep South.13thEarlOfLewis
you may not now this
but Ernest T Bass was in 1 color episode
and the darlings were in 1 color episode
neither featured Barney Fife,
Barney Fife wasn't in very many
color episodes which was a shame
and season 8 was the worst

My only complaint against The Andy Griffith Show, one of the best sitcoms ever, is that not only did Barney Fife leave but so did the sense that Mayberry was in the Deep South. Andy and Goober were the only ones with Southern accents, no more far out hillbilly characters like Ernest T Bass.

My mom's fiance watched this show WAY more than I ever did. He has the whole collection and is a big fan. But it was the only time he stopped watching it was when they moved up to California and it went in color.

It makes sense however, you take a familiar show with a small-town southern values theme and change the location. Its just not the same. So it would have to be when they were in color and moved. Two for the price of one!

I feel kinda bad for Jack Burns (Warren). Don Knott was an impossible act to follow--poor Jack also had to contend with Andy's bad humor (by his own admission). Lot's of stuff so soon after getting dumped by George Carlin....

The show lost a lot when Knotts left (especially replaced by Warren...yecccch). But, could have survived. I agree with a lot of you that Helen Crump was totally wrong for Andy (appropriately named, though). Elinor Donahue's character, or "Peggy" from, I believe, season 3 would have been much better. And Opie was flat-out boring as he got older (God bless cartoons, kids never age). And why did they do so many Howard-themed episodes in the last few years (the one where he gets ready to marry Millie and takes the train trip w/Andy & Crump still makes me want to vomit).

No doubt about it, the show lost its life blood when Don Knotts left. In certain cases, most notably M*A*S*H, a show can survive the departure of a beloved character if there's a very strong replacement that resonates with the audience. But in this case...Warren? Uhm, nope. And Goober was amusing at times, but he was no Barney, so Andy was left with a show wherein he was basically the only responsible level headed one (which he was when Fife was there too, but at least Fife's character had not only some depth but also a believable personal connection to Andy as well as a terrific actor) and everyone around him just screwed up and made him mad. It's so evident that the tone of the show changed after 1966. It was still a passable show, but Fife's absence deprived it forever of that homespun type of magic that it previously had.

This is in response to the guest who posted on June 11. I made a similar comment a long time ago on these pages. There's no way in hell Barney Fife would ever get a girl like Thelma Lou. Not that she's any beauty queen, but look at the dude! Skinny, funny looking, bug-eyed, high-pitched whiny voice, scared of his own shadow. Someone who is always acting like a big shot, or a ladies man, or acts real cocky about things, yet he is constantly screwing things up and making a fool of himself. Really, Barney was no smarter or capable of much more than Gomer was! You are abslutely right, IMO, that it would have been better to have had Barney paired with a girl who was more like him. Even if I suspend my disbelief, it's hard for me to see Barney with Thelma Lou and NOT think to myself how no girl like her would ever fall for a nerdy, wimpy loser like that.

Peace.

No Barney and color = bad TAGS.
Ever notice how Andy bends the law and manipulated people.
He's actually kind of an evil, corrupt sheriff, not the good guy everyone makes him out to be.
He deserves being saddled with that bitch-on-wheels Helen Crump!
Helen always acted like she needed a good shtupping.
The quality of the scripts went down the well after the switch to color.
Imbecilic stories involving Howard and Goober really scraped bottom.

As much as I love the character of Barney, I can't help but notice that Thelma was way too good for him. First of all, he's a nervous wreck with low self esteem. Second, he doesn't even have his own home. He rents a room where he's not even allowed to cook! The writers should have paired him with a female version of himself. It would have made for funnier TV and been more realistic.

I gotta confess this is a Don Knotts question and not an "AG Show" question. Anybody remember a show called "Front Page Feeney?" It aired a few times in 1977 and starred Don Knotts as a newspaper photographer and Tony Roberts as a reporter (and, of course, swingin' bachelor) who is always bailing Feeney out of trouble. No record of this show exists on IMDB or any other database. The "Stump the Shark" e-mail doesn't seem to work anymore, so I thought I'd try this out here. I am positive this show existed, if only for one lousy episode!

I am sooooooooo glad someone pointed out this obsession fundies have with this show.

In the color episodes, I notice not only does Andy lose much of his accent, but he and Goober seem to be the only ones in the whole town with anything closely resembling a southern drawl. Everybody sounds like they just came from up North. Strangely enough, I believe this show was at #1 in the Nielsons, or close to it, in it's last - and worst - season. Go figure.

Another thing I liked better about the earlier episodes - all the funny cameo characters - farmers/moonshiners living outside of town, guys sitting around playing checkers, the 2 mayors, etc. It really had that southern, small town feel to it. The B&W episodes are a true delight to watch over and over.

I grew up watching the TAGS, and it was one of my mother's favorite shows. When I grew up I still watched many of the episodes and enjoyed them. I do think the early episodes are far superior in terms of writing and comedy.
Then I moved below the Mason-Dixon line.
People here take this show WAAAAAAAY more seriously than what was intended. Preachers down here actually teach Sunday School lessons and preach sermons based on the show (not making that up). One church meets every Wednesday night to watch TAGS and connect the episodes with passages of the Bible. Fundamentalist christianity is OBSESSED with the show. They really honestly believe it portrays reality. Don't get me wrong, I am a Christian and I believe in conservative values. But this borders on the psychotic.

The show should have ended with the b&w episodes: a double ceremony, with Barney and Thelma Lou moving to the big city, Andy marrying Helen and staying in Mayberry. The color episodes weren't funny in the least: Opie's rock and roll band, Howard's pad, Warren has ESP, Goober and his talking dog, the list goes on. Helen was an absolute bitch, and Andy lost all of his original Southern charm.

I was watching the Andy Griffith show recently in color and just wish Andy could have realized at the time - "You look like you hate being there!" & it shows on camera! - didn't he watch his own show and see his pained expressions? I know he didnt realize we'd be watching this show for the next 45 - 50 years but seriously you signed on for the show and it has your name on it.

I know when Barney/Don Knotts left it of course went downhill, but there were a few b/w episodes that Barney wasnt in that were still good - the one where Floyd pretends to be a rich widow & Andy pretends to be his son to fool a conniving "rich" widow is one that comes to mind, so of course when Barney left it went jts but they could have still put funny shows on.