Andy Griffith Show (DVD)

Connect to Facebook/Twitter, recommend via email and much more.

---

It's hard to believe people ever lived slower lives—especially at a time when folks can't seem to spend a single moment without fidgeting with their palm pilots or yakking on cell phones in walk-and-talks that, despite their content ("I'm on my way to the grocery store now"), are conducted with "West Wing" importance. If you need a refresher course in slowing down—how to drive a car, wait for someone, or walk down the street without feeling you need to "multitask"—watch "The Andy Griffith Show."

In episode after episode, Sheriff Andy Taylor (Griffith) and his deputy, Barney Fife (Don Knotts), often sit side-by-side in quiet contemplation, listening to the radio, playing music and humming, or reading separate books, talking only occasionally while they otherwise savor the silence. The plots are less complicated too. Though contemporary sitcoms will weave together three or more storylines in every episode, with "Andy Griffith" it was always just one thing. That's the secret of life that cowboy Curly imparts to Billy Crystal's dude-ranch character in "City Slickers," and it was a successful formula for this popular show, which continues to win recognition long after its eight-season run. Most recently, it won a PGA Hall of Fame Award and a TV-Land Legend Award.

If Mayberry was everybody's favorite small town in the Sixties—an "I Like Ike" oasis in a decade of turmoil—it's still a nostalgic favorite that proves you can go home again if the home town is as idyllic as this North Carolina berg. The most serious things that the sheriff and his deputy had to deal with were escaped convicts—so many, actually, that you'd swear that Mayberry was part of a criminal underground railway. Otherwise, it was harmless never-hit-anyone town drunks, bullies, two-bit con artists, speeders, small-time moonshiners, less-than-ideal dates, bad habits, and the kind of insignificant problems that dominate a normal family's days. They were stereotypes—the sagely sheriff, the bumbling deputy, the comic drunk (which now, with our sensitized awareness of alcoholism, can feel a bit awkward), the barber as dull as his scissors, the attractive schoolteacher, and the naïve mechanic—but sincere and inspired performances made them fun to watch week after week.

By the fifth season, though, writers started to run out of things to do in this small town. When in doubt, their plots seemed to default to variations on a theme: Barney's weakness is exploited or his status as a respected lawman is threatened; Andy's Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier) has another unsuitable suitor; Andy's son, Opie (Ron Howard), has girl or peer problems; town-drunk Otis (Hal Smith) needs reforming again; Gomer-replacement Goober (George Lindsay) bumbles his way in and out of a tight spot; or, when all else fails, bring the bluegrass-pickin' Darlings or that rhyming rock-throwing lunatic, Ernest T. Bass (Howard Morris) down from the hills. That's my only complaint about Season Five: it feels like we've seen it all before. That said, the public didn't seem to mind when the show first aired. "The Andy Griffith Show" finished in the Top 10 shows every year of its eight-year run, finishing #5 this season behind "The Beverly Hillbillies," "Bonanza," "The Dick Van Dyke Show," and "Petticoat Junction." But three rural comedies and an escapist western say a lot about what the public wanted to watch the season that JFK was assassinated.

Here's a brief description of the 32 black-and-white episodes (total runtime 13 hours 34 minutes):

1) "Opie Loves Helen"—It's suddenly father and son competing in a romantic triangle when Opie gets a crush on his teacher.

2) "Barney's Physical"—It looks like Barney's career as a lawman is over, until Andy and the gang decide to fatten him up and stretch him out to meet the new physical requirements.

3) "Family Visit"—When Aunt Bee's sister and her loutish husband visit with their kids, it's just about all anyone in the Taylor household can stand.

4) "The Education of Ernest T. Bass"—Andy talks Helen into taking on the crude-and-rude Bass as a new pupil in her class. And another teacher crush ensues.

5) "Aunt Bee's Romance"—An old beau of Bee's is so disliked by Andy and Opie that the sheriff just might cave in to the man's subtle extortion attempt.

6) "Barney's Bloodhound"—In this funny-but-predictable episode, Barney is determined to teach a part-hound mutt to track criminals, but the dog ends up being n escaped con's best friend . . . until he whistles.

7) "Man in the Middle"—Barney and Thelma Lou squabble and Andy and Helen get so caught in the middle that all four of them end up fighting.

8) "Barney's Uniform"—In another quintessential bully episode, Barney wears his uniform constantly after a man he ticketed threatens to break every bone in his body if he ever catches him out of uniform.

9) "Opie's Fortune"—Easy come, easy go as Opie finds a wallet with $50 in it and buys all sorts of stuff . . . before the owner shows up.