Andy Griffith starred as a small town sheriff who also married a few people as justice of the peace. There were more marriages in Mayberry than crime, the kind of idyllic small town that America so prizes.
Sheriff Andy Taylor's immediate family were his son Opie played by young Ron Howard and his Aunt Bea who was played by Frances Bavier. Andy was a widower and his great aunt provided the female mother figure in the home for Opie.
In law enforcement Andy was aided and abetted by his deputy Barney Fife played by Don Knotts. The situations with Griffith and Knotts provided the base of the humor there with Knotts getting so officious and Andy just solving problems with humor and a kind word.
Gradually we met the rest of Mayberry people like Howard McNear the barber, George Lindsey the gas station owner, Jack Dotson the town clerk. Charles Watts was the mayor and when he died Mayberry got a new mayor in Parley Baer.
And there was Gomer Pyle and Jim Nabors proved so popular that he got a series of his own when he joined the Marines. My favorite was Hal Smith as Otis Campbell the town drunk. He was by far the jail's steadiest customer. Griffith just let him check in and lock himself in to sleep off a toot.
The show lost something when Don Knotts left for the big screen and Jim Nabors got his own show. For the second half of its run it was never the same.
Still for the richness in characters from small town America you could never beat the Andy Griffith Show.
Sheriff Andy Taylor's immediate family were his son Opie played by young Ron Howard and his Aunt Bea who was played by Frances Bavier. Andy was a widower and his great aunt provided the female mother figure in the home for Opie.
In law enforcement Andy was aided and abetted by his deputy Barney Fife played by Don Knotts. The situations with Griffith and Knotts provided the base of the humor there with Knotts getting so officious and Andy just solving problems with humor and a kind word.
Gradually we met the rest of Mayberry people like Howard McNear the barber, George Lindsey the gas station owner, Jack Dotson the town clerk. Charles Watts was the mayor and when he died Mayberry got a new mayor in Parley Baer.
And there was Gomer Pyle and Jim Nabors proved so popular that he got a series of his own when he joined the Marines. My favorite was Hal Smith as Otis Campbell the town drunk. He was by far the jail's steadiest customer. Griffith just let him check in and lock himself in to sleep off a toot.
The show lost something when Don Knotts left for the big screen and Jim Nabors got his own show. For the second half of its run it was never the same.
Still for the richness in characters from small town America you could never beat the Andy Griffith Show.