I still couldn't understand that one.

The shows that focus on Howard are usually pretty lame. I think the writers were just trying to do something a little different.

I agree that any of the "Howard" episodes were bad. But, I feel the worst was when he had the "bachelor pad" and held that swingers party. Watching Howard trying to be "cool" made me feel very uncomfortable.

Originally posted by Aunt Clara
I agree that any of the "Howard" episodes were bad. But, I feel the worst was when he had the "bachelor pad" and held that swingers party. Watching Howard trying to be "cool" made me feel very uncomfortable.
Yea Howard was a geek. His episodes were definately the worst. :lol:

Wow, I must be one of the few who likes the Sprague character.
Even though he is a mama's boy and a nerd he's smart and kind (especially to his mother), the best county clerk Mayberry's ever had (he redesigned the whole sewer system), one heck of a bowler and a member of the barbershop quartet (I think). He's a popular lodge member and the only person ever to catch Old Sam. He even figured out how to level the church, twice, for free. If he and Millie had been a little younger and a little less rigid, they would have gotten married and raised a couple great kids.
I hear Howard's having another party next weekend and he's got more applejack. I'll see y'all there.

I didn't enjoy the "island" episode either.

You and nerrad didn't like the island ep and Howard didn't like the island. After he was there for a time he realized that paradise wasn't loafing on a little island in the south seas, it was working in a little town in North Carolina.

Originally posted by Aunt Clara
Watching Howard trying to be "cool" made me feel very uncomfortable. :lol:

I loved the "Old Sam" episode, but I too felt very uncomfortable when Howard had the bachelor pad ! I did like the one where Howard's mother ended up on a date with Howard, his girlfriend, Andy and Helen......

Originally posted by sar
Wow, I must be one of the few who likes the Sprague character.

I must be one of those "few" you spoke of.:)
I liked Howard. He was a good guy! A little hen-pecked(by his mother), but still an interesting fellow. Who else in Mayberry would've taken off, throwing caution to the wind, and gone to live on an island! But he still had the intellect to realize that true peace is not found in a certain place like a tropical island, but rather it is found in a place inside you, where thoughts of good friends stay with you in your heart and you love what you are doing and how you are living, no matter WHERE you may live. For Howard, he realized the physical place where he felt that most just happened to be in Mayberry.

And he was a good bowler, wasn't he?!:)

Yeah, Howard is a good bowler, and a good person as well, like most of the other characters that live in that small town. I tell ya, the world would be a whole lot nicer place if more people were like those folks in Mayberry.

It's really hard to pick the worst episode, Howard was in so many.

Originally posted by sar
Wow, I must be one of the few who likes the Sprague character.

I hear Howard's having another party next weekend and he's got more applejack. I'll see y'all there. That was a cute post Sar. :lol: I don't think I'll join you at Howard's party though. Good bowler that he is and all, he is a real honest to goodness square.;)

I felt sorry for Howard in the episode where he takes a girl dancing at a club instead of helping her little brother with his homework. He seemed very lonely and sad.

:wave: The fact that Howard was such a nerd is what made those eps featuring him so good, IMO. His nerdiness and desire to "fit in" was always the underlying theme and it lent a poignancy to the shows. How could you not feel for him when he looked embarrasingly silly trying to be a hip bachelor with (finally) his own pad?

When he gets bored silly on the island and realizes his life wasn't so bad in Mayberry after all, well, at least he now has a story to tell the others. TAGS was abundant with lessons: Be yourself, accept others for who they are, treat others the way you want to be treated, etc. There was a skill in putting these "lessons" across to the audience without appearing overly preachy, which I can appreciate watching them now as an adult.

Originally posted by sar
Wow, I must be one of the few who likes the Sprague character. . . . . he's smart and kind (especially to his mother), the best county clerk Mayberry's ever had (he redesigned the whole sewer system), one heck of a bowler and a member of the barbershop quartet (I think). He's a popular lodge member and the only person ever to catch Old Sam. He even figured out how to level the church, twice, for free. If he and Millie had been a little younger and a little less rigid, they would have gotten married and raised a couple great kids.
I hear Howard's having another party next weekend and he's got more applejack. I'll see y'all there.

:D :lol: :happyface :lol:

That is so funny!!! You're right, Howard was an all around great guy but despite that fact, the "Island" episode has got to be my all-time LEAST favorite TAGS episode. I can't stand that episode. :eek:

Part of the reason that episode was particularly bad, IMHO, is because the show was running out of steam by that point (again, IMHO). So that wasn't the only episode that was bad. It would be interesting to compare if they had done that episode earlier in the series with, say, Barney Fife going to the desert island. It's interesting to imagine how that difference would have affected this particular episode.

Signed,
Respectfully,
Dutch

Would you believe TV Land aired that episode last night.

Wow, I must be one of the few who likes the Sprague character.
Even though he is a mama's boy and a nerd he's smart and kind (especially to his mother), the best county clerk Mayberry's ever had (he redesigned the whole sewer system), one heck of a bowler and a member of the barbershop quartet (I think). He's a popular lodge member and the only person ever to catch Old Sam. He even figured out how to level the church, twice, for free. If he and Millie had been a little younger and a little less rigid, they would have gotten married and raised a couple great kids.
I hear Howard's having another party next weekend and he's got more applejack. I'll see y'all there.

Howard was an annoying, weird guy but that was intentional... his mother was the really awful, manipulative person.

:D :lol: :happyface :lol:

That is so funny!!! You're right, Howard was an all around great guy but despite that fact, the "Island" episode has got to be my all-time LEAST favorite TAGS episode. I can't stand that episode. :eek:

Part of the reason that episode was particularly bad, IMHO, is because the show was running out of steam by that point (again, IMHO). So that wasn't the only episode that was bad. It would be interesting to compare if they had done that episode earlier in the series with, say, Barney Fife going to the desert island. It's interesting to imagine how that difference would have affected this particular episode.

Signed,
Respectfully,
Dutch

True, like Aunt Bee flying the airplane, this one was just too outlandish.

I agree that any of the "Howard" episodes were bad. But, I feel the worst was when he had the "bachelor pad" and held that swingers party. Watching Howard trying to be "cool" made me feel very uncomfortable.


I actually found that episode at the bachelor pad kind of funny. Poor Helen had to do all that dancing with everyone, but yeah most of the episodes that centered around Howard were kind of dull.

Looking up Jack Dodson, he was born in 1931, which means he was under 40 when Andy Griffith Show was on and was only 40 when RFD went off the air. I did not think he was that young.

I liked Dodson, but in my humble opinion, Andy Griffith Show just declined after it went to color, with (characters) Barney Fife, Thelma Lou, Gomer Pyle, and Floyd (more or less, he was in the color episodes, but he had a stroke and the character phased out), being replaced by Dodson, Emmet the TV guy, Goober (sorry Goob, Gomer was funnier), Warren (Jack Burns actually is great, but sucked in this, horribly miscast) and too much Helen. It is like taking the first string off the field, and replacing them with replacements who just were not as good. Then Andy Griffith left, with Ken Berry being shoehorned in, and to me RFD was just unwatchable.

How much we disliked the color shows, these had higher ratings than the black and white shows did! But Dodson was part of the color shows, which is sort of the reason why his star does not shine as high.

http://http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9iJFKgm7fRc/U1qlo_42oLI/AAAAAAAAlwI/z35_HcNsQjo/s1600/RFD6.jpghttp://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9iJFKgm7fRc/U1qlo_42oLI/AAAAAAAAlwI/z35_HcNsQjo/s1600/RFD6.jpg

Howard Sprague discovers marijuana, scotch and chicks.

Where was Howard's mother in the "Island" episode. She wouldn't have allowed Howard to move to that island!:confused:

Actually, Howard Sprague is the only non-original character that worked for me. Goober was okay in small doses, but he got way too much airtime. Warren was just miscast, but nobody was going to replace Barney anyway. Helen Crump sucked all the humor out of the room every time she appeared. The worst was Emmett, who I just could not stand.

Howard, on the other hand, seems like he would have born in Mayberry, and was the type of quirky character who would fit in the early days of TAGS.

Where was Howard's mother in the "Island" episode. She wouldn't have allowed Howard to move to that island!:confused:

If memory serves, Mother had moved to a neighboring town to be closer to a boyfriend, leaving Howard to fend for himself. He remodeled the house into a hep bachelor pad and had a party as well.

Relatively speaking, Howard was okay. After Don Knotts left everything naturally paled in comparison. I did not mind the island episode.

Howard's mother also played Darren's mother on Bewitched. I think she was just, plain,mother-tuckered out!

I eventually warmed up to Howard's character. If I had to spend a day in Mayberry, I wouldn't mind spending it with him.

Wow, I must be one of the few who likes the Sprague character.
Even though he is a mama's boy and a nerd he's smart and kind (especially to his mother), the best county clerk Mayberry's ever had (he redesigned the whole sewer system), one heck of a bowler and a member of the barbershop quartet (I think). He's a popular lodge member and the only person ever to catch Old Sam. He even figured out how to level the church, twice, for free. If he and Millie had been a little younger and a little less rigid, they would have gotten married and raised a couple great kids.
I hear Howard's having another party next weekend and he's got more applejack. I'll see y'all there.

Howard did a lot better once he got away from his domineering mother.

I liked Howard a lot better in RFD. I never liked Emmett.

Howard's mother also played Darren's mother on Bewitched. I think she was just, plain,mother-tuckered out!

She also played Don's mother in That Girl I'd my memory serves me well.