I've often wondered why the writers felt the need to give Andy a girlfriend. From what I've seen discussed, the black and white episodes that most fans tend to dislike are episodes that have Andy in a relationship (worst offenders the episodes featuring the Fun Girls episodes and any episodes featuring Helen Crump or Peggy MacMillan as love interest).

To me there are two reasons for this. The first is the character Andy Taylor always seemed to act out of character whenever a romance plot would happen. He would go from being a calm, cool, individual who would only blast people when they needed it to being a person who was so short tempered and unreasonable that you would wonder why this person was sheriff.

The second is that TAGS wasn't designed to have romantic love as a major plot. Most of the episodes that are considered classics don't deal with romance and the ones that do use it as a way of making jokes (My fair Ernest T Bass and The Rivals are great examples).

So in my opinion, Andy didn't need a girlfriend. But if they did get him one, it should have been someone like Thelma Lou

Barney Fife had no trouble with the ladies. Evidence.

1.) He had Thelma Lou, who was a beautiful woman. Look up Betty Lynn on IMDB.

2.) He was also dating Juanita from the diner.

3.) He was the one who knew the "Fun Girls". Now how did Barn know about them except that he went out to that club in the "wet county"?

Andy couldn't keep a good woman and had to settle for Helen Crump. Barney gave a lot of foolish advice in his time, but Anj should have listened to him about women!

I think the Fun Girls episodes are among the most popular, but the Fun Girls were not really girlfriends or romantic interests anyway.
The only girlfriend of Andy's I really didn't like was Crump and that is the one who was on the longest. Hard to understand her appeal on any level.

Andy couldn't keep a good woman and had to settle for Helen Crump. Barney gave a lot of foolish advice in his time, but Anj should have listened to him about women!

He did listen to him, it was Barney and Thelma Lou that set-up Andy with Helen but then Barney backed-down on the idea because Helen didn't cook and said Andy would probably have to eat TV dinners which meant no leg-of-lamb, (Andy's favorite dish) so the thought of Andy & Helen being together didn't go over well with Barney.

I agree, there was no reason for Andy to have a girlfriend. Obviously, Andy was the most eligible bachelor of Mayberry. It would have been more interesting if Andy had an occasional date from time to time. Why saddle him with a girlfriend especially since they treated him so poorly, especially Helen Crump.

There was definitely enough going on in Mayberry that both Barney and Andy didn't need Helen or Thema Lou. Most of the comedic humour came between Andy Griffith and Don Knotts anyway with some thrown in from Opie, Aunt Bea,Gomer, Goober, and Otis.

There was definitely enough going on in Mayberry that both Barney and Andy didn't need Helen or Thema Lou. Most of the comedic humour came between Andy Griffith and Don Knotts anyway with some thrown in from Opie, Aunt Bea,Gomer, Goober, and Otis.

Who the town didn't need was Emmett, Howard & Warren.

Who the town didn't need was Emmett, Howard & Warren.
Howard Sprague was too awful in my opinion, but he certainly could not fill Barney's shoes. Emmett and Warren were horrible.

I have to agree that Warren and Emmitt were just awful. In small doses, though, I didn't mind Howard Sprague at all.

As for giving Andy a girlfriend, it depends on the actress. Ellie kept Andy on his toes, and Peggy was both gorgeous and believable. Best of all they were only used sporadically, so they worked just fine. Helen was just a downer from the word go.