As many know in the color episodes Andy Griffith became a grump. What I'd like to know is when did this change start to happen?

Don't know exactly when Andy Taylor started being grumpy but Andy Griffith always had issues and even said that when he's in a bad mood that he was hell to be around. Approaching him in public was an absolute no-no and there have been accounts of people just wanting to praise him for TAGS and Andy would fly into a rage and tell people to live him alone. When he was filming the TV movie Murder in Coweta County with Johnny Cash, both men emerged from their dressing rooms with hoards of fans wanting autographs or just to say hello/shake hands, etc... Johnny was obliging but Andy took one look at the crowd and yelled GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE!

I'd say right after Don Knotts left the show. I think he stayed through season 5. So AG became a grouch with the start of season 6. He had no one to play off of when Knotts left the show. The first five seasons are all-time classics and the remaining seasons are ho-hum.

The color episodes arent that funny. As far as Andy being a grump, I have never heard him being a grump. The story that was mentioned about how he wanted to be left alone, I never heard that in any news stories or anything. Maybe I just wasnt looking.

Better question might be, 'When did Andy turn into a zombie?" As he seemed to be one of the walking dead all during the color years. When he wasn't acting like he was 1/2 dead or 3/4 dead he was getting fed up with the rubes around him (his attitude toward them treating them as such). I heard long ago that Andy was a real nasty guy in real life, this ruined my nice guy image of him from the Griffith Show. In my heart I'd like to believe Andy was as good as his Andy Taylor character but Griffith ruined his own image with his behavior off camera. This was also the reason I heard why so many regular cast members kept leaving the Matlock show, and then they'd be replaced with more regular characters that would, sure enough, leave by the end of the season when their contract ran out. They must have built a special revolving door to the set of Matlock to make it easy on the "regulars"

I'd say right after Don Knotts left the show. I think he stayed through season 5. So AG became a grouch with the start of season 6. He had no one to play off of when Knotts left the show. The first five seasons are all-time classics and the remaining seasons are ho-hum.

Agreed wholeheartedly!! Andy and Barney are the all-time classic characters, what a fantastic show!!

As many know in the color episodes Andy Griffith became a grump. What I'd like to know is when did this change start to happen?

I'm sure the biggest mood swing for Andy came when Barney left, the show went color and Warren appeared, all at exactly the same time.

:D

I'd say right after Don Knotts left the show. I think he stayed through season 5. So AG became a grouch with the start of season 6. He had no one to play off of when Knotts left the show. The first five seasons are all-time classics and the remaining seasons are ho-hum.

Well put, Don Knotts leaving, Barney leaving, had exactly the same effect on both the real life and fictional Andy, I feel.

Well, grump does rhyme with Crump.

Well, grump does rhyme with Crump.

I remember how Opie hated her teaching style in the earliest days. Then Andy went out with her and Barney couldn't stand her.

It seems like Andy hooked up with her out of spite and then wound up staying with her.

Probably several reasons come to mind.

* Don Knotts left the show. As on the show and in real life, Jesse Donald Knotts was Griffith's best friend forever, (who says life doesnt imitate art). When Knotts left, the show declined in quality, although it actually had better ratings that the B&W shows.

* He was having problems with his first wife who he divorced at the end of the show, to marry two more times.

* For whatever reasons, he got tired of the show and wanted to do other things by then, and get into movies. Probably (and this is speculation here) Knotts was actually making more money doing his silly films (Mr. Limpet, etc.) that Griffith made during the latter run of the show.

Too lazy to look up, but if you Google "TV party" find the story of the Andy Griffith Show and it well explains what happened to the show and why Griffith wanted out. He left his show and then did a couple of short term TV series, like The Headmaster, and then there was the show where Andy became the mayor of a North Carolina town like Mayberry with Lee Meriweather as the wife with a couple of kids. That failed also.

Actually, him getting out of the sitcom deal was pretty good for him because we got to see him expanding his range to play "heavies" bad guys and he was really good at playing bad, evil people. So Andy escaped typecasting.

Makes me think that Griffith had a piece of the original show, so he should have been set for life like Jerry Seinfeld would be in the future. I was a child of the 1970's and I have always remember TAGS being on some local affiliate somewhere.