Of all Andy's romantic interess, who worked best for you?

This is my first post.

When the show originally aired, I was too young to even consider such things. But, in retrospect, Elle Walker. She ruined all of his later love interests for me. :) Every time a new woman comes along when I watch reruns, I find myself thinking, "She's no Elle Walker. Why didn't they ever explain what happened to Elle? Did she leave Mayberry? Are they just pretending she never existed? I wish Elinore Donahue had not chosen to leave the show."

I liked the woman who made one appearance when she returned for the high school reunion and the one who could shoot a gun better than Andy but they were no Elle Walker.

I really enjoy both Helen and Ellie. They are both good for Andy as they were both two women who could stand on their own and never had a hard time speaking their own mind. I guess I'd lean a little toward Helen because she seemed to have more of an interest in the well being of Opie.

My vote goes to Ellie Walker.

I always favored Ellie Walker. I was disappointed when Elinor Donahue choose to leave the show. She was funny, smart, spunky, and beautiful. I did like Helen Crump too.

I liked Ellie the best. Helen is 2nd.

I think Ellie did have a bit more personality than Helen, who for some reason seem to be saddled with being a bit of a stick in the mud.

But Ellie really wasn't on the show for that many episodes so we can never know how that character would have (or would not have) evolved. Plus, whenever I think of Ellie, I think of that being the period where Andy was still playing a more "corn pone" version of the character, complete with exaggerated dialect and some primitive thinking about men and women.

They were both OK; Nurse Peggy wasn't around long either, if I recall, but she seemed very nice.

I always thought Nurse Peggy, was just right for Andy, even though she
appeared in just a few episodes. Nurse Peggy was played by actress
Joanne Moore, who was married to Ryan O'Neal, and was the mother of
Tatum and Griffin O'Neal.

Helen Crump should have been a one-time character as Opie's teacher and then gone. She was completely unlikeable as a regular character/girlfriend of Andy to me.
I think it would have been better to have no steady girlfriend for Andy.

I liked Ellie, Helen was too busy. I forgot about nurse Peggy

Of all Andy's romantic interess, who worked best for you?
I was never a big Ellie fan. But it's hard to judge her because the show was in the works of reshaping Andy and Barney's characters.

Andy was a bit of a comedy guy during Ellie's time on the show. He would move more towards being a straight man yet funny in the future.

I liked Peggy, but thought Helen was the best. Helen fit in perfectly with the gang and plots.

I think Moore was the best actress and her character was the best match for Andy Taylor but I don't know if she was the best for the show. Ellie was the prettiest, but was on for a full season and things just didn't warm up like they should have. Yet when Betty Lynn/Thelma Lou came in, she was immediately a great match for Barney. Helen and Thelma Lou also worked together well as friends.

I think Moore was the best actress and her character was the best match for Andy Taylor but I don't know if she was the best for the show. Ellie was the prettiest, but was on for a full season and things just didn't warm up like they should have. Yet when Betty Lynn/Thelma Lou came in, she was immediately a great match for Barney. Helen and Thelma Lou also worked together well as friends.
Joanna Moore was beautiful.

How about Sue Ann Langdon? She wasn't too shabby looks wise.

I wasn't thinking in terms of Langdon being anything other than a one-shot appearance, but she probably was in the running. To me, she was the sexiest and I liked her as an actress too. She might have worked out very well. Too bad she didn't do more episodes. I've read Andy kept saying they needed to find a girlfriend for him on the show. My guess is that something was going behind the scenes in trying to find the right actress. Either from Andy's wife or from Andy not feeling comfortable with a lot of people.

I don't know in what way we're judging Andy's girlfriends but Sue Ane Langdon would be one the sexier women in any decade of TV or films. She was unforgettable in A Guide for the Married Man and also very funny on The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Watching Elinor Donahue as a young bride on an episode of Dennis the Menace from that era confirms for me placing Ellie as #1 in Andy's book -- HOT!

I didnt like the early tags epidodes Elinor Donohue was in.

She was also a stunner even the older she got.

I liked her in the original Odd Couple tv show.

I thought all of Andy's gf were attractive.
Aneta Corsaut doesn't get enough credit on how she was an integral cast member and absolutely gorgeous..

I was going to say Peggy MacMillian as Andy really got jealous when "Don" showed up. I don't think Andy was ever gaga over Ellie but she was spunky. Never liked Helen right from the start. Mary was kinda cute (Barney thinks Andy will pop the question.) I think the other nurse, Julie Adams was good but had one visit. My pick is one of the fun girls, I think Andy got Daphne. Only kidding.

I always liked Joanna Moore. The episodes with her are outstanding especially when she takes him to the restaurant and orders snails. Andy thinks she's a snob but he's the snob. The episode when "Don" dropped in and Andy gets jealous was great.

Best Andy GF or dates
1-Helen
2-Fun girls
2b- Lydia...about 5 minutes Barney matchmaking
3 -Match Game's Elaine Joyce (Netty Albright)
3-Mary
4-Peggy
5-Ellie

I loved the episodes with Joanna Moore. I hated though that there was always someone trying to sabotage them. Andy and Peggy were a great match.

And if she had gotten a regular part on TAGS, perhaps her life would have gone differently.

I would date Lydia Crosswaithe.

I would invite her to go swimming.

"I like to swim, but hate bathing suits."

"Lydia, I don't even own a bathing suit!"

Peggy's fake southern accent really grated on me. Ellie is my favorite but Helen does not bother me like others. I liked Helen in a lot of the episodes.

I loved the episodes with Joanna Moore. I hated though that there was always someone trying to sabotage them. Andy and Peggy were a great match.

And if she had gotten a regular part on TAGS, perhaps her life would have gone differently.

You can thank Barbara Griffith (Andy's first wife) for those plots about someone trying to break Andy and Peggy up. She was very jealous of Joanna Moore's beauty and wanted her gone as soon as possible. Funnily enough one of TAGS best writers Everette Greenbaum, also didn't care for Joanna Moore and the episode that featured her that he and his writing partner Jim Fritzell wrote (The one where Opie's jealous of Peggy) was his least favorite.

Ellie was beautiful.

Peggy's fake southern accent really grated on me.
Nothing fake about it - Joanna Moore grew up in Georgia. That accent came through in some of her other roles, too.

I am from the south and it sounded fake to me. I think she over did it.

I read A Paper Life and even though Joanna Moore was quite a beauty and a good actress I didn't like how she treated her two children. I believe when she was on TAGS she was already a mother. It was as though neither Ryan nor Joanna really wanted the responsibility of being a parent. I think Tatum is a survivor and her brother too.

Peggy's fake southern accent really grated on me. Ellie is my favorite but Helen does not bother me like others. I liked Helen in a lot of the episodes.

Helen was OK except when they wrote her as "jealous Helen". That got old. It got so bad that when Andy had the sunburn with lawyer Whitney Blake he had to get really creative with the lying (Oh, I meant I got the sunburn on the way back) and other lies.

I just read last night that she was Tatum and Griffin's mother. Did not know that.

I read A Paper Life and even though Joanna Moore was quite a beauty and a good actress I didn't like how she treated her two children. I believe when she was on TAGS she was already a mother. It was as though neither Ryan nor Joanna really wanted the responsibility of being a parent. I think Tatum is a survivor and her brother too.
I was going to post about Joanna Moore's personnel life.
It's very creepy seeing her on tags.

At one point she had a 15 year old boyfriend and she was in her 30’s. She liked young men as Ryan was 21 and she 28 when they married. Her daughter took care of her as a working actress when Joanna couldn’t work anymore. She found Elvis a bore when she made a film with him.
(Glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com)

I read A Paper Life and even though Joanna Moore was quite a beauty and a good actress I didn't like how she treated her two children. I believe when she was on TAGS she was already a mother. It was as though neither Ryan nor Joanna really wanted the responsibility of being a parent. I think Tatum is a survivor and her brother too.

Sadly Joanna was an addict. She was great as Peggy though. As I have said before, I wonder if she had been kept in the cast of TAGS if it might have made a difference in her life. Seems like Ryan really did a number on her.

Sadly Joanna was an addict. She was great as Peggy though. As I have said before, I wonder if she had been kept in the cast of TAGS if it might have made a difference in her life. Seems like Ryan really did a number on her.
She was in a mess for sure. I've wondered if she was screwed up yet when she did tags. And who was the villian her or her children's father, or probably both.

Also what got her on her downward spiral?

By some accounts, it was during and after her time with Ryan that she became involved with drugs. It seems that her TAGS appearances preceded her downward spiral.

She was devastated by the divorce from Ryan. O’Neal was a very irresponsible and immature person who was even in competition with Tatum that his movie, Barry Lyndon was going to gross more than her film, Bad News Bears. He was even resentful that she won an Oscar for Paper Moon and he didn’t even get a nom.

Ellie Walker. she was best one out of all girlffriends of Andy Taylor.