he's so damn grumpy

hardly smiles or luaghs

it wa slike an "invasion of the body snatchers" situation with a pod

I try to avoid the color years for those reasons.

Without his bud Barney around, Andy just solidified into a rock.

The show generally wasn't funny anymore, IMO. It had a completely different feel.

Never in the history of TV has an actor changed a take on a character the way Griffith did with Andy Taylor. This incidentally is a constant, look at Andy Taylor season 1 and Andy Taylor season 3, look at the difference between season 3 Andy and season 5 Andy. What you saw in the last three years was basically angry Andy or tranquil Taylor. I wrote a longer piece on the final seasons several years ago, I believe it was titled the Deconstruction of the Final Three Seasons.

I've noticed that too, it was definitely a progression. Season 1 Andy was goofy and smiley all the time like a typical country bumpkin. At some point he became more serious and assumed his straight man role in the series, but still up until the end of season 5 he was a really likeable guy.

"Angry Andy" really outstayed his welcome though after season 6. He seemed grouchy and grumpy like he didn't want to be there. Maybe Griffith himself was getting tired with the role? I know he and Don Knotts were good friends in real life so his departure didn't help either.

I just turned off TVLand, which was showing the episode in which Andy is alone for a couple of days, but good ol' Goober comes to keep him company, and mixes up phone messages, resulting in Andy eating 3 spaghetti dinners. Not only does this make Andy look like a wuss, who would rather kill himself than tell anybody the truth, but it makes Mayberry appear to be the Capital of Hypocrisy-- or Stupidity. Howard's mother makes a second dinner for her and her 'little boy,' not knowing it's Andy's second spaghetti dinner, because nobody will admit the truth. Then Andy goes for a third spaghetti dinner at Helen's for that same reason. And it all resulted because Andy would not order nutty Goober to leave when he showed up based on nothing but his hearing that Andy was alone in the house.

Misunderstanding is a frequent comedy device, but this takes lies, hypocrisy and idiocy too far. Mayberry should have some sense of honesty, and Andy should have at least one vertebra.

Hard to say whether it was Griffith himself or the scripts, but yes, the last three years did see a much different, more prickly and unlikable Andy.

As others have mentioned, I really don't watch the last three seasons. I almost think it might have been better to end the show after Barney left; the few good episodes they aired afterwards might not have been worth the trouble, and the way the show's legacy was soured somewhat.

Andy was at his worst during the Warren era. Thankfully it was short-lived. Andy was the only lawman in that sin pot after Warren mysteriously disappeared.

Andy did change drastically in season 1. He went from being thecomedian of the show to the straight man. But he always remained likable. I noticed that Andy started becoming grumpier when we started seeing so much of Goober.

You are not going to like Metv starting the 29th

Andy's been taking a helluva lot of grief for those three seasons for the last fifty years.

Andy was grumpy in a lot of the b&w episodes, especially with Aunt Bee. When Bee bought that side of beef, I thought for sure that Andy was going to have a stroke.

Andy was grumpy in a lot of the b&w episodes, especially with Aunt Bee. When Bee bought that side of beef, I thought for sure that Andy was going to have a stroke.

Yes there were times that Andy was grumpy in the Black and White episodes, but there was usually a reasonable catalyist for it. For instance the reason Andy got mad at Aunt Bee for buying that beef was due to them not having a proper refrigerator to store it and her refusal to call the man from Mount Pilot to get it repaired or replaced. Now compare that to the color episode where Aunt Bee brought a wig, that one Andy had no reason to boss her around like he did and looked like a jackass for it.

Something I've noticed about the color episodes is how mean everyone including Andy got. There's a lot more fighting in the color episodes than the black and white ones and it's not the comedic fighting like how Barney would try to get Otis to pass Sobriety or Barney telling Gomer to get down with them spiders. It's a real nasty childish fighting that needs a strong adult to handle it. Since Andy was no longer the adult on the show, there was no one to bring it to a stop or put their foot down over it.

Griffith has stated that by the time of the color episodes, he was tired of doing the role and wanted to do something else and not be typecast, and he was basically "phoning it in" the last color years. Griffith wanted to be a movie actor and not be typecast.

A lot of what made the B&W years special were all the characters that were not there anymore or cut back. Not only Barney Fife, but Floyd (who had a stroke) Betty Lynn. Otis, and Gomer Pyle. Their replacements were not as good. Don Knotts leaving was the cliff.

When actors "phone it in" because they are bored they are cheating the audience.

When you get highly paid and are fortunate enough to have a successful show bearing your name you damn well should not take it for granted by just going through the motions.

His poor attitude yielded a shift in the show. It kind of lost its heart in a way.

There were some good, classic episodes here and there in the last 3 seasons but the leading man looked either angry or bored and it took a toll on the show.

From a distance this thread title sounds a little bit racist.

Just kidding of course. ;)

Yeah, Andy was very hard to take in those years, like his Face In The Crowd character took over the role or something.

Barney's absence really seemed to affect him. :(

When actors "phone it in" because they are bored they are cheating the audience.

When you get highly paid and are fortunate enough to have a successful show bearing your name you damn well should not take it for granted by just going through the motions.

His poor attitude yielded a shift in the show. It kind of lost its heart in a way.

There were some good, classic episodes here and there in the last 3 seasons but the leading man looked either angry or bored and it took a toll on the show.
Well stated

Well stated

Thanks, Doug-oh. :wave:

There was also a change in producers during those later years. Aaron Ruben had gone off to produce Gomer Pyle, so Bob Ross was in charge of TAGS during the color years.

This subject of why Andy Griffith sucked during the color years is a major topic for discussion and why the color episodes were just lacking and in the opinion of a vast majority of fans of the series, the color ones are disliked and some cable networks actually would not show the color ones at all.

General consensus:

Don Knotts left. Knotts and Griffith worked extremely well together and had an amazing chemistry and in real life, the men were the best of friends. When Knotts left, the comedy left.

Jack Burns was a horrible replacement. Burns gets a lot of flack, but he was just the wrong choice for this part, much like Jack Nicholson would have. Burns acted and directed a lot of great television, but Warren was awful, and Andy fired him. Jerry Van Dyke would have made a much better choice, but even Van Dyke would pale to Knotts and in an alternate universe, we would be complaining about Jerry Van Dyke.

Most of the black and white players were not there in the color episodes, and their replacements were not as good as the original players. George Lindsey worked as an occasional side player, main player not so much. Emmit the TV repairman. Howard Sprague anyone?

Opie wasnt cute and was sort of a jerky young teen. The 1960's, at least the cute, annoying, sappy ass 1960's sort of creeped in via Opie.

The stories were getting ridiculous, if not cringeworthy (the Speghetti dinner show for one). The original writers and directors were not there anymore, moving on to other projects.

Griffith was tired of the role and was afraid of being typecast and wanted to be more of a movie actor and a Broadway showman. He did "phone it in" and has even admitted to it. No one really called him on it because he owned a piece of the show, was basically the boss, and the show reached #1 in the ratings.

Griffith's marriage to his first wife was falling apart and he was or wasn't having an affair with Aneta Courset. Supposdly Griffith loved her and wanted to marry her, but she refused (bisexual?), which probably added tension to the already stressful job of working on a TV series.

The color series never happened, EXCEPT the Don Knotts guest episodes. Dunno the episode, where Fife is renting a room with a family of thieves doing their business right under him. That episode was great because the team was back together.

Any questions?

This subject of why Andy Griffith sucked during the color years is a major topic for discussion and why the color episodes were just lacking and in the opinion of a vast majority of fans of the series, the color ones are disliked and some cable networks actually would not show the color ones at all.

General consensus:

Don Knotts left. Knotts and Griffith worked extremely well together and had an amazing chemistry and in real life, the men were the best of friends. When Knotts left, the comedy left.

Jack Burns was a horrible replacement. Burns gets a lot of flack, but he was just the wrong choice for this part, much like Jack Nicholson would have. Burns acted and directed a lot of great television, but Warren was awful, and Andy fired him. Jerry Van Dyke would have made a much better choice, but even Van Dyke would pale to Knotts and in an alternate universe, we would be complaining about Jerry Van Dyke.

Most of the black and white players were not there in the color episodes, and their replacements were not as good as the original players. George Lindsey worked as an occasional side player, main player not so much. Emmit the TV repairman. Howard Sprague anyone?

Opie wasnt cute and was sort of a jerky young teen. The 1960's, at least the cute, annoying, sappy ass 1960's sort of creeped in via Opie.

The stories were getting ridiculous, if not cringeworthy (the Speghetti dinner show for one). The original writers and directors were not there anymore, moving on to other projects.

Griffith was tired of the role and was afraid of being typecast and wanted to be more of a movie actor and a Broadway showman. He did "phone it in" and has even admitted to it. No one really called him on it because he owned a piece of the show, was basically the boss, and the show reached #1 in the ratings.

Griffith's marriage to his first wife was falling apart and he was or wasn't having an affair with Aneta Courset. Supposdly Griffith loved her and wanted to marry her, but she refused (bisexual?), which probably added tension to the already stressful job of working on a TV series.

The color series never happened, EXCEPT the Don Knotts guest episodes. Dunno the episode, where Fife is renting a room with a family of thieves doing their business right under him. That episode was great because the team was back together.

Any questions?

Andy and Aneta did have a wild affair during the latter days of TAGS to the extent that they did "get it on" on set. Andy asked Aneta three times to marry him but she turned him down because she wanted to keep her options open. I don't think the relationship added tensions but (as a friend pointed out to me) this probably could be explanation as to why there's so many Hellcat Helen episodes: Aneta gets out her anger on set and then she and Andy get to lovin as soon as they get to Aunt Bee's Canopy bed

This subject of why Andy Griffith sucked during the color years is a major topic for discussion and why the color episodes were just lacking and in the opinion of a vast majority of fans of the series, the color ones are disliked and some cable networks actually would not show the color ones at all.

General consensus:

Don Knotts left. Knotts and Griffith worked extremely well together and had an amazing chemistry and in real life, the men were the best of friends. When Knotts left, the comedy left.

Jack Burns was a horrible replacement. Burns gets a lot of flack, but he was just the wrong choice for this part, much like Jack Nicholson would have. Burns acted and directed a lot of great television, but Warren was awful, and Andy fired him. Jerry Van Dyke would have made a much better choice, but even Van Dyke would pale to Knotts and in an alternate universe, we would be complaining about Jerry Van Dyke.

Most of the black and white players were not there in the color episodes, and their replacements were not as good as the original players. George Lindsey worked as an occasional side player, main player not so much. Emmit the TV repairman. Howard Sprague anyone?

Opie wasnt cute and was sort of a jerky young teen. The 1960's, at least the cute, annoying, sappy ass 1960's sort of creeped in via Opie.

The stories were getting ridiculous, if not cringeworthy (the Speghetti dinner show for one). The original writers and directors were not there anymore, moving on to other projects.

Griffith was tired of the role and was afraid of being typecast and wanted to be more of a movie actor and a Broadway showman. He did "phone it in" and has even admitted to it. No one really called him on it because he owned a piece of the show, was basically the boss, and the show reached #1 in the ratings.

Griffith's marriage to his first wife was falling apart and he was or wasn't having an affair with Aneta Courset. Supposdly Griffith loved her and wanted to marry her, but she refused (bisexual?), which probably added tension to the already stressful job of working on a TV series.

The color series never happened, EXCEPT the Don Knotts guest episodes. Dunno the episode, where Fife is renting a room with a family of thieves doing their business right under him. That episode was great because the team was back together.

Any questions?

Yes, why don't you see the value in Howard Sprague? He was one of the better additions in the later years, very quirky and unusual.

Also, do you use oregano in your spaghetti?

BTW, love your insights on the show. :wave:

From a distance this thread title sounds a little bit racist.

Just kidding of course. ;)


That was exactly what I thought when I saw the title. What did that say?? :lol:

And especially since it took place in the deep south. Did he mean Amos & Andy Griffith?!?!?

This subject of why Andy Griffith sucked during the color years is a major topic for discussion and why the color episodes were just lacking and in the opinion of a vast majority of fans of the series, the color ones are disliked and some cable networks actually would not show the color ones at all.

General consensus:

Don Knotts left. Knotts and Griffith worked extremely well together and had an amazing chemistry and in real life, the men were the best of friends. When Knotts left, the comedy left.

Jack Burns was a horrible replacement. Burns gets a lot of flack, but he was just the wrong choice for this part, much like Jack Nicholson would have. Burns acted and directed a lot of great television, but Warren was awful, and Andy fired him. Jerry Van Dyke would have made a much better choice, but even Van Dyke would pale to Knotts and in an alternate universe, we would be complaining about Jerry Van Dyke.

Most of the black and white players were not there in the color episodes, and their replacements were not as good as the original players. George Lindsey worked as an occasional side player, main player not so much. Emmit the TV repairman. Howard Sprague anyone?

Opie wasnt cute and was sort of a jerky young teen. The 1960's, at least the cute, annoying, sappy ass 1960's sort of creeped in via Opie.

The stories were getting ridiculous, if not cringeworthy (the Speghetti dinner show for one). The original writers and directors were not there anymore, moving on to other projects.

Griffith was tired of the role and was afraid of being typecast and wanted to be more of a movie actor and a Broadway showman. He did "phone it in" and has even admitted to it. No one really called him on it because he owned a piece of the show, was basically the boss, and the show reached #1 in the ratings.

Griffith's marriage to his first wife was falling apart and he was or wasn't having an affair with Aneta Courset. Supposdly Griffith loved her and wanted to marry her, but she refused (bisexual?), which probably added tension to the already stressful job of working on a TV series.

The color series never happened, EXCEPT the Don Knotts guest episodes. Dunno the episode, where Fife is renting a room with a family of thieves doing their business right under him. That episode was great because the team was back together.

Any questions?
It's a shame Don Knott's couldn't still work on tags while making movies. On his returns to do an occasional color episode he was still brilliantly funny and the episodes were great.

I though every jack burns (Warren) episode was a masterpiece and it's a shame he got the boot .

The spaghetti episode was an example of the ability of the show to kick out a funny episode even after losing don Knott's and Burns. There were some clunker colored episodes but many good ones.

Howard and emmit were put in to fill in for the lost characters and did an admirable job when they were given funny scripts.

George Lindsey was brilliant throughout the series and kept many episodes afloat with his comic genius.

Andy Griffith's character wasn't grumpy or phoning it in during the colored episodes. The mood changed from Don Knott's hilarity to Andy Griffith's talent for being funny when put apon, or put in embarrassing situations.

Most of the true classic tags episodes are the black and white when Andy steps aside from being the clown the first year and hands over the reigns to Don Knotts and Andy is his still funny straight man.

To me the first year is the worst with Ellie. Nothing clicked, the characters didn't find their brillance yet. The second year the characters and writing to bring out the best kicked in in as the classic sitcom ensemble emerged .

Andy and Barney's girlfriends Thelma Lou and Helen Crump emergence starting the period of the best of the best episodes period with the foursome making sitcom history with Floyd, Gomer,Goober, Otis, Alan Melvin's numerous characters and the many other perfectly cast guest players.

Mayberry RFD that's another story. Nice cast, but not funny. The show had run its course and even the underrated George Lindsey couldn't make it funny.

Andy must have remained on good terms with Aneta Corsaut, because there she was years later playing a judge on Matlock...!

I tend to agree with the comments on the replacement of Don Knotts -- I mean could he really be replaced successfully? Think about it.

This subject of why Andy Griffith sucked during the color years is a major topic for discussion and why the color episodes were just lacking and in the opinion of a vast majority of fans of the series, the color ones are disliked and some cable networks actually would not show the color ones at all.

General consensus:

Don Knotts left. Knotts and Griffith worked extremely well together and had an amazing chemistry and in real life, the men were the best of friends. When Knotts left, the comedy left.

Jack Burns was a horrible replacement. Burns gets a lot of flack, but he was just the wrong choice for this part, much like Jack Nicholson would have. Burns acted and directed a lot of great television, but Warren was awful, and Andy fired him. Jerry Van Dyke would have made a much better choice, but even Van Dyke would pale to Knotts and in an alternate universe, we would be complaining about Jerry Van Dyke.

Most of the black and white players were not there in the color episodes, and their replacements were not as good as the original players. George Lindsey worked as an occasional side player, main player not so much. Emmit the TV repairman. Howard Sprague anyone?

Opie wasnt cute and was sort of a jerky young teen. The 1960's, at least the cute, annoying, sappy ass 1960's sort of creeped in via Opie.

The stories were getting ridiculous, if not cringeworthy (the Speghetti dinner show for one). The original writers and directors were not there anymore, moving on to other projects.

Griffith was tired of the role and was afraid of being typecast and wanted to be more of a movie actor and a Broadway showman. He did "phone it in" and has even admitted to it. No one really called him on it because he owned a piece of the show, was basically the boss, and the show reached #1 in the ratings.

Griffith's marriage to his first wife was falling apart and he was or wasn't having an affair with Aneta Courset. Supposdly Griffith loved her and wanted to marry her, but she refused (bisexual?), which probably added tension to the already stressful job of working on a TV series.

The color series never happened, EXCEPT the Don Knotts guest episodes. Dunno the episode, where Fife is renting a room with a family of thieves doing their business right under him. That episode was great because the team was back together.

Any questions?

Well, actually, Jerry Van Dyke was the first choice. Unfortunately, however, he ultimately made the very foolish decision to play Dave Crabtree on My Mother the Car.

Well, actually, Jerry Van Dyke was the first choice. Unfortunately, however, he ultimately made the very foolish decision to play Dave Crabtree on My Mother the Car.


He turned down the role of Gilligan for My Mother the Car, I've never heard anything about him being the first choice to replace Don Knotts.

Technically Jerry Van Dyke did "replace" Don Knotts for one episode at the end of the fifth season. The "Banjo Playing Deputy" episode was after Barney left and Andy was looking for a replacement deputy. He obviously didn't last though.

There were actually two other actors besides Jerry Van Dyke who were considered for Barney's replacement before Jack Burns was picked. The first was Alvy Moore (Hank Kimball on Green Acres) and the second was Larry Hovis (who played Gilly Walker in two episodes and went on to play Carter on Hogan's Heroes.) Both Alvy and Larry turned down the part because they were gearing up for their respective shows. I think even if they had been available Andy would've still wanted Jerry Van Dyke given the two were both very good friends and Andy wanted to help Jerry step out of his brother's shadow (Which is also how Jerry wound up on the disastrous headmaster)

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Ever why Andy Griffith's character on his TV show became such a grump (https://web.archive.org/web/20061031123233/http://www.jumptheshark.com/a/andygriffith.htm) during the last few seasons? Here are my thoughts.

I think Andy attempted to sabotage his own show by projecting a more foul, nastier Andy.

And I think both the writing and production team bought into it, it was his show after all.

The fans continued to watch despite no Barney and that probably irked Andy to no end.

I was noticing yesterday that "Barney Mends a Broken Heart" seems to be a watershed episode where "sweet loveable Andy" seems to be gone for good.

He was cool until he found that old school chum at his girlfriends house...and it just goes down hill from there, his patience evaporating at every turn of the plot....

Right now channel 4.2 is playing the one where Aunt Bee gets a wig. Andy is at his grumpiest in this one.

i think that Hoke Howell would have been an interesting choice as deputy, either as Dud Wash or another character. As Dud, he could have brought Charlene to town with him, which would have created some potential for her brand of mayhem, along with some plausible opportunities for the Darlings to come back. Another possibility from the show would be James Best as Jim Lindsey. Best seems to have mostly been typecast in Westerns then, but later emerged as a Dukes of Hazzard regular.

i think that Hoke Howell would have been an interesting choice as deputy, either as Dud Wash or another character. As Dud, he could have brought Charlene to town with him, which would have created some potential for her brand of mayhem, along with some plausible opportunities for the Darlings to come back. Another possibility from the show would be James Best as Jim Lindsey. Best seems to have mostly been typecast in Westerns then, but later emerged as a Dukes of Hazzard regular.

Two interesting choices.

Was “Angry Taylor” the result of writers or real-life frustration on Griffith’s part?

Was “Angry Taylor” the result of writers or real-life frustration on Griffith’s part?

Obviously the writers create the lines. I guess it depends on how much control Andy was given. My bet is if he ad libbed or changed a line, he had that leeway.

Or if Andy was involved in the creative side, the decision could have been made and communicated to the writers, that this grumpy, angry side of Andy added to the comedy. And the Opie character is heavily involved.

Examples: Andy dislikes Aunt Bee's wig. Opie: I like it. Andy (scowls): You got somethin' to do? Andy is stuffed at his 4th spaghetti dinner, and is hardly eating. Opie: You told me to finish my food. Look at the hungry kids, etc. (Andy's stare could kill.)

It's interesting to me that Andy's "Ben Matlock" character is certainly much more affable than the late-season Andy Taylor, to the extent that he enjoys playing music, he has little episodes with Les Calhoun (Don Knotts), he does his "Gooood!" schtick while eating his trademark hot dogs -- generally he stays in a good mood through the run of Matlock.

So apparently Andy did really enjoy that kind of stuff back when he did it on TAGS, otherwise he wouldn't have bothered reviving the behavior as Matlock. One of the Don Knotts scenes where he forces him down, in an attack demonstration, was done as a verbatim copy of the TAGS skit.

Today channel 4.2 is showing "The Senior Play" from season 7. I totally forgot this part (or it's been edited out before), but the old Goober comes back, and gives Andy his impressions again. To Andy, "Been a long time since you seen 'em." He does Chester, something else, and the Cary Grant Judy, Judy, Judy. Pretty funny revisit of season 4 or thereabouts.

It's interesting to me that Andy's "Ben Matlock" character is certainly much more affable than the late-season Andy Taylor, to the extent that he enjoys playing music, he has little episodes with Les Calhoun (Don Knotts), he does his "Gooood!" schtick while eating his trademark hot dogs -- generally he stays in a good mood through the run of Matlock.

So apparently Andy did really enjoy that kind of stuff back when he did it on TAGS, otherwise he wouldn't have bothered reviving the behavior as Matlock. One of the Don Knotts scenes where he forces him down, in an attack demonstration, was done as a verbatim copy of the TAGS skit.

Andy Taylor seasons 6-8 is without a doubt the most unique lead character in the history of sitcoms. Not only is the character not funny, but at times he's nasty. Angry can be funny, Charles Lane was funny, Ed Asner was funny, Gale Gordon was funny, Joseph Kearns was funny, but Andy Griffith's portrayal of Andy Taylor was not funny. I think Andy Griffith thought his future was in drama not comedy, and therefore didn't want to be perceived in any way, shape or form as a comedian or comedic actor. The comedy for the series was to be handled by Don Knotts, you can see this clearly by seasons 4, and it's even more evident by season 5. Don of course is gone by season 6, so Jack Burns was brought in to essentially provide the comedy, this as we all know didn't work, that's a whole different story for another time, but the show was then retooled to become more a slice of life series.

This brings us to Matlock, the sixty year old Griffith who had been through two (we can assume) expensive divorces, and hadn't had much success since TAGS was taking what would likely be his last swings, he needed to hit this one out of the park. The elements that had worked for Andy during the TAGS years were lightly sprinkled in to give his character a fuller personality. Andy has stated in interviews he enjoyed doing Matlock more than TAGS and that his personality was more similar to Ben Matlock than Andy Taylor.

I found an article written by an executive at the William Morris agency in 2011 which paints a very unflattering picture of Griffith giving a better idea of the very complex individual he actually was, I will be doing a separate post on that.

Andy Griffith deserves a lot of credit for the quality of the color episodes. Losing the heart & soul of the series Don Knotts and the quality was still pretty amazing without him. Tweaking the Andy Taylor character to make him now the foil for Mayberry's townspeople. Somehow conspiracists fuse the actor and character he portrays as one dragging in the actors personal life as motivation for a fictional characters frame of mind. I don't have a crystal ball and can't get into a man's head nearly some 60 years ago like the conspiracists. I've seen all the color episodes multiple times and there are many classic tags episodes in seasons 6-8. When I watch tags it's a pure joy and demonizing people is the last thing on my mind.

Andy Griffith deserves a lot of credit for the quality of the color episodes. Losing the heart & soul of the series Don Knotts and the quality was still pretty amazing without him. Tweaking the Andy Taylor character to make him now the foil for Mayberry's townspeople. Somehow conspiracists fuse the actor and character he portrays as one dragging in the actors personal life as motivation for a fictional characters frame of mind. I don't have a crystal ball and can't get into a man's head nearly some 60 years ago like the conspiracists. I've seen all the color episodes multiple times and there are many classic tags episodes in seasons 6-8. When I watch tags it's a pure joy and demonizing people is the last thing on my mind.

Excellent points!

Andy Griffith deserves a lot of credit for the quality of the color episodes. Losing the heart & soul of the series Don Knotts and the quality was still pretty amazing without him. Tweaking the Andy Taylor character to make him now the foil for Mayberry's townspeople. Somehow conspiracists fuse the actor and character he portrays as one dragging in the actors personal life as motivation for a fictional characters frame of mind. I don't have a crystal ball and can't get into a man's head nearly some 60 years ago like the conspiracists. I've seen all the color episodes multiple times and there are many classic tags episodes in seasons 6-8. When I watch tags it's a pure joy and demonizing people is the last thing on my mind.

Excellent points!

Yes, very well stated! I've always enjoyed the color episodes (although I've definitely criticized a few individual episodes), but I think those of us who do are in a distinct minority.

But back at the time, they were highly rated, and I think for the 8th season, TAGS was the No. 1 show.

I still believe that Andy was searching for an exit strategy to leave the show and he eventually did by being able to move to the other side of the camera with RFD. Wasn't Andy an executive producer or consultant for RFD?

I give Andy credit for toning down his hostility towards Warren and continuing with the show. I think he realized that his show was still very loved and viable without Knotts. As others have mentioned, there's a lot of decent episodes in 7th and 8th mixed with some duds.

Today channel 4.2 is showing "The Senior Play" from season 7. I totally forgot this part (or it's been edited out before), but the old Goober comes back, and gives Andy his impressions again. To Andy, "Been a long time since you seen 'em." He does Chester, something else, and the Cary Grant Judy, Judy, Judy. Pretty funny revisit of season 4 or thereabouts.

Is that the episode where the high school kids do a musical type performance, and the principal hates it?

A Helen Crump featured episode.

Today channel 4.2 is showing "The Senior Play" from season 7. I totally forgot this part (or it's been edited out before), but the old Goober comes back, and gives Andy his impressions again. To Andy, "Been a long time since you seen 'em." He does Chester, something else, and the Cary Grant Judy, Judy, Judy. Pretty funny revisit of season 4 or thereabouts.

Is that the episode where the high school kids do a musical type performance, and the principal hates it?

A Helen Crump featured episode.

Andy Griffith deserves a lot of credit for the quality of the color episodes. Losing the heart & soul of the series Don Knotts and the quality was still pretty amazing without him. Tweaking the Andy Taylor character to make him now the foil for Mayberry's townspeople. Somehow conspiracists fuse the actor and character he portrays as one dragging in the actors personal life as motivation for a fictional characters frame of mind. I don't have a crystal ball and can't get into a man's head nearly some 60 years ago like the conspiracists. I've seen all the color episodes multiple times and there are many classic tags episodes in seasons 6-8. When I watch tags it's a pure joy and demonizing people is the last thing on my mind.

Andy Griffith definitely had to feel typecast as Andy Taylor

Is that the episode where the high school kids do a musical type performance, and the principal hates it?

A Helen Crump featured episode.

Yes, and Miss Crump does a little roaring 20s revue in a rehearsal for the principal, played by Leon Ames. Of course, he comes around and sees the point.

Yes, and Miss Crump does a little roaring 20s revue in a rehearsal for the principal, played by Leon Ames. Of course, he comes around and sees the point.

Yes, an enjoyable episode but very different from the traditional AGS fare.