https://www.metv.com/stories/don-knotts-said-television-was-in-a-rut-in-the-late-1960s

After he left the industry to pursue motion pictures, Knotts saw a big change in television.

So then, was the "rural purge" an effective antidote?

So then, was the "rural purge" an effective antidote?

In a sense it was. All the shows on during the late 60's and 1970 had ran their course. It was definitely time for something new and more mature to come along and replace all the tv goofiness. While I don’t care for the Lear shows, I'm glad we got shows like The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, The Odd Couple, WKRP and even the early seasons of Happy Days.

TV in a rut? Ironically Don Knotts would appear in the comedically (not T & A) horrendous Three's Company 117 times starting in '79.

Where do I begin, some of these articles that appear on the METV website could make a laugh track cry. Let's start with this:

"The actor left the show after the fifth season in 1965 to flourish in a different area — motion pictures".

Flourish!!! Only one of the films he made was successful, that was "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken", the next two barely made a profit, and the final two were box office bombs.

The METV article references an interview with Don from the Pensacola News Journal circa 1966, I imagine it may have been part of a promotional junket in conjunction with the release of "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken", let's take a look at what Don said:

"The big change in TV today is that they have gone mostly to half-hour situation comedies," he said. "I think TV could be better, but it is in a rut."

Apparently there's more Barney in Don than any of us would have believed. He made a complete fool of himself just as Barney was prone to do. The statement is not only inaccurate but shows a complete lack of insight with respect to the business he was in. 1966 was just the opposite of Don's comments, it was one of the most prolific in television history. Prime time was filled with shows for all ages and tastes. There were news programs (CBS Reports and ABC Scope for example), variety shows (Dean Martin, Danny Kaye, Ed Sullivan), music programming (Shindig!, Hullabaloo, and for more mature tastes Lawrence Welk), hour long dramas (Ben Casey, Combat, Perry Mason), half hour dramas (Peyton Place, Honey West), children's shows (Lassie and Walt Disney), movies and westerns. There was a groundbreaking show casting and African American as co-lead for the first time in history (I Spy). What about Don's point concerning "mostly half hour sitcoms", did Don even own a television! Of the 75 hours of prime time programming on network television only 21%, twenty one, 21 percent was made up of sitcoms. CBS 26%, ABC 24% and NBC 14%.

Don provided a lot of laughs over the years, I guess we'll give him a Mulligan on this statement.

If you watch the old The Phil Donahue Show from the 80s TAGS reunion the audience asks the cast questions it looks like they weren't briefed on. Don Knotts looks almost lost without a script or heads-up. He's very wishy-washy, slow speaking and repeatedly says "we were just saying lines written for actors to read". It wasn't old age. He'd be in his early 60s. Everything I've read about him he was a very "unique" person. Not stupid. But, had his own odd way of saying things sometimes halfway then answering the same question differently years later. I think that's how the him leaving Tags reason got jumbled him having his own odd way of explaining.

TV in a rut? Ironically Don Knotts would appear in the comedically (not T & A) horrendous Three's Company 117 times starting in '79.

I had no idea his character was around for so many episodes, but I pretty much avoided Three's Company after the first season or so, yes, talk about being in a rut, that series was numbingly boring.

:)