I have a question about the later years. Actually, I have two questions. Why didn't they have more guest appearances from Ernest T. and The Darlings? I think they only made one or two guest shots during the last 3 years.

My second question involves Otis and his disappearance. I used to visit another Mayberry related board and someone asked this very question. Why did they get rid of Otis in the later years? Somebody on that boar answered that somebody on the network had a relative that was a drunk, and he didn't like the fact that they had Otis (who was the town drunk) on the show. That's why they got rid of the Otis character. Is this true or did somebody not have the facts straight, or what?

i dont think they would have gotten rid of otis because of someones personal family problems otis was a classic on the show! don knotts always complimented otis very well maybe he didnt fit in to well after don left.

Not a single person fit in well when Don left

Originally posted by lentzmatt
Not a single person fit in well when Don left

I have to agree. The show might have been named after Andy Griffith, but Don really was the back bone of the show. When he left, it all collapsed. To me it did. I still love the black and white episodes because it has Don in it, but I just can't stomach to sit through many of the color episodes. It just isn't Mayberryish in the color episodes.

If Andy acted like he was having fun on camera, I'd probably be able to sit through the color episodes. It's just so apparent that Andy isn't having much fun in the color years. Look at the episode they aired tonight with Aunt Bea winning that trip. Look at Andy in the last scenes. You can tell so much that he's thinking to himself why the hell they couldn't do that scene without him.