The Strange Disappearance of Andy Taylor's Other Son

[Duster76]

Originally Posted by icecream

I wasn't impressed with Alice Ghostley on Bewitched. Doubt her Mayberry character would compare to Aunt Bee. While Ken was boring as is here, him being a total buffoon like on Mama's Family wouldn't have been good either.

You completely miss the point. Ghostley was a very talented performer, she worked steadily from the early 1950's almost until the time of her death in 2007. Ken was a gifted physical comedian, when he was doing F Troop the script would have notes like "Ken does some funny stuff for 90 seconds", Berry would then prepare some bit of business based on the situation in the scene. The talent was there, the resumes of both performers prove the point. It was up to the producer (showrunner) to develop the series beyond what it was when it started. The final three seasons of TAGS reflected where Andy was as a performer at that point in his career. Conscripting Mayberry RFD to follow that same structure prevented it from evolving into its own series. The show representative travelled across country in 1971 to present the case to CBS management in New York to retain the show, but he had nothing of substance to present. He needed to be able to demonstrate to the CBS executives that the show was something that could work for the network in the early 70's.

[Duster76]

Originally Posted by vitoscotti

I disagree on all.

Read what you wrote earlier in the thread, you're debating yourself.

[vitoscotti]

Alice Cooper, Sam and Mike Jones had to be the worst regular character trio in the TAGS - MRFD run. It's hard to think of another regular trio that had scenes together who were worse. And I really liked Alice Ghostley in Bewitched, and Ken Berry in F Troop and Mama's Family.

[Duster76]

Originally Posted by vitoscotti

Alice Cooper, Sam and Mike Jones had to be the worst regular character trio in the TAGS - MRFD run. It's hard to think of another regular trio that had scenes together who were worse. And I really liked Alice Ghostley in Bewitched, and Ken Berry in F Troop and Mama's Family.

I agree with you with respect to Mike, Buddy Foster was a limited performer who added nothing to the character. I don't believe and amount of writing or production upgrades could have helped. Ghostley was obviously very talented, she wasn't utilized properly which was my point. Still I thought she was value added, so we'll have to disagree on that. You seem to be acknowledging Ken was good in other series so we agree on that, what I am suggesting is he was needlessly straightjacketed into playing a version of Andy Taylor seasons 6-8 and his character not allowed to grow. Ken had the talent to develop that character comedically and if the producers (showrunner) had a more creative vision rather than taking an ultraconservative approach the show would have been better served and might have survived the purge of 71.