Griffith Tells the sad story of Replacing Barney

[JeffRuss1972]

From The Andy Griffith Show Book by Richard Kelly(1981):

"We went to San Francisco and met this very funny stand-up comedian named Jack Burns. We thought his performance was fine and decided to make him Floyd's nephew on the show [Warren Ferguson]. So we put him on---and we said we were not replacing Don ---but we WERE replacing Don and we were giving him Don Knotts material---and it didn't work. I can't begin to explain how uncomfortable we were. I get strung out pretty easily, and if I'm uncomfortable I'm hell to be around, and I was VERY uncomfortable. Just before Christmas we decided we had to let him go and pay him off for the rest of the year. I didn't want the William Morris people to tell him then, but they told him before Christmas. I saw Jack some years later and he said he was bitter for a while, but he got over it. It wasn't Jack's fault, it was our fault."

Jack Burns was best as a stand-up comedian. His humor depended on jokes and very broad comedy. His frantic ineptitude as Deputy Warren was a parody of Knotts' carefully developed and subtle comedy of character. He made his debut in the fifth show of the 1965-66 season in the episode "The Bazaar". The story line sounded familiar---Andy's eager-beaver deputy jails Aunt Bee and her friends for gambling at their charity bazaar---but oh how different was the show! Barney could have pulled off that madcap adventure, but Warren, who had established no relationship with Aunt Bee, seemed like a foolish automaton in rigidly carrying out the letter of the law. He continued in a dozen more shows, and his role made not only Griffith but the whole audience very uncomfortable. After Burns left, Griffith recalls, "We just left that space open. Goober and the others hung around the courthouse and wanted to take over as deputy. We got a lot of mileage out of that vacancy." Once Griffith, producer Sheldon Leonard, and director Ross realized that Knotts was irreplaceable, the show went on successfully as always.

[ficlopri 6]

Originally Posted by JeffRuss1972

From The Andy Griffith Show Book by Richard Kelly(1981):

"We went to San Francisco and met this very funny stand-up comedian named Jack Burns. We thought his performance was fine and decided to make him Floyd's nephew on the show [Warren Ferguson]. So we put him on---and we said we were not replacing Don ---but we WERE replacing Don and we were giving him Don Knotts material---and it didn't work. I can't begin to explain how uncomfortable we were. I get strung out pretty easily, and if I'm uncomfortable I'm hell to be around, and I was VERY uncomfortable. Just before Christmas we decided we had to let him go and pay him off for the rest of the year. I didn't want the William Morris people to tell him then, but they told him before Christmas. I saw Jack some years later and he said he was bitter for a while, but he got over it. It wasn't Jack's fault, it was our fault."

Jack Burns was best as a stand-up comedian. His humor depended on jokes and very broad comedy. His frantic ineptitude as Deputy Warren was a parody of Knotts' carefully developed and subtle comedy of character. He made his debut in the fifth show of the 1965-66 season in the episode "The Bazaar". The story line sounded familiar---Andy's eager-beaver deputy jails Aunt Bee and her friends for gambling at their charity bazaar---but oh how different was the show! Barney could have pulled off that madcap adventure, but Warren, who had established no relationship with Aunt Bee, seemed like a foolish automaton in rigidly carrying out the letter of the law. He continued in a dozen more shows, and his role made not only Griffith but the whole audience very uncomfortable. After Burns left, Griffith recalls, "We just left that space open. Goober and the others hung around the courthouse and wanted to take over as deputy. We got a lot of mileage out of that vacancy." Once Griffith, producer Sheldon Leonard, and director Ross realized that Knotts was irreplaceable, the show went on successfully as always.

I knew Griffith was highly uncomfortable with Jack Burns as Warren. It really showed in Andy's performance as Sheriff Taylor.

[tv star collector]

Originally Posted by JeffRuss1972

From The Andy Griffith Show Book by Richard Kelly(1981):

"We went to San Francisco and met this very funny stand-up comedian named Jack Burns. We thought his performance was fine and decided to make him Floyd's nephew on the show [Warren Ferguson]. So we put him on---and we said we were not replacing Don ---but we WERE replacing Don and we were giving him Don Knotts material---and it didn't work. I can't begin to explain how uncomfortable we were. I get strung out pretty easily, and if I'm uncomfortable I'm hell to be around, and I was VERY uncomfortable. Just before Christmas we decided we had to let him go and pay him off for the rest of the year. I didn't want the William Morris people to tell him then, but they told him before Christmas. I saw Jack some years later and he said he was bitter for a while, but he got over it. It wasn't Jack's fault, it was our fault."

Jack Burns was best as a stand-up comedian. His humor depended on jokes and very broad comedy. His frantic ineptitude as Deputy Warren was a parody of Knotts' carefully developed and subtle comedy of character. He made his debut in the fifth show of the 1965-66 season in the episode "The Bazaar". The story line sounded familiar---Andy's eager-beaver deputy jails Aunt Bee and her friends for gambling at their charity bazaar---but oh how different was the show! Barney could have pulled off that madcap adventure, but Warren, who had established no relationship with Aunt Bee, seemed like a foolish automaton in rigidly carrying out the letter of the law. He continued in a dozen more shows, and his role made not only Griffith but the whole audience very uncomfortable. After Burns left, Griffith recalls, "We just left that space open. Goober and the others hung around the courthouse and wanted to take over as deputy. We got a lot of mileage out of that vacancy." Once Griffith, producer Sheldon Leonard, and director Ross realized that Knotts was irreplaceable, the show went on successfully as always.

I also read Kelly's book. It offers the most concise and accurate explanation.
As for Jack Burns: he was a good writer/comedian; I liked his routines with
comedy partner Avery Schreiber. Burns was also a regular on HEE HAW for a
short time. But as Andy Taylor's deputy, Burns was out of his element. No one
was able to "replace" Don Knotts, and no one should have been expected to try.

[one bullet barney]

I read somewhere that the original choise to replace don knotts as barney was alvy moore, the guy who played hank kimball on green acres. I dont know if its true or not but it is interesting to think about.

[one bullet barney]

I read somewhwhere that Alvy Moore, who portrayed Hank Kimball on Green Acres, was supposed to repalce Don Knotts in the role as deputy of mayberry.dont know if its true or not but it is certainly interesting contemplate.

[Will Dockery]

Originally Posted by ficlopri 6

I knew Griffith was highly uncomfortable with Jack Burns as Warren. It really showed in Andy's performance as Sheriff Taylor.

Oh yeah, Griffith was a great actor but that was some genuine angst!

[Will Dockery]

Originally Posted by one bullet barney

I read somewhwhere that Alvy Moore, who portrayed Hank Kimball on Green Acres, was supposed to repalce Don Knotts in the role as deputy of mayberry.dont know if its true or not but it is certainly interesting contemplate.

Dang, that just might have worked.

Or, as mentioned elsewhere, Jerry Van Dyke... who did go on to co-star with Griffith on the ill-fated Headmaster series.

[mets82]

My mother cant stand Warren!! I will say that the episodes that he was in, it just seemed like he was a poor-man's Barney Fife.

[jehobden]

Originally Posted by tv star collector

I also read Kelly's book. It offers the most concise and accurate explanation.
As for Jack Burns: he was a good writer/comedian; I liked his routines with
comedy partner Avery Schreiber. Burns was also a regular on HEE HAW for a
short time. But as Andy Taylor's deputy, Burns was out of his element. No one
was able to "replace" Don Knotts, and no one should have been expected to try.

Jack Burns later hosted SNL in its 2nd season (1976-77) and eventually became the announcer for Fridays (1980-82).

[Will Dockery]

Originally Posted by jehobden

Jack Burns later hosted SNL in its 2nd season (1976-77) and eventually became the announcer for Fridays (1980-82).

Burns was pretty funny when he teamed up with Avery Schreiber, I thought... he just wasn't right for TAGS.

I saw it mentioned, and was later even done on Headmaster and proved they had a chemistry, that Jerry Van Dyke would have made a great new Deputy.

[Yong Fang]

Jack Burns for the record was a great performer and comedian, but he was just a fish out of water in TAGS. He was a "big city guy" and just was a failure in TAGS. His huh, huh, huh, huh routine was annoying and not a bit funny.

Jerry Van Dyke would have been excellent as the replacement, and this should have happened, and it was sad it wasn't. Jerry would have been awesome.

Color TAGS for the most part was not good, correct me if I am wrong. Don Knotts, Betty Lynn, the dude who played Otis, no Ernest T. Bass. Howard McNear had a stroke and was limited and was replaced by Emmitt. Howard Sprague was OK, but just OK. George Lindsey was also OK, but Jim Nabors was much better! It was sort of like taking the first string off the field and replacing it with scrubs.

Griffith himself was tired of the show by then, and his grumpiness showed. His marriage was also failing around this time. One of my favorite episodes of the color era was when Andy was accidentally invited to three different dinners in the same night and everyone made speghetti. Andy's pain was priceless. The writers went, hell, he is grumpy and mean, let's do an episode to turn this into something funny!

[ThisLittlePiggy]

Originally Posted by Yong Fang

Jack Burns for the record was a great performer and comedian, but he was just a fish out of water in TAGS. He was a "big city guy" and just was a failure in TAGS. His huh, huh, huh, huh routine was annoying and not a bit funny.

Jerry Van Dyke would have been excellent as the replacement, and this should have happened, and it was sad it wasn't. Jerry would have been awesome.

Color TAGS for the most part was not good, correct me if I am wrong. Don Knotts, Betty Lynn, the dude who played Otis, no Ernest T. Bass. Howard McNear had a stroke and was limited and was replaced by Emmitt. Howard Sprague was OK, but just OK. George Lindsey was also OK, but Jim Nabors was much better! It was sort of like taking the first string off the field and replacing it with scrubs.

Griffith himself was tired of the show by then, and his grumpiness showed. His marriage was also failing around this time. One of my favorite episodes of the color era was when Andy was accidentally invited to three different dinners in the same night and everyone made speghetti. Andy's pain was priceless. The writers went, hell, he is grumpy and mean, let's do an episode to turn this into something funny!

Andy tells Goober, "When I get back, I'm gonna kill you!"

[jehobden]

Originally Posted by Yong Fang

Jack Burns for the record was a great performer and comedian, but he was just a fish out of water in TAGS. He was a "big city guy" and just was a failure in TAGS. His huh, huh, huh, huh routine was annoying and not a bit funny.

Jerry Van Dyke would have been excellent as the replacement, and this should have happened, and it was sad it wasn't. Jerry would have been awesome.

Color TAGS for the most part was not good, correct me if I am wrong. Don Knotts, Betty Lynn, the dude who played Otis, no Ernest T. Bass. Howard McNear had a stroke and was limited and was replaced by Emmitt. Howard Sprague was OK, but just OK. George Lindsey was also OK, but Jim Nabors was much better! It was sort of like taking the first string off the field and replacing it with scrubs.

Griffith himself was tired of the show by then, and his grumpiness showed. His marriage was also failing around this time. One of my favorite episodes of the color era was when Andy was accidentally invited to three different dinners in the same night and everyone made speghetti. Andy's pain was priceless. The writers went, hell, he is grumpy and mean, let's do an episode to turn this into something funny!

Maybe Jerry Van Dyke was unavailable to play the new deputy since he was already signed to star in that all-time classic, My Mother the Car.

Also Hal Smith played Otis. He also made a couple early appearances on The Brady Bunch as the store Santa in the Christmas episode & Cartoon King when Bobby was in the ice cream-eating contest.

[caladon]

I agree that no one could replace Don Knotts or the character of Barney Fife.
The character dynamic between Andy and Barney worked so well and I believe that a lot of it had to do with the fact that Andy and Barney had a history that became more and more apparent. It began with them being identified as cousins and as the series went on, the viewer saw the foundations of their friendship. Andy seem to be the "big brother" in Barney's life; his silent and unsung protector. He new the real Barney and put up with a lot because of his love for him. In a way it was similar to the same relationship that The Skipper had with Gilligan.

That's probably the main reason that character of Warren never had a chance of surviving. Someone doing the same things without any type of relationship to Andy came off as annoying.

[Yong Fang]

Was that the episode where Goober dissasembled some guy's car and was working on it in the court house? Andy was PISSED! I thought that was a Black and White episode though.

Sorry, but Goober was annoying in the first place, but stupid, hick annoying. Jack Burns was a big city guy who was just wrong here. Jack Burns was actually a very funny guy and did many things well. Ever see the ABC show Fridays that came on the early 1980's? That show was a classic and Burns was a big part of that.

Again, Jerry Van Dyke would have been one of the better choices.