How to Bring Back Mayberry

[Enzobar]

Like all of you, I have always loved TAGS. I honestly do not believe we will ever see a new Mayberry production. But. If it were done, the way to do it would not be a remake (no way would that ever work), but rather a continuation featuring new characters. My scenario:

Thirty years after the events of Return to Mayberry, the child of Opie Taylor, who has lived his/her whole life in the big city, moves to Mayberry with family in tow. I realize that when Opie had a child in RTM it was a boy, and having the new Taylor in town be male would certainly be acceptable, but who's to say Opie did not have more children later? I think Ron Howard's daughter, the pretty Bryce Dallas Howard, would make a fine series lead. Recently, I read an article written in 1986 that suggested Bryce was with her father on the set of RTM! And considering how close Ron & Andy were until the end of Andy's life, there is a likelihood that behind the scenes, she did know some of TAGS cast.

So imagine this new character, we'll call her "Angie," moves to Mayberry, having grown up hearing from Papa Opie & the recently passed Grandpa Andy what a wonderful place it was. She fondly remembers childhood summer visits there with Grandpa Andy & Grandma Helen. Finally fed up with big city hassles & stress, Angie convinces her husband that a move to a simpler setting is a good idea, and when a good career opportunity for her opens up, they arrive along with their one or two kids. Opie was a journalist/writer (perhaps even having written a memoir about life in Mayberry), but Angie, like her granddad, is a law enforcement officer. She becomes the new sheriff of Mayberry. This would give us the chance to see the (somewhat) modernized courthouse, still very recognizable.

The humor would come from Angie & her family's reaction to moving to a much slower paced, rural community, and especially from the oddball characters that still populate the town. Who would her deputy be? Maybe by this point there are multiple deputies. Who now leases the business next door, the former Floyd's Barber Shop? Who is the current Mayor, and would they see eye to eye with the former big city police officer? These would all be opportunities to create funny new characters in the classic Mayberry tradition. Casting the right comedians in these supporting roles would be key to bringing back some of the old magic. Initially, at least, these quirky characters would drive Angie & her family up the courthouse wall. Some of them could even be descendants of original Mayberrians.

If the production happened soon enough, there could even be cameos for one of Mayberry's most well-loved citizens, Old Gomer Pyle, as well as Thelma Lou Fife, widow of the late, great Barney. And, of course, it would be totally appropriate to have Papa Opie show up for awhile, just to pass along the kind of fatherly advice he used to receive, when his little girl needed it most. Perhaps Angie would feel she had made a mistake, and be prepared to pack up and leave Mayberry when her dad Ope showed up and helped her see things from a different perspective.

As I said, we'll probably never see a new Mayberry series or movie. But if one like this were produced, I would be right there. Are you listening, Mr. Howard?

[JJM]

It could work, but it sounds a little like Newhart to me. Only with a sheriff instead of an inn keeper.