Did Phil Sunkel sue because he was mad at Andy? - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Mayberry'sBadBoy · 04-25-2022, 07:47 PM

In The Mayberry Band episode, there's a musician playing with Freddy Fleet (for some reason the writers forgot the Band's name was Bobby Fleet) named Phil Sunkel. According to the writers, the name came from Anita Coursaut who before her becoming Andy's mistress was dating musician Phil Sunkel who actually was a real musician. For some reason the real life musician Phil Sunkel took umbrage at this to the point of filing a lawsuit and despite Anita pleading him to call the dogs off it got to the point where CBS had to shell out a lot of money to keep the episode on the air and not drag things out because Phil was livid.

I often wonder why Phil would get so mad at this considering Anita said he would be honored for it and was absolutely shocked when she heard of him filing a lawsuit as well as him cussing her out when she tried to get him to drop it. While i don't know the filming orders, i do wonder if Sunkel was mad at Andy making moves on his girlfriend considering Anita and Andy started being romantic after their fight on the first day of Andy Discovers America as a way of "making up." It wouldn't surprise me if this was the case considering there's not much wrong with the character because Anita said he was just like Phil in the episode a beatnick

GentlemanJim · 04-26-2022, 01:58 PM

So many times it seems like people ask questions about these old shows, where really they've already got made up in their own minds what the ONLY acceptable answer must be...so I'm cautious about wading into these waters.

But, FWIW, I've always suspected that Andy was more of a wolf than the PR stories try to paint him as.

So, if you have some other guy angry who is involved with one of Andy's love interests, it's pretty self explanatory

Maybe it would be more productive to ask why they didn't bother to get a release BEFORE the acrimony came to the surface?

04-25-2022, 07:47 PM	#1
Mayberry'sBadBoy Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Sep 27, 2014 Location: Shriversport, Ohio Posts: 188	Did Phil Sunkel sue because he was mad at Andy? In The Mayberry Band episode, there's a musician playing with Freddy Fleet (for some reason the writers forgot the Band's name was Bobby Fleet) named Phil Sunkel. According to the writers, the name came from Anita Coursaut who before her becoming Andy's mistress was dating musician Phil Sunkel who actually was a real musician. For some reason the real life musician Phil Sunkel took umbrage at this to the point of filing a lawsuit and despite Anita pleading him to call the dogs off it got to the point where CBS had to shell out a lot of money to keep the episode on the air and not drag things out because Phil was livid. I often wonder why Phil would get so mad at this considering Anita said he would be honored for it and was absolutely shocked when she heard of him filing a lawsuit as well as him cussing her out when she tried to get him to drop it. While i don't know the filming orders, i do wonder if Sunkel was mad at Andy making moves on his girlfriend considering Anita and Andy started being romantic after their fight on the first day of Andy Discovers America as a way of "making up." It wouldn't surprise me if this was the case considering there's not much wrong with the character because Anita said he was just like Phil in the episode a beatnick

04-26-2022, 01:58 PM	#2
GentlemanJim Concerns, Support, & Feedback Forum Veteran Join Date: Dec 26, 2019 Location: The back country Posts: 5,443	So many times it seems like people ask questions about these old shows, where really they've already got made up in their own minds what the ONLY acceptable answer must be...so I'm cautious about wading into these waters. But, FWIW, I've always suspected that Andy was more of a wolf than the PR stories try to paint him as. So, if you have some other guy angry who is involved with one of Andy's love interests, it's pretty self explanatory Maybe it would be more productive to ask why they didn't bother to get a release BEFORE the acrimony came to the surface?
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