page_title: The Andy Griffith Show
section_title: Plot and characters
hierarchical_section_title: The Andy Griffith Show / Plot and characters
caption_attribution_description: Photo from the television program The Andy Griffith Show. When Andy returns from a trip, he finds that Barney has managed to put all of Mayberry's citizens behind bars in the town jail.
context_page_description: The Andy Griffith Show is an American situation comedy television series, that aired on CBS from October 3, 1960, to April 1, 1968, with a total of 249 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons—159 in black and white and 90 in color. The series originated partly from an episode of The Danny Thomas Show.
  The show starred Andy Griffith in the role of Andy Taylor, the widowed sheriff of Mayberry, North Carolina, a fictional community of 2,000 people. Other major characters include Andy's well-meaning cousin and deputy, Barney Fife; Andy's aunt and housekeeper, Bee Taylor; and Andy's young son, Opie. Eccentric townspeople and temperamental girlfriends complete the cast.
  Regarding the tone of the show, Griffith said that despite a contemporary setting, the show evoked nostalgia, saying, in a Today Show interview, "Well, though we never said it, and though it was shot in the '60s, it had a feeling of the '30s. It was, when we were doing it, of a time gone by."
  The series never placed lower than seventh in the Nielsen ratings, ending its final season at number one. The only other shows to end their runs at the top of the ratings are I Love Lucy and Seinfeld.
context_section_description: The series plot revolves around Sheriff Andy Taylor (Andy Griffith) and his life in sleepy, slow-paced fictional Mayberry, North Carolina. Sheriff Taylor's level-headed approach to law enforcement makes him the scourge of local moonshiners and out-of-town criminals, while his abilities to settle community problems with common-sense advice, mediation, and conciliation make him popular with his fellow citizens. His professional life, however, is complicated by the repeated gaffes of his inept deputy, Barney Fife (Don Knotts). Barney is Andy's cousin, but that is only mentioned in a few early episodes. Andy socializes with male friends in the Main Street barbershop and dates various ladies until a schoolteacher becomes his steady interest in season three. At home, Andy enjoys fishing trips with his son, Opie (Ronny Howard), and quiet evenings on the front porch with his maiden aunt and housekeeper, Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier). Opie tests his father's parenting skills season after season, and Aunt Bee's ill-considered romances and adventures cause her nephew concern.
  Andy's friends and neighbors include, at various times, barber Floyd Lawson (Howard McNear – but played by Walter Baldwin in the 1960 episode "Stranger in Town"), service station attendants and cousins Gomer Pyle (Jim Nabors) and Goober Pyle (George Lindsey), and local drunkard Otis Campbell (Hal Smith). There were two mayors: Mayor Pike, who was more relaxed, and Mayor Stoner, who had a more assertive personality. On the distaff side, townswoman Clara Edwards (Hope Summers), Barney's sweetheart Thelma Lou (Betty Lynn) and Andy's schoolteacher sweetheart Helen Crump (Aneta Corsaut) become semi-regulars. Ellie Walker (Elinor Donahue) is Andy's girlfriend in the first season, while Peggy McMillan (Joanna Moore) is a nurse who becomes his girlfriend in season 3.
  Ernest T. Bass made his first appearance in Episode #94 ("Mountain Wedding") and four later episodes. The actor who portrayed him, Howard Morris, also appeared as George, the television repairman, in Episode #140 ("Andy and Helen Have Their Day") and in two, uncredited voice roles as Leonard Blush and a radio announcer. Morris also directed a total of eight episodes of the show, none while portraying Ernest T. Bass.
  In the color seasons, County Clerk Howard Sprague (Jack Dodson) and handyman Emmett Clark (Paul Hartman) appear regularly, while Barney's replacement deputy Warren Ferguson (Jack Burns) appears in about half of season six. Unseen characters such as telephone operator Sarah, and Barney's love interest, local diner waitress Juanita Beasley, as mentioned in the first season, are often referenced. The show's announcer for the first five seasons, Colin Male, portrayed Game Warden Peterson in Episode #140 ("Andy and Helen Have Their Day"). In the series' last few episodes, farmer Sam Jones (Ken Berry) debuts, and later becomes the lead of the retitled show, Mayberry R.F.D..
  Don Knotts, Aneta Corsaut, Jack Dodson, and Betty Lynn also appeared on Andy Griffith's later show Matlock.
caption: In the episode "Andy Saves Barney's Morale" (1961), Andy goes out of town and leaves Barney in charge. Upon returning, he finds that Barney took his job so seriously, he has put the entire population of Mayberry in jail for petty crimes.
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