The Andy Griffith Show is coming to DVD--Finally! (Review)

IGN.com ^ | 11012-2004 | Steve Butts

[silent_jonny]

November 12, 2004 - You can't grow up in North Carolina without being subjected to endless reruns of The Andy Griffith Show. Though the show was a bit harder to find once I moved to San Francisco, I still made a point of seeking out the reruns wherever I could find them. The nostalgic show, produced by Sheldon Leonard and Danny Thomas, looks back to an idealized time and place that never really existed. The popularity of the show lasted a full eight seasons and it was, along with I Love Lucy and Seinfeld, one of the few shows to ever end its run while still at the top of the Nielsen ratings. Though the show has thrived in syndication ever since it went off the air (or morphed into the decidedly unfunny Mayberry R.F.D.), fans have long been waiting for a comprehensive DVD version of the show. Thankfully, Paramount has finally consented to release the entire first season in a remastered DVD format, available November 16.

[Mr. Buzzcut]

Were they cousins or not?

There were a lot of continuity problems with the show (eg, Goober's surname changing from Pyle to Beasely), but back then they never figured we'd be dissecting them 40 years later. ;)

[groanup]

"How Do You Do, Mrs. Wi-ley?"

"No coffee, tea or punch, thank yooooo."

On that same episode, just after the above, Andy asks Barney if he'd like to dance with any of the girls.:

"Naaaaaah, if you flew a quail through this room every girl in here'd point."

[Mr. Buzzcut]

He was the best little actor.

I had the same thought as I was watching "The Music Man" this weekend. Kid was a good actor for a 5 year old!

[proud American in Canada]

Fantastic! I loved that show and would love to watch it with my kids.

[Mr. Buzzcut]

"Naaaaaah, if you flew a quail through this room every girl in here'd point."

"Dogs."

Wonderful irony given Barney's fine looks!

[groanup]

"Wonderful irony given Barney's fine looks" LOL

Andy: "You know Thelma-Lou, Barney must not weigh over a hundred pounds and ever bit of it's pride."

[Clemenza]

Sorry, this New York boy never quite "got" the Andy Griffith show. I knew from a young age, however, that there was "something funny" about Gomer Pyle...

[Mr. Buzzcut]

Andy: "You know Thelma-Lou, Barney must not weigh over a hundred pounds and ever bit of it's pride."

hahahaha

I been looking for one of those salt & pepper suits to wear as a goof!

[yarddog]

You didn't think Andy was funny?

Well I thought Clemenza was hillarious especially when teaching the band to play "Pop Goes the Weasel".

[Mr. Buzzcut]

One of--if not the best--Darling song. Thanks.

Looks like the Dillards (Darlings) are still around ... my fave is "Dooley" ... can't find an mp3 ...

	Dooley
	Dooley was a good old man he lived below the mill Dooley had two daughters and a forty-gallon still One gal watched the boiler the other watched spout And mama corked the bottles and old Dooley fetched 'em out    Dooley slippin' up the holler    Dooley try to make a dollar    Dooley gimme a swaller    and I'll pay you back someday. The revenuers came for him a-slippin' through the woods Dooley kept behind them all and never lost his goods Dooley was a trader when into town he'd come Sugar by the bushel and molasses by the ton. I remember very well the day old Dooley died The women folk weren't sorry and the men stood around and cried Now Dooley's on the mountain he lies there all alone They put a jug beside him and a barrel for his stone.

[groanup]

"I knew from a young age, however, that there was "something funny" about Gomer Pyle..."

I grew up with the Andy Griffith Show. I knew from a young age that it was for real. Nobody on the show faked their southern accents. The yankees: Barney, Floyd, Bee, Opie, et. didn't try to pretend with long drawn out aaahs and all the crap that television did and still does to southern characters. The Southerners: Andy, Goober, Gomer were just as genuine.

As a Southerner with an ear for patois at a young age it was refreshing to hear genuine dialogue.

[Clemenza]

I hate to admit this, but my introduction to southern culture came via the Dukes of Hazzard.

[cyborg]

me too hehe!

[Do not dub me shapka broham]

Eh.

When are they going to release a DVD set of Tales From The Darkside?

That's what I'm wondering.

[Libertina]

I've been watching these (bought my set at a drugstore about a month ago) and marvel at the good scripts, moral lessons, and humor. When we allowed Hollywood & TV to show "reality" we got filth instead. Andy Griffith and Leave It To Beaver were a lot more similar to my real home life than what was aired under the pretense of "depicting real life." I don't even know the names of the current shows, I hardly ever watch television.

[zoobee]

I will only buy the ones with Barney in them. When he left the show went downhill.

[Casloy]

I read somewhere that Don quit, because he thought Andy was done.

I was always under the impression he left because Disney made him an offer to star in several movies. Andy Griffith has always alluded to the fact he had "problems" during the later seasons and I have always assumed it was alcohol. The Andy Griffith character is dramatically different in the first two seasons than in the subsequent seasons and in the last few seasons he always appeared downright morose.

[Casloy]

Howard Sprague anyone?

Absolutely! In the early seasons they introduced some of the richest and funniest characters on TV. Who can forget Floyd, Otis, The Darlings, Ernest T. Bass, and even Gomer Pyle (pre-USMC). Then they started introducing people like Sprague who was just plain insipid and bordered on being gay.

[don-o]

All right, digging deep here. Who can remember Don Knotts on the "Steve Allen Show."

[Freedom4US]

There are some smart people here.. I have been so far unable to determine the actual dates each episode was filmed. In particular I was looking to find which episode was filmed just after Nov 22nd, 1963.