![]() ![]() ![]() For starters, the show isn’t on the top shelf for humor - there are more hahas in an offering of early ’60s classics like Dick Van Dyke, not to mention the upcoming rural efforts by Paul Henning, than in Andy Griffith, and because any sitcom’s primary obligation is to make us laugh, this is a serious remark. But before we get to highlighting said gems, I have to go briefly into why the show is important in our big-picture look at the genre, and I’ll frame this discussion by explaining the criticisms I’ve leveled above via the elements of the series’ identity that define its main values. For Andy Griffith is one of the most important ’60s sitcoms and the best of its type - the era’s most amusing warmedy with a modified nuclear family structure and a workplace buddy component that enables one of the finest comic performances of the decade (Don Knotts), all within an appealing small-town Americana package - and, unlike Beaver, there really ARE a healthy output of half-hour gems that make the series worthy of the kind of coverage we do here. Rather, it’s best to let the focus of these posts stay on the chosen episodes. I can’t in terms of seasonal analysis, I’m not interested in dissecting the series too granularly because I know it wouldn’t increase my appreciation. It’s not as funny, as consistent, or as character-driven as the best TV comedies we’ve featured, and because its maintained popularity has given most of us inflated ideas to the contrary, I wish I could pretend otherwise. But much like Leave It To Beaver, in the context of this blog, I don’t consider it a crowning piece of study. It’s a sitcom classic around which I have many happy after-school memories. The Andy Griffith Show stars ANDY GRIFFITH, DON KNOTTS, RON HOWARD, and FRANCES BAVIER. While it seems odd that Ben's portrayal in the series was so inconsistent, it might be theorized that behind the scenes that the younger versions could be portrayals of Ben's son taking over the business.Welcome to a new Sitcom Tuesday! This week, we’re starting coverage on the best of The Andy Griffith Show (1960-1968, CBS), which is currently available in full on DVD and Amazon. It is known that Avery was still alive until 1973. Weaver was eventually played by a third actor named Jason Johnson in two color episodes, possibly because Avery was unavailable or the series creators had forgotten bringing in Avery to replace Wright. This Weaver was significantly younger than he was before, as Avery himself was much younger than Wright was. Two years later, in 1964, he was succeeded by Tol Avery, who appeared in only one Season 4 episode, The Shoplifters. However, Wright passed away in 1962 due to cancer. He was originally portrayed as an elderly man by Will Wright during his first three appearances. He also briefly employed Goober Pyle as a salesman in his store.īen was portrayed by three different actors throughout the run of "The Andy Griffith Show" with three different actors all being of rather different ages, resulting in a very inconsistent portrayal of the character. Ben also called upon Andy when his store was being robbed by a shoplifter. ![]() When his ploys failed, Andy turned to play-acting to force Ben to see how unreasonable he was being, a ploy that worked since Ben gave Lester an extended period to pay his rent and gave him a job. ![]() One of his properties was leased by Lester Scobey, and when Ben wanted him evicted for falling behind on his rent, Andy once again went against the unpleasant job by trying to help Scobey keep his house. Ben also had grievances with salesman Bert Miller selling in the street, but Andy again worked around the law to get Bert off the street until Ben had to hire Bert as an employee to circumvent the original complaint.īen was also a local landlord with rental property in Mayberry. However, Ben kept loitering around the courthouse until Andy realized Ben was looking for someone to spend the holiday with. Andy got around the law by bringing in Sam's family in to spend Christmas at the Mayberry Courthouse. One Christmas, he insisted that Andy Taylor jail moonshiner Sam Muggins even though it meant Muggins would miss the holiday with his family. Around town, he developed a reputation as a stingy miser and somewhat distant to his fellow citizens. Owner of Weaver's Department Store and Landlordīen Weaver was a local businessman in Mayberry and the owner and proprietor of Weaver's Department Store. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |