Andy Griffith Show Season 6 coming in May (1 Viewer)

[David Lambert]

Thanks for that. As for mcnally.com it is storage space that Gord pays for to keep our site graphics on there. All still pictures on the site are stored there; we don't hot-link to anyone else's pictures.

 

[David Von Pein]

Re. Season Five.....

Oh goodie -- more edited episodes it would appear!

Yay. Not. :frowning:

 

[george kaplan]

At least I won't have to buy it and return it. I can just pass on it in the first place. :frowning:

to this stupid trend.

 

[ScottLloyd]

I emailed the owner of this page that reports on issues w/the show.

http://tagsdvdreview.iwarp.com/index.html


Hopefully he'll respond about that.

 

[David Von Pein]

RE. Andy Season 5.....

Mr. Fuller at sitcomsonline has once again gone through every episode on a TAGS DVD set and recorded the run times. Shortest Season-Five episode run time is 24:42 per these stats (3 eps. with that exact time). So that looks fairly good (overall) for uncut shows. Although those sub-25:00 eps. might have small trimmings. Hopefully, all epilogues are intact however.

Perhaps, then, the "May Be Edited" blurb at Paramount's home website was just an act of sheer spite, and maybe the "May" means just that...May Be Edited (but maybe not). Nothin' like being ambiguous and leaving people in the dark, huh? How sweet of them. (The "May Be Edited" blurb, btw, is not shown on the outer box for S.5.)


Andy Griffith Season 5 Data:

Disc 1
---------
128. Opie Loves Helen (09/21/64) (25:54)
129. Barney's Physical (09/28/64) (24:44)
130. Family Visit (10/05/64) (25:36)
131. The Education of Ernest T. Bass (10/13/64) (25:48)
132. Aunt Bee's Romance (10/19/64) (25:31)
133. Barney's Bloodhound (10/26/64) (25:31)
134. Man in the Middle (11/02/64) (24:42)

Disc 2
---------
135. Barney's Uniform (11/09/64) (25:43)
136. Opie's Fortune (11/16/64) (25:44)
137. Goodbye Sheriff Taylor (11/23/64) (25:42)
138. The Pageant (11/30/64) (25:36)
139. The Darling Baby (12/07/64) (25:51)
140. Andy and Helen Have Their Day (12/14/64) (25:22)
141. Three Wishes For Opie (12/21/64) (25:48)

Disc 3
---------
142. Otis Sues the County (12/28/64) (25:18)
143. Barney Fife, Realtor (01/04/65) (25:44)
144. Goober Takes a Car Apart (01/11/65) (24:42)
145. The Rehabiliation of Otis (01/18/65) (25:03)
146. The Lucky Letter (01/25/65) (25:45)
147. Goober and The Art of Love (02/01/65) (25:45)

Disc 4
---------
148. Barney Runs For Sheriff (02/08/65) (25:45)
149. If I Had A 1/4 Million (02/15/65) (25:40)
150. TV or Not TV (03/01/65) (25:45)
151. Guest in the House (03/08/65) (25:33)
152. The Case of the Punch in the Nose (03/15/65) (25:46)
153. Opie's Newspaper (03/22/65) (25:40)

Disc 5
---------
154. Aunt Bee's Invisible Beau (03/29/65) (25:40)
155. The Arrest of The Fun Girls (04/05/65) (24:51)
156. The Luck of Newton Monroe (04/12/65) (25:26)
157. Opie Flunks Arithmetic (04/19/65) (25:29)
158. Opie and The Carnival (04/26/65) (24:42)
159. Banjo Playing Deputy (05/03/65) (25:16)

 

[ScottLloyd]

Thanks for the info. I'd forgotten about that site and hadn't been there in the last year.


I received this email from the owner of the page I listed above:

Thanks for visiting. I'll post any probs with season 5
on the site as soon as I can. Already my heart has
sunk a little when finding out that the "network
versions" warning is even on there. Hopefully, it
won't mean anything or it will be minor.

 

[David Von Pein]

Just like S.4, weirdness seems to surround the shipping of Andy-5 -- several online stores are listing this just-released product as "out of stock" or "On Order". Amazon has it on a "6 to 12 day" availability. It's not available @ DVD Empire either.

The exact same thing happened with TAGS-4 at many stores. Very odd. Wonder what the deal is with TAGS and "Unavailability" on release date (no less). Other than Andy-4 & 5, I've never encountered a totally unavailable brand-new product at Amazon. Curious...currrrious.....

Plus...Amazon's treating TAGS-5 with a further degree of weirdness, in that they're only discounting it (as of today) a mere 10%, instead of the normal 30% to 35%. (I got lucky and snuck in an order when they had it for $26.99, prior to the oddball price hike to over $35.)

Well, to make up for it, disaster movie fans can save even more right now on The Towering Inferno/Poseidon DVDs. They're practically dishin' those 2-Disc SE babies up for nothin' -- just $12.99.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...qid=1139969866

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...qid=1139969936

 

[ScottLloyd]

Was Andy and Barney in the Towering Inferno?


I heard Floyd and Aunt Bea did a great job in the Poseidon Adventure.

 

[David Von Pein]

Nope...I just felt like parlaying the "Amazon Andy Weirdness" into an advertisement for the great Amazon prices for those two motion-picture Digital Versatile Discs from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, Inc.

About the only TAGS/Inferno "connection" I can think of would be the fact that Ross Elliott (who appeared in just about every TV show and movie throughout the 20th century) was in both Inferno and two Andy episodes.

 

[James@R]

I'm sorry, but Warren is about the only character I really can't stand. I think it's because he was essentially trying to be Barney. Howard and Emmett may make you want to chew your arm off at times, but they are at least their own unique characters.

Speaking of that Hollywood episode, it's notable for acting out a joke that first appeared in one of the earliest episodes.

In 'Mayberry Goes Hollywood', a film producer wants to make a film in Mayberry. There's a scene in the jail where Barney tells Andy a long story about someone he knew that visited Hollywood. Their brush with fame involved a celebrity's house, his newspaper on the lawn, and his maid coming out to ask them to leave. The whole gag is later re-enacted when Andy, Opie, and Aunt Bee visit Cesar Romero's home.

 

[Rodney]

Well, I just received my Andy Griffith Season Five (late ordering it), and I now am done with the series.
I wonder if the sales will drop with season 6 on? I don't like how Andy got so grumpy in the color eps. Plus too many Aunt Bee stories, like learning to fly a plane. Give me a break!

The Aunt Bee I like is the penny-pincher who won't "Call the Man", or is the Warden "Bloody Mary".

 

[Steve...O]

How sadly ironic is that Don Knotts passed away at approximately the same time his final season on TAGS got released??

RIP.

Steve

 

[Gary OS]

Very, very sad news indeed Steve. He was a fantastic actor that never failed to crack me up.

Gary "he will be missed" O.

 

[Greg_S_H]

I saw it in the store today with a big sticker on it that says, "Don Knotts Final Season." Seemed to mean more than intended today.

 

[Bryan Krantz]

Very sad news about Mr Knotts passing. I would have to agree with some other posters about the Andy Griffith show dying a slow death after his departure. I could never really watch the "color" episodes. Well, he did return for a guest spot in a later season so you could look forward to that.

 

[James@R]

Looks as though the entire series will be available by the year's end. Season 7 has just been announced for August 29th.

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=5648

 

[Jeff#]

The Andy Griffith Show was just fine with or without Barney, and Don Knotts actually returned in 2 episodes -- not just one. He also appeared in a final season (1967-68) show in which Barney hosted a summit meeting.

The only character that didn't work was Barney's first replacement Warren, played by comedian Jack Burns. Warren was just too bland, and he disappeared without fanfare at the end of the 6th season.

Goober, Emmett, Howard, Sam, and Millie were all likeable and that's why they and Aunt Bee moved onto the Mayberry, RFD spinoff.

 

[Gary OS]

Well, not that this discussion is anything new, because it's not, BUT - I have to disagree with that sentiment, Jeff. The show was not the same once Barney left, and it wasn't "just fine" for those 3 color seasons.

You got the description of Warren correct: He was bland as could be and that experiment failed miserably. But to say the other supporting cast helped fill the void in Barney's stead just doesn't hold water to me. Andy himself became a much less tolerant man those last three years. He was always gentle and good natured during Barney's run, but seemed to lose that side of himself after Don left. The show itself seemed to run out of ideas as well. I think the problem was that the first five years it wasn't about the situations, but the interaction of the characters with one another that made the show funny. And once Don left, a huge part of that interaction was gone and the show attempted to become a true "situation comedy", which it never was in the first 5 years.

I'll buy the remaining three seasons, if for no other reason than to support the franchise and see the final episode where Andy & Helen marry (Don is back for that one). And I've always enjoyed a couple of those color episodes, but for the most part the show so drastically changed and dropped in quality, that it's difficult to really get into it.

 

[Jeff#]

Well, I wasn't going to play the "color card", Gary, but as with all TV series that went through that period, The Andy Griffith Show looked a lot better in color. No problem with black & white here, but that's beside the point.

I didn't say that the supporting characters were a good replacement for Barney, because nobody could replace Barney. The reason being that Barney was nervous, yet overconfident. He had his own way of doing things that Andy had to put up with (and occasionally even support, so to not hurt Barney's feelings), particularly in regard to law enforcement techniques. Warren was the worst character because he was the only actual replacement, and it was too obvious and didn't work.

But the point is the other characters who joined the show before and after Barney's departure worked well on the show in their own right. It was the kind of ideal small town. I completely disagree that Andy Taylor changed after Barney left. His character was just as likeable in later seasons as he was in earlier ones. If anything he improved even during the first season, because Andy's speech patterns were more countrified in the very earliest episodes (Griffith originally played the character borderline-A Face in the Crowd / No Time for Sergeants). It was his show, and he saw to it that the writers matured the sheriff quickly, so he could contrast the comedy antics of Barney. Andy was always meant to be the straight man on his rural sitcom, but he still had his funny moments throughout.

Don Knotts got to play the same type of wacky comedy as Ralph Furley in a show he didn't quit : Three's Company, for the last 5 years of that series. And then in 1986 he played Barney Fife one last time, reuniting with much of the cast in "Return to Mayberry". If that wasn't enough, Don appeared as Matlock's neighbor Les Calhoun. I liked Don as a comedian, but he really didn't have that much range playing the same type of characters on TV. That goes back to his years on The Steve Allen Show in the 1950s.

 

[James@R]

Actually, that was the first episode of Mayberry RFD. There was a spin-off episode during TAGS, but it revolved around Ken Berry's character having trouble with some hired farm hands. Ironically, Andy and Helen getting married would've been the more logical way to end the series.

Anyway, I agree that the color seasons turned the show into a more traditional sitcom, but I'm not so sure Barney would've worked as well in this format. In the absence of all the brilliant character-driven humour, his act could've gotten old quickly- especially in comparison to the first five seasons. (He guest-starred in five episodes during the color seasons, and most of them did involve him simply repeating bits from his B/W years.)

Jack Burns' problem was that they essentially had him trying to play Barney Fife. (Personally, I always felt a similar way about Ken Berry's character trying to imitate Andy.) Once they stopped that approach, the show worked better as Barney's quirks were distributed among the remaining actors. For example, Howard would try to keep up with the times, while Goober would wreak havoc while Andy was sick, etc.

Overall, I think the change in tone helped the color seasons establish their own identity- moreso than if they had continued to try and imitate the previous seasons.