"The Andy Griffith Show: Complete First Season" -- A Personal Review (1 Viewer)

[ChadP2k]

Well I've been a TAGS fan for years and can share a good wealth of background knowledge on this I've picked up over the years. You're both RIGHT and wrong. In the original opening credits Eleanor Donahue WAS credited and I think it was on-screen as well. However this practice of having names was not always followed. I have about 10 episodes of TAGS that came from original broadcast prints and several of them do NOT have any names, they just have the voiceovers. How all this mess came about goes something like this:

When the series was still running it went into re-runs with new credits that said "Andy of Mayberry" so those watching didn't mix new shows up with the re-runs. Back in the late 1980's and early '90's Viacom remastered TAGS on videotape for syndication, "chopping" out 3-4 minutes of footage to add room for commercials. When this was done it has been rumored that they just "slapped" the credits for one episode on an entire season, at least at the beginning. I've never heard of a firm explanation for this, but I"m betting some of the original opening credits were "lost" when the Andy of Mayberry re-runs were created.

Up until a year or so ago WFMY-TV (Greensboro) aired what I believe was the most complete version of TAGS available over the air. They signed on before the "syndication package" era so they received a full library of films, all 249 episodes. Rather than buy Viacom's new & improved "cut" video set they simply transferred their films to broadcast videotape themselves, then made their own edits. A person there once told me that Viacom hadn't handled the original negatives very well and that a great deal had been "lost".

As many of you know TV Land runs different than most channels in that they get uncut "master" tapes of shows from the distributors, then do their own "editing" to produce the version they air on their station. When they picked up TAGS in 2000 Viacom struck new 35mm prints for them & Columbia House to use. I've always maintained that they "reconstructed" the opening credits for these since the typestyle looked too "clean" and computer like for me.

My guess is that is what you're seeing on these DVDs.. I'll take a look tomorrow & see though, I didn't pay it any attention

 

[David Von Pein]

Thanks Chad.
Wow, what a boatload of Mayberry info there!
Thanks again.

(I, too, can recall watching TAGS in re-runs and hearing the familiar "voice-over", but not having ANY written titles/credits come up on the screen.)

 

[David Von Pein]

Came across this review on Amazon, from a person who (I'm guessing) would NOT get along too well with "purists" amongst us here at HTF (i.e. those of us who HATE with a passion ANY original TV or movie material that's been monkeyed around with, edited, or otherwise changed in some fashion).

This reviewer WANTS the "inconsistencies" in shows (like TAGS) to be digitally corrected just for continuity sake.

I say -- No way! This is utter nonsense! I hate this idea (not that any DVD company would actually go to the trouble of "correcting" Barney's middle initial/name, and other small errors -- even if they KNEW where to look for all of them, which they probably wouldn't in the first place).

The review in question..........

"Good show but very inconsistent, February 23, 2005 .... Reviewer: "Big D" (From: USA). ......

Barney Fife has three different middle names: P., Milton, and Oliver. Clara Edwards is also known as Clara Johnson. Goober Pyle was once Goober Beasley. Dozens of other inconsistencies abound. I'm saying that with all the digitilization on DVD today they should be able to edit so many of these innacuarcies out. Including the innacuaracy in the first ep or two when it's mentioned that Barney and Andy are cousins (a fact forgotten for nearly the rest of the show)."

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[/quote off]

Thankfully, only one out of eight people (to date) voted that awful review as "Helpful" to their needs. I, naturally, put in my "Not Helpful" vote on that review.

Changing any portions of the TAGS episodes (or any TV show or movie) from the way they originally aired is not something I'd ever want to see happen. (Inconsistencies or not.)

 

[Greg_S_H]

Well, he's not going to get his way, so don't worry about it.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

He needs to be able to handle inconsistencies.

"I Love Lucy" fans have known for years that Ethel had three different middle names at three different times: Roberta, Louise and Mae. It's just something you have to learn to live with.

About Barney being Andy's cousin, which was only mentioned in Barney's first episode -- it helps to explain why Andy hired, and put up with, such a bumbling deputy.

However, he can't be Andy's first cousin on his father's side; otherwise Aunt Bee would be his aunt, too, and they never even implied she was (it's irrelevant that he called her "Aunt Bee;" almost everyone did.)

So he's Andy's cousin on his mother's side, which means either that Andy's mother's maiden name was Fife, or that Andy's mother had a sister who married a man named Fife.

I need to get a life.

 

[David Von Pein]

Not quite (but close I think). The "cousins" reference was made in both the 1st and 2nd TAGS eps.

Episode 1 has Barney thanking "Cousin Andy" for hiring him.

While ep. #2 ("The Manhunt") has Andy saying to Barney (after Barney's frenetic "It's Big!" announcement of about a criminal heading Mayberry's way) -- "I never thought my own cousin could make such a fine deputy."

(I gotta get a life as well.)

 

[george kaplan]

Well all I can say, is that they'd better go back on Bewitched and digitally make sure it's the same actor for Darren throughout the entire series. And while they're at it, they should better fix The Godfather. DeNiro needs to replace all those scenes where they have Brando, cause it's just inconsistent with Part 2. And while we're at it, how about fixing all those Bond films. I mean Bond in Live & Let Die looks nothing like Bond in From Russia With Love or Goldeneye. The inconsistencies are just pathetic.

 

[David Von Pein]

And don't forget about the Dick Van Dyke Show continuity foibles -- like Laura's maiden name changing in mid-stream; and Rob's mother & father being played by two different sets of actors, et al, etc., and so on, and so forth....

It's ALWAYS something, ain't it??

To "Digitally Fix" every continuity mistake/flub in every show in existence just for the sake of doing so ..... would be ......

Dumb!

 

[Greg_S_H]

And they might as well remove Oliver from the last few episodes of the Brady Bunch! Hmm. I think even the purists might go along with that one!

Though, to be honest, I myself don't blame Oliver as much as the show simply being in decline at that point.

 

[AnnaMaria]

Yeah, lets get rid of Oliver.

And speaking of the Brady Bunch, that attic apparently grew taller since in an early season it was only 3 feet tall and Greg couldn't put a room up there, that's why he ended up in the den. So I guess Mike did some reno and they never told us.

And the Huxtable family had only four children but a fifth oldest child magically appeared.

And children from other tv shows disappeared without the family even noticing. Chuck from Happy Days, Judy from Family Matters, a couple of Torkelson children, Lucy's kids, Doris Day's kids. It's scary to think about where those children all went.

And then there were those odd children that grew five years while the other people only aged one year. Growing Pains, Fresh Prince and Family Ties all had these twilight zone events. Or maybe it's Children of the Corn.

We won't even think about the plastic surgery that Becky Conner must have gone through and then went through again. Or the fact that Aunt Vivian from Fresh Prince shrunk several inches. Or that Joey Tribiani's sisters have had first name changes.

Yeah, all these things have got to be fixed. They're really bugging me.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

Leave It to Beaver fooled around with Wally and Beaver's ages the last year of the series.

The fifth season, Beaver was in sixth grade. The next year, he was in eighth grade, and graduating elementary school when Wally graduated high school.

Now, we know Beaver didn't skip a grade because he was smart. If anything, it's a miracle he wasn't held back a few years.

But Wally shouldn't have been graduating from high school that year, anyway -- the year before he was a senior in high school, and the sixth season he still was!

Again, Wally would be the last guy to flunk and be held back. So, they kept him there so the show could go on without him going off to college.

And I repeat -- I better get a life, and soon!

 

[David Lambert]

Don't forget to eliminate "Chuck" from the Cunningham clan! :rolleyes

 

[george kaplan]

No, no, no! You don't eliminate him, you digitally add him to all the later seasons.

 

[David Lambert]

My mistake!

 

[David Von Pein]

The May 24th release of "Andy Season 2" will be a 5-Disc set. I'm just wondering why -- when S.1 (which has one MORE ep.) is only 4 discs?

I guess this increased # of platters should = even BETTER PQ for S.2 -- because the S.2 set will no doubt have the 31 episodes divided up with just 6 programs per disc (except for 7 eps. on one disc).

This is opposed to the 8 shows per disc for Season 1.

Or -- Could it mean that "extras features" have been incorporated into the S.2 set? Guess we'll see pretty soon.

Plus -- An avid TAGS fans @ DVDTalk has reported this info (but I don't recall seeing this specific data @ TVSoDVD however)........

>> "Paramount has also announced that it plans to release the Complete Third Season of Andy Griffith this fall and the Complete Fourth Season before the end of the year. Tentative dates for the those releases likely will be announced before Memorial Day."

 

[Gary OS]

Well David VP, if the TAGS scheduling info you quote from a fan at the DVDTalk website is correct, I'll be happy. I can definitely live with that type of output for the show!!

Gary "at least it looks like Paramount is committed to getting TAGS out in somewhat of a fast-tracked way - and that is great news" O.

 

[David Von Pein]

Note re. "TAGS" Season 2............

We'll be getting at least a few token "extras" on TAGS-S.2 -- "Original Sponsor Spots".

I'm assuming these will be the "Sanka" coffee ads (and maybe a "Grape Nuts" commercial or two).

I have several original 'TAGS' commercials on VHS tape, including one that we might be seeing via the Season-Two set -- a 'Sanka' ad with Andy, Opie, and Aunt Bee. Andy was a very good pitch-man. He talks about Sanka Coffee "In the nice-to-hold new jar -- ain't it pretty?!"

Also -- I'm confused as to the disc count for TAGS-2. Amazon shows just a "3-Disc" set; whereas DVD Planet has it as 5 platters. Surely, 3 can't be right. S.1 has 4 discs, and it has just one more episode than does S.2. (I hope these won't be dual-sided discs. According to DVD Empire, the discs are 1-sided. But they also claim they're "Single-Layered", too; which I doubt. So, who knows? We'll find out soon enough I guess. )

Anyway, here's the back cover..........

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

It is a 5 disc set. It comes in 2 double thin paks and one single. The discs are single sided.

The sponsor spots are great. I never knew Post Toasties were so goo-ood.

My review of the set will be up next week, but there is nothing to be concerned about with this set. Paramount has done another great job.

 

[David Von Pein]

Ahh....that explains the discrepancies on-line. 5 discs; but only 3 'cases'.

Thanks, Jeff U.