ON THIS DATE (54 YEARS AGO) October 3, 1960 - The Andy Griffith Show, starring Griffith, Don Knotts, Ronny Howard, and Frances Bavier, began the first of its eight seasons on CBS-TV. The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960, and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays the widowed sheriff of the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina. His life is complicated by an inept, but well-meaning deputy, Barney Fife (Don Knotts), a spinster aunt and housekeeper, Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier), and a young son, Opie (Ron Howard). Local neer-do-wells, bumbling pals, and temperamental girlfriends further complicate his life. Andy Griffith stated in a Today Show interview, with respect to the time period of the show: 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 and ended its final season at number one. It has been ranked by TV Guide as the 9th-best show in television history. Though neither Griffith nor the show won awards during its eight-season run, series co-stars Knotts and Bavier accumulated a combined total of six Emmy Awards. The show, a semi-spin-off from an episode of The Danny Thomas Show titled Danny Meets Andy Griffith, spawned its own spin-off series, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. (1964), a sequel series, Mayberry R.F.D. (1968), and a reunion telemovie, Return to Mayberry (1986). Andy Griffith The Andy Griffith Show
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 17:20:01 +0000