The show ended 17 years before I was even born. Yet through the beauty of syndication and a father who introduced me to what I consider to be one of the greatest television shows ever made, I got to know "The Andy Griffith Show". I have and I will continue to argue that good television is as educational of a tool as is anything else. A lot of valuable lessons, and how to react to them with good morals and values were taught on "The Andy Griffith Show". They weren't taught in condescending or judgmental ways, but instead through example. "The Andy Griffith Show" proved that television could truly be great and today I want to share with you some of my favorite episodes.
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| "Feud is a Feud" |
This is one of my favorite episodes because through an hilarious depiction, "Feud is a feud" tells the story of two families that have been feuding for as long as they can remember. The only problem is, they have no idea why they are feuding. They don't even know why they don't like each other, other than they are feuding. The episode is an illustration of how sometimes in life we can get so wound up over the silliest of things and how we sometimes allow bridges of friendships to be burned, because we're more worried about being right than we are about being happy. Sometimes in life you are better off to stay away from certain people and have nothing to do with them. However, other times in life, you're better off to let bygones be bygones, shake hands and be friends. Life's too short to be enemies with people who you'd be better off friends with. This episode illustrates that beautifully.
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| "Andy Discovers American" |
As an avid lover of history, how can I not love this episode. The boys at school think history is a real drag and they all do poorly on purpose. This bothers their teacher Ms. Krump as she confronts Andy about it and Andy acts very nonchalant in return. Upset, Ms. Krump gives Andy a tearful explanation of why history is important to us and why his nonchalant response is alarming. Andy realizes that she is right and gets the boys excited about learning history. I appreciate how in turn Andy realized that in order for the boys to care about history he had to make it exciting and relate to things that they liked. I never forgot that, and have to say that while I was student teaching, I totally stole the idea for a lesson I taught one day. It was the best student teaching day I had while at English Valley.
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| "Aunt Bee the Warden" |
I consider this to be probably the funniest episode of the series, and I mainly appreciate it because of that. However, there is also a valuable lesson to be learned from this episode as well. Otis Campbell is used to getting his own way, being waited on and having little to no discipline. At first Aunt Bee caters to him and lets him have his own way. After a while he begins to take it all for granted and finally Aunt Bee has had enough and she puts her foot down and begins to discipline him. She makes him do chores, clean up nice and even makes him vow to quit drinking. What's even cooler about this episode is that she is doing all of this to help make Otis a better person and at the end of the episode both he and the town's people go from looking at him as nothing more than a useless drunk, to someone they can be proud of.
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| "Barney and the Choir" |
I think we have all had talents in life that we do not possess that we wish we did. I can most certainly relate to this episode as I too wish I could sing, but I can't. Like Barney, there was a time when I thought that I could, but quickly discovered through the use of a recording device, that no, I could not. What I appreciate about this episode is just how naive Barney is to the fact that he sounds like a goat when he sings. It helps to make you realize that if you've ever had one of those days when you couldn't see whatever it was starring you straight in the face, you aren't alone. We all have those days.
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| "Barney's First Car" |
This episode I appreciate because it proves that even though people try and claim that things were so much better back in the day than what they are now, that sleazebuckets and slimeballs existed back then, the same way they do now. Barney is conned into buying a dud of a car by a wise swindler, and ends up getting screwed out of all of his money. What's even funnier is at the end of the episode when they catch the con artists, they try to sell Barney another car and he almost falls for it again. There are swindlers amongst us everyday and we need to watch out for them, or we too will be paying money for worthless things like a car that doesn't run.
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| "Barney's Physical" |
Exams are coming up, and Barney is worried that he won't pass the requirements for height and weight, and therefore not be allowed to be an officer anymore. He goes to extreme measures, including hanging himself to try and make himself taller, in order to make sure that he'll pass the exams. Andy and other folks in the town also go out of their way to do all they can to help Barney pass the exam. The magic of this episode is that it illustrates that if you truly want something so bad and you do all you can to achieve it, people will take notice of that. People will help you to succeed. While the other "requirements" are often needed, Heart is often the most important ingredient.
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| Citizen's Arrest |
Even today we have quite a few examples of those in authority taking advantage of their position and abusing their authority. In this episode Barney does just that by giving Gomer a ticket for breaking the law and then turning around and breaking the exact same law himself. Gomer points this out to Barney and places him under citizen's arrest. Barney learns that just because he's a police officer, it doesn't give him the right to break the law anymore than it does anyone else. While there are a lot of really good cops out there in this world, I know more than a handful that could stand to watch this episode.
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| "Bailey's Bad Boy" and "Man in a Hurry" |
I purposefully put these two episodes together because I think they both get across the same point. Both are about two people who are in a big hurry and have their priorities a bit out of whack. They both tell a simple story about simply taking the time to relax and appreciate the things in life that really matter like your friends and your family. It is also an early peak at a young Bill Bixby, who is one of my favorite actors.
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| "Mr. McBevee" |
Opie meets a mysterious man in the woods one day while playing and the man becomes his friend. Opie goes home to tell his father about him and Andy dismisses it as simply Opie's imagination. Yet when Opie insist that he is telling the truth, Andy punishes him for lying. Andy later discovers that Opie was indeed telling that truth and that this man really does exist. It's a complicated lesson because people often due lie about things but it is wise to never assume someone is lying until you know the facts. Accusing someone of lying when they are telling the truth is an awful offense and you learn that by watching this episode.
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| "Opie's Charity" |
Like "Mr. McBevee" this episode deals with the ugliness of assumption, only instead of thinking he is being lied to, Andy just assumes that he knows why Opie isn't giving to the local charity. Andy assumes it is because Opie is being selfish and wants to by himself a ticket to the movies or a new bicycle. In the end Andy comes to find out that Opie wants to by a jacket for a little girl in his class that can't afford one. Andy eats major crow realizing that while he thought his son was selfish, he actually turned out to be very selfless. I've seen one too many incidents where people don't understand the reasoning behind why people do something and rather than ask, they make up their own assumptions, which are often as far off from the truth as you can get. In the end Andy ask Opie, "Well, why didn't you tell me you were saving the money to buy her a jacket?" Opie responds, "You didn't ask".
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| "Opie the Birdman" |
Opie is out with his BB gun one day,when he shoots and kills a mother bird, leaving behind her babies. Opie feels awful about what he has done and decides to take care of the birds himself. What I learned about this episode was that in life when we mess up, we can either continue to beat ourselves up about what we did wrong, or we can choose to make up for it, by doing something good. Opie killed the mother bird, took responsibility for his actions and made sure that the baby birds were going to be taken care of. We need more of that in our educational system. Too much, "stand in the corner" and "Go to the principal" for what you did wrong and not enough, "FIX what you did wrong"
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| "The Pickle Story" |
Sometimes in life you are just better off telling someone the truth, even if it'll hurt their feelings than you are trying to hide if from them. Another extremely funny episode, this one teaches you exactly that.
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| "The Education of Ernest T Bass" |
We often overlook people and what they are and what they aren't capable of based on prerequisites and false pretenses. Few believe in Ernest T Bass's ability to get himself an education and through determination, hard work and the guidance of those who won't let him give up, he does exactly that. We have no right to tell anyone they can't do something before they've even attempted it. Sometimes, they'll even surprise us and do exactly that. If someone believes they have the ability to do something, I usually trust that that they will. Even if they don't, they at least tried and that's more than I can say for a lot of people.
What are your favorite Andy Griffith episodes?
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