The New Andy Griffith Show
Encyclopedia
The New Andy Griffith Show is an American situation comedy
broadcast in the United States by the CBS
television network
in 1971.
had left his first sitcom, The Andy Griffith Show
, voluntarily after the 1967-68 season
while it was still number one in the Nielsen ratings
and despite a high-dollar offer from CBS to continue it, in order to pursue his other interests, singing and motion picture acting, and to prevent his being typecast
solely as a rural Southern
sheriff
.
When he decided to return to network television two years later, in the fall of 1970, it was in Headmaster
, a drama, in which he played the headmaster of an exclusive California
private school
. When that program very quickly sank in the ratings, Griffith replaced it immediately with this one, which was much closer in tone and content to his earlier, more successful role, and this program replaced Headmaster on the CBS Friday night schedule effective January 8, 1971.
Andy Sawyer was the model family man, always agreeable and understanding, spending lots of quality time with his children.
Dressed in a humble yellow ochre vest, white shirt and gray slacks, Andy Sawyer was much simpler and more deferential than Andy Taylor ever was; often the lines they gave Andy to mouth would have been more appropriate coming from Goober Pyle.
Lee Meriwether was cast as Andy's wife. Meriwether was already well-known to TV audiences as a former Miss America who went on to play Catwoman in the Batman movie and Dr. Ann MacGregor on Time Tunnel from 1966-67. Meriwether had also starred with Andy Griffith, in the unsuccessful 1969 theatrical film Angel in My Pocket
.
Marty McCall and Lori Rutherford were seen as his children, T.J. and Lori, there was a live-in relative - Lee's sister Nora, played by Ann Morgan Guilbert
(Millie Helper on The Dick Van Dyke Show
and Yetta on The Nanny
). Instead of matronly and supportive like Aunt Bee, Nora was constantly complaining, neurotic, meddling and superstitious.
Rotund country comic Glen Ash was cast as town councilman Buff McKnight. Don Knotts
discovered Ash, introducing him to TV audiences when he hosted The Hollywood Palace in 1968. As a result, Ash made the rounds on The Leslie Uggams Show
, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
, Mayberry RFD, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour
, Petticoat Junction
and others during the 1969-70 season.
Headmaster during the summer instead.
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
broadcast in the United States by the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
television network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
in 1971.
History
Actor Andy GriffithAndy Griffith
Andy Samuel Griffith is an American actor, director, producer, Grammy Award-winning Southern-gospel singer, and writer. He gained prominence in the starring role in director Elia Kazan's epic film A Face in the Crowd before he became better known for his television roles, playing the lead...
had left his first sitcom, The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960, and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff in the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina...
, voluntarily after the 1967-68 season
1967-68 United States network television schedule
This was the television schedule on all three networks for the fall season beginning in September 1967. All times are Eastern and Pacific.New fall series are highlighted in bold....
while it was still number one in the Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
and despite a high-dollar offer from CBS to continue it, in order to pursue his other interests, singing and motion picture acting, and to prevent his being typecast
Typecasting (acting)
In TV, film, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character; one or more particular roles; or, characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ethnic groups...
solely as a rural Southern
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
.
When he decided to return to network television two years later, in the fall of 1970, it was in Headmaster
The Headmaster (TV series)
Headmaster is a half-hour television comedy-drama starring Andy Griffith and broadcast by CBS in the United States during the 1970-71 season....
, a drama, in which he played the headmaster of an exclusive California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
private school
Private school
Private schools, also known as independent schools or nonstate schools, are not administered by local, state or national governments; thus, they retain the right to select their students and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students' tuition, rather than relying on mandatory...
. When that program very quickly sank in the ratings, Griffith replaced it immediately with this one, which was much closer in tone and content to his earlier, more successful role, and this program replaced Headmaster on the CBS Friday night schedule effective January 8, 1971.
Synopsis
This time the setting was a mid-sized North Carolina town called Greenwood (pop. 12,785, ten times the number of people that lived in Mayberry), with Griffith portraying Andy Sawyer, a returning hometown boy who instantly becomes the town's new Mayor Pro-tem.Andy Sawyer was the model family man, always agreeable and understanding, spending lots of quality time with his children.
Dressed in a humble yellow ochre vest, white shirt and gray slacks, Andy Sawyer was much simpler and more deferential than Andy Taylor ever was; often the lines they gave Andy to mouth would have been more appropriate coming from Goober Pyle.
Lee Meriwether was cast as Andy's wife. Meriwether was already well-known to TV audiences as a former Miss America who went on to play Catwoman in the Batman movie and Dr. Ann MacGregor on Time Tunnel from 1966-67. Meriwether had also starred with Andy Griffith, in the unsuccessful 1969 theatrical film Angel in My Pocket
Angel in my Pocket
Angel in my Pocket is a 1969 film starring Andy Griffith and directed by Alan Rafkin. The movie was one of three originally planned by Universal Pictures to star Griffith, and also featured Lee Meriwether, Jerry Van Dyke, Kay Medford, Henry Jones, Edgar Buchanan, and Gary Collins. This film has...
.
Marty McCall and Lori Rutherford were seen as his children, T.J. and Lori, there was a live-in relative - Lee's sister Nora, played by Ann Morgan Guilbert
Ann Morgan Guilbert
Ann Morgan Guilbert , sometimes credited as Ann Guilbert, is an American actress, who played the neighbor Millie Helper in 61 episodes of the early 1960s’ sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show, and later Yetta Rosenberg, Fran Fine’s doddering grandmother, in 56 episodes of the 1990s’ sitcom The Nanny...
(Millie Helper on The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Dick Van Dyke Show is an American television sitcom that initially aired on the Columbia Broadcasting System from October 3, 1961, until June 1, 1966. The show was created by Carl Reiner and starred Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore. It was produced by Reiner with Bill Persky and Sam Denoff....
and Yetta on The Nanny
The Nanny
Nanny may refer to:* Nanny, a child's caregiver* A grandmother * A Cajun word for godmother * A female goat* Nanny , a 1981–83 British drama series starring Wendy Craig* Nanny of the Maroons...
). Instead of matronly and supportive like Aunt Bee, Nora was constantly complaining, neurotic, meddling and superstitious.
Rotund country comic Glen Ash was cast as town councilman Buff McKnight. Don Knotts
Don Knotts
Jesse Donald "Don" Knotts was an American comedic actor best known for his portrayal of Barney Fife on the 1960s television sitcom The Andy Griffith Show, a role which earned him five Emmy Awards...
discovered Ash, introducing him to TV audiences when he hosted The Hollywood Palace in 1968. As a result, Ash made the rounds on The Leslie Uggams Show
The Leslie Uggams Show
The Leslie Uggams Show is an American variety television series starring actress/singer Leslie Uggams. The series aired on CBS as part of its 1969 fall lineup, and was the second variety series to feature an African American host since 1956's The Nat King Cole Show.-Synopsis:The Leslie Uggams Show...
, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.The show renders the title as Gomer Pyle - USMC. is an American situation comedy that originally aired on CBS from September 25, 1964, to May 2, 1969. The series was a spinoff of The Andy Griffith Show, and the pilot was aired as the finale of the fourth season of The Andy...
, Mayberry RFD, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour
The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour
The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour was an American network television music and comedy variety show hosted by singer Glen Campbell from January 1969 through June 1972 on CBS. He was offered the show after he hosted a 1968 summer replacement for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour...
, Petticoat Junction
Petticoat Junction
Petticoat Junction is an American situation comedy produced by Filmways which originally aired on CBS from 1963 to 1970. The series is one of three interrelated shows about rural characters created by Paul Henning; the others are The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres.The setting for the series...
and others during the 1969-70 season.
Reception
Despite a successful premiere, and its greater similarity to his earlier, successful role and series, The New Andy Griffith Show was little more successful than Headmaster had been. In fact, after 10 first-run episodes of The New Andy Griffith Show had been exhausted (the last first-run episode airing March 12, 1971, with repeats through May 21, 1971), CBS chose to rerunRerun
A rerun or repeat is a re-airing of an episode of a radio or television broadcast. The invention of the rerun is generally credited to Desi Arnaz. There are two types of reruns—those that occur during a hiatus, and those that occur when a program is syndicated. Reruns can also be, as the...
Headmaster during the summer instead.
Episode list
| Episode # | Episode title | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 1-1 | "My Friend, the Mayor" (pilot) | January 8, 1971 |
| 1-2 | "Get Me Glen Campbell" | January 15, 1971 |
| 1-3 | "Berries, T.J. and the Law" | January 22, 1971 |
| 1-4 | "Town Square" | January 29, 1971 |
| 1-5 | "Nearly Nuptials For Nora" | February 5, 1971 |
| 1-6 | "Otis Burfoot Is A Hundred Years Old" | February 12, 1971 |
| 1-7 | "Big Noise, Small Claims" | February 19, 1971 |
| 1-8 | "The Connection" | February 26, 1971 |
| 1-9 | "The Millionth Vistor Is A Bum- Or Is He?" | March 5, 1971 |
| 1-10 | "A Visit From Cousin Billy Jim" | March 12, 1971 |