Favorite Episodes: Kerosene Cucumbers, Anyone?

[Maherjunkie]

That and buying the car are my top three!

[AliShibaz]

I liked the one where Andy is invited to join a men's club and Barney figures that means he is also invited.

But when the snobby men decide to ask Andy to join but not Barney, Andy declines and Barney decides that if they don't want his pal Andy, he won't join.

It was one of the most perfect and definitive episodes that defined the relationship between Andy & Barney.

Also, I think it's only fair to say it's wrong to label these men as "snobs". After all, if you were a member of a club, would you want Barney to join? Neither would I. Well, maybe that means we are indeed snobs. If so, what a wonderful way to make us take a good look at our true natures.

On 2015-10-07 at 1:21 AM, bubbls said:

My top two favorite episodes are "Kerosene Pickles" and the one where Barney wants to sing in the choir but can't carry a tune. Andy naturally doesn't want to hurt his feelings so he conjures up the idea to train Barney to sing quieter and quieter until all Barney is doing is mouthing the words. Then during the big show they have an elderly gentleman who can really sing do the singing as Barney is mouthing the words. Barney is, of course, clueless about it all. The look on Barney's face when he opens his mouth and that voice comes out is hilarious. I laugh and laugh and laugh every time I see it. I'm laughing now.

Yes indeed. Watching Barney sing into a "super sensitive microphone" was one of the very best moments in TV history. I loved it.

[TheLastKidPicked]

It's a tradition every Christmas to watch the episode with grouchy old Ben, the store owner.  If you remember it, Ben tries to ruin Christmas for everybody by insisting that Andy lock up a man with a young family on Christmas day.

Ben keeps poking around to make sure that the man really is in jail and sees that Andy, Aunt Bea, Opie, and the man's family are in the courthouse celebrating Christmas.  The old man keeps causing trouble and finally Andy says,  "Ben, if I didn't know any better I'd think you were trying to get locked up!"  And he hears the happy sounds and laughter from inside the courthouse.  Then it dawns on him that Ben is alone, but would never accept an invitation to go inside the courthouse to celebrate so Andy arrests him to get him inside.

Ben insists that he has a right to go to his store for personal items before being locked up.  When he and Andy get back, Ben has brought gifts for everyone involved.

Like most things, this sounds overly mushy and contrived when you read it, but the show really pulled it off.  They did such a good job that every year when we watch, it changes my perception of some of the grouchy old people in my town.

Edited December 20, 2016 by TheLastKidPicked

[chessiegal]

20 minutes ago, TheLastKidPicked said:

It's a tradition every Christmas to watch the episode with grouchy old Ben, the store owner.  If you remember it, Ben tries to ruin Christmas for everybody by insisting that Andy lock up a man with a young family on Christmas day.

Ben keeps poking around to make sure that the man really is in jail and sees that Andy, Aunt Bea, Opie, and the man's family are in the courthouse celebrating Christmas.  The old man keeps causing trouble and finally Andy says,  "Ben, if I didn't know any better I'd think you were trying to get locked up!"  And he hears the happy sounds and laughter from inside the courthouse.  Then it dawns on him that Ben is alone, but would never accept an invitation to go inside the courthouse to celebrate so Andy arrests him to get him inside.

Ben insists that he has a right to go to his store for personal items before being locked up.  When he and Andy get back, Ben has brought gifts for everyone involved.

Like most things, this sounds overly mushy and contrived when you read it, but the show really pulled it off.  They did such a good job that every year when we watch, it changes my perception of some of the grouchy old people in my town.

Oh,  I agree. So well done.

[CarolinaPam]

Love that episode.  TAGS is my all-time favorite show.

[HyeChaps]

Remember William Christopher played a doctor on TAGS

[TheLastKidPicked]

On 1/1/2017 at 5:44 PM, HyeChaps said:

Remember William Christopher played a doctor on TAGS

Of Course!  He was so young in that episode.  Still had the same exact voice as he did in MASH, though.

[Maherjunkie]

Does anyone find Thelma Lou rather manipulative on several eps?

[TheLastKidPicked]

On 1/3/2017 at 3:32 PM, Maherjunkie said:

 

Does anyone find Thelma Lou rather manipulative on several eps?

 

I agree with you, and I know they play it for laughs but this is one of the few things I don't like about the show.  They seem to portray women as needing to be manipulative in order to get what they want.

A sign of the times, I guess. . . 

[Browncoat]

And Helen was a shrew.  I don't know how Andy could stand her.  Especially since she couldn't cook a leg of lamb -- Andy's favorite dish.

[Maherjunkie]

And a thief, I thought.

[oceanblue]

OK you've got to explain why you think Helen was a thief.  I think she and Andy must have had bad sex.  

[Maherjunkie]

I thought it came out as an arrest in one of the color episodes.  Please correct if needed.

[HyeChaps]

I think it had something to do with when she was working as a journalist. 

[Miss Chevious]

The episode is "Helen's Past". She was arrested for having a gun in her purse while she was in an illegal gambling casino. And accompanied by some hoodlum gangster.

It sounded so shady but Helen beat the rap. The reason being she was writing her master's thesis on organized crime. 

Of course we knew Helen had to be squeaky clean, she couldn't live in Mayberry otherwise.

[TheLastKidPicked]

On 2/5/2017 at 6:53 PM, Miss Chevious said:

Of course we knew Helen had to be squeaky clean, she couldn't live in Mayberry otherwise.

And you bring out one thing that occasionally takes me out of the show.  Everybody is so wholesome and squeaky clean, and that is why I enjoy watching it to get my mind off real life.  But I can't help sometimes thinking, 

"Where are the people who are divorced?  Where are the people of color?  Where are the people who have disabilities?"

And does being wholesome mean that those people don't exist?

[Maverick]

 There was the guy who left his wife and she pretended he died rather than admit he walked out on her, Otis and his alcoholism and we know from Opie's Newspaper that not everyone was so pure.  I know we saw black people living in town in Mayberry RFD, but I don't think we saw anyone in TAGS (maybe a once at Opie's school dance in the later years?).  

[GHScorpiosRule]

20 minutes ago, Maverick said:

 There was the guy who left his wife and she pretended he died rather than admit he walked out on her, Otis and his alcoholism and we know from Opie's Newspaper that not everyone was so pure.  I know we saw black people living in town in Mayberry RFD, but I don't think we saw anyone in TAGS (maybe a once at Opie's school dance in the later years?).  

Yup, that was in "Opie's Charity," one of the funniest episodes of the first season! When Andy was trying to explain charity and ratios of "boyaz" and Opie was all "Poor Horatio"???

We had the mean old store owner around Christmas time; same actor played a mean old landlord who evicted this young couple.  And how can we forget about that couple that just loved to fight? And Andy had to become counselor and teach them to say "Mornin' Honey," and "Mornin' DEAR!" ???We had that one coot who didn't want his daughter wearin' make-up and treated her like a son...And the town showed how judgmental they all were when that one guy came from out of town, and knew everyone's names and where everything was because he read about Mayberry in the newspaper. Instead, they wanted to railroad him out of town.

Edited July 6, 2017 by GHScorpiosRule

[oceanblue]

Well that guy was creepy.

[TheLastKidPicked]

On 7/5/2017 at 7:44 PM, GHScorpiosRule said:

.And the town showed how judgmental they all were when that one guy came from out of town, and knew everyone's names and where everything was because he read about Mayberry in the newspaper. Instead, they wanted to railroad him out of town.

 

On 7/19/2017 at 1:30 PM, oceanblue said:

Well that guy was creepy.

Okay, its time for a confession from your old buddy, the Lastkidpicked.

I stumbled across the online newspaper for a small town about an hour from me.   The front page was talking about a big controversy and I was curious as to how it all started so I clicked on the prior week's newspaper.

Then it got more interesting so I clicked on the week's newspaper prior to that one.

Then I clicked on the week's newspaper prior to THAT one.  And after a while, I'd read about six editions of the small town newspaper.

Funny thing is when you see the same business name over and over, then see the same people's name over and over you feel like you know them.

Fast forward a couple of months.  I'm driving home from the airport, in no hurry, and thinking of where to eat lunch.  I remember the small town and actually drive pretty far out of my way to eat at the diner I'd seen mentioned several times in the small town newspaper.  Yup!  The diner was exactly what I expected.  Out the window of the diner I could see the town hall.  Yup!  That's where the meetings and arguing had been taking place.

The town cop drove by and I thought,  "Yup!  There's only 3 cops in this town.  I bet if he got out of his car I would know his name just from reading the back issues of the small town newspaper".

So I can completely understand this guy reading the Mayberry Gazette and deciding to come check it out.

[cooksdelight]

Living in NC, in a small town that is very much like Mayberry, this is one show I can watch over and over. I know most of the dialogue by heart.

Favorite episodes, in no particular order:

My Fair Ernest T Bass, where Andy tries to pass him off as his cousin at Mrs. Wiley’s mixer. A little trivia for you.... Romona’s last name in this episode was Ankrim, her father owned the Ankrim Charcoal Company. Next time Ernest T comes to town, he’s still pining for Romona Wiley, who he refers to as “Romeena”.   In an earlier episode, the class reunion, Romona Wiley comes to the reunion with her husband, Harry Becktorres, and Romona was Barney’s high school crush. 

They interchanged names a LOT on this show, but I imagine they are people Andy knew when he grew up here.

Opie the Birdman, where he takes care of Winkin’, Blinkin’ and Nod after he shoots their mother with his slingshot.

Any episode where Barney gets drunk.... when Jubel Foster burns down his own barn and Barney accidentally drinks the moonshine. Barney also got sloshed when his landlady threw him out for cooking in his room. The cider had turned hard.

Mr. McBeevy, and  I loved how no one would believe Opie, but his father told him he believed him because he said “Sometimes I’ve asked him to believe things that seemed pert near impossible.”

The Haunted House.... Gomer and Barney were great in this episode. 

Another episode that I think gets overlooked a lot is the one with Don Rickles playing a traveling salesman. When he and Barney are playing off each other, it’s superb comedy timing.

The Darlings and Ernest T Bass, yelling “stop that weddin!!!” And throwing rocks everywhere... it was his first appearance as Ernest T. He earlier appeared as George, a TV repairman who was going to fix Helen’s TV while she and Andy were trying to get some alone time at the lake.

Edited October 12, 2017 by cooksdelight

[cooksdelight]

Barney And the Choir was on just now. Wearing his salt & pepper, singing his heart out. LOL

[ButterQueen]

On 1/25/2017 at 7:59 PM, Browncoat said:

And Helen was a shrew.  I don't know how Andy could stand her.  Especially since she couldn't cook a leg of lamb -- Andy's favorite dish.

Helen was a shrew because she couldn't cook a leg of lamb?  

[Browncoat]

9 hours ago, ButterQueen said:

Helen was a shrew because she couldn't cook a leg of lamb?

Nope.  She was a shrew AND she couldn't cook a leg of lamb.  Even if she could cook a leg of lamb (Andy's favorite dish), she'd still be a shrew.

[cooksdelight]

She was overly jealous, of any woman that Andy even talked to. Very insecure and yes... a shrew!

[ButterQueen]

On 1/25/2017 at 7:59 PM, Browncoat said:

And Helen was a shrew.  I don't know how Andy could stand her.  Especially since she couldn't cook a leg of lamb -- Andy's favorite dish.

Never saw her as a shrew at all.

[cooksdelight]

I was watching “Aunt Bee The Warden” the other day, one of my top 10... and Otis is singing one of his drunken songs, The Dipsy Doodle.

Here it is, complete with dancing. The young lady with the microphone sings the lyrics we’ve all heard... without the staggering. :)

 

[BlazingBloomers]

I think my favorite episode is the one where Opie raises the baby birds after accidentally killing their mother.  It's not funny at all but I love the ending. I think of it every time I find myself in a "glass half empty" frame of mind.

Opie releases the now-grown birds and sadly says that the cage is so empty and Andy says, "yes, but don't the trees look full".

[Maherjunkie]

I thought Andy was an ass in that episode.  Opie clearly knew he did wrong, was crying his eyes out, and Andy still guilts him.

[cooksdelight]

Speaking of the title of this thread, “Kerosene Cucumbers”..... it was a county fair. Opie was wearing a suit!!! What kid wears a suit to a county fair?

[Maherjunkie]

The kind that has to pretend to be supportive of one the most annoying relatives in tv history.

[Browncoat]

Maybe that one was just a straight-up agricultural fair and not the carnival-type fair shown in other episodes?  I don't know -- I'm making it up!

[cooksdelight]

They showed a ferris wheel and stuff when the contest began. Opie was just dressed weird, and his friends would have teased him.

[Browncoat]

Ooops, I forgot those!  It's been a while since I've seen that episode.  Then I got nuthin'.

[cooksdelight]

The one thing I laugh about the most is Andy’s pants. When he gets out of the car to walk into the courthouse, his boots are showing as his pant legs are hung up on them. Then when you see him walking inside, the pants are neat and straight again.

My dad wore those same kind of boots, must have been popular during that time.

[TheLastKidPicked]

On 5/20/2018 at 12:04 PM, cooksdelight said:

The one thing I laugh about the most is Andy’s pants. When he gets out of the car to walk into the courthouse, his boots are showing as his pant legs are hung up on them. Then when you see him walking inside, the pants are neat and straight again.

My dad wore those same kind of boots, must have been popular during that time.

And even when the pantlegs are straight, they always seem to short.   Like when a kid outgrows his jeans and has "highwaters".

[Browncoat]

I'm watching the "Citizen's Arrest" one now (sorry -- I don't know the actual episode title), and it always makes me laugh so hard -- "Barney's in jail!  Barney's in jail!"

But it starts out with Andy finding some document indicating that he'd hired Barney 10 years prior.  There's another episode, maybe the next season, in which they have a 5-year party for Barney (the one where he also has to pass a physical and be a certain height and weight).  So, how long was Barney on the force?

Yeah, continuity was not a strong suit for this show, but I love it anyway.

[cooksdelight]

“Citizen’s Arrest” is the episode title. :)

Watching an episode today where an escaped prisoner was in their midst, Barney is referred to as Andy’s cousin. 

In the book “Andy & Don”, Don and his wife were playing bridge at the home of Pat Harrington and his wife. Harrington (later known for One Day At A Time) and Don had been on The Danny Thomas Show and struck up a friendship, and it had just been cancelled, so they decided to watch the last episode. There was Andy, as a sheriff in a small town, arresting Danny for speeding. Don didn’t say anything.... he had an idea. He knew Andy from Broadway and the film “No Time For Sergeants.” He called Andy the next day and said, “Listen, don’t you think Sheriff Andy Taylor really ought to have a deputy?” 

The rest is history. :)

[Browncoat]

41 minutes ago, cooksdelight said:

“Citizen’s Arrest” is the episode title. :)

That just makes way yonder too much sense!  LOL

[HyeChaps]

With regard to the pickles—why did they have to eat them all anyway?  Couldn’t they just put the pickles in a bag and drive them to the dump in the middle of the night?

[cooksdelight]

If they did that, they’d all disappear at once and Aunt Bee would have figured it out. Plus.... we get to see their expressions and without that, the episode would have been a dud. LOL!! 

[HyeChaps]

I think about tv plots too much. 

[cooksdelight]

The thing that I over-examine with this show is the continuity, the same people playing different characters, names changing on the fly.

The actress who played Barney’s voice coach, Eleanora Poltice.... played Big Maude, the ringleader of the three escaped convicts who took over the cabin and held Floyd and “Al” hostage. The convict with the short cut blonde hair, the one who hated men..... one of the Fun Girls.

[Browncoat]

Ernest T. Bass played several different characters, too, and the Army recruiter in one of Ernest’s episodes played so many different people, I can’t even remember tham all.  

[cooksdelight]

Allan Melvin, he was also Charlie Hacker on Gomer Pyle USMC

- Howard's Main Event (1967) ... Clyde Plaunt

- Barney's Uniform (1964) ... Fred Plummer

- Andy's Vacation (1964) ... Escaped Prisoner

- Ernest T. Bass Joins the Army (1963) ... Recruiting Sergeant

- Barney's First Car (1963) ... Jake, Myrt's Accomplice

- Lawman Barney (1962) ... Neal

- Andy and Barney in the Big City (1962) ... Hotel Detective Bardoli

- Jailbreak (1962) ... Clarence 'Doc' Malloy

[Browncoat]

3 hours ago, cooksdelight said:

Allan Melvin, he was also Charlie Hacker on Gomer Pyle USMC

I thought he was on Gomer Pyle, too, but since I couldn't remember his name, I couldn't look him up!  He might not ever have had a real breakout role, but he certainly seemed to be an in-demand character actor.  Looking him up now, I see he was Drooper from the Banana Splits!  I had no idea.  But now I'll have the Banana Splits theme song in my head the rest of the day.

[cooksdelight]

Both he and Howard Morris (Ernest T) did a lot of cartoon voices. And you’ll see Morris’ name as director on some of the Andy Griffith episodes. Also Richard Crenna directed some episodes.

[curbcrusher]

15 hours ago, cooksdelight said:

The thing that I over-examine with this show is the continuity, the same people playing different characters, names changing on the fly.

This is actually something I miss. These people are actors, and they take on roles. I miss the 60's, 70's shows when you'd would see the actors take on different roles. It seems like we've gotten to the point where once a person plays a roll, their stuck as that character, or they can't be replaced because the audience has merged the actor and the character.

Buddy Epsen was a hobo in Mayberry before he found that Texas Tea and moved to Beverly.

[cooksdelight]

I guess it’s the distinct actors who stand out from the crowd that bother me. Rance Howard played several roles on the show but he blended in. The woman who played Lydia, the girl who was allergic or car sick or whatever.... she also played the mayor’s daughter and sang... so she stood out as someone who wasn’t who she was supposed to be (in my eyes). 

Allan Melvin was so distinct, and usually a crook, that seemed like poor casting

Again, just my opinion, if someone is that good of an actor, give them a regular recurring role as the same character. Like the various mayors. 

[cooksdelight]

Oh geez, just discovered something else about Andy. “Seeing Nellie Home” must be his favorite song to sing to impress women.

He sang it with Ellie, Barney & Thelma Lou.... and also the three of them with the blonde nurse who always wore a barrette way down on her hair. I cannot remember the actress’ name.