Favorite Episodes: Kerosene Cucumbers, Anyone?

[SunShine Gal]

Figured I'd start a thread about favorite episodes. When I think about a certain story, it gets me talking about it with enthusiasm all over again.

The Pickle Story is my favorite. On the surface it seems like a simple story, but it's really complex. It starts out when Andy and Barney are trying to find a solution to not having to eat bad home-made pickles. The story becomes increasingly complex.

They don't want to hurt Aunt Bee's feelings. They don't want to eat the bad home-made pickles. Their solution is to switch them. HOW to do that. Everyone loves the new pickles, but Aunt Bee wants to enter them at the fair. Andy figures it wouldn't hurt if Aunt Bee won a ribbon for them. UNTIL, he meets Clara and her album of prized ribbons for her pickles.

Suddenly, Andy's got all these problems he's got to solve. He's got Aunt Bee's feelings, and Clara's feelings to consider. He doesn't want to hurt either of them. He's got to figure out what to do AGAIN. I love it when Andy, Barney and Opie are stuffing themselves eating up those pickles so Aunt Bee has to make another batch.

The writing in this episode was especially good. It focused on 1 simple idea. Went all around it from different angles and thought about the consequences. It seems the actors and the writers all had fun with it. No car chases. No women dressed like hookers. No one is shot or stabbed. No one was hurt physically or emotionally. Except for a few sour stomachs by Andy, Barney and Opie.

This was good story telling.

Edited April 22, 2014 by SunShine Gal

[GrtGzu]

For me it was Citizen's Ar-rest, Citizens Ar-rest!! and the one with Gomer and Mary Grace....

[JudyObscure]

This is a hard question for me because I'm a huge fan and think it was one of the best sit-coms of all time.  I have about twenty, "favorite" episodes including the three already named. 

 

For the moment, I'm thinking of "Barney's New Car."   Barney had a chance to use all his skills; excited about buying the car, naïve and too trusting with the woman who sold it to him, swaggering after he bought it, dejected when it broke down and Barney the Super Cop catching the stolen car ring.  Plus he gets to duck walk which always cracked me up. Big extra points go to Thelma Lou for her hilarious screaming reaction  when the steering column slides up.

[blubld43]

Any episodes with the fun girls!

Also the one where Aunt Be a busy a cheap side of beef, the freezer breaks, and she and Opie go thru town with the meat in a wagon.

[SunShine Gal]

"Call the man." "Call the man." "Just call the man!"

[Oosala]

All good episodes but the all-time best has got to be Mr. McBeevee.  "He walks around in the trees."  And Opie insists that Mr. McBeevee is real but nobody believes him and then Andy believes him.  I always tear up at that.

 

Another favorite is A Medal for Opie.  Opie enters a race in Mayberry and he "trains" for the race with Barbey.  Stupid Barney convinces Opie he will win but - no - he comes in last.  Opie is a sore loser and learns a lesson about that.  I also tear up while watching that one.

 

I never liked the Ernest T Bass episodes or the Darlings. 

[NausetGirl]

I loved anything with Ernest T Bass.  "... I am not a creetch-ter!!!...  I loved the one where a hyper Type-A businessman has car trouble in Mayberry on a Sunday and huffs around waiting for his car to be fixed.  That's one of the sweetest episodes ever.  I loved the pickle episode and the loaded goats and Opie and the slingshot.  When SEINFELD was ending its run and a lot of TV critics were proclaiming it the best TV series ever, I couldn't believe it.  In my opinion, THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW will always be the best ever.

[Maverick]

 

loved the one where a hyper Type-A businessman has car trouble in Mayberry on a Sunday and huffs around waiting for his car to be fixed.  That's one of the sweetest episodes ever.

"Man in a Hurry".    Great episode.  Definitely captured the quintessential atmosphere of the small towns that Mayberry represented.

[BooksRule]

You guys have hit on most of my favorites, but I also always like the one where Barney gets kicked out of his rented room by his landlady for secretly cooking on a hot plate (I remember he got caught when he let a pan of chili burn).  I like the way he helps save his landlady at the end from that con man, but I also always felt a little sorry for Barney when he was showing Andy around his room.  He was so proud of how he had fixed it up, especially when he was showing off his collection of detective magazines that he had had bound to look like fancy leather books.  Poor Barney!

 

Another favorite was when Opie was being swayed by the new kid--the spoiled one who threw a fit when he wanted to get his way.  Poor Opie was trying to imitate the kid so that he could get an allowance without having to work for it.  When he was whining and crying while he was kicking his heels on the floor: 'What are you doing on the floor?' 'I'm having a tantrum.'  'Well, don't get your clothes all dirty'.  (then Opie just sat up and sighed.  Funny!)

 

I thought of the Andy Griffith Show this weekend, when I was battling a clogged A/C drain pipe.  I was debating whether or not to try to figure out a way to fix it myself or to just give the A/C service company a call.  As I was thinking about what to do, all of a sudden I heard a voice running through my head-- 'Call the man!  Just call the man!'  (I did and I'm hoping he fixed the problem)

Edited July 2, 2014 by BooksRule

[Blergh]

The Fun Girls From Mt. Pilot! It always seemed to me that if Andy and Barney had just tuned out their foghorn/screechy voices, they could have had a LOT more fun with them than their 'steadies' Thelma Lou and [cough]Helen. 

[smiley13]

There are so many amazing episodes of TAGS.   I love any one where Andy and Opie are strongly features like the one where Andy is mad that Opie did not give enough to the Children's Fund, when Opie is really saving money for his friend who can't afford a new coat.  At the end Andy says he is having crow for dinner.

[TaraS1]

Big extra points go to Thelma Lou for her hilarious screaming reaction  when the steering column slides up.

 

That is one of my two favorite episodes, with that being my absolute favorite moment.  Hilarious.  (And my family still refers to vehicles as "machines.")

 

My all-time favorite episode would have to be when the escaped female convicts take Barney and Floyd hostage.  That episode is just one quotable moment after another.  "Would you quit calling me Al?"  Never gets old!

 

This, to me, is the greatest family sitcom of all time.  My parents grew up on this show, I grew up on this show in reruns and our whole family could have entire discussions just using quotes from the show.  (I still call my mom my "mother figure".)  It's just such a wonderful part of the culture where I'm from (which is a tiny town in KY that is not too different from Mayberry, except for the rampant prescription pill/meth abuse problem).  Around here, you don't ask somebody if they watch Andy, you ask what their favorite episodes or who their favorite characters are.

[NausetGirl]

Another of my favorites is the one in which Sterling Holloway played a door-to-door salesman that Andy set up with his own "store" on the street near the sheriff's office.  Reminds me of when the Fuller Brush man would come around with his big heavy case of goodies and show my mom the latest in cleaning gear.  A real sign of the times, since the era of the itinerant peddler ended soon after this.  When I was little I remember thinking "I can't wait til I grow up and have my own house and the Fuller Brush man and the Avon lady will call on me..."  And maybe it's a good thing that as children we don't realize that the world we can't wait to grow up and join will really not be there then.  It will have been replaced by the changing times.  Major sigh...

Edited July 10, 2014 by NausetGirl

[TVFAN]

There are just too many to narrow the list to one, the Kerosene Cucumbers, Barney's Car, Opie the Birdman, the Christmas episode, and just about any of the black-and-white episodes.  They never lose their charm.

[blubld43]

The episode where Opie and his friend print a newspaper with all the gossip they've heard from Andy, Barney, and Aunt Bee.

[mansonlamps]

I don't remember much else about the episode, but when I think of this show I always have "How...do you do...Mrs Wiiii-ley" running through my head.

[NausetGirl]

I don't remember much else about the episode, but when I think of this show I always have "How...do you do...Mrs Wiiii-ley" running through my head.

 

OMG,  that was another great classic - My Fair Ernest T Bass.  Andy tries to tame Ernest T enough to pass him off at one of Mrs Wiley's weekly soirees.  Even though he did a lot of other things in his career, the great Howard Morris will always be Ernest T to me.

[Maherjunkie]

 

I never liked the Ernest T Bass episodes or the Darlings.

Great actors, but yes I agree.

[Milz]

Not a favorite of mine, but here's the link to the Danny Thomas Show/Make Room for Daddy where Danny gets pulled over by Andy

 

[GrtGzu]

I didn't know where to put this, but METV starts airing this show on Sept. 1st...

[BooksRule]

I saw one of my favorites this weekend, 'Dinner at eight'.  That's where Andy ends up eating three different spaghetti dinners in one night.  That one always makes me want to fix some spaghetti. ('The secret ingredient is oregano'.)  The one nitpick I have is why didn't Andy just explain to Helen why he hadn't come over for dinner yet?  (I always figured that he was a little scared of her.) 

Edited October 19, 2014 by BooksRule

[Maverick]

I saw one of my favorites this weekend, 'Dinner at eight'.  That's where Andy ends up eating three different spaghetti dinners in one night.  That one always makes me want to fix some spaghetti. ('The secret ingredient is oregano'.)  The one nitpick I have is why didn't Andy just explain to Helen why he hadn't come over for dinner yet?  (I always figured that he was a little scared of her.) 

 

 Because Helen was a shrew.   I'm convinced the Yogurt Bitch (tm the Hated Commercials Thread) is Helen Crump reincarnated.  

[Maherjunkie]

Books Rule, is this one of the color episodes?  No wonder I haven't seen it.

[BooksRule]

Yes, I think it's one of the color ones.  After Barney left, but before Warren showed up, if I recall.

[Maverick]

 It was after Warren.  Warren was in the first half of the sixth season, which was the first season without Barney.  

[Maherjunkie]

How long did it live, post Barney?

[Maherjunkie]

That's a miracle in itself.

[Maverick]

 It effectively lived another 3 years after that.  AG wanted out, so they swapped out Andy, Opie and Helen for Sam, Mike and Millie, kept all the supporting cast and continued as Mayberry RFD.  Because, you know, people were just clamoring for more Howard and Emmett.  

[TexasTiffany]

I didn't care for Emmett. I figure they were trying to find another "Floyd" kind of guy and there was always a fix-it guy in every small town. I guess I didn't care for the actor they chose. He was dull and brought nothing to the character, IMO. I wish they'd chosen a different actor that would have brought some depth to the role. Something endearing. SOMETHING. 

 

Howard was more interesting. The book keeper type who wears the bow tie. I think he worked in the records office. The actor who played Howard made him someone you recognize and kind of like. We probably all know a Howard. I'll watch a Howard episode, where as I don't care to watch an Emmett episode anymore. 

 

Warren. To me, Warren has such an irritating, annoying personality that I can't watch any episode with him in it. I'm sure the writers didn't write him to be that way, but that's how he comes off to me. When I think of this show, I don't include Warren episodes. I only remember them when I read Warren's name on forums. It wasn't the same show with him. 

[Maherjunkie]

What did RFD stand for?

[Maherjunkie]

Ispansy, is that an inside joke or it that what it actually stood for?

[Maverick]

Ispansy, is that an inside joke or it that what it actually stood for?

 

.Rural Free Delivery is a real term.  People who lived on farms and other rural locations didn't used to get mail delivery to their homes; they had to go into town and pickup their mail from the post office (think Green Acres where they had to go to Drucker's store to get their mail).  

 

 The RFD actually applies to the show because the focus moved to Sam and Mike, who lived on a farm outside of town.  When Sam gets elected as the head of the town council, Goober objects because 'he doesn't even live in town!  He lives way out on that farm!"  Of course Sam and Mike always seemed to be in town anyway (making it basically what it was, TAGS Lite) but that was the conceit behind the name.

[Crs97]

I love the episode when the robber opens the bank vault to find Andy inside and we find out they put in a back door because they lost the combination. I also like any episode that gives us big Andy/Opie moments, especially if Andy mentions Opie's mom. I can only remember one reference to her. Are there more?

[Maherjunkie]

I love Otis!  I hate that he got cleaned up in the movie.

[Maherjunkie]

I like when Otis bests Barney.  Him jumping rope is still a favorite.

[Badger]

He was also "Goliath" in the "Davey and Goliath" cartoons.

[NausetGirl]

There are just too many to narrow the list to one, the Kerosene Cucumbers, Barney's Car, Opie the Birdman, the Christmas episode, and just about any of the black-and-white episodes.  They never lose their charm.

 

Yes, the black-and-white episodes were different - and I think better - than when the show went to color. Don Knotts was a big part of the difference too. I'm going to have to watch the credits to see whether the original writers were still writing or had moved on once the show went to color. I think Mr Knotts left the series - except for occasional guest appearances - in the last year of black-and white.

[Miss Chevious]

"The Prisoner" was my favorite AG episode. I also liked the Fun Girls, the episode with Aunt Bee's prize rose bush, and Aunt Bee's Birthday. The look on her face when she opened her gift and it was a set of canning jars instead of the bed jacket she wanted was priceless!

[Maherjunkie]

I found Aunt Bee hard to love.

[Maherjunkie]

When she is bouncing up and down drunk from the elixir is smileworthy.

[Miss Chevious]

Yes and when she gets all fired up about fixing up Andy's room to make it a cozy romantic boudoir as a surprise for Andy because she thinks he's getting married.

[Maherjunkie]

I was always surprised she was a good cook but NOT pickles.

[GusMahler]

When I purchased the DVDs of this show, I only bought the first 5 seasons, the Barney years, so for me it is ironic that one of my favorites does not even have Barney in it. It was their take on the Hatfield and McCoy feud where the Carters and Wakefields were embroiled in an 80 year feud where no one was ever shot. You got to see a sample of AG's early comedy career when he tells the story of Romeo and Juliet to Opie, but the best scene is when Andy orchestrates a duel between the feuding fathers.."we don't speak French" always cracks me up. Unfortunately this scene is now usually truncated on tv in order to fit the commercials in...

[Luciaphile]

It's hard to just pick one favorite episode. I never watch the color episodes anymore. The magic just wasn't there. The ones I love are Opie the Birdman, Mr. McBeevee, the Fun Girls one, Man in a Hurry, and The Shoplifter -- because Barney posing as a mannequin is just brilliant.

[legaleagle53]

I saw one of my favorites this weekend, 'Dinner at eight'.  That's where Andy ends up eating three different spaghetti dinners in one night.  That one always makes me want to fix some spaghetti. ('The secret ingredient is oregano'.)  The one nitpick I have is why didn't Andy just explain to Helen why he hadn't come over for dinner yet?  (I always figured that he was a little scared of her.) 

 

My favorite part of that episode is the scene where Goober confesses to Andy that he had mixed up the phone messages (one was a dinner invitation from Helen; the other was about a meeting that Andy was supposed to have with Howard), which is why Andy ended up having three spaghetti dinners that night after a furious Helen called him about his standing her up after she had gone to the trouble of making dinner for them.  Andy's death-glare at Goober is priceless as he slowly says, "I'm gonna go over to Helen's house and have dinner.  And then I'm gonna come back, and I'm gonna kill you!"

 

Then there's the final scene, where Opie has been invited to join Andy and Helen for dinner so that Andy can take him home afterwards (Opie was supposed to be on a camping trip that got rained out, which is why he showed up at Helen's).  Andy is somewhat less than enthusiastic about having his third spaghetti dinner of the night, when Opie reminds him about all the starving people who would love to have what Andy's having for dinner (a lecture that Andy himself had given Opie just that morning).  I felt so sorry for Andy!

Edited February 17, 2015 by legaleagle53

[Miss Chevious]

Talk about the power of suggestion. Ever since I saw that episode, I always make sure to add some oregano to my spaghetti sauce. And think of that episode when I do.

[GHScorpiosRule]

How did I NOT know that there was a forum for this show?

 

Like others, I can't just say I have one favorite episode.  But can say the most favorites are in the first two seasons! Amongst them "Opie's Charity" with "Poor Horatio" the "half a boy" and Opie giving his friend "a sock in the head" and How Opie didn't charge said friend for the sock. And when Andy tries to say, no, just for the pleasure of giving, and Opie says "I enjoyed it!" I absolutely LOVE wee Ronny Howard.  Any episodes that feature the relationship of Andy and Opie are GOLDEN. I just discovered all seasons are free on Amazon Instant Video for Prime members (which I am) and I've just watched the first five seasons in the past week, going back to rewatch seasons one and two.  "Opie and the Bully" is another favorite. "Andy the Marriage Counselor" ("Mornin' Honey...Mornin' DEAR"), is another gem. And of course, the ones mentioned up thread.

 

For some reason, I find Aunt Bee annoying--like when she thinks she can tell Andy how to be a sheriff or when to do his job...but other times I like her. Barney never fails to make me laugh, but there are times I want to just knock him in the head.

 

And the reactions of Andy, Barney and Aunt Bee, when they read Opie's revised Newspaper in "Opie's Newspaper" I think it's called, never fails to make me laugh hilariously. Or how they all go to the junkyard, at night, to make sure the second page is indeed there, but read what Opie wrote before they destroy them.

[dustylil]

I too liked the episode with Opie's newspaper, particularly that scene in the junkyard where the adults -with flashlights of various types - are searching for and then reading the  "second page".

 

It never bothered me when Aunt Bee told Andy how to do his job. As I recall, she largely raised him (and was now helping him raise his own son) so she had a quasi-parental role in his life. I would have expected something similar in terms of behaviour if we had got to know Andy's mother or grandmother.

 

I liked Barney in smallish dosages. On those occasions when he let power go to his head (arresting a good portion of the town, "indicting" Andy for numerous cases of malfeasance, etc.), he could be worrisome. With Barney as Deputy, all would be well in Mayberry. Had he been elected Sheriff during the original eight seasons, I am not sure that would be the case.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Like I said, for the most part, I liked Aunt Bee; but in episodes like "Aunt Bee, The Crusader" where she and a bunch of town ladies protested the razing of some farmer's house because she thought Andy was being "mean" and it turned out it was because the man had a still there-that's why he refused to sell or move, when he was given more than a fair share, so the county could but a road; or the one with the lady speeder, who managed to get Barney, Floyd and Opie to not tell the truth, and Aunt Bee is treating her like some rare specialistist snowflake, by doing her hair, hanging her unmentionables in the courthouse,etc.

 

And as much as I loved "The Pickle Story,"  it contradicted with the fact that Aunt Bee was a very good cook. Especially the end, when it turned out that the preserves she'd made were filled with turpentine or something. Don't get me wrong-Andy and Barney's reactions were hilarious.  But the show changed canon here--saying how Bee had been entering the contest for 11 years, and losing when she'd only returned to Mayberry at the beginning of that season! She hadn't been in Mayberry for years! But I don't dwell on it.

 

I just love watching the relationship between Andy and Opie, and the funny.

 

Agree that I too, can't stand Barney when he gets all tone deaf (getting all the women in Andy's house so he can pick a wife), running against Andy for sheriff, etc.

 

And there are such wonderful quotes from this show. Someone should create it a quote thread!

[bubbls]

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.

Edited October 7, 2015 by bubbls