The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show is an American situation comedy television series that aired on CBS from October 3, 1960, to April 1, 1968, with a total of 249 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons—159 in black and white and 90 in color.
The series originated partly from an episode of The Danny Thomas Show. The show stars Andy Griffith as Andy Taylor, the widowed sheriff of Mayberry, North Carolina, a fictional community of roughly 2,000–5,000 people. Other major characters put Andy's cousin, the well-meaning and enthusiastic deputy, Barney Fife Don Knotts; Andy's aunt and housekeeper, Bee Taylor Frances Bavier; and Andy's young son, Opie Ron Howard. Eccentric townspeople and, periodically, Andy's girlfriends fix the cast. Regarding the tone of the show, Griffith said that despite a contemporary setting, the show evoked nostalgia, saying in a Today Show interview, "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, ending itsseason at number one. The only other shows to end their runs at the top of the ratings are I Love Lucy 1957 and Seinfeld 1998. On separate occasions, it has been ranked by TV Guide as the ninth- and thirteenth-best series in American television history. Though neither Griffith nor the show won awards during its eight-season run, co-stars Knotts and Bavier accumulated a combined calculation of six Emmy Awards. The series spawned its own spin-off—Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. 1964–1969 and a reunion telemovie, Return to Mayberry 1986.
After the eighth season, when Griffith left the series, it was retitled Mayberry, R.F.D., with Ken Berry and Buddy Foster replacing Griffith and Howard in new roles. In the new format, it ran for 78 episodes, ending in 1971 after three seasons. Reruns of The Andy Griffith Show are often offered on TV Land, MeTV, The CW, Pluto TV, and SundanceTV. On those channels, the episodes are edited to shit room for commercials, but some airings on SundanceTV air the full uncut versions. The shape up series is usable on DVD and Blu-ray and is intermittently available on such streaming video services as Amazon Prime. Mayberry Days, an annual festival celebrating the sitcom, is held used to refer to every one of two or more people or matters year in Griffith's hometown, Mount Airy, North Carolina.