Watching a 1960 Andy Griffith Show.

[trof]

It ran an amazing 8 years from 1960 till 1968.
It's interesting to see Andy morph from a drawling redneck 'shucks y'all' sheriff to a much more sophisticated 'law enforcement officer' over the years with very little accent.

[Kaleva]

1. Mayberry, NC. Where blacks stayed silent in the background for 8 years.

The only black who didn't suffer from laryngitis was Opie's football coach.

[Midwestern Democrat]

2. Initially, Andy Taylor was supposed to be a much more overtly comedic character - after all

Andy Griffith was a famous comedian who had a huge success playing a hayseed in "No Time for Sergeants" , so naturally he and the producers initially assumed he would be delivering most of the laughs. But it quickly became apparent that the show worked better having Don Knotts deliver most of the laughs and having Griffith play a relative straight man reacting to his antics - which says a lot about Griffith's lack of ego - I think most big name comedians would have never agreed to that. Of course, once Knotts left in '65 for a movie career, they were kind of screwed - although it remained massively popular, the color post '65 episodes are basically "Mayberry RFD" starring Andy Griffith instead of Ken Berry.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

3. Not unlike Bob Newhart.

Both stayed at the center of things, exposing their own foibles for comic effect but mainly letting the people around them be the clowns.

Now, the latter years were kind of hard to watch as he became a little too removed from the humor.

[trof]

8. It started in 1953 with "What it was, was football"

Deacon Andy Griffith

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[pressbox69]

4. Jack Nicholson guest starred twice

after the show went to color.

[Rhiannon12866]

5. My mother was a big Andy Griffith Show fan, so we watched it all the time

But the character originated on "Make Room For Daddy," Danny Thomas's sitcom, and the difference was exactly as you described, went from a kind of comic character to the well respected sheriff of Mayberry on The Andy Griffith Show...

[pressbox69]

6. OMG did Andy predict the coming of Trump in 1972?

[pressbox69]

7. Of course Andy's character in the movie A Face In The Crowd never bragged

that he could shoot innocent people in the street and his sheep/supporters would still follow him.

[DawgHouse]

9. Now that is a fantastic movie.

[ailsagirl]

10. Face in the Crowd was Griffith's FIRST movie

Superb acting!!

[sofa king]

11. True story

A beloved family member of mine is almost totally deaf now and refuses to wear his hearing aid. Sometimes, just to piss me off, and to fish for the answer he wants, he resorts to the "Warren trick." A short while ago, this exchange actually happened:

Him: "Want to go to the (greasy spoon diner) for dinner?"

Me: "No."

"Huh?"

"No."

"Huh?"

"No."

"Huh?"

"Did you know that television audiences considered Warren so annoying that they pulled his character after only eleven episodes?"

"Really? Um... huh?"

[pressbox69]

13. Who decided he would be the replacement for Barney?