The Andy Griffith Show facts for kids
Quick facts for kids The Andy Griffith Show |
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Griffith and Howard
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| Created by | Sheldon Leonard |
| Starring | Andy Griffith Ronny Howard Don Knotts Frances Bavier |
| Theme music composer | Earle Hagen |
| Opening theme | "The Fishin' Hole" |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 8 |
| No. of episodes | 249 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 25-26 minutes per episode without ads |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBS |
| Picture format | Black and white 1960-1965 Color 1965-1968 Full screen |
| Original release | October 3, 1960 – April 1, 1968 |
| Chronology | |
| Followed by | Mayberry R.F.D. |
| Related shows | The Danny Thomas Show Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. |
The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom television series. The series won no awards, but it was very popular in its day. It was #1 in its final year on the air.
Contents
Cast
- Andy Griffith as Sheriff Andy Taylor
- Don Knotts as Deputy Barney Fife
- Ron Howard as Andy's son Opie
- Frances Bavier as Andy's aunt and housekeeper Aunt Bee
- Elinor Donahue as Andy's girlfriend and drug store owner Ellie Walker
- Jim Nabors as garage mechanic Gomer Pyle
- Howard McNear as town barber Floyd Lawson
- Aneta Corsaut as Andy's girlfriend and Opie's schoolteacher Helen Crump
- Betty Lynn as Barney's girlfriend Thelma Lou
- Hope Summers as Aunt Bee's friend Clara Edwards
- Jack Dodson as county clerk Howard Sprague
- George Lindsey as Gomer's cousin Goober Pyle
Story
The series is about a sheriff in fictional Mayberry, North Carolina, a friendly, backward town with colorful characters. Andy is a widower with a young son named Opie. His paternal Aunt Bee, lives with them and maintains the home. Andy's friend/cousin (or cousin-in-law), Barney is his oddball deputy/ sidekick.
Production
The show aired on CBS between October 3, 1960 and April 1, 1968. Griffith, Howard, and Bavier were introduced in an episode of The Danny Thomas Show. The show transitioned to color with the sixth season. The broad, cornball comedy was toned-down and the show was allowed to touch on serious themes.
Awards
Don Knotts and Frances Bavier won a combined total of six Emmy Awards. Knotts left the show at the end of its fifth black and white season.
Spinoffs
The series had two spin-off shows and one spin-off movie:
- Mayberry: RFD, a sitcom series starring Ken Berry as Sam Jones, a councilman and farmer, and featured most of the characters from The Andy Griffith Show
- Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. with filling station worker Gomer (Jim Nabors) becoming a Marine
- Return To Mayberry, a 1986 NBC TV movie that reunited most of the cast members from the show
Images for kids
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Knotts and Griffith as their characters in a still taken from the October 7, 1965 one-hour variety special The Andy Griffith, Don Knotts, and Jim Nabors Show
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From left: Deputy Barney Fife (Don Knotts), Opie Taylor (Ron Howard), Sheriff Andy Taylor (Andy Griffith), and Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier)
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Sam Jones (Ken Berry) and his son Mike (Buddy Foster) were recurring characters in the final season of The Andy Griffith Show, setting up the sequel series Mayberry R.F.D..
