What era was Andy Griffith set?
Some of the best episodes were written with the characters persona being the story and the way they would interact into with the varied situations. Episode “The Pickle Story” Andy and Barney’s do not want to disclose that they cannot eat Aunt Beas pickled pickles, ” kerosene cucumbers.” In “Citizen’s Arrest,” a famous scene has Gomer getting a ticket for a U-turn and then triumphantly turning the tables (“Citizen’s ah-RAY-yust!”) when Barney commits the same offense when using an emergency vehicle, the squad car, Barney overreacts by locking himself in jail and quitting. Andy, and later Gomer, bend over backward to reconcile with Barney. “They’d think about Andy and Barney’s relationship as very simple and transparent,” Griffith said of the writers. “It was actually very complicated.” Griffith and writer Ruben insisted on grounding the show, both emotionally and geographically. Mayberry’s was fictitious however towns like Mayberry existed all over the south.
Griffith and Knotts had grown up with similar backgrounds, and it was reflected in the slow rhythms of the little towns they grew up in, where people would sit around for hours, just visiting’ and talking’ about nothing’ in particular. the Seinfeld show would tell producers about their concept of a sitcom is a show to be “about nothing.”) The producers resisted at first, but soon realized that such plot-less scenes were what made the show unique. One best episode, ” Man in A Hurry,” was in effect a manifesto on behalf of the show’s placid front-porch aesthetic. In it, an officious out of town-er looks for an auto repairman through town, trying on a Sunday. By the end of the day, he’s so charmed by Mayberry that he contrives an excuse to extend his stay. Griffith felt that, although the series was explicitly set in the present day it was really represented small town life in the ’30s – 40’s. and lending to the show’s appeal.
But the series’ authenticity was always conditional, the logic was the series was filmed in Southern California and this is where the actors lived. The writers were mostly Jewish immigrants or children of Jewish immigrants so the final product was a creation of a perception and not an overall reality. The Andy Griffith Show was never the South to Southerners who knew better, and yet the viewers loved what they saw each week. He himself knew these contradictions and Andy Griffith himself, who unlike the principal cast usually shunned public appearances connected to The Andy Griffith Show. For fans, this made people who loved the character sad. The Andy Griffith Show was a fantasy of how small-town life should be, not the story of his life. When the real world tried to lay claim to what he had created, Griffith cried foul. He was not Sheriff Taylor!
He had a point. It’s not very Mayberry like for a town to turn itself into Mayberry in order to attract tourists, and it’s bizarre to see Southerners as I have emulated The Andy Griffith Show’s courtly gentility in the same way an idealized little town so inviting that a fan couldn’t help but want to wish Floyd’s barbershop or the Griffiths’ front porch into existence. Griffith said-ambiguously. Living in Mayberry, that’s something Barney Fife would try to do. Andy Taylor, with his wistful grin? He’ d know better.
Be a viewer whether it be in 1960 or today nearly 60 years later you want to see small town life. A town with the residents are overall honest, a town with little to no crime. A place where people move just a little slower and are not caught up in the busy lives of those in larger cities then this is your show. Sunday is for church and sitting and Sunday dinner with the family. This is your town, and this is a peaceful place we believe that we all want to live in. A fantasy place of safety, caring people and neighbors. A place where you can leave your doors unlocked. No hospital. No CPS. One Sheriff, one deputy, one police car, two jail cells, one friendly drunk one diner. Then Mayberry is where you want to be. – Martin Snytsheuvel
