Everybody knows that familiar whistling tune that opened up each episode of The Andy Griffith Show, which has far outlived the series itself. From 1960 until 1968, the Andy Griffith-led sitcom aired on CBS, in black-and-white originally and later in color with the sixth season. But how did this television giant end? You might think that the show would’ve concluded as triumphantly as it began, complete with the return of fan favorites and plenty of laughs to go around. Well, the way that Andy Taylor (Griffith) and the town of Mayberry said goodbye was less of a strong farewell and more of a “we’ll see you next time!” Here’s how the show ended.
How Did ‘The Andy Griffith Show’ End?
After eight seasons and 250 episodes (if you include the original “pilot” that aired as part of The Dan Thomas Show), The Andy Griffith Show ended quite strangely compared to how other longtime sitcoms bowed out. In Season 8, the series introduced newcomer Sam Jones (played by Ken Berry) to the community. A widowed farmer with a young son named Mike (Buddy Foster), effectively echoing Andy and his boy Opie’s (Ron Howard) dynamic, the Jones boys slowly took over The Andy Griffith Show, with the titular star taking a back seat throughout the final season . Longtime characters such as Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier), Helen Crump (Aneta Corsaut), Goober Pyle (George Lindsey), Howard Sprague (Jack Dodson), and even Deputy Barney Fife (Don Knotts, who had left the main cast after the fifth season), continued to appear. Still, the Jones boys were the rising stars.
The series finale, entitled “Mayberry R.F.D.,” follows Sam as he invites a friend of his from Italy to the United States to help him work on his farm. But when Mario Vincente (Gabriele Tinti) arrives, he brings with him his sister Sophia (Letícia Román) and his father (Bruno Della Santina), unbeknownst to Sam. Although Sam isn’t sure at first, he eventually lets all three Vincentes stay, only for it to become something of a disaster. Yet, despite the troubles they face, the Vincentes are beloved by the town and welcomed with open arms, including by Helen and Aunt Bee. While recurring characters like Goober and Howard show up here, noticeably absent from the series finale are Opie and Barney Fife, the two characters who fans wanted to see send off The Andy Griffith Show with its star.
Of course, Andy himself doesn’t appear much in this episode, and when he does, it’s only to guide Sam as he decides whether to keep the Vincentes around. At the very end, it’s Andy who brings Sam to the town hall meeting, officially inducting the Vincentes into the community. In the series’ final moments, it’s not Andy, Opie, and Aunt Bee we’re leaving with, but Sam, Mike, and their new house guests, which doesn’t particularly sit well with fans. Not unlike Gunsmoke’s anticlimactic series finale, The Andy Griffith Show’s final half-hour wasn’t so much a testament to the show’s impressive run but rather a vehicle for the network to push audiences into the future.
“A Girl for Goober” Was a Better, yet Still Imperfect, Ending for ‘The Andy Griffith Show’
While “Mayberry R.F.D.” was the last episode that audiences saw aired on CBS, the final episode filmed of The Andy Griffith Show was the penultimate “A Girl for Goober.” This episode features Andy, Opie, Helen, Goober, and Sam (though Aunt Bee was absent). In many ways, “A Girl for Goober” feels like a better conclusion to The Andy Griffith Show, if not just because of the way these characters (minus Aunt Bee, of course) are handled by the CBS series. Sure, it still feels more like your standard Andy Griffith hour than a series finale, but it’s a bit closer than “Mayberry R.F.G.” ever got.
In this episode, Goober is looking for love and ends up matching (via a test he took and sent back in the mail) with an intellectually fervent young woman, Dr. Edith Gibson (Nancy Malone), who is leagues beyond him. However, he pursues her as his friends Andy and Sam already have beautiful young women by their sides, hoping he can find the same. Of course, things don’t play out the way Goober might’ve liked, and when it’s revealed that he’s not the brainiac Edith thought he was, things ended shortly after. But she comes around to Goober in the end, and while we don’t expect him and this doctor are going to tie the knot, it gives him hope for his future. The last scene of the episode puts Andy, Sam, and Goober at the police station as they talk about life and love. Again, it’s not exactly a perfect conclusion for our characters, but it’s better than many of them not appearing at all, as was the case with “Mayberry R.F.D.”
