We were saddened to hear that Andy Griffith passed away a few days ago. We've had a fondness for the Andy Griffith show since Tera was a preschooler. It was one of the few shows we watched on DVD when the kids were little. (Since before Tera was born, we got rid of cable and antennae television.) I don't remember enjoying the show as I was growing up, but as an adult I've bought every season but one. (I need to buy that season, just haven't gotten around to it when I've had extra money.) We were even looking into taking a vacation to Mt. Airy, NC at one point in time.
A lot of our family's inside jokes have to do with Andy Griffith. When we mention ratios, someone will almost always say "Poor Horatio." Or when we are making sure someone is paying attention to us..."Can you see me?" in our best Ernest T. Bass voice. "Shoo fly, he's dead!" "I smell gas...I smell gas...Okay, okay you smell gas, what do you think this car runs on...coal?" "Juanita, Juanita..." I could go on and on.
One of the reasons we've liked the show is for it's family-friendly themes. There have only been a few episodes that treaded into areas we weren't really comfortable with. It is not without it's moments of inappropriate behaviors (superstitions, white lies, blatant lies), but we've used those as springboards for discussion in our family. But instead of the show just disregarding those behaviors, they address them as well. How many times did Opie point out inconsistencies and lying to Andy? How many times do we see the consequences of bad behaviors? We do and that's why I like it so much. If a kid acts up...he goes to wood shed or to his room. If an adult acts up...he goes to jail or suffers some other consequences. (most of the time)
We had our own little Andy Griffith marathon yesterday. We decided we'd pull out our favorite episodes and list them. That was harder than I thought it would be. There are so many funny moments and funny characters. Needless to say, we didn't even get through half our list of favorites. Over dinner, we tried to stump each other with our own made-up trivia questions.
Here are our top Andy Griffith Show episodes in no particular order:
Barney's Physical
Opie's Charity- Poor Horatio--Tera's favorite!
Alcohol and Old Lace
The Case of a Punch in the Nose
Suppose Andy Gets Sick
Pickle Story--My all-time favorite!
Barney's First Car
Dinner at Eight
Barney's Sidecar
Haunted House- Another one--reminds me of The Ghost and Mr. Chicken
Shoplifters
Citizen's Arrest
Aunt Bee the Warden
The Loaded Goat- Daniel's favorite...since all his trivia questions came from this episode and he stumped us almost every time.
Barney and the Cave Rescue
The Education of Ernest T. Bass
Opie and the Spoiled Kid
One-Punch Opie
Mind Over Matter
The Darlings are Comin'- JP's favorite!
Thank you Andy Griffith and friends for giving us so many hours of laughter and fun through the years!