Mayberry/Gayberry

Bill Maher made the observation that in Mayberry everyone was single. Andy, Floyd, Barney, Howard,Aunt Bee, Helen, and on it goes. I always suspected Floyd and Howard were gay, but after watching Maher, I am beginning to think the whole town was.

This has to be my all time fav show. Bill Maher is an asshole IMHO.

BTW Not everybody on the show was single. Emmett is married to Martha.

If it really were "Gayberry", wouldn't Gomer Pyle have enlisted in the NAVY instead of the MARINES?!?

Relax, Mig. This isn't a threat to National Security, just Bill Maher being funny.

There were an awful lot of single women on that show, and they all owned their own houses! Thelma Lou was a catch, but old Barney would rather live at the Y than get hitched and move into a house free and clear?

But all kidding aside, one of my favorite shows of all-time.

Oh yeah, if Aunt Bee wasn't a dyke, then I don't know who is.

DT may be on to something. Consider that Barney suddenly leaves Mayberry for no apparent reason. Why did he leave? Then Opie leaves and moves to Milwaukee and changes his last name to Cunningham. But get this: he changes his first name also (to Ritchie). Now that's quite unusual if not actually weird. Who's he running away from? Then you have Andy who never talks about Opie's mother. Of course, we wonder what happened to her. Is she dead? If so, how did she die? Wouldn't the Sheriff be in a unique position to control the probe into her death? It's all very curious!

Maybe Hollywood will make an updated movie version of The Andy Griffith Show...with Aunt Bee-otch!

Dick Van Dyke?

Next you'll be saying Mr. French was gay.

Say it ain't so! I love "Mr. Fray-unch, Mr. Fray-unch"!

Buffy and Jody were child pornographers.

Yeah, I said it.

That's it, I can't take any more! Frankie Five Angels; pass me that razor blade...

Helen Crump and Thelma Lou each had their own house, but whenever Andy and Barney wanted to get "intimate" with them they'd go on a double date and drive out to the lake (illegally using the town owned police car). If Andy went to the lake with Helen alone, it seems Barney always stalked him out there.

And Aunt Bee and Sarah....how obvious can you get?

Aunt Bee and Sarah...is that the earliest depiction of phone sex on television?..

Mig ... any liberal comedian you like?

Emmett had Martha as a beard. He aight rarely spent evenings at home, preferringto hang out in the shop to catch a glimpse of Andy or Barney on patrol. The other married person was Otis the drunk...clearly they were ridiculing straight people.

If you don't want gay people portrayed just watch The Skipper and his Lil Buddy/

Floyd was a God damned beautician!

A fudgepacker and a fornicator.

Gay marriage in North Carolina!!!!

I'm starting to rethink what it really meant when Ralph yelled out the window; "Norton! Come on down, pal!"

The Mayberry gay routine was first cracked 25-30 years ago. Maher is doing what he does best...being unoriginal and arrogant while pretending to be edgy and ground breaking. But in his mind he's a genius.

Can't argue with you there, Klyd. The guy is a dick. Sorry, there's really not a better word to describe him. I'm just having some fun with Miggie.

I know that. Your Aunt Bee line made me burst out laughing.

Anyway, someone once asked me why Gomer and Goober never got married, and I said because they were first cousins. It is funny how the show writers were hesitant to have the characters get married as if that would present a story line that might detract from the show. I thought Thelma Lou was prettier than Helen Krump, and frankly, too nice for Barney. I thought he'd have more fun with those hot waitresses from Mount Pilot.

It was interesting how the show evolved. Andy slowly lost his drawl as the series progressed. Barney started out as Andy's cousin, but that relationship was eschewed pretty quickly by the writers.

I use the show somewhat in my government classes to illustrate local government organization. For example, Andy held two elective offices: sheriff and JP. I'm sure that is in violation of the North Carolina constitution just as it would be a violation of many state's constitutions if not all of them. The show sometimes errantly represented the Sheriff's Department as reporting to Mayberry's mayor or as being a city department. And what about only one patrol car? An entire county patrolled with one unit - and no dispatch to boot. Still, I watch every rerun I can.

You're right. There was an episode where Andy ticketed an out of towner for a minor traffic offense, and the offender demanded a hearing, at which point Andy removed his "Sheriff" desk sign and replaced it with "Justice of the Peace." Talk about a conflict of interest. In that era there was less suspicion of our local servants. We're surrounded by and expect corruption today.

But back to the single man status, when the series ran its course and evolved into Mayberry RFD, Ken Berry took over the lead, and there we have again a single down-home dad with a young all-American son. Just trying to recycle the same old theme.

The 60s had other shows with single dads or guardians too, like Family Affair and Courtship of Eddie's Father.

I'm nice and relaxed. You guys seem to forget about the two Gay women in Milwalkie Laverne and Shirley.

Someone mentioned Buffy and Jody. I remember that show. Maybe Uncle Bill was a child molester

Also, their two gay friends Lenny and Squiggy.

What was Carmine "The Big Ragu" Ragusa then?

Klyd, I remember loving those shows you mentioned. My friends and I would always have plotlines we wanted to see, like having Eddie's father marry Mrs. Livingston. And don't forget "My Three Sons" and "Petticoat Junction"! Were ANY of the parents married on TV in the 60s??

I always wanted to see wrestling matches.... The Addams Family vs. The Munsters; The Leave it to Beaver clan vs. The Ozzie & Harriet clan, etc.

So the "L" on her shirt wasn't for "Laverne".

He'd then be Mr. Livingston I presume?

Good points Olivant. As the show progressed Andy was really some kind of benevolent dictator, or philosopher-king if you will. He had no compunction about bending the rules when he thought it served the greater good: e.g. using someone's vacant house so Floyd could pretend he was a millionaire; putting jazz musicians in jail on trumped up charges so a local inger could join the band; consistently covering up for Barney's ineptitude by giving him credit for things Andy really did; allowing Otis to pretend he was a deputy sherriff; putting an out of towner under arrest and causing Gomer to slow down the fixing of his car to keep him in Mayberry until he learned his lesson; turning Barney's michrophone off in the Mayberry choir; lying to the mayor about the quality of the Mayberry band so they could use taxpayer's money to go to Raleigh; lying to Helen about his romping around with a starlet in Hollywood (that was after the show jumped the shark and had plots about things like Bea's flying lessons, and the belated appearance of one African American who played a football coach).

In many ways he was the Vito Corleone of Mayberry, and Barney was the Fredo. Barney even betrayed Andy in one episode by having Andy investigated for irregularities.

Andy jumped the shark as soon as it went color. Which coincidentally, was when Don Knotts left. The show was never the same after that. When I watch it at night, if I see it's an episode filmed in color, I usually pass it up. I really didn't care for Howard too much. The corniest episode is when he got a "bachelor" apartment. I cringe when they show that one.

My favorite episode is when Andy gets the English butler----the guy who played Dr. Bombay on BEWITCHED. Opie asking for bubble and squeak and saying cheerio to Aunt Bea is priceless.

I like it when Barney say's "nip it in the bud". I like the epi's when the Darling family comes to town.

I have never been a fan of the Andy Griffith show. Sure, I've watched, and know the characters, but never really got into it for some reason. Look how little Opie has grown though.



TIS

Wow, this is almost getting as analytical as "The Godfather Trilogy".

What about Otis? Blatant alcoholism on a family show; a damn shame.

There was an episode where Andy kept mediating an ongoing fight between a husband and wife. The husband was played by Jesse White (The Maytag Repairman). Anyway, he kept making references to "belting his wife right in the mouth." It was played for laughs, this husband and wife beating each other up, but can you imagine if it was today?

And of course there is Nirvana's song "Floyd the Barber" which puts a whole nother spin on people's look at the whole show.

There was also an episode when a temporary deputy made up some charts predicting crime in Mayberry and one of them was wife-beating. In the 60s apparently, such abuse was still being treated with a certain alacrity.

In another episode a rich spoiled boy was upset that he was forbidden to ride his bike for a week by Andy because of numerous transgressions. The boy's father was upset with Andy until the brat threw a tantrum at the end insisting that his father serve a couple days in jail so the brat could ride his bike. The father realized that he had been wrong in spoiling the kid and he needed a beating. At the end Andy smiled and told the dad that there was a wood shed in the back where he'd find a nice stick suitable for the job.

That endidng would be deleted today.

Probably true Kly. How times and attitudes have changed.

However, one aspect of the show though that hasn't changed much if at all: Barney was so anal and aggressive like alot of cops, thus representing the worst charicature of the southern cop. As I said, I'm not sure that much has changed in that regard in the south. Of course, cops anywhere can manifest sucvh characteristics, but the stereotype applies particularly in the south and among Sheriff's departments. One things for sure though: Barney had one heck of a serious self-esteem problem.

Andy Griffith has said in interviews that he progressively lost interest in the series and by the last season was mostly phoning it in. I agree that the show was never the same once Don Knotts left and it went color. I never have interest in those episodes.

I once saw 'bubble & squeak' being prepared on an English cooking show (Two Fat Ladies - seriously, that was the name of the show!). It's seriously loaded with fat - good thing that butler took off or Opie would've turned into Danny Partridge.

Regarding the 'gay' theories:

Helen was meant to be a one- or two-time minor role as Opie's teacher; but eventually became Andy's girlfriend when the chemistry between the two actors became apparent. Since they eventually wed (as a way for Andy to get off the show), I doubt she can be included in the theory.

When Ken Berry took over the town, he too was a widower & immediately provided a love interest played by Arlene Golonka.

Howard Spraig - Gay as a picnic basket.

Aunt Bea - Dyke city (and according to some, recently re-incarnated in the form of Rachel Maddow).

Apple

Ron Howard has often said his favorite episode was the one where he nured a bird to health and then had to let it go.
Note that his movie production company is named "Skylark" after the bird.

I love the old Andy Griffith episodes, and agree it jumped the shark when Don Knotts left.

Perhaps the worst character in televiion history was Barney's replacement who lasted a whole season. I forget the guy's name.

Warren. And he was definitely porking Howard Sprague.

Yeah, I said it!

What about Alice on "Brady Bunch". If that hair next and combat shoes don't scream Dyke......

I don't think she was into Sam's pork.

And another show with single parents whose spouses disappear without explanation, although the show was about their second marriages! And if anyone was gay, it was Robert Reed. Oh, wait, he actually was.

I find that ironic with him being gay. I think Brady Bunch was the first show that showed the parents sleeping in the same bed.

I still can't get over how he was an architect, yet 6 kids shared one bathroom. He couldn't build another room?

But Alice the dyke had her own.

Warren and Howard? Did Floyd know?

Rachael Maddow is more of a man than anyone on these boards.

Have you seen Rachel's picture on her website? She looks like the Karate Kid.

Hell, she looks like she could kick the Karate Kid up and down the block.

Slept in the same bed and made those awful double entendres before turning off the lights.

I never understood why the downstairs of the Brady house seemed so huge, but the upstairs wasn't. I mean, that gigantic living room, dining room, kitchen, Alice's living quarters, the family room/den, Mike's office, yet they only had room upstairs for three bedrooms and two baths?? Greg had to live in the attic when he got older? Really????

If you ever saw The Brady Bunch Movie (groan) in which they almost lose their home for failure to pay back property taxes you'd understand Mr. Brady's limitations as an architect.

But back to Mayberry... there are a lot of things that would never pass muster in today's politically correct world. The town was segregated. Wife beating and child beating were winked at. Attendance at Church was compulsory. Women were subordinate to men. Oddly enough if the characters were openly gay, it would be a great HBO series today.

On the other hand DT, in a couple of episodes Ellie was a candidate for city council and Aunt Bee organized a political protest of and sit-in to prevent the county's exercise of eminent domain. Also, in at least one crowd scene there was a black woman. All quite progressive for TV in the early 60s.

Does anybody know why that is? Married couples on TV back then sleeping in seperate beds. If I remember right it was like that in A Christmas Story.

On Tuesday, 18 November 1947, a 15-minute program entitled Mary Kay and Johnny made its debut on the Dumont network. Like the more famous I Love Lucy series that followed it, Mary Kay and Johnny starred a real-life couple, actors Johnny and Mary Kay Stearns. The show caught on, and Mary Kay and Johnny, performed live, became television's first sitcom, eventually running for three years on three different networks (Dumont, NBC, and CBS).

Because of the inherent limitations of live television, most of the episodes of Mary Kay and Johnny were set in the couple's apartment. Mary Kay and Johnny's apartment included a bedroom (but not a bathroom), and their bedroom had but a single bed, which they shared. Also, don't forget The Munsters.

And DEFINITELY more of a man than Keith Olberman!!

You mean when Opie killed a bird w/ his slingshot and then nursed the 3 motherless chicks (Winkin, Blinkin & Nod) left behind in the nest?
And then grew attached to them but realized in the end he had to set them free?
And when he did mentioned how empty the cage was but then Andy said, "But don't the trees sound nice and full?"

That one? Yeah, it's one of my favorites too.

Really good one was where Opie had to deal with the bully who kept getting his lunch money...but then he stood up to the kid in the end and wound up with a black eye but said the other guy's was worse. Andy was so proud! Of course, another situation which probably couldn't be aired thanks to the politically correct boobs of today.

Apple

Yes thats the one with the birds... I forgot he killed the mother with a slingshot...which of course would not be allowed today either.

I like when Opie's friends wrote the poem about Barney.

There once was a Deputy named Fife.
Who carried a gun and a knife.
The gun was all dusty.
The knife was all rusty.
'cause he never caught a crook in his life.

Olberman's a man?

That was a great episode.

A great scene in the eminent domain episode is Barney trying to get the angry ladies to sing. They then start chanting, "We will NOT sing! We will NOT sing!" and the flustered Barney joins them.

Speaking of Barney Kly, where do we begin to list his insufficiencies, deficienies, inadequateness, etc., etc.? His self-esteem problems are monumental.

...his OCD, his paranoia, his ADD, etc...

Tries really hard to make us think he is...

But when you'll only allow people on your show who agree with you, that indicates a serious shortage in the balls department.

Apple

I watch all of these shows and Countdown is one of the best. Hosts get to run their shows the way they want to. His is mostly a commentary show; it is a limited interview show. His accuracy is non-pareil. Noone will take him on. Not O'reilly, Ingrahm, Beck, Cavuto, Dobbs, Hannity, Savage - noone. He quotes them and explains their faux-pas and inaccuracies and they do not retort because they can't.

At this time he is still waiting (as I am) on Sean Hannity's agreement to be waterborded and take up Keith's challenge to pay him for every minute he can endure it.

While his interviews are 'limited', they are still with people who are in total agreement with him. Yawn. It's easy to give commentary, pull quotes here & there and point out what one perceives as 'inaccuracies'. But if Olberman had any real guts, he'd be willing to engage in a bit of debate, which he is clearly afraid to do. Chris Matthews on the other hand, is a liberal who's show is at least a bit more interesting, because he DOES have on guests with opposing views.

The challenge from Olberman is a silly ploy to begin a little war with Sean Hannity, who as everyone knows has about a million more viewers, and always welcomes spirited debate on his show (both tv and radio). Hannity (and all others at FOX) are wise to ignore him, because why should they bother to give attention to anyone at a network they are clobbering in the ratings.

Keith Olberman is the Barney Fife of politics; all full of bluster when it works for him, but apparently unable to hold his own (if he has one) in a real challenge. Two big differences: 1. Olberman isn't funny and 2. He doesn't have a pal like Andy to prop him up).

Apple

Olberman,Hannity, O'Reilly....all of them are entertainers first commentators second. They are probably always preaching to the choir anyway. I think Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are better commentators even though they admit they are comedians.

BTW how did a thread on Mayberry go this far?

I'm not sure how this Mayberry thread got here either but I'm going to put a stop to it now! In the words of Barney Fife; "Citizen's arrest!!! Citizen's arrest!!!"

(One of my fav episodes!)

Actually that was Gomer, not Barney. Barney was a police officer so he could make arrests. Gomer as a citizen could make "citizen's arrests."

One of my faves was the one where Barney put the State police in jail and let the crook go free.

Finally someone posted that Goober and Gomer never got married because they were cousins. Since when was that an isue in rural North Carolina?

You are right, Dontomasso. My typing was working faster than my brain...not news. Thanks for the correction.

Two other classics took place in Raleigh. In one Andy and Barney are there for some kind of sheriff's convention and Barney is conivevinced by a jewel thief that the house detective is a thief and that he is the house detective. Barney locks up the house dectective but Andy saves the day and gives Barney credit. Come to think of it thats the ame plot as the one where Barney put the State Police in Jail.

The other one is when Andy goes to Raleigh to visit Barney who
has meved to a boarding house, and who is bragging about how well he is doing. Andy learns that in truth Barney is about to be fired, and that the people he lives with are a ring of thieves who hold up grocery stores. Again Andy catches them but by sleight of hand convinces the Raleigh PD that Barney set up the whole thing.

In that episode DT, Barney "catches" the grocery store thief who has returned to the scene of the crime. Of course, it's the store manager and, as the police chief tells Barney, we've been here for over an hour. Although it was just a show, you have to wonder if there actually are people out there that are so stupid.

A favorite episode of mine is the one where Barney and Floyd are held hosstage in a cabin by a gang of three hardened female prison escapees, one of whom finds Barney to resemble her former boyfriend.

They are making hamburgers when the women are carefully captured (one by one) by Andy and the cabin owner, who wandered into town. Barney got the last one to tango with him and he danced her out the door where Andy slapped the cuffs on her.

At the end of the excitement Floyd, unaware of what had happened, stepped outside to say that somebody better watch the burgers on the stove because they were burning.

How gay is THAT?

And how dykey were those three? Especially the big one!

The episode in which Floyd convinces Andy to open up a mansion and pretend that Floyd is a millionaire to impress a woman to whom Floyd has been lying in correspondence to her, according to IMDB is titled "Floyd The Gay Deceiver." You can look it up.

BTW it turned out that the woman was a con artist, and Andy manipulated things so she would leave and Floyd's deception remained intact.

Jack Nicholson's first appearance on primetime television was on Andy Griffith. Probably one of his ONLY television appearances, being a film actor.

Click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttGg5xGamHI

Yep I remember the episode

Wow, I'm going to see Andy Griffith in a whole new way now lol

ANd lets not forget the all male Mayberry Marching Band, and the episode where Andy conned the mayor to use tax dollars so they could all take a bus to Rapeigh to stay together at some hotel.

I'm watching the show on TV Land; back to back episodes all day. The one on now is The Manicurist with Barbara Eden. I just heard Barney say that with a woman like her, he'd be inclined to "rough'em up a little." Could a comedy show get away with that these days?

I was watching as well. No he could not say that today, nor could Otis be a character.


I thought the whole manicure thing supports the Gayberry theory.

I do recall Ernest T. Bass getting a pedicure in one episode.

I don't even want to think about the possibilites when it comes to Ernest T. Bass or the Darling family.

Thanks for sharing some home movies with us, Mig!

I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Actually, that's sort of how my parents met...except my Sicilian grandpa was throwing my hayseed dad's butt out the window on to Aberdeen Street!

On a different show is there any question aboout the Skipper and his "Little Buddy?"

Well DT, if there ever was "speculation" about two guys on a boat, those two had to be the guys.

I recall an episode where Andy loaned Ernest T. Bass a deputy's uniform to impress a woman. Barney found out and went ape-shit. But when Ernest T. put that unform on (it was Barney's, so it was kinda tight), Ole Barney had a gleam in his eye, the likes of which I've never seen. Oh yeah, Barney was poking Ernest T, for sure.

Dont ask. Do tell!