''The New Andy Griffith Show'' is an American
sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...
that was broadcast in the United States on
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
in 1971 on Fridays at 8:30 ET. It debuted on January 8, 1971, and ended on May 21, 1971.
History
Actor
Andy Griffith
Andy Samuel Griffith (June 1, 1926 – July 3, 2012) was an American actor, comedian, television producer, southern gospel singer and writer whose career spanned seven decades in music and television. Known for his Southern drawl, his characte ...
had left his first sitcom, ''
The Andy Griffith Show
''The Andy Griffith Show '' is an American situation comedy television series that aired on CBS from October 3, 1960, to April 1, 1968, with a total of 249 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons—159 in black and white and 90 in color.
The ...
'', voluntarily after the
1967-68 season while it was still number one in the
Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
and despite a high-dollar offer from CBS to continue it, in order to pursue his other interests, singing and motion picture acting, and to prevent his being
typecast
In film, television, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character, one or more particular roles, or characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ...
solely as a rural
Southern
Southern may refer to:
Businesses
* China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China
* Southern Airways, defunct US airline
* Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US
* Southern Airways Express, M ...
sheriff
A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...
.
When he decided to return to network television two years later, in the fall of 1970, it was in ''
Headmaster
A head master, head instructor, bureaucrat, headmistress, head, chancellor, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the teacher, staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school ...
'', a drama, in which he played the headmaster of an exclusive
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
private school
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...
. When that program very quickly sank in the ratings, Griffith replaced it immediately with this one, which was much closer in tone and content to his earlier, more successful role (also sharing some writers and music director Earle Hagen),
[The New Andy Griffith Show, TVparty.com]
retrieved February 12, 2020 and this program replaced ''Headmaster'' on the CBS Friday night schedule effective January 8, 1971.
''The New Andy Griffith Show'' fulfilled the ten remaining episodes of ''Headmaster's'' series commitment and was not renewed beyond that season, with the last new episode airing March 12.
Synopsis
Griffith portrays Andy Sawyer, who upon returning to his hometown is immediately installed as the new Mayor
''pro tem''. The series is set in the fictional small city of Greenwood, North Carolina, with a population slightly under 13,000 residents and thus noticeably larger than
Mayberry
Mayberry, North Carolina, is a fictional community that was the setting for two popular American television sitcoms, ''The Andy Griffith Show'' (1960–1968) and ''Mayberry R.F.D.'' (1968–1971); Mayberry was also the setting for a 1986 reuni ...
.
[
Andy Sawyer was the model family man, always agreeable and understanding, spending much quality time with his children. His character bore more of the folksy attitude Griffith had previously portrayed in early episodes of ''The Andy Griffith Show'' and the 1958 teleplay and film '']No Time for Sergeants
''No Time for Sergeants'' is a 1954 best-selling novel by Mac Hyman, which was later adapted into a teleplay on ''The United States Steel Hour'', a popular Broadway play and 1958 motion picture, as well as a 1964 television series. The book chron ...
''.
Lee Meriwether
Lee Ann Meriwether (born May 27, 1935) is an American actress, former model, and the winner of the Miss America 1955 pageant. She has appeared in many films and television shows, notably as Betty Jones, the title character's secretary and daughte ...
was cast as Andy's wife, reprising a pairing of the two from the 1969 film ''Angel in My Pocket
''Angel in My Pocket'' is a 1969 American comedy film directed by Alan Rafkin and starring Andy Griffith. One of three films originally planned by Universal Pictures to star Griffith, it also features Lee Meriwether, Jerry Van Dyke, Kay Medford, ...
''. Marty McCall and Lori Rutherford were seen as Griffith's children, T.J. and Lori, respectively, while Ann Morgan Guilbert
Ann Morgan Guilbert (October 16, 1928 – June 14, 2016), sometimes credited as Ann Guilbert, was an American television and film actress and comedian who portrayed a number of roles from the 1950s on, most notably as Millie Helper in 61 episode ...
portrayed Lee's sister Nora, a live-in relative who was constantly complaining, neurotic, meddling and superstitious. Rotund country comic Glen Ash
Glen Ash, also billed as Glenn Ash, was an American actor and comedian. In 1948 Glen Ash was stationed in Tokyo, Japan, with the 16th Communication Squadron (TAF) as a lineman and repairman. He was a corporal in the United States Air Force. He ...
was cast as town councilman Buff McKnight. Ruth McDevitt
Ruth Thane McDevitt ( Shoecraft; September 13, 1895 – May 27, 1976) was an American film, stage, radio, and television actress.
Career
The daughter of John Barnabas Shoecraft and Elizabeth Imber Shoecraft, McDevitt was born in Coldwater, Mich ...
played Mrs. Gossage.
Reception
The premiere episode was a major success for CBS, buoyed by guest appearances by ''The Andy Griffith Show'' regulars Don Knotts
Jesse Donald Knotts (July 21, 1924February 24, 2006) was an American actor and comedian. He is widely known for his role as Deputy Sheriff Barney Fife on ''The Andy Griffith Show'', a 1960s sitcom for which he earned five Emmy Awards. He also ...
, George Lindsey
George Smith Lindsey (December 17, 1928 – May 6, 2012) was an American actor and stand-up comedian, best known for his role as Goober Pyle on ''The Andy Griffith Show'', ''Mayberry R.F.D.'' and his subsequent tenure on '' Hee-Haw''.
Life and ...
and Paul Hartman
Paul Hartman (March 1, 1904 – October 2, 1973) was an American dancer, stage performer and television actor.
Early years
Born in San Francisco, California, Hartman was the son of Ferris Hartman, who was sometimes called the "Ziegfeld of ...
. Lindsey and Hartman explicitly played " Goober" and "Emmett", their characters on both ''The Andy Griffith Show'' and ''Mayberry R.F.D.
''Mayberry R.F.D.'' (abbreviation for Rural Free Delivery) is an American television series produced as a spin-off continuation of ''The Andy Griffith Show''. When star Andy Griffith decided to leave his series, most of the supporting characters ...
'' (still on the air at the time); this is confirmed in both dialogue and in the closing credits. Knotts, meanwhile, played an unnamed character who was identical in mannerisms to Barney Fife
Bernard "Barney" Fife is a fictional character in the American television program ''The Andy Griffith Show'', portrayed by comic actor Don Knotts. Barney Fife is a deputy sheriff in the slow-paced, sleepy southern community of Mayberry, North C ...
of ''The Andy Griffith Show''. All three characters were "old friends" of the character Andy Sawyer; they dropped by his new house, ostensibly to welcome him to town, but actually to seek political favors. These Mayberry characters treated Andy Sawyer exactly as if he were Andy Taylor,[ and the two characters had similar backstories: both Andys by this point were married and had two children (although Taylor's two sons, Opie and infant Andy Jr., were both boys as opposed to Sawyer's one boy and one girl), and prior to the start of ''The New Andy Griffith Show'', both were living in larger cities.
Overall, the introduction of characters from Mayberry along with the similarities in character, writing, music and show title gave the appearance that the show was an alternate version of Griffith's earlier show, only with some names and details changed, creating confusion.][ Griffith also blamed the bad reputation of ''Headmaster'' for making it more difficult for ''The New Andy Griffith Show'' to succeed.][ Coincidentally, CBS had a public desire to overhaul its image to appeal to wealthier, more sophisticated audiences, which left the network less eager to promote rural sitcoms that previously had been a network staple.]
Although the premiere gathered respectable ratings, viewership quickly declined over the next several weeks, and after ten episodes, CBS canceled the series on March 12, 1971.[ These ten episodes repeated through May 21, then were replaced with ]rerun
A rerun or repeat is a rebroadcast of an episode of a radio or television program. There are two types of reruns – those that occur during a hiatus, and those that occur when a program is syndicated.
Variations
In the United Kingdom, the word ...
s of ''Headmaster'' during the summer.
Episodes
References
Sources
* Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, ''''
* Leszczak, Bob, ''Single Season Sitcoms, 1948-1979: A Complete Guide'' (McFarland Publishing
McFarland & Company, Inc., is an American independent book publisher based in Jefferson, North Carolina, that specializes in academic and reference works, as well as general-interest adult nonfiction. Its president is Rhonda Herman. Its former ...
, 2012), , p. 137
Excerpts available
at Google Books
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...
.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:New Andy Griffith Show
1971 American television series debuts
1971 American television series endings
1970s American sitcoms
1970s American workplace comedy television series
CBS original programming
English-language television shows
Television series by CBS Studios
Television shows set in North Carolina