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The Andy Griffith Show was one of the most influential and popular television programs of the 20th century. The sitcom was a huge success, and received widespread praise for its unique blend of realism and nostalgia.
While this style of nostalgia wasn’t complicated by problematic implications and a lack of engagement with the world outside of the series, it’s ultimately still fondly remembered today by many who grew up with the series. The star himself, Andy Griffith, is also appreciated for his work both on and off this sitcom.
Although The Andy Griffith Show takes place in the 1960s, the same decade it was filmed in, it evokes an earlier era. Was Griffith thinking back to his childhood when he helped design the show? What Griffith brought from his upbringing playing in The Andy Griffith Show?
‘The Andy Griffith Show’ is a spin-off
RELATED: ‘The Andy Griffith Show’: Out-of-Air feud led 1 Star to quit the series
The Andy Griffith Show was actually a spin-off of another show, The Danny Thomas Show, although the success of The Andy Griffith Show largely eclipsed its predecessor. In reality, The Andy Griffith Show was in the top seven shows rated by Nielsen for all of its eight seasons!
The show took place in the fictional town of Mayberry, North Carolina, and centered around Sheriff Andy Taylor, played by Andy Griffith. Most of the episodes involve a combination of Sheriff Taylor facing a crime-related issue in the city, while simultaneously having to deal with his personal life and trying to raise his son, Opie.
The show was a huge hit from its first season and is still a big part of television history. His sense of nostalgia and the way Andy Griffith influenced the show to reflect his own southern rural upbringing gave him the element of realism that appealed to so many Americans in the 1960s and beyond.
While the elements of the show can be a little silly and over the top, it’s clear Griffith really put his heart into the show.
Andy Griffith played his role of father based on his own father
Like Andy Taylor on the show, Griffith came from a small town in North Carolina. His parents weren’t well off, and it took some time before the Griffiths even had a home of their own.
Despite these financial difficulties, the family had a close relationship and Griffith’s father, Carl Lee Griffith, had a strong bond with his son. The family frequently played music around their young son, which inspired his interest in the arts that would eventually make Andy Griffith such a star.
And Griffith’s relationship with his own father inspired the way Andy Taylor interacted with Opie on the show. The show actually includes a specific tribute to Carl Lee Griffith in the opening sequence!
The opening sequence referred to Andy Griffith’s father
Did you catch it? Towards the end of the opening, after Opie throws the rock into the lake, Andy nods to his son.
According to LittleThings, this is the same nod of approval Carl Lee Griffith would give Andy Griffith in Andy’s childhood. These little details added to what made the show so warm and human for its viewers.
Another little detail about this opening? It wasn’t really Opie actor Ronny Howard who threw the stone.
By the time he was shot Howard was too young and not strong enough to throw the stone as far as he could. So, a crew member threw the stone behind Opie.
In fact, a lot of things on The Andy Griffith Show were quite different behind the scenes. But that didn’t change the way audiences experienced the show: a nostalgic and real escape from the world.
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