The Clubmen - S2-E10
Corrected entry: Andy and Barney have a dinner appointment at 8 pm in Raleigh. It is dark outside when they step out of the house. It is not possible to drive from Mayberry (which is Mt Airy or close to it) to Raleigh in less than 5 hours. More like 6 to 7. When they arrived at the club meeting the doors should have been locked and the place deserted.
Corrected entry: Barney is only a deputy but I'm sure makes a decent wage, however he lives like a poor college student, I'm sure rent can't be that expensive in a small town like Mayberry.
Correction: How much Barney makes is never discussed, so this is purely speculation.
Andy's salary isn't mentioned either but he lives a descent middle class life. Barney has to make something, but he doesn't spend it on a family or hobbies, he doesn't travel, doesn't own a car, but lives just one step above a homeless person.
This is not a plot hole. And I don't think Barney "lives just one step above a homeless person" whatsoever. We don't know Barney's salary, but he seemingly chooses to live a frugal lifestyle. We know Barney's expenses include rent, food (he eats out all the time), dates with girlfriends, etc. We see in S1 "Runaway Kid" Barney owns a car which has its own expenses. In S2 "The Clubmen" Barney says he sends his mom money every month. In S3 "Barney's First Car" (it was actually his second car on the show) Barney withdrew $300 from his bank account to buy a car, so we know he's been saving money, and we learn that some time in the past he had purchased a septic tank, which was expensive, for his parents' anniversary present.
Something else to consider, Don Knotts was born in 1924. Assuming Barney is supposed to be the same age, that means he grew up during the Great Depression. Many people from that generation tend to be very frugal.
Truthfully Law Officers are disgracefully underpaid but believe they used this fact to create Barney as a penny pincher. Barney is an excellent tightwad. He advises Thelma Lou to order "The Special" at the diner on a date. And collects from her when he picks an item up from the market for their supper. When it came to someone in need... remember how money came flying off his person to raise money to save the Lester Scobey house from foreclosure? It's only make believe.
Barney paid $5/week to Mrs. Mendelbright to stay at her boardinghouse - So $20/month. Barney would definitely be considered middle class. My Dad was a Deputy Sheriff during the early 60s to the mid 70s. To his recollection, his pay was roughly: Junior Deputy: $275/month. Senior Deputy: $325/month. Chief Deputy: $425/month. Dad said the Sheriff earned $600/month. Everyone earned an additional $125/month car allowance and an additional $1000/year for travel, uniforms and other incidentals.
Corrected entry: Everyone is afraid that the dynamite the goat ate will explode, but dynamite needs a blasting cap or fuse to set it off.
Correction: Old dynamite, as mentioned in the episode, can be highly unstable and unpredictable.
Corrected entry: Jay Novello gets the key to the city but he turns out to be a thief and breaks into the jewelry store. He leaves the store from the back door to an alley, only to have Andy there to capture him. Look at the back door. The hinges were on the outside. Anyone could take the hinges off from the outside of a jewelry store.
Correction: We're not actually shown enough of the back exit to determine if there is or isn't a second door, though we do see the inside door jamb is wide enough to accommodate a second door, which could be open behind Jay. Also, even if this wood door with its hinges on the outside is the only back door to the store, it's easy to believe in a town like Mayberry.
Thank you for the correction, but really if the hinges are on the outside then the door was put in backwards and it is shown, pause and see.
Corrected entry: When Barney first falls down with the convict, you see his ticket book fly out of his hand and over the car. The next scene also shows he has nothing in his left hand. The final struggle scene shows the ticket book back in his left hand.
Correction: During this scene, in the first shot just as Barney falls to the ground his ticket book flies out of his hand toward the roof of the car offscreen. In the next shot we see Barney on the ground, and his ticket book is lying open on the ground behind him, near the back of the car. We can presume that in the moment the ticket book was offscreen it hit the car's surface and landed on the ground, which does not grate with continuity between the first two shots. Then it cuts to the State Police car pulling up in the third shot, and in the fourth shot we see Barney picking up the ticket book from the ground, while he's lying on the convict. This sequence of four shots does not pose a continuity problem.
Corrected entry: Virgil files the cell key down so it won't open the door, and they take the door off its hinges to let Otis out but there is another key hanging on the wall between the cells.
Correction: The key on the wall is the other key that Virgil polished. It is polished like the other one. Virgil polished two keys.
Character mistake: Barney claims he would be losing $3478 on the real estate deal not going through. Considering the houses only were selling for that amount or less there is no way he was making that amount of money on 5% commission.
Suggested correction: I have no idea where you got the idea the houses were being sold for less than $4K. In the beginning Barney says Andy could get $24,000 for his house and $27,500 for the Williams' house (which is also how he got the figure that Andy can get into the Williams' house for $3,500, that's not the price of the house). Those 2 houses alone are $51,500 and 5% would be $2575, and he was losing out on 2 more houses.
That has bothered me forever! I thought the house Andy was thinking of buying was 3500 not 35000! Now the amount of commission makes sense although 35000 is LOT for a house in North Carolina in the early 60's! Thank you for clearing that up.
Just watched that episode and yes, you are correct on the math. But my problem is, new houses in this era were around $8000 - $8500 new, so these older houses would have been worth nowhere near $24-$27k.
Deputy Otis - S2-E31
Other mistake: Upon arriving at the courthouse, Andy and Barney discover they don't have their keys to get in so Andy decides to go knock on the window at Otis' cell, which he does to wake Otis. However, Otis' cell does not have a window, only the adjoining cell does. (00:20:00)
Suggested correction: Otis' cell does have a window. In the previous episode with Barney's cousin, Barney's pulls the window out of the wall to get Otis out. Also in another episode Barney gets an intercom and places one part by the window to demonstrate how it would work.
It has a window but no glass. It shows Andy knocking on the window to wake Otis up but then it shows him hanging on the bars.
The Luck of Newton Monroe - S5-E29
Corrected entry: Newton Monroe, played by Don Rickles, is mopping the floor of the sheriff's office. As he moves the mop around, the mop handle breaks the glass on a bookcase and he freezes, embarrassed. In the very next shot, as Barney Fife (off-camera) is yelling at him, Newton is standing with his hands on his hips and the mop has disappeared.
Correction: The mop has not disappeared, it is in the very bottom left hand corner of the screen, stuck in the bookcase, as Newton puts his hands on his hip.
Mr. McBeevee - S3-E1
Visible crew/equipment: When Barney, Andy and Opie go outside to see Opie's "horse" the microphone and boom shadow are visible on the back door.
Suggested correction: Those shadows are not from a microphone and boom pole. The shadows are from the overhang's open eave with its long rafter tail. Watch the opening scene (00:00:30) showing the back of the house, with its overhang above the back door and laundry line beside the house. Those shadows are also visible in this long shot.
Mr. McBeevee - S3-E1
Corrected entry: When Opie is outside tying up Blackie, then goes in, he is wearing a toy holster and gun. It's gone when he goes in.
Correction: When Opie enters the kitchen in the interior shot, Opie's belt holster and toy gun are not gone, they're still on him at his right side. Note that this interior shot continues uninterrupted, as Opie sits down and puts his hat on the back of his chair, then as Barney walks in and takes a seat at the table. Please rewatch (00:00:45).
Barney Hosts a Summit Meeting - S8-E21
Continuity mistake: In the scene where the meeting participants are in the kitchen, the Russian guy opens the icebox, does not close it, and sits at the table. When Aunt Bee comes in immediately thereafter, the door is closed. She opens it again and partially closes it; but in the next shot, it is fully open.
Suggested correction: The first part of the mistake is correct. However, after Aunt Bee partially closes it, if you keep your eyes on the left side of the screen where the ice box is and watch carefully, you can see the ice box actually bounces back open fully on its own.
Character mistake: In the beginning where Karen is introduced to Andy and Barney in the coffee shop, her name is Karen Worth, then at the last where she is called as winner of the Skeet Shoot her name changes to Karen Moore.
Suggested correction: She is introduced as "Karen Moore". Thelma Lou's pronunciation is a bit off (what she says sounds like 'moor', as in an English moor), but she says "Moore."
Correction: It is 2hrs and 15mins from Mount Airy - Raleigh.