The Andy Griffith Show

The Andy Griffith Show (1960)

18 corrected entries

(62 votes)

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.

Correction: It is 2hrs and 15mins from Mount Airy - Raleigh.

Show generally

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.

hifijohn

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.

hifijohn

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.

Super Grover

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.

Correction: Old dynamite, as mentioned in the episode, can be highly unstable and unpredictable.

Senex

Guest of Honor - S2-E21

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.

Super Grover

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.

Barney Gets His Man - S1-E30

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.

Super Grover

Correction: The key on the wall is the other key that Virgil polished. It is polished like the other one. Virgil polished two keys.

Christmas Story - S1-E11

Corrected entry: Ben brings Sam in to be arrested for moonshining. His argument is moonshiners cut into his profits because he sells spirits. Andy has said many times before that Mayberry is a dry county.

Correction: While Andy has said that, nowhere does Ben mention that he is selling spirits in Mayberry. He could be selling in a different county.

Zwn Annwn

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.

The Return of Malcolm Merriweather - S4-E28

Corrected entry: As Andy walks in the house with Malcolm and greets Aunt Bee, he asks her, "You remember Malcolm don't you?" She replies that she does. This is not possible because in the other episode he appeared in, "Andy and the English Valet", Aunt Bee left town to care for a sick cousin and never met him.

jairodrigue

Correction: Malcolm and Aunt Bee met briefly as Malcolm was leaving the Taylor household and she said he should speak English because she couldn't understand him and Andy replied that he was.

The Big House - S3-E32

Corrected entry: When Andy and Barney first go out the back door of the jail house, there is a field and a grain & feed company outside the door. You can just barely see the grain & feed store. The next time they go out the back door, you can see all the grain store, however no field at all.

Pam-I-am

Correction: The second scene is from a different angle. It blocks out the field.

Correction: Locomotives of foreign railroads can operate anywhere. For instance, a Union Pacific locomotive could easily end up on a route for the old Coastal Railway, or the BNSF or Norfolk Southern. I have actually myself seen a train in Georgia operating with 8 locomotives from 8 different companies on CSX track. So this is really not an error per se. A Union Pacific Locomotive could easily have operated there. I was a conductor for 5 years.

Correction: It was never implied that he was reciting from memory. He had to read it so Andy could come in and join in.

jairodrigue

Correction: People mispronounce words and names all the time.

jairodrigue

The Big House - S3-E32

Corrected entry: When Andy arrives back to the courthouse, just prior to Barney showing Andy that Gomer has been chosen as a second deputy, Andy gets out of the car and walks briskly to the courthouse. Right up until the time Andy reaches the courthouse his pant legs are tucked into his boots. The next shot is an inside the courthouse shot showing Andy walking in. His pant legs are nice and pressed and not tucked in.

Correction: Andy never "tucks" his pant legs into his boots. Due to the style of the boots - his pant legs occasionally get caught in the boot. However, just due to walking or stretching the leg - the pant leg becomes un-caught easily. So, it could looked tucked in one instant and untucked the next.

Zwn Annwn

Barney's First Car - S3-E27

Corrected entry: When the thing in the steering wheel comes out at Barney, during that scene look out the back window of the car. The background moves, yet Barney's hands on the wheel don't move.

Correction: I'm not quite sure how this is a mistake. The plot calls for the car to be moving - which, by looking at the background, it is. Barney's hands are normal for a person driving a car. He is "driving" straight - there is no real reason his hands can't remain fairly still.

Zwn Annwn

Correction: An assumed look at the camera should not be considered a mistake - Andy could just have been looking in that direction.

Zwn Annwn

Quiet Sam - S1-E29

Corrected entry: Andy delivers a baby at a farmer's house. While still at the house at the end of the show, he tells everyone the baby is 8 pounds, 9 ounces. Bathroom scales aren't accurate enough for that weight and they didn't have electronic scales at that time. How could he know the exact weight?

terry s

Correction: How did they know my exactly weight when I was born in 1965? There are accurate scales readily available without having to be electronic.

rswarrior

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).

Super Grover

More mistakes in The Andy Griffith Show

Opie's Group - S8-E9

Andy: Clara, sometimes a parent can't see what he should do, and sometimes it takes a person from the outside to show him. And I'd like to thank you.
Clara: Groovy.

Super Grover

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The Darling Baby - S5-E12

Question: Why is it when they were on the show the Darling sons never spoke? Would they be paid more if they did, or was this some sort of joke?

Rob245

Answer: It was a joke. They were supposed to be dumb hillbillies.

Both. According to later interviews with both Andy and the Dillards band (the real name of the band that played the parts of the Darling children, of which Charlene (Maggie Peterson - Mancuso was also a member) the reason the Darling boys never had any lines was because they would've had to have been paid if they spoke. In return for appearing without lines or pay, Andy promised to get as much of their music onto the show as possible which, he did. This obviously gave them a lot of exposure.

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