The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show mistake picture

Convicts-at-Large - S3-E11

Continuity mistake: After Andy and Floyd talk outside the grocery Floyd gets into his car with the convict, and when they drive away we see all the food ads taped to both of the store windows while Andy's on the sidewalk, but when it cuts to Andy's closeups the taped ads have changed.

Super Grover

Andy the Matchmaker - S1-E7

Plot hole: When Barney's telling Andy about the poem written on the bank wall, Barney blames Opie and doesn't mention anything about Opie using chalk, but when Opie walks in Andy tells him, "Barney says there's a poem written on the wall of the bank, and that you were standin' along beside it with a piece of chalk in your hand," and then in a few moments Opie explains that some big kids pushed the chalk into his hands. So it's impossible for Andy to have known that chalk was used to write the poem, and not a marker, a pen, or a pencil.

Super Grover

The Andy Griffith Show mistake picture

Ernest T. Bass Joins the Army - S4-E3

Revealing mistake: When Barney picks Andy up and they get back to the courthouse, they find Ernest T out of the jail cell again and breaking more windows, and in the shot of Ernest T leaping in the air we see it's actually a flipped shot - note the backwards "snack bar" in the window (that store is later when Ernest T tries to break the new glass for the courthouse).

Super Grover

The Big House - S3-E32

Revealing mistake: The jailed criminals take the key and open the jail cell door. The problem is the dead bolt never moves with the key, showing the door was never locked to begin with.

terry s

A Wife for Andy - S3-E29

Revealing mistake: In the scene where Andy starts reading Opie a story, watch when the first woman rings the doorbell. As soon as Andy opens the door you can see that the set all of a sudden gets a lot brighter, as if they turned more lights on.

Barney's Replacement - S2-E2

Visible crew/equipment: When Andy and Barney are in the squad car talking about the crooked stop sign, in both of their closeups we can see the black tape that had been applied to the chrome trim of the squad's windows, presumably to prevent reflections. That tape is gone from the driver's side when they park in front of the courthouse.

Super Grover

The New Doctor - S1-E24

Continuity mistake: About 20 minutes in, Barney knocks the announcement bell off the door trying to sneak out of the pharmacy, Andy comes in one minute later and the bell rings when he opens the door. You can see the bell swinging above the door.

terry s

Season 1 generally

Other mistake: At the beginning of the series, Hope Summers' character is called Bertha Edwards. Later in the series she is Clara Johnson; still later she is Clara Edwards.

Goober Takes a Car Apart - S5-E17

Factual error: Halfway through the show, Goober takes the motor out of the car and they start it up in the Sheriff's office. If you look at the direction of the fan, it would be blowing the air forward instead of towards the rear of the engine. It would be fighting the air coming through the radiator instead of pulling it.

terry s

Hot Rod Otis - S4-E19

Continuity mistake: Otis is in the jail and can't sleep. He ask Andy for some water. Andy gets up, unlocks the door and then closes it again (clearly leaving the key in the lock). He comes back a few seconds later and the key is gone and back on the wall. (00:05:05)

Logan8H

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.

Mozzie-6

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

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.

The Shoplifters - S4-E21

Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the show, Barney and Andy are sitting inside a 1964 Ford patrol car. When they are shown up close inside, you can tell it is not the likeness of the same car. The back glass windows look more like a 1960 model possibly. It is definitely not a 1964.

Cousin Virgil - S2-E30

Other mistake: Barney's cousin is coming to Mayberry but gets off the bus in a previous town and misses it. Barney and Andy go out to find him, leaving from Mayberry. They are driving down the road when they come upon his cousin. The cousin is walking in the same direction as Andy and Barney are going, which would have meant he was walking away from Mayberry when he should have been walking towards it.

terry s

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

More quotes from The Andy Griffith Show

Trivia: In Walker's Drugstore, among all the magazines by the wall there's a TV Guide magazine (from Oct 9, 1954) on the shelf, and on its cover is Lucille Ball the co-owner of Desilu Productions - which produced TAGS, and also filmed at Desilu Studios.

Super Grover

More trivia for The Andy Griffith Show

Convicts-at-Large - S3-E11

Question: Beginning with the "Convicts at Large" episode in season 3, full width window boxes appear at the bottom of both front windows on the inside of the Sheriff's Office. Prior to this episode, they did not exist. Window boxes are often used to display decorative plants but I don't see any plants. And if they were supposed to partially block the background, the blinds were long enough to accomplish that. I find it hard to believe that the producers would spend additional money (for material and labor) for something that seems to serve no purpose. So why were they added?

Answer: Those "boxes" are valences that used to be very common, before air conditioning. They allow for windows to be open during rain storms. They permit air circulation, without letting the rain in.

Answer: As noted in the previous answers, in real life, things like this provided wind and/or rain deflection, and also maintained a bit of privacy when blinds were raised somewhat. The interior courthouse set was located in the studio, so the "outside" Main Street didn't exist. I believe these things were added to the courthouse windows for practicality, to avoid some crew movement being visible on the opposite side of those windows. These are not "window boxes" to hold anything, as they're actually bottomless; we can see the Venetian blind's long pull cords under them. They're made of plywood and simple to build, so the "material and labor" was inexpensive. Similar variations made of different materials are in other movies/shows. In 1957's "12 Angry Men," textured chicken wire glass panels are in the jury room windows, and in "Jesse Stone: Night Passage" another type is in Jesse's office windows.

Super Grover

Answer: I suspect these were common, as to block the wind from blowing the blinds and papers on the desk.

More questions & answers from The Andy Griffith Show

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