The Andy Griffith Show

The Andy Griffith Show (1960)

40 mistakes in season 4 - chronological order

(62 votes)

The Haunted House - S4-E2

Continuity mistake: When Otis makes up a poem about jumping rope, Barney lets go of the rope and Andy is left holding the other end while the rope is left stretched across the floor. One second later when Opie and his friend come running in, Andy is now holding the rope in his other hand all rolled up.

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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 Sermon for Today - S4-E4

Visible crew/equipment: Barney shows up with the concert sign while Andy's sawing wood, and when he and Andy talk about it, the shadow of the boom pole/mic is moving around on the ground, at the lower left corner of the screen. More of the boom's shadow is visible again, when Gomer shows up and they talk about Goober. (00:14:30)

Super Grover

The Sermon for Today - S4-E4

Visible crew/equipment: At the end, when Dr. Breen tells the very tired group, "You all look as serene and relaxed as if you'd just finished listening to a pleasant band concert," in the next shot facing the porch, the shadow of the boom mic is moving around between the two windows above Clara and Andy, at the top of the screen.

Super Grover

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Gomer the House Guest - S4-E6

Continuity mistake: At the start, when Andy stops at Wally's station Gomer is telling Jason about his Trout bait, then someone pulls up behind Jason's car and they're bumper to bumper in the wideshot, but in the exterior shot facing Jason there's no car behind him, but that car is back again before he pulls away.

Super Grover

Gomer the House Guest - S4-E6

Continuity mistake: In earlier episodes, we are told that Gomer can't do mechanic work. He just pumps gas and air: "There's no charge for air; air is free; we don't make no charge for air." But in this episode, Gomer has become an ace master mechanic.

Rebecca Venter

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A Black Day for Mayberry - S4-E7

Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the show, two men walk into the courthouse. (As a sidenote, one of the men is Rance Howard, which is Ronnie Howard's real dad). Barney is the only one there, as Andy is out. The two men sit down to wait for Andy. Rance Howard is not wearing a hat, and he is in a light-colored suit. When Opie walks through the door looking for Andy, you can see that Rance is not sitting there any more, and now it's a man with a dark suit and wearing a hat. (00:01:55)

Danielcrew

A Black Day for Mayberry - S4-E7

Plot hole: About 2/3 through the show Barney is locked inside the armored car and Gomer puts about a gallon of gas into the gun port onto Barney's shoes. After Gomer is told of his error, Barney stays inside the truck. The fumes would have killed him, not to mention the risk of explosion.

terry s

A Black Day for Mayberry - S4-E7

Character mistake: When Opie comes in at the beginning of the episode and asks where Andy is, the exchange ends with Barney asking "Something you want to see him about?" and Opie replying "No, I'll wait," which makes no sense in context. It would have made more sense if Barney had asked "Do you want to leave him a message?"

A Black Day for Mayberry - S4-E7

Factual error: An armored truck is going to Fort Knox from Denver would never go through Mayberry. Fort Knox is in Western KY south of Louisville on I-65. NC is accessible mainly by going south down I-75 to Knoxville, then heading South East along I-40 towards Asheville, NC. To get to NC from Fort Knox you would need to go up to Lexington then Knoxville/or go east across the wky fka The Green River pkwy to I-75 then to Asheville. There is no easy route; why would they go through KY to NC and turn back to KY?

A Date for Gomer - S4-E10

Continuity mistake: In this episode, during the scenes at Thelma Lou's house the front door is right beside a wall perpendicular to it, but in earlier and later episodes the front door is beside the dining room at the opposite side of the parlor.

Super Grover

Barney and the Cave Rescue - S4-E13

Plot hole: Andy and Helen go into the cave and there is a cave in. They find their way out and go into town to change, when they hear on the radio that Barney is getting the townsfolk together to form a rescue, Helen and Andy go back to the cave so barney can rescue them. This makes absolutely no sense. Once they get out of the cave why didn't they go back to tell Barney they were out, why did they have to flag down a truck for the ride back into town? Did they get to the cave with the squad car? It's hard to believe nobody saw them back in town, and how did they get to the cave?

hifijohn

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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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.

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