The Andy Griffith Show

The Andy Griffith Show (1960)

41 mistakes in season 5 - chronological order

(62 votes)

The Andy Griffith Show mistake picture

Opie Loves Helen - S5-E1

Revealing mistake: At the end, in the shots of the kids dancing in class, the width of the wall between the shelf/coat hooks and the perpendicular wall with the door has bizarrely increased by 1-2 feet, but that extra width is gone in previous and following shots. Presumably they needed extra space for all the kids to dance so they moved that left wall.

Super Grover

Barney's Physical - S5-E2

Other mistake: In this episode (aired Sep. '64) Barney tells Andy that 5 years ago on May 16 (1959) he joined the sheriff's office, and later they all have a surprise party for Barney. However, in season 4 "Citizen's Arrest" (aired Dec. '63) Andy tells Barney that he found, "The custody receipt for the first revolver I issued you... August, 1953... 10 years ago last month since I swore you in." Andy even mentions having a party with a cake that has 10 candles on it.

Super Grover

Barney's Bloodhound - S5-E6

Other mistake: When the escaped convict takes Barney hostage, they walk away from the lake and Barney drops the piece of paper with the convict's picture. Later, when Andy walks across the grass he finds Barney's cap and the paper lying on the grass, but the problem is that Andy needs to pull up at the center of the paper because it's pinned to ground, presumably so it wouldn't move or blow away for the shot.

Super Grover

The Andy Griffith Show mistake picture

Man in the Middle - S5-E7

Continuity mistake: When Barney, Thelma Lou, and Andy are driving to Andy's blind date they're all in the squad car. When they're parked in front of Helen's house in the closeup shots the light mounted on the roof has vanished, the glass windshield's gone, the car's interior differs, etc., and then it changes back. The roof is black, then white, as well.

Super Grover

The Andy Griffith Show mistake picture

Goodbye Sheriff Taylor - S5-E10

Continuity mistake: While Barney's trying to instruct the new deputy candidates, when he throws a tomato to Otis it splatters on his shirt, and a few things keep changing depending on the angle of the shot - the amount of tomato goo increases/changes position; the suspender's sliding adjuster changes height; the deputy badge changes position.

Super Grover

The Andy Griffith Show mistake picture

The Pageant - S5-E11

Continuity mistake: While Andy and Opie are sitting on the couch, Andy's on the phone talking about having to tell Aunt Bee to drop out of the play, and there are two candlesticks with candles on the server behind Andy, but in Andy's closeups they're gone.

Super Grover

Three Wishes for Opie - S5-E14

Other mistake: When Andy asks Floyd and Judd about who he's supposedly marrying it cuts to Helen walking down the street, and the grocery store has only one display window, when it should have two windows, and there's a brick wall adjacent to the window which shouldn't be there. (Shot at the soundstage not backlot).

Super Grover

Three Wishes for Opie - S5-E14

Revealing mistake: Barney, convinced he can foretell the future, is in the darkened jailhouse, seated between Goober and Floyd at a table. Goober strikes a match and lights a lamp which is directly in front of Barney. The immediate illumination obviously comes from a studio light because the men's shadows on the wall are to the far left of the men, instead of directly behind them.

Three Wishes for Opie - S5-E14

Other mistake: When Barney uses the gypsy lamp and cards in the back room, in the shots with Goober and then with Opie while they're standing in the doorway, the wall opposite them has a barred window, but in earlier episodes that wall has the door that leads outside to the side of the building.

Super Grover

Barney Fife, Realtor - S5-E16

Revealing mistake: While Barney's explaining to Andy his new interest in realty they both walk to the back room, and just as they pass through the doorway the camera tracks too far to the left, so we can see the edge of the set wall and the rest of the back wall is missing. (The following shot is from the direction of that missing wall).

Super Grover

Barney Fife, Realtor - S5-E16

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.

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

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.

Bishop73

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.

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
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

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.