October 3
SHERIFF ANDY DAY
Imagine a TV sitcom centering around a sheriff, with plots that contained no crime! No crime, you say? How can that work? Well, CBS-TV figured it out on this night in 1960 when The Andy Griffith Show premiered.
Maybe you remember the small town of Mayberry, North Carolina with its sheriff, Andy Taylor, played gently and philosophically by Andy Griffith. Andy was a widower with a young son, Opie, played by the now, award-winning, movie director Ron Howard. Other members of the cast of The Andy Griffith Show went on to become celebrated show biz stars, too: Don Knotts who played Andy’s deputy, Barney Fife; and Jim Nabors, the lovable, extremely naive gas station attendant, Gomer Pyle, come to mind.
Since there was very little crime in Mayberry, the stories centered around the personal lives of the citizens, mainly that of Sheriff Andy Taylor. The sheriff was so beloved that, although the last show aired in September of 1968, millions of viewers continue to see The Andy Griffith Show in reruns. There’s even a worldwide organization, The Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club (TAGSRWC), 12,000 members strong.
And although Andy Griffith died July 3, 2012, it seems that Sheriff Andy Taylor will live forever.
Those Were the Days, the Today in History service from 440 International
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