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| The New Andy Griffith Show | |
|---|---|
 Andy Griffith and Lee Meriwether, 1971. | |
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Created by | Aaron Ruben |
| Written by |
|
| Directed by | Lee Philips |
| Starring |
|
| Composer | Earle Hagen |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 10 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Richard O. Linke |
| Producer | Aaron Ruben |
| Cinematography | Wilfred M. Cline |
| Editor | James Galloway |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 22–24 minutes |
| Production company | ADA Productions |
| Original release | |
| Network | CBS |
| Release | January 8 (1971-01-08) – May 21, 1971 (1971-05-21) |
The New Andy Griffith Show is an Americansitcom that was broadcast in the United States onCBS in 1971 on Fridays at 8:30 ET. It debuted on January 8, 1971, and ended on May 21, 1971.[1]
ActorAndy Griffith had left his first sitcom,The Andy Griffith Show, voluntarily after the1967–68 season while it was still number one in theNielsen ratings and despite a high-dollar offer from CBS to continue it, in order to pursue his other interests, singing and motion picture acting, and to prevent his beingtypecast solely as a ruralSouthernsheriff.
When he decided to return to network television two years later, in the fall of 1970, it was inHeadmaster, a drama, in which he played the headmaster of an exclusiveCaliforniaprivate school. When that program very quickly sank in the ratings, Griffith replaced it immediately with this one, which was much closer in tone and content to his earlier, more successful role (also sharing some writers and music director Earle Hagen),[2] and this program replacedHeadmaster on the CBS Friday night schedule effective January 8, 1971.
The New Andy Griffith Show fulfilled the ten remaining episodes ofHeadmaster's series commitment and was not renewed beyond that season, with the last new episode airing March 12.
Griffith portrays Andy Sawyer, who upon returning to his hometown is immediately installed as the new Mayorpro tem. The series is set in the fictional small city of Greenwood, North Carolina, with a population slightly under 13,000 residents and thus noticeably larger thanMayberry.[2]
Andy Sawyer was the model family man, always agreeable and understanding, spending much quality time with his children. His character bore more of the folksy attitude Griffith had previously portrayed in early episodes ofThe Andy Griffith Show and the 1958 teleplay and filmNo Time for Sergeants.
Lee Meriwether was cast as Andy's wife, reprising a pairing of the two from the 1969 filmAngel in My Pocket. Marty McCall and Lori Rutherford were seen as Griffith's children, T.J. and Lori, respectively, whileAnn Morgan Guilbert portrayed Lee's sister Nora, a live-in relative who was constantly complaining, neurotic, meddling and superstitious. Rotund country comicGlen Ash was cast as town councilman Buff McKnight.Ruth McDevitt played Mrs. Gossage.[3]
The premiere episode was a major success for CBS, buoyed by guest appearances byThe Andy Griffith Show regularsDon Knotts,George Lindsey andPaul Hartman. Lindsey and Hartman explicitly played "Goober" and "Emmett", their characters on bothThe Andy Griffith Show andMayberry R.F.D. (still on the air at the time); this is confirmed in both dialogue and in the closing credits. Knotts, meanwhile, played an unnamed character who was identical in mannerisms toBarney Fife ofThe Andy Griffith Show. All three characters were "old friends" of the character Andy Sawyer; they dropped by his new house, ostensibly to welcome him to town, but actually to seek political favors. These Mayberry characters treated Andy Sawyerexactly as if he wereAndy Taylor,[2] and the two characters had similar backstories: both Andys by this point were married and had two children (although Taylor's two sons, Opie and infant Andy Jr., were both boys as opposed to Sawyer's one boy and one girl), and prior to the start ofThe New Andy Griffith Show, both were living in larger cities.
Overall, the introduction of characters from Mayberry along with the similarities in character, writing, music and show title gave the appearance that the show was an alternate version of Griffith's earlier show, only with some names and details changed, creating confusion.[2] Griffith also blamed the bad reputation ofHeadmaster for making it more difficult forThe New Andy Griffith Show to succeed.[2] Coincidentally, CBS had a public desire tooverhaul its image to appeal to wealthier, more sophisticated audiences, which left the network less eager to promote rural sitcoms that previously had been a network staple.[4]
Although the premiere gathered respectable ratings, viewership quickly declined over the next several weeks, and after ten episodes, CBScanceled the series on March 12, 1971.[2] These ten episodes repeated through May 21, then were replaced withreruns ofHeadmaster during the summer.
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "My Friend, the Mayor" | Lee Philips | Aaron Ruben | January 8, 1971 (1971-01-08) |
| 2 | "Get Me Glen Campbell" | Lee Philips | James Fritzell &Everett Greenbaum | January 15, 1971 (1971-01-15) |
| 3 | "Berries, T.J. and the Law" | Unknown | Unknown | January 22, 1971 (1971-01-22) |
| 4 | "Town Square" | Elliott Lewis | James Fritzell & Everett Greenbaum | January 29, 1971 (1971-01-29) |
| 5 | "Nearly Nuptials For Nora" | Unknown | Unknown | February 5, 1971 (1971-02-05) |
| 6 | "Otis Burfoot Is A Hundred Years Old" | Unknown | Unknown | February 12, 1971 (1971-02-12) |
| 7 | "Big Noise, Small Claims" | Unknown | Unknown | February 19, 1971 (1971-02-19) |
| 8 | "The Connection" | Unknown | Unknown | February 26, 1971 (1971-02-26) |
| 9 | "The Millionth Visitor Is A Bum – Or Is He?" | Unknown | Aaron Ruben | March 5, 1971 (1971-03-05) |
| 10 | "A Visit From Cousin Billy Jim" | Unknown | Unknown | March 12, 1971 (1971-03-12) |
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