Thanks Andy,

I have always loved to read, but I'll be honest, five minutes in I'm usually fast asleep. The process relaxes me to the point where I become nearly catatonic. This brings us to television which I sometimes enjoy, and other times I roll my eyes and hit the power button. Just for the record I'd rather lose a testicle in an industrial accident than to be forced to watch anything on the BRAVO network. But we all have a movie or a television show that is an automatic remote drop for all of us. For me it's the Andy Griffith show. It doesn't matter if it is five minutes in or at the end scene, it's always enjoyable. It's one of those shows you have seen so many times you find comfort in knowing the end result of the story. It may have been filmed on the back lot of the Desilu studios in Hollywood California, but you'd never know it. It fits like a comfortable old southern shoe.

The AGS has all the things needed to make the perfect show that was created with southerners in mind. Porch setting, discussing the weather at the barber shop, and walking to the filling station for a bottle of pop on a cool spring evening are all hallmarks of being raised in the south. Nostalgia is probably the word that best fits this show. We all have nostalgia that fills our brain with childhood memories as thick as bread pudding that originates somewhere. For my dad-n-law his automatic remote drop comes from watching the movie Lonesome Dove, I too love that flick, but it is better than six hours long and that is a lot to ask of my backside. People my age often still go to concerts to fill their want for the old days, but when all the former members of the rock group of Ratt are either dead because they partied too hard in the eighties, doing high blood pressure commercials, or just taking advantage of their handicapper parking spot at Walgreens, people tend to walk away disappointed. Changing the recipe of any product changes the end product. If I forget to add baking powder to granny's pancake recipe I'd just be left with crepes, nobody wants that.

There has been a lot of discussion over the years about why the AGS seemed to stop being enjoyable after it was colorized. I will agree with that assessment. I always considered this grand old show as a time capsule of sorts, but once Don Knotts left the show, and Andy became agitated at dang near everything it lost its former luster. Black and white viewing meant that it retained the feel of yesteryear. And when the weirdness of the sixties became embedded within, it was no longer the show we loved. If you are uncertain what I speak of when I say, "the weirdness of the sixties" you need to look no further than the "BLUE BOY" episode of Dragnet. Once hard drugs became permanently embedded in our lives and a mainstay of our culture, we were never the same as a nation. Remember, just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. Pulling in the reckless behavior of the world around us into the program was a mistake because people didn't tune into the show for a reality check, we tuned in for a reality break. For that matter we still do; I know I do. Think of it like this, professional football was always fun to watch until players started taking a knee during the National Anthem. It's essentially the same scenario.

Sometimes the evolution of certain characters makes for good television. But in this instance, we didn't want Andy to evolve, we wanted him to remain the same. The man with the winning smile, the big heart, and the central character that realized that the golden rule wasn't just one thing, IT WAS EVERYTHING. We always hear the stories about Mr. Griffith doing things in real life that was reminiscent of a Rolling Stones tour like drinking too much, falling down, and dismantling hotel rooms. These kinds of stories don't put me off much. How many true acting geniuses have you known in your life that weren't just a little off their nut? Most are crazy to some degree. Besides, I have always maintained that level of fame is bound to change a man. It goes right along with Michael Jackson raising chimps, putting up Farris wheels in his front yard, and getting plastic surgery to the point where he no longer looked human. There is obviously something that breaks down from the inside a young man's head once he cannot even enter a corner cafe for a cup of coffee without getting mobbed by a crowd. It nearly makes feeling normal an unattainable goal.

The point is this, no show on television (not even Duck Dynasty) captures the feel of living in a southern state of mind like AGS. Maybe that was because Andy, unlike many others over the years never faked it. He brought to the small screen his love of his past small-town life. He understood the importance of putting a magnifying glass on every character. It was important that the town drunk locked himself up at night so he couldn't harm anyone, including himself. It was important to show Opie living up to his mistake and becoming a mother to a cage full of wild songbirds. How many times did he bail Barney out of a jam (even sometimes when he deserved to fall flat on his face). Why did he do it? He did it because the show's main theme was that friendship was more important than pride. Isn't that something we could all use more of in this life? Remember... pride cometh before the fall.

Nearly every night when I am trying to find something I can fall asleep to, I find Andy and Barney. Thank you for the memories, fellas.