Labels: TV
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Tuesday, June 03, 2008 Mayberry
I have no idea why this entered my mind, but this afternoon I suddenly realized that there were no married people on the Andy Griffith Show. The setting, downhome smalltown Americana...yet not one character that is married. Andy? single (widowed?). Aunt Bea? single. Opie? single...he was a child. Barney? single. Floyd? ok, unless I'm mistaken, single. Howard Sprague? Mama's boy...single. Helen Crump? single. Clara Edwards? single. Thelma Lou? single. Goober? single...and with good reason. I mean in a way it was really ahead of its time, because despite the rest of the sitcoms of that era that were heavily nuclear-family oriented, this one broke the mold and showed you could have a family consisting of a single father, his aunt and his son. I'd like to think it was progressive, but I can't. Instead I think it was just...odd...and off. And creepy. Especially the men on the show. No wonder why everyone was single...no one had any sex appeal. Ever see one of the episodes where Andy and Barney go on a double date with Helen and Thelma Lou? They are out in a car necking...like high school kids! These people are supposedly in their 30s or 40s? And they're dating like high school kids? Strange arrested development. Strange bit of TV history.
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posted by Ann at 9:07 PM :::::
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4 Comments:
When I was young I actually thought the show was fun and entertaining, but now it does give me an uncomfortable feeling for many of the points you have made. It is strange how fashions have changed and someone like Goober would be a sex symbol by today's standards - back then we all sort of felt sorry for him because he was too dorky to be attractive.
All I can think of to say about how young people like the dork look and persona is --- whatever!
I would still enjoy watching the show, but...who has time? Plus, I do have some bad associations w/it because I was watching it the night before Hieronymus fell down the stairs. It's sort of like the thing you'd watch when you have a bad cold and they're having a Mayberry Marathon and all you want to do is lie on the couch, not change channels and go "ugggghhhh".
You think Goober would be a sex symbol by today's standards? In a way, like in the way so many younger guys are like giant toddlers. But the pants are all wrong. Goober wears his pants up to his nipples. He'd have to wear them below his anus to be in vogue now. But who knows...give the fashion industry a few years and the nipple waistline will be the next trend.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but were there any black people on the show ever? I don't remember any. Not even extras.
No married people, no people of color...very odd.
Another thing I thought of regarding this show. It was mostly in syndication when I was young, and I'm sure I only saw it in reruns, and mostly only when I visited my grandmother. She got a channel that came in from Chicago that played lots of old sitcoms, like Leave it to Beaver. So I pretty much only associated Andy and Beaver with visiting Racine, where my grandmother lived. In the 60s and 70s, Racine seemed very stuck in the 50s. And since it was where my mom used to live too, going to visit my grandmother was like traveling back in time.
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