November 15, 2006
Andy walks with me
First aired: November 14, 1966 on CBS
Recently aired: October 30, 2006 on TV Land
Written by: Sid Morse
Directed by: Lee Philips
Here's a philosophical question I've been pondering since watching this episode: if a television show is regarded as a "classic," yet a particular episode of the show contains none of the elements that made it classic, will a tree still fall in the forest? And would someone unfamiliar with the series come away from it asking "you mean TV Guide said this thing was the ninth greatest TV show of all time?" If you tuned in to "The Senior Play" to get your fix of homespun wisdom from Sheriff Andy Taylor or comic hubris from Deputy Barney Fife, you would be thoroughly disappointed. You would be even more disappointed if you watched the whole episode and realized that the most entertaining part of the preceding half hour was a promo for Mr. T's reality show, I Pity the Fool.
It's time for the senior play, which for some reason, the entire town of Mayberry is eagerly anticipating. Helen, Miss Vogel, Howard Sprague, two incredibly wholesome seniors named Homer and Estelle and Principal Hampton are all pitching ideas for the play. This is a very important part of the production process, as Howard reminds us: "you know, it's the basic idea that makes a show a success or failure." Honest to God, he actually says that. I'm guessing he learned this cold, hard truth about show business after the Broadway show he invested in, "Paint Drying!", closed after only four performances. Miss Vogel suggests a series of skits illustrating great moments in history, such as Samuel Morse tapping out "what hath God wrought" on the telegraph. As a history major, I thought this was a splendid idea, but the looks Homer and Estelle's faces let us know that they think the idea is like squaresville, man. They suggest a musical. Awesome! But who will direct it? Not to worry. The show will be directed by Helen, who is supremely qualified because she "did a few plays in college." Well hey, with a resume like that, how could it NOT be a smash?
Mr. Hampton drops in on a dress rehearsal and is shocked, shocked to see the youth of Mayberry dancing like a bunch of spazzes (my apologies to any British folk reading this, but really, they're dancing like a bunch of spazzes). He upbraids Helen on her lack of morality: "We depend on you to lift the standards of our young people, not hasten their decadence." Hmmm...there seems to be some sort of gap between the generational values of Helen's students and those of Mr. Hampton. Not sure what you would call that. A generation chasm, perhaps.
In the previous seasons, this would be the point in the show when Andy would come up with a clever idea to resolve the conflict, i.e., to get Mr. Hampton to change his mind. Your attention please. Now batting for Taylor, Helen Crump. Helen gets the clever idea to rewrite the show and have the kids dance the Charleston. You see, Mr. Hampton? You danced like a spaz when you were young, too! Get it!? Helen tells him that kids need to express themselves through dancing, and it's not immoral, yada yada yada. Mr. Hampton caves and lets the kids do their show.
Stuff I noticed:
The absence of Barney, Opie, Thelma Lou, Aunt Bee, Otis, and Gomer
A painfully unfunny scene between Floyd and Goober.
How lucky for Helen that the students in her play appear to be professional dancers.
Opening Title Sequence Watch: You can have your Ballad of Gilligan's Island, your Ballad of Jed Clampett, and your Brady Bunch theme, all of which spell out the antecedent action in their lyrics. The opening sequence of The Andy Griffith Show sets the tone simply by showing a father and son heading down to the lake to go fishing. I have, however, always been a little off put by the fact that Andy is wearing his Sheriff's uniform, like he's on call or something. I worry that his pager might go off and that will be the end of fishing for the day. Side note: Watching this sequence as a young boy, I thought that Opie's method of catching fish was throwing rocks at them.
1. The Andy Griffith Show, "The Senior Play." Helen Crump. 1966.
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