Again, Barney let's his mouth run wild. Even as a guest on the show he was his old self. Andy saves the day for Barney again as in older shows. The premise had gotten kind of old by now.
6 Reviews
Blabbermouth Barney
wheeling50018 July 2022
Barney Lucks Out
Hitchcoc1 January 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Andy goes to visit Barney Fife in Raleigh. He is the joke of the detectives division. As is usually the case, he can't see the forest for the trees. He has moved into a boarding house where a family is very interested in what he does at the bureau. Andy is with them at dinner and observes some interesting things. The result follows a pattern that was developed early on.
Can't Beat Andy & Barney Together...Again!
AudioFileZ17 January 2024
This episode hits so much of what Barney is. Barney is self important. Something that always plays with good natured hilarity in Mayberry. Taken out of Mayberry though Barney is a square peg kind of struggling to fit. Barney, however, still largely live in a bubble so he's hanging in there in Raleigh despite some obvious red flags Andy spots right away. This is the bittersweet part that hovers and can hardly be denied. Barney was right where he needed to be when along side Andy, otherwise his colored vision seems sad. Well, since Andy is along side Barney here things just might take a spin. This is a great story idea, if one that was previously seen. The combination of Andy and Barney triumphs...and, in true TAGS fashion Barney gets the credit. Along the way there's some great opportunity for the chemistry between Andy and Barney. Barney actually living in a boarding house with the "supermarket gang" is pure gold due to the great characters of a Ma Barker like family being Barney's surrogate family and land lords. In the final scene the coffee and danish order is great stuff.
One of my all-time favorite sitcom episodes
vitoscotti10 August 2022
Episode flies by it's so hilarious. I really enjoy all of Don Knotts' color TAGS episodes. Bittersweet so brilliant but sad there could have been so many more classic episodes if Don Knotts had stayed. Barney is treated like dirt at the PD. Painting, gofer getting coffee, desk two feet too high. Really funny lines throughout. Andy saying "the desk is just the right height". Barney saying "yeah it's perfect for reading". Terrific casting of the Parkers."Just call me Ma" (Betty Kean), flirting pretty Agnes Jean (Margaret Teele) and the loafer boys guzzling beer in the AM. Interesting line about Barney's bed headboard. Andy saying "it's loose" Implying Barney spends a lot of lonely nights staring out the window. Everybody delivers brilliant performances. Cpt. Dewhurst's (Richard X. Slattery) life is made a living hell having imbecile Barney on the force. Great line "they always return to the scene of the crime". Love the loud chip munching fraying Andy's nerves. Catching the bad guys is one of TAGS all-time funniest scenes. Words can't do justice to how funny this episode was.
This episode has always bugged me.
BillyFromSoddyDaisy7 June 2023
Warning: Spoilers
The episode returns to old well-used traditions of the show: Barney talks about something he shouldn't and puts a case in jeopardy. Andy steps in to help Barney save face.
And back in Mayberry, this probably would have played for a much better episode. Or if it had played as an episode while Andy and Barney visited another city (like with the jewel thief and the hotel detective). Andy saving Barney's morale and confidence was all good and well in those situations.
But put Barney in the big city and give him a detective job and helping him keep a job he is clearly unsuited for is past ridiculous and even constitutes dangerous. Keeping Barney as a detective when he clearly is out of his depth is a poor move on Andy's part.
And back in Mayberry, this probably would have played for a much better episode. Or if it had played as an episode while Andy and Barney visited another city (like with the jewel thief and the hotel detective). Andy saving Barney's morale and confidence was all good and well in those situations.
But put Barney in the big city and give him a detective job and helping him keep a job he is clearly unsuited for is past ridiculous and even constitutes dangerous. Keeping Barney as a detective when he clearly is out of his depth is a poor move on Andy's part.
Miss and hit
dlynch8433 November 2020
Barney Fife in color. Knotts was good but the writing sometimes put his Barney Fife in situations that were just humiliating. Like this episode. When Barney is given intelligence, he gets to keep his dignity, and sometimes that happened, too. Those were the better episodes. This was a little bit of both. I know his humiliations were supposed to be funny, but at times it went overboard.
Another Barney visit (in color) had him driving an Edsel convertible, with one 'fin' window rolled up. A funny image. But let's face it, when Knotts left and the show went to color, a new and awful era for the show began.
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