Don Knotts walks onto the set and you can see Andy Griffith looks a thousand times happier than when he sees Goober (replacement Gomer), Warren (Jack Burns, replacement Barney), Emmet (Paul Hartman), Howard (Jack Dodson), Frank Ferguson, Ken Berry, or any of the other unfunny TV actors that became regulars beginning in season 6, after Barney (Don Knotts) left the show.
Barney was born for this show, and he can bring nuances to his role like nobody else. Jack Burns (as Warren) tried to do Barney lines and he was so unfunny it was creepy and sad.
In this guest shot, Barney is paired up with Diahn Williams, a movie star who was born in Mayberry and went to school with Barney. The only problem is that she is 19 years younger than Barney and she also looks a lot younger than Don Knotts.
This was early days of TV, when old men had young TV wives. Perhaps they figured that since most people were watching on a 13" TV screen, they could not notice the difference. Her role is pretty funny as she pretends to like Barney and he falls for it. As usually happened, Barney gets left at the altar when his gorgeous movie star date takes off for Hollywood after she makes her guest appearance for the premiere of her movie.
The nice twist at the end is that Barney gets noticed by his co-workers in Raleigh, thanks to the newspaper photos of him at the premiere.
Another interesting twist is when Andy tells Aunt Bee how much he misses Barney, and the camera focuses on her sad reaction. I wonder if they all realized how much their show had gone down without Barney?
Barney was born for this show, and he can bring nuances to his role like nobody else. Jack Burns (as Warren) tried to do Barney lines and he was so unfunny it was creepy and sad.
In this guest shot, Barney is paired up with Diahn Williams, a movie star who was born in Mayberry and went to school with Barney. The only problem is that she is 19 years younger than Barney and she also looks a lot younger than Don Knotts.
This was early days of TV, when old men had young TV wives. Perhaps they figured that since most people were watching on a 13" TV screen, they could not notice the difference. Her role is pretty funny as she pretends to like Barney and he falls for it. As usually happened, Barney gets left at the altar when his gorgeous movie star date takes off for Hollywood after she makes her guest appearance for the premiere of her movie.
The nice twist at the end is that Barney gets noticed by his co-workers in Raleigh, thanks to the newspaper photos of him at the premiere.
Another interesting twist is when Andy tells Aunt Bee how much he misses Barney, and the camera focuses on her sad reaction. I wonder if they all realized how much their show had gone down without Barney?
