The Andy Griffith Show (TV Series) Opie's Job (1965) User Reviews

Despite the absence of Barney, it's very good and makes us forget how bad the show will soon become.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 24 October 2010]

With Don Knotts (Barney) leaving the show at the end of the last season, "The Andy Griffith Show" now entered a new phase where the show could barely be called a comedy any more. Many of the new characters were either very bland or very annoying--and none of them came close to taking the place of Knotts. However, despite this horrible loss, occasionally there still were some good episodes--especially when they capitalized on a strength remaining in the show--the relationship between Andy and Opie. As a result, this episode, at least temporarily, made us forget about the loss of Barney.

Andy is frustrated with Opie. Not only has he destroyed his bike, but he doesn't seem to have a good concept of the value of money. So to prove he can be responsible and do the right thing, Opie gets a job delivering groceries. However, another boy also shows up for the job and the man cannot decide which to hire. So, he hires both and says he'll keep the one who is the best worker. Both work very hard but in the end, Opie is chosen and is thrilled....until he learns why the other boy wanted the job. So, he gives the job to the other boy and shows the depth of his character. Unfortunately, Andy misunderstands the circumstances and jumps to conclusions. By the end, however, all is good once again and the boy has proved himself.

This is a great episode about character--much like the early one where Opie gives his money to a girl at school who needs a new coat. Well worth seeing and having a great message.

The spiral starts here

[Fortressofdoors · 8/10 · 9 April 2017]

I watched the Andy Griffith Show growing up and it has always been one of my favorites, but I didn't enjoy the later episodes for some reason. Recently, I've been binge watching it back to back on a popular streaming website and that has given me opportunity to view it in a different light now that I can watch any episode of any season instantly, at any time. It's very clear to me now why the show only lasted eight seasons.

One is the switch from black and white to color at the beginning of season 6. I believe this started the slow chipping away from the show's authenticity. This is also when Don Knotts stopped appearing as a regular character on the show and the introduction of the terrible character Warren, who as another reviewer put it, is annoying and you just want him to go away. This was a poor attempt at a substitute for Barney Fife. I also noticed that the writers and directors changed at this point too.

In the earlier episodes, at the end, there was some sort of lesson you felt that you had learned, you felt uplifted or that the characters somehow had a closer bond. In the latter episodes, some of the issues seem a little too serious for the show's theme at times, and the characters sometimes seem overly annoyed with each other, so you don't get the same feeling. Add some awkward camera angles that they used in some of the last three seasons and it gets even worse. The departure of Floyd, and the addition of the ever boring character Sam didn't help matters either.

In the end, it's still one of the best classic shows, and I'll still watch them end to end, even if I do skip over some of the episodes in the last three seasons. I still maintain that Peg from season four would have made and better girlfriend for Andy than Helen.

Color, & No Barney, Takes Getting Used To

[AudioFileZ · 7/10 · 26 December 2023]

I've got to say I like the time of the original TAGS. Black and white and pre-Beatles. Time certainly doesn't stand still and in the sixth year of Andy Griffith we viewers have to accept it. This episode has the DNA of a good moral played out well, but is missing something. That something is humor and it's not all due to no Barney. A less humorous TAGS will take some getting used to, like Mayberry in living color. Nonetheless, a decent episode. The hovering question is will the show be able to keep the heartwarming core and get back the great humor? While it's history now, the possibilities are at a crossroads of what I'll call "growing pains".

An Act of Love

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 18 December 2019]

Opie is showing off and wrecks his bike. Andy chews him out and Opie feels he should get a job to pay for his mistake. He competes with another boy and wins the position, but he is faced with a big choice. Andy shows a lot of anger in this episode..

Remodeled kitchen

[deblc-91334 · 11 December 2020]

Did anyone else notice that in the color episodes the back kitchen door is on a completely different wall?

Horrendous episode to start season 6

[vitoscotti · 3/10 · 1 July 2022]

Seems like the writers panicked with Don Knotts leaving and went for a cop-out pulling at the heartstrings angle here. A dreadful episode. Andy Taylor is made much too angry. Ron Howard will have funnier TAGS episodes than this stinker. Opie has to be in an ideal script for him to be funny. The character sunk like an anchor here. Horrible start to the color episodes. Only funny line is Floyd's, "who wants to work in a grocery store with all those fruit flies". Luckily this sappy strategy will be mostly abandoned and humor will soon reign. Next episode "Andy's Rival" is terrific. Then, there'll be some classic Warren (Jack Burns) episodes before the character gets the boot. Episode ends with a very hokey and flat epilogue.