The New Andy Griffith Show 

After working for several years in the state capital for the government, Andy Sawyer learns that the mayor of his hometown is retiring from the position and is looking for an appointee to ... See full summary »

Stars:

Andy Griffith, Lee Meriwether, Ann Morgan Guilbert

Cast

Series cast summary:
Andy Griffith	...	Andy Sawyer 10 episodes, 1971
Lee Meriwether	...	Lee Sawyer 10 episodes, 1971
Ann Morgan Guilbert	...	Nora 10 episodes, 1971
Lori Rutherford	...	Lori Sawyer 10 episodes, 1971
Marty McCall	...	T.J. Sawyer 10 episodes, 1971

Storyline

After working for several years in the state capital for the government, Andy Sawyer learns that the mayor of his hometown is retiring from the position and is looking for an appointee to fill in for the rest of the term. Thinking it sounds like a good deal, Andy packs up and moves back home to Greenwood with his wife and two children to become the new mayor of the sleepy little southern town.

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Plot Keywords:

actor name in series title | five word series title | mayor | sitcom | mayberry | 

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Taglines:

Andy's back in town!

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Genres:

Comedy

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Did You Know?

Trivia

This series was quickly put together in order to replace Griffith's series Headmaster (1970) which was low-rated. It premiered one week after the final episode of "Headmaster" in the same time slot.

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Connections

Followed by Andy Griffith Show Reunion (1993)

User Reviews

This show had one big problem

The problem with "The New Andy Griffith Show" was pretty obvious; it wasn't the OLD "Andy Griffith Show", which is what people still wanted to see. They wanted to see it so badly that at the time this show came out, "Mayberry R.F.D.", which was a pretty pale continuation/spin off/sequel or whatever you want to call it of the original show was still on, and still in the Nielsen Top 20. Another, related, problem was the continuity or lack thereof. As mentioned previously, Andy's "Mayberry" friends like Barney and Emmett came by to wish him well on being the new mayor of his hometown, so they knew him. How come they didn't see anything wrong with his name now being Andy Sawyer, not Andy Taylor, his having a different wife, Lee, rather than Helen, whom he had finally married at the end of the old show and the beginning of "R.F.D.", and that he wasn't coming home to Mayberry, where he had grown up, but to Greenwood, which was now where he had grown up? I've heard of "retrocon", but this was ridiculous. That having been said, I wonder how this show would have done had it come out five or seven years after the old one went off, rather than two, or how it would have done if it had been the first TV show ever done by Andy Griffith. (It should be noted that "The New Dick Van Dyke Show", even though it ran for three years rather than part of one, was universally regarded as vastly inferior, largely because it was impossible for it to rise consistently to the level of the old one, and not because it was truly abysmal, for it was not, and really, neither was this.)

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 January 1971 (USA)

Also Known As:

The New Andy Griffith Show

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

ADA

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1