ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW - DVD review

Popular and critical acclaim aren't exactly the same thing, but it's tough to find a lot wrong with a television show that ranked among the top 10 shows every year of its eight-year run.

And season three was a big year for "The Andy Griffith Show." It was the season that introduced dim-witted mechanical wizard Gomer Pyle (Jim Nabors), schoolteacher-love interest Helen Crump (Aneta Corsaut), the rowdy, bluegrass-playing Darlings, and rock-throwing, poetry-spouting nut-case, Ernest T. Bass (Howard Morris).

This is the season that churned out many of the episodes now regarded as classics and near-classics. This year, Deputy Barney Fife (Don Knotts) is at his bumbling-but-earnest best, and he and barber Floyd Lawson (Howard McNear) tangle with three escaped convicts—females whom, in order to capture them, "Al" (Barney) has to charm with his Rudolph Valentino impression and his dancing. Veteran character actress Reta Shaw is hilariously intimidating as the gum-chewing Big Maude. And Opie (Ron Howard) has to fight for his honor to prove that he's not seeing imaginary men.

This is also the year that Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier) gets plastered on "medicine" with her entire ladies' club, sold to her by a snake-oil peddler (John Dehner) who has thoughts of wooing Aunt Bee. This year, Barney buys a lemon of a first car, and the hapless deputy goes undercover as a washwoman and a bride. And when the mountain people descend on Mayberry, it's nothing short of hilarious—fun to listen to, too, because aside from clan leader Briscoe Darling (Denver Pyle), the other guys in the clan were really The Dillards, a talented bluegrass band whose frequent quest spots on the show rivaled Earl & Scruggs' on "The Beverly Hillbillies."

What kept "The Andy Griffith Show" on top was a combination of things. It was pure slice-of-life Americana, with frequent moral lessons embedded in the scripts that didn't feel so didactic because it was part of Sheriff Andy Taylor's style to dispense such wisdom. There were also very funny lines, and a killer ensemble cast delivered them with verve. And the characters grew on you. When you saw Barney and Floyd week after week, it was almost like living in a small town. You felt as if you knew them, and the show had a comfortable feel to it.

Here's the rundown on this season's 32 episodes:

1) "Mr. McBeevee"—A near-classic episode often seen in reruns. Opie is accused of lying when Andy tells him enough is enough with this imaginary friend of his who climbs trees, jingles, and blows smoke.

2) "Andy's Rich Girlfriend"—When Andy discovers that the county health worker he's dating is the daughter of a rich Mt. Pilot man, he feels so uncomfortable that he breaks up with Peggy (Joanna Cook Moore).

3) "Andy and the New Mayor"—Andy butts heads with a new mayor (Parley Baer) who objects to his laid-back style and habit of releasing prisoners on their honor to return to serve time, and nothing but a bear can convince the mayor otherwise.

4) "Andy and Opie, Bachelors"—When Aunt Bee asks Peggy to sub for her while she's away and cook for Andy and his son, the gossip mill churns out a rumor that marriage is in the works.

5) "The Cow Thief"—Another often-seen episode finds Mayor Stoner bringing in an investigator to help break a cow-rustling ring, but Andy's hunch turns out to be right. Who knows? This episode may have inspired the Zucker brothers to include a boot-wearing cow scene in "Top Secret!"

6) "Barney Mends a Broken Heart"—When it looks like quitsville for Andy and Peggy, Barney decides that Andy needs a new female diversion—someone who turns out to be a gravel-voiced "party girl."

7) "Lawman Barney"—When two itinerant produce sellers bully the deputy when he tries to run them out of town, Andy coaches Barney to stand up to them and handle the situation.

8) "The Mayberry Band"—When the mayor threatens to pull the plug on the Mayberry Marching Band's annual trip to a contest in Raleigh because they're so awful, Andy throws in a few ringers—Freddy Fleet and his Band with a Beat.

9) "Floyd, the Gay Deceiver"—Barber Floyd Lawson has been lying in his pen pal letters that he's wealthy. But when she comes to visit and Floyd tries to keep up appearances, he learns that she's been lying too.

10) "Opie's Rival"—Opie, feeling jealous, tries to sabotage Andy and Peggy's relationship.

11) "Convicts-at-Large"—When Barney and Floyd stumble across three escaped convicts at a remote cabin, it takes some smooth talk and tango (with help from Andy) to get the cuffs on them. One of the classic episodes.

12) "The Bed Jacket"—Andy does some serious swapping to get a jacket for Aunt Bee.

13) "The Bank Job"—Another classic episode finds Barney going undercover as a washwoman to prove Mayberry's bank is vulnerable . . . and gets locked in the vault.

14) "One-Punch Opie"—Opie faces another bully in this episode, squaring off against a new boy, Quincy, whose idea of fun is breaking streetlights.

15) "Barney and the Governor"—A near-classic episode. Barney tickets the governor's car and freaks out when he learns the governor's coming to see him about it—a visit complicated by Barney drinking from a water cooler that town-drunk Otis (Hal Smith) spiked.

16) "Man in a Hurry"—The quintessential "slow-down and smell the roses" episode. Businessman Malcolm Tucker has to kill time while Gomer gets his car up and running on a Sunday, and learns the value of relaxation.

17) "High Noon in Mayberry"—Another classic episode. Andy gets a letter from a man he wounded telling him he's coming to Mayberry. And Barney recruits Gomer and Otis to help him secretly protect Andy. But who'll protect Mayberry from them?

18) "The Loaded Goat"—Otis butts heads with a cell mate—a goat that ingested dynamite which was being held in protective custody until the danger "passed."

19) "Class Reunion"—Sometimes the best ideas turn out to be the worst, something proven when Andy and Barney decide to hold a class reunion.

20) "Rafe Hollister Sings"—Andy goes the Pygmalion route to try to clean up pig-farmer Hollister, who turns out to have the voice of an angel and the appearance of a devil. A classic because of the rivalry with Barney.

21) "Opie and the Spoiled Kid"—Opie's new friend, Arnold, teaches him to throw tantrums to get his way, which, of course, backfires in a big way.

22) "The Great Filling Station Robbery"—When the cleanest-cut "delinquent" you'd ever find is given a job at the filling station, Jimmy has to prove he's not a thief when things start disappearing.

23) "Andy Discovers America"—Helen Crump is introduced in this episode where Opie describes his teacher as a dragon lady, and Andy has to work overtime to keep her from quitting when he gives Opie the idea that history doesn't matter.

24) "Aunt Bee's Medicine Man"—Another very funny, classic episode finds Aunt Bee and her Ladies Aid Church Committee getting "Toot toot, Tootsie" schlockered on medicine sold by a slick traveling salesman-gigolo named Colonel Harvey.

25) "The Darlings Are Coming"—The classics keep coming this season, with the bluegrass-playing Darling family coming to Mayberry to await the arrival of only daughter Charlene's fiancée. Things go from wild to wilder when Charlene sets her sights on Andy instead.

26) "Andy's English Valet"—A tourist from England (Bernard Fox as Malcolm Merriweather) causes a traffic accident but can't pay damages, so Andy makes a decision he comes to regret: he lets the man work it off by being his valet.

27) "Barney's First Car"—Another classic episode, where Barney buys a lemon—a car so bad that the steering wheel even does strange things.

28) "The Rivals"—When Opie experiences unrequited puppy love, Barney lets him hang out with him and Thelma Lou (Betty Lynn), thinking it will raise his spirits. Instead, it raises his tiny libido . . . for Thelma Lou.

29) "A Wife for Andy"—Barney gathers all the single women in Mayberry together for a pick-out-a-wife party, but the guest of honor wants nothing to do with it.

30) "Dogs, Dogs, Dogs"—A state investigator's timing couldn't be worse. He's there at a time when Andy and Barney have gathered up a stray, marauding pack of hunting dogs and, not knowing what else to do with them during a storm, bring them back to the jail.

31) "Mountain Wedding"—Another classic episode. The popular Darlings make a repeat appearance, with Andy asked to help marry off Charlene to Dud Walsh before hillbilly lunatic Ernest T. Bass can kidnap her and marry her himself. Barney poses as a decoy bride, with hilarious results.

32) "The Big House"—A near-classic episode finds Barney messing up again when he mistakenly jails detectives from Tennessee with two big-time bandits, thinking they're the gang that had come to spring them.

Video: Some of the episodes show their age, with occasional flickers of dust and dirt and graininess, but by and large the quality is quite good. The show was telecast in black and white, and this dvd features the usual TV 1.33:1 aspect ratio.

Audio: The soundtrack appears to be Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono, and since it's mostly dialogue, I have no complaints.

Extras: This five-disc set, as with the first two seasons, comes in slim, clear keep-cases with a cardboard slip-case. It's unfortunate, though, that Paramount insists on two not-terribly-user-friendly practices. The full annotated descriptions of the episodes are printed underneath the discs, so you have to remove them in order to decide which episode to watch. And when you do pop the DVD in, a simple press of "menu" isn't enough to by-pass six promos. You have to keep pressing "next" to get to the menu. When will studios realize that this is okay for a single play or rental, but for repeat play, or for people who probably have the other TV-on-DVD sets, it's incredibly annoying and ineffective as a marketing strategy?

That said, the only extras on the set are original sponsor ads featuring the "players" doing commercials on the set, plugging products like Sanka coffee and Post cereals. But there are commercials on every disc, and they're full commercials, not just clips. As such, they have great, cultural value.

Bottom Line: This is classic television that both documents an innocent period in American life we'll never see again, and also illustrates how good writing and strong acting are timeless. And the escaped female convict episode is perhaps the best in the show's eight-year run!