ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW - DVD review

TV Guide named "The Andy Griffith Show" one of the most beloved series of all-time. It's a slice of Americana that features small-town values, endearingly flawed characters, and stories that reflect human foibles. And the number of people in America who can whistle the theme song from memory would probably astound you. The fourth season is solid, overall, but it offers a mixed bag of episodes. Some are classics, some are near-classics, and a handful are just so-so.

Welcome to Mayberry, North Carolina, where widowed Sheriff Andy Taylor (Griffith) is trying to raise his son, Opie (Ron Howard) with the help of his Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier). For comic relief there's his cousin, Deputy Barney Fife (Don Knotts), his friend and not-so-bright auto mechanic Gomer (Jim Nabors), and town drunk Otis (Hal Smith).

This was the season that began with a homily about having respect for life, and ended with goofy Gomer being inducted into the U.S. Marine Corps in what was showcased as a pilot episode for a new series. It was also the season that introduced audiences to Gomer's replacement, Cousin Goober (George Lindsey), and brought Briscoe and Charlene Darling (Denver Pyle and Margaret Ann Peterson) and the bluegrass-playing Darlings (life band The Dillards) to town on several occasions. In other words, Season 4 is a must-have for fans of the show.

1) "Opie, the Birdman"—An often-syndicated episode. After Opie kills a songbird with his slingshot, and makes amends by raising the baby birds himself.

2) "The Haunted House"—Only two people are more afraid of a local haunted house than Opie and his friends: Barney and Gomer. But Otis knows what's making those strange sounds in this near-classic episode.

3) "Ernest T. Bass Joins the Army"—It's rock-throwing time again as Bass (Howard Morris) goes ballistic when Andy puts the kibosh on his enlistment by convincing the army he's a troublemaker.

4) "The Sermon for Today"—The pastor's New York City colleague delivers a guest sermon that puts everyone to sleep and "inspires" them to reform the town band, with disastrous results. A pretty dull episode.

5) "Briscoe Declares for Aunt Bee"—The Darlings come to town, which means more music and much awkwardness for Aunt Bee when Briscoe mistakes her kindness for affection.

6) "Gomer the House Guest"—It doesn't take long for Gomer to wear out his welcome after Andy and Aunt Bee give him a place to stay when he loses his job.

7) "A Black Day for Mayberry"—Barney discovers that all that glitters is not necessarily gold when the town turns out to cheer a Fort Knox shipment.

8) "Opie's Ill-Gotten Gain"—When Opie gets all A's in school, Andy's buttons pop . . . and then his lid, when he finds out the teacher really meant to give him F's.

9) "A Date for Gomer"—The only way Andy and Barney can take their dates to the big dance is if they set up Thelma Lou's cousin . . . with Gomer. And no one ends up dancing. Betty Lynn returns as Thelma Lou, and Anita Corseaut as Helen.

10) "Up in Barney's Room"—Barney has to sleep in the courthouse when he gets in an argument with his rooming-house landlady after smuggling in food. Another of the weaker episodes.

11) "Citizen's Arrest"—Classic episode finds Gomer feuding with Barney over a traffic ticket . . . that leads to Gomer making a "citizen's arrest" on Barney for a U-turn.

12) "Opie and His Merry Men"—Another syndication favorite finds Opie and his friends inspired to rob from the rich and give to the poor after they cross paths with a conniving hobo.

13) "Barney and the Cave Rescue"—Near-classic episode has Barney finding respect when he organizes a rescue party for Andy . . . a party that's almost ruined when Andy and Helen find their own way out of a cave after a cave-in.

14) "Andy and Opie's Pal"—Jealous of the attention his dad's paying a new kid in town, bandaged Opie concocts a story about a vicious fight between him and the boy.

15) "Aunt Bee the Crusader"—Aunt Bee turns activist to keep her friend, Mr. Frisby, from being evicted . . . though Andy is the one who has to serve the eviction papers.

16) "Barney's Sidecar"—Another classic episode finds Barney buying an old military motorcycle in order to better catch speeders, and makes the usual nuisance of himself.

17) "My Fair Ernest T. Bass"—Funny episode has Andy and Barney trying to teach Bass how to woo the latest object of his affections without throwing rocks, with the test being a party at Mrs. Wiley's . . . which, of course, he fails.

18) "Prisoner of Love"—Andy almost falls for a pretty jewel thief, and it almost costs Barney.

19) "Hot Rod Otis"—When town drunk Otis gets a car, it takes a bit of play-acting to convince him that he got in a fatal accident in order to keep him off the road. Some funny moments.

20) The Song Festers"—Gomer replaces Barney in the Mayberry choir, then tries his darndest to help Barney sing anyway.

21) "The Shoplifters"—Barney goes undercover as a ladies' mannequin to try to catch a shoplifter at Weaver's department store. Funny episode.

22) "Andy's Vacation"—When Andy goes to the mountains to relax, leaving Barney in charge, the prisoner he's supposed to guard ends up right in Andy's neck of the woods.

23) "Andy Saves Gomer"—When Andy puts out a fire at the filling station, a grateful Gomer, convinced Andy saved his life, drives Andy crazy when he follows him around hoping to return the favor.

24) "Bargain Day"—Aunt Bee buys 150 pounds of beef from a new butcher, but has to eat crow when her freezer breaks down and the only one who can help her out is her old butcher.

25) "Divorce Mountain Style"—Charlene turns up in Mayberry insisting she divorced her husband and now she has to marry Andy . . . unless Andy can find a mountain folklore loophole.

26) "A Deal is a Deal"—You can't con a con, as Barney and Gomer find out when they try to help Opie and his friends after they're scammed into selling a worthless ointment.

27) "Fun Girls"—In this funny episode, Thelma Lou and Helen come unglued when they see Andy and Barney with "fun girls" in Mount Pilot, and the men have to figure a way out of trouble.

28) "The Return of Malcolm Merriweather"—The very British Malcolm is on a bicycle tour of America and needs money, so Andy hires him to help Aunt Bee . . . a job he does too well.

29) "The Rumor"—Barney spreads the rumor that Andy and Helen are engaged after he sees them kissing in a jewelry store.

30) "Barney and Thelma Lou, Phfftt"—Another backfire episode, with Thelma Lou breaking off with Barney and dating Gomer to spite him.

31) "Back to Nature"—Barney brags up his survival skills, but it takes Andy and Gomer to save him from embarrassing himself in front of Opie and his friends.

32) "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C."—The pilot episode for the successful spin-off show of the same name finds Andy concocting a story that helps the drill sergeant (Frank Sutton) better tolerate Gomer.

Video: "The Andy Griffith Show" was broadcast in black and white, and there's a certain amount of graininess and not as much contrast as you'd hope for, especially in outdoor scenes with sunlight. But the overall quality is decent, with the picture presented in 1.33:1.

Audio: Here too, the Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is nothing spectacular, but fine.

Extras: Sorry, fans. There are no extras this time, which makes me wonder if this was the year that the show went to mid-episode commercials instead of tacked-on sponsor plugs at the end. As with previous seasons, the episodes are contained on five discs housed in three plastic keep-cases and a cardboard sleeve.

Bottom Line: If life starts to seem a little too fast for you, I can't think of a better way to slow down than to put in a disc of "The Andy Griffith Show." The theme of slowing down and relaxing was consciously incorporated into episodes, as if the writers and producers knew that the tonic they were prescribing for a nation that was bothered by Kennedy's assassination and continued tensions with the Soviet Union was a much-needed reminder of simpler times.