ONE SEASON WONDERS: The New Andy Griffith Show

THE NEW ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW

Programming Details:
January 8, 1971 - March 12, 1971
10 episodes
CBS

Starring: Andy Griffith, Lee Meriwether, Ann Morgan Guilbert, and Lori Rutherford & Marty McCall
Created by: Aaron Ruben

Plot: Andy Sawyer (Griffith) returns to his hometown of Greenwood, North Carolina as the new mayor pro tem. Joing him are his wife, Lee (Meriwether), children Lori & TJ (Rutherford & McCall) and sister, Nora (Guilbert).

Brief Pilot Review:
In 1968, Andy Griffith wanted to end his sitcom so the top rated The Andy Griffith Show went off the air and many characters continued onto Mayberry R.F.D.. This show, which came when Mayberry was still on the air, made it seem like Griffith was regretting his decision. Sure, Greenwood was a little bigger than Mayberry and Andy's family was different, but it was such a redux of the original Andy Griffith Show. There were many similarities like the small southern town feel and Andy being involved in public service (this time as the mayor, which was part of the original plan for his first series). On top of that, the pilot went over the top in the connections with former co-stars Don Knotts, George Lindsey and Paul Hartman all appearing (the latter two with the same character names). 

With all these blatant connections to The Andy Griffith Show, the pilot of The New Andy Griffith Show played more like a surreal dream sequence episode of the original show instead of a pilot of a new show. It's fun to see Griffith and Knotts interacting again, they always have a great chemistry. But the problem is all these old connections come at the expense of the new characters. Meriwether is given next to nothing to do and Guilbert doesn't make an impact even though she was often a scene stealer on The Dick Van Dyke Show. The few "town members" they introduce are overshadowed by the actors who weren't intended to be series regulars. It was a real creative misfire to go in this direction. If they wanted to incorporate some of these elements, do it in later episodes. The decisions that were made kept the show from having its own identity. There was a glimpse of it at the tail end of the pilot but it was too little, too late by that point.

What Went Wrong:

The New Andy Griffith Show was actually Andy Griffith's second return to TV following The Andy Griffith Show. He starred in the drama series Headmaster in the Fall of 1970, just a few months before this show. It lasted just 14 episodes and Griffith admitted it was a "bad show" so production abruptly ended on that show and started on this show. That might help explain why it was so similar to the original series because Griffith was returning to something he knew.

The problem was The New Andy Griffith Show did even worse in the ratings than Headmaster. It took over the same sleepy Friday night slot where Headmaster failed so I have to imagine that viewers who had already given Headmaster a chance and rejected it were not too interested in watching another new show with Andy Griffith so soon, if they even realized it WAS a new show. The show also received some criticism for the same reasons I outlined in my pilot review above, it was far too close to the original series and then they compounded that by including guest stars from the original show. Griffith blamed the response to Headmaster doomed this show but I'm not sure it ever had a chance. I think the problem was more that it paled in comparison to the original series than viewers had a bad taste in their mouth from a much shorter lived series. On top of it all, CBS also did its famous "rural purge" in the Spring of 1971, cancelling shows like Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies and Mayberry RFD. Not that The New Andy Griffith Show would have made it anyway but that pretty much sealed Aits fate. CBS launched The Mary Tyler Moore Show and All in the Family in that same season so they were very clearly heading in a new direction.

Andy Griffith appeared in many TV movies throughout the 1970s and one more short lived series, a science fiction drama called Salvage 1 that lasted for two seasons and 16 episodes in 1979. He finally found big time series success again in 1986 with Matlock that ran for nine seasons on NBC and ABC. Griffith is rightfully remembered first for The Andy Griffith Show and second for Matlock and there are not many who remember the blips in between two such gigantic hits.

Tomorrow: An in-depth look at the second season of Bewitched!

Next Wednesday: A look at 1980s flop Mary!