"The Andy Griffith Show": Good, Clean TV-Watching Fun

This morning while I was working out on my treadmill, I watched a couple of episodes of "The Andy Griffith Show," Season 1, on DVD.

For those of you who are too young to have any idea who Andy Griffith (aka Matlock) is, the show aired from 1960-1966 and starred Andy Griffith (duh), Don Knotts, cute little "Ronny" Howard, and Frances Bavier.

I hadn't caught an episode for years (after all, I was a newborn when it first aired), but I found the show truly delightful. Whatever happened to the good, clean physical humor (Don Knotts is the master of that genre), witty dialogue, and--dare I say it--family values this show serves up in abundance?

In the episode I watched this morning, Andy meets an attractive young woman who is the new pharmacist in Mayberry (yay; a "working" woman ahead of her time!). Andy gives her an admiring glance and drawls, "I like your smile. It's...toothy."

I informed my 15-year-old son that he needs to tell his girlfriend her smile is "toothy."

He groaned and replied, "If I tell her that, she'll dump me in a second!"

Test your knowledge of the show!

Take this "Andy Griffith Show" trivia quiz (answers at the end of the post):

1. In what state is Mayberry located?
2. What is Andy's last name on the show?
3. What is Andy's job on the show?
4. What is Andy's son's first name? (Ronny Howard's character)
5. How are Andy and Barney Fife (Don Knotts) related?
6. Is Don Knotts still alive?
7. In real life, how many children did Andy have?
8. How many episodes of the show aired?
9. Was the show in black and white or color?
10. How old was Ron Howard during season 1 of the show?
11. What was the name of the show's first spinoff?
12. What is the name of the theme song for the show? Give yourself 10 extra points if you can whistle the theme song (and you have to whistle it!)

Trivia Quiz Answers

1. Mayberry is a fictional town in North Carolina
2. Andy Taylor
3. He's the sheriff of Mayberry
4. Opie
5. Andy and Barney are cousins
6. Don Knotts died February 24, 2006
7. Andy Griffith has two children, both adopted!
8. 249 episodes aired
9. Both! It was in black and white from 1960-1965 and in color from 1965-1968
10. Ron was born in 1954, so he was 6 during the show's first season
11. The first spinoff was "Mayberry R.F.D." (1968)
12. The theme song is "Fishin' Hole Theme." You can listen to it here: http://www.andygriffithshow.net/theme.php

How'd you do?