The Andy Griffith Show Searchable Episode Guide

The Andy Griffith Show Episode 34: Opie and the Bully

Originally Aired on Oct 2, 1961.   Average User Rating: 7.3 out of 10  (141 entries).

Andy learns Opie is being terrorized by a loca bully, who threatens him with pulverization until he gets Opie's lunch money. Andy decides to let Opie fight this battle on his own. Opie goes to face his nemesis, and Andy suffers as he waits for his son to return. Opie returns to the courthouse as the better man--he won the fight for his rights.

The Andy Griffith Show Episode 35: Andy and the Woman Speeder

Originally Aired on Oct 16, 1961.   Average User Rating: 4.4 out of 10  (121 entries).

Andy arrest beautiful big-city woman Elizabeth Crowley. By the time she reaches trial, Miss Crowley has used flattery and bribes to turn the witnesses for the prosecution--Opie, Floyd, and Barney--against Andy. After winning the case, Miss Crowley sees the error of her ways and promptly speeds out of town intentionally so Andy can arrest her again and allow her to pay the fine she deserved in the first place.

The Andy Griffith Show Episode 36: Barney on the Rebound

Originally Aired on Oct 30, 1961.   Average User Rating: 8.3 out of 10  (64 entries).

Barney's head is turned by lovely young newcomer Melissa Stevens, who proves to be the more attractive half of a team of con artists out to trap naive young bachelors into breach-of-promise settlements. Andy saves the day by calling the bluff of Melissa's suspiciously young "father", George Stevens. In the middle of what the pair had hoped would be their payoff, Andy begins the wedding vows, and the two back off.

The Andy Griffith Show Episode 37: The Perfect Female

Originally Aired on Nov 27, 1961.   Average User Rating: 6.2 out of 10  (72 entries).

Once again the feminist theme is brought to the fore when Thelma Lou arranges a blind date between her visiting cousin and Andy. To everyone's surprise, they hit it off, but the relationship collapses when Karen Moore takes up a shotgun and shows Andy thay she is not the usual delicate female. After Andy gets a good dressing-down, he admits the error of his ways.

The Andy Griffith Show Episode 38: Aunt Bee's Brief Encounter

Originally Aired on Dec 4, 1961.   Average User Rating: 7 out of 10  (40 entries).

Aunt Bee falls for traveling handyman Henry Wheeler. Andy soon realizes Wheeler is not as nice as he seems. So before things get out of hand, Andy explains patiently to Wheeler that he would not want his Aunt Bee hurt by any false promises. To emphasize the point, Andy holds the conversation on the porch while he cleans his shotgun. Wheeler prudently decides it is time to leave Mayberry.

The Andy Griffith Show Episode 39: Mayberry Goes Bankrupt

Originally Aired on Oct 23, 1961.   Average User Rating: 7 out of 10  (234 entries).

Andy teaches Mayberry exactly what "Love Thy Neighbor" means in this episode. Andy is forced to evict Frank Myers from his home only to later discover that he holds a century-old bond that is originally believed to be worth $349,119.27. Since the Mayberry treasury holds just over $10,000, the mayor and town council scramble to keep Frank happy by renovating his run-down home. Later, the bond is discovered to be worthless because it was paid for with Confederate currency. Once again the town turns on the old man, but Andy is able to convince everyone that they have done something nice and should leave it at that.

The Andy Griffith Show Episode 40: Opie's Hobo Friend

Originally Aired on Nov 13, 1961.   Average User Rating: 9.8 out of 10  (127854 entries).

Opie becomes fascinated with David Browne, a vagrant hobo who uses his wits to live on the edge of the law. After realizing his son has taken a liking to the wily wanderer, Andy tries to find David some honest work. Andy's plan goes sour when Opie, at Dave's encourgement, is caught playing hooky. Andy then has a long talk with the hobo. Dave sees his side and arranges to get himself arrested in order to show Opie that he was not the man he thought him to be.

The Andy Griffith Show Episode 41: Crime-free Mayberry

Originally Aired on Nov 20, 1961.   Average User Rating: 6 out of 10  (142 entries).

Two crooks posing as an FBI man and a photographer comes to Mayberry to congratulate the Sheriff's Department for achieving a crime-free record. Andy gets suspicious after the supposed FBI agent allows his picture to be taken. When the pair crack the Mayberry Bank's vault, Andy is inside waiting for them--he had come in the back door. Always the gracious sheriff, Andy thanks them for opening the vault that had been locked for almost fifteen years after the combination was lost and the vault company had gone out of business.

The Andy Griffith Show Episode 42: The Clubmen

Originally Aired on Dec 11, 1961.   Average User Rating: 9.2 out of 10  (171 entries).

One of Andy's big-city fishing buddies invites him to join the Esquire Club, an exclusive Raleigh men's organization. Barney is also asked to join and he, of course, overreacts and alienates the entire group by trying to hard to fit in. Andy is offered membership, but Barney is not. Andy tells his fishing buddy that he must decline because he does not feel right joining a club that wouldn't let in his best friend. Before Andy can break the news to Barney, Barney assumes Andy was the one rejected and sits down to write the club a scathing letter of rejection himself.

The Andy Griffith Show Episode 43: The Pickle Story

Originally Aired on Dec 18, 1961.   Average User Rating: 8.9 out of 10  (16155 entries).

It's canning time again, and Aunt Bee has put up another batch of pickles. After realizing the only thing they're good for is killing flies brave enough to land on them, Andy and Barney decide to substitute store-bought for her homemade and hand the originals to travelers passing through Mayberry. After the switch, Bee decides to enter her pickles in the county fair. Unfortunately, the perennial winner is Clara Johnson, Bee's best friend, and she has her heart set on winning her 12th blue ribbon in a row. Andy and Barney have no choice but to destroy all eight jars before she can enter, so they eat night and day until all the pickles are gone. They do their work proudly, but Bee decides that since the boys liked them so much, she will make a double batch.

The Andy Griffith Show Episode 44: Sheriff Barney

Originally Aired on Dec 25, 1961.   Average User Rating: 5.4 out of 10  (122 entries).

Barney gets an offer to become the sheriff of Greendale, and Andy tries to discourage him. Unsure how to handle matters, Andy gets an idea to let Barney be sheriff of Mayberry for a day. Given the opportunity to get a taste of what the office of high sheriff entails, Barney understands that he is not up to the job and calls Greendale to decline.

The Andy Griffith Show Episode 45: Farmer Takes a Wife

Originally Aired on Jan 1, 1962.   Average User Rating: 9.4 out of 10  (120 entries).

One of Andy's old pals, Big Jeff Pruitt, comes to Mayberry looking for a suitable woman to be his wife. Andy and Barney give him a hand, but Jeff just can find a woman who suits him. Finally he finds the perfect woman: Thelma Lou. Andy instructs Thel to accept Jeff's proposal and then go about trying to civilize him into being a city-dwelling house husband. That is more than Jeff can abide, and heads back to the hills and his old gal, Big Bertha, just as Barney comes to Thel's demanding Big Jeff either flee or fight.

The Andy Griffith Show Episode 46: The Keeper of the Flame

Originally Aired on Jan 8, 1962.   Average User Rating: 5.4 out of 10  (381 entries).

Opie is accepted as a member of a secret society called The Wildcats after he takes a sacred oath never to reveal the club secrets. Given the job of Keeper of the Flame, Opie is fingered as the guilty party when the barn that the club meets in is burned to the ground. The fire was actually started by the barn's owner, farmer and moonshiner Jubell Foster. Not knowing this, Andy takes responsibility for the fire and is about to pay Foster for the value of the barn when Barney, having stumbled upon and unkhoningly consumed some of Foster's moonshine, staggers out drunk.

The Andy Griffith Show Episode 47: Bailey's Bad Boy

Originally Aired on Jan 15, 1962.   Average User Rating: 5.6 out of 10  (99 entries).

Rich kid Ronald Bailey is jailed when he blatantly defies the law. As Bailey waits for his influential father to bail him out, Andy teaches him the lesson of self-responsibility. Bailey decides to stand on his own two feet and take care of his traffic violations himself.

The Andy Griffith Show Episode 48: The Manicurist

Originally Aired on Jan 22, 1962.   Average User Rating: 5.2 out of 10  (384 entries).

Shapely young Ellen Brown pops into Mayberry in search of a friendly town where she can make a living as a manicurist. When she lays claim to a corner of Floyd's Barbershop, the men of Mayberry aren't quite sure how to act. It isn't long before they come around to liking the whole idea, and it's the wives who become less than enthusiastic.

The Andy Griffith Show Episode 49: The Jinx

Originally Aired on Jan 29, 1962.   Average User Rating: 8.4 out of 10  (79 entries).

Barney gets the whole town on guard when he declares Henry Bennett to be a jinx. No matter how Andy tries to convince the town otherwise, Bennett's mere presence seems to consistently coincide with disaster. Even Andy gives up after a drawing fixed in Bennett's favor fails. Andy then explains to him that a man with as many friends as he has must be lucky.

The Andy Griffith Show Episode 50: Jailbreak

Originally Aired on Feb 5, 1962.   Average User Rating: 8.5 out of 10  (277 entries).

A team of convicts is on the loose, and the state police arrive ridiculing Sheriff Taylor and Barney. Andy cracks the case by focusing on the smallest details: a trailer hitch and an offhand remark by the dry cleaner about a suit with dog hairs. This leads to the convict's accomplice, but only after Barney somehow manages to let the one convict they have captured escaped.

The Andy Griffith Show Episode 51: A Medal for Opie

Originally Aired on Feb 12, 1962.   Average User Rating: 4.2 out of 10  (65 entries).

Opie has his heart set on winning a medal in the annual Sheriff's Boys' Day race. Under the tutelage of legendary fifty-yard-dash winner Barney Fife, Opie enters the race confident of a win. When the day is done, however, Opie comes up empty. Andy finds Opie sulking at home, and the two have a heart-to-heart about the value of good sportsmanship.

The Andy Griffith Show Episode 52: Barney and the Choir

Originally Aired on Feb 19, 1962.   Average User Rating: 8.3 out of 10  (281 entries).

When the awful sound coming from the Mayberry choir is narrowed down to Barney, the members decide they must get rid of him. Since no one has the heart to do it, they set him up telling him he is singing into a supersensitive microphone, while someone else is actually singing the part back stage.

The Andy Griffith Show Episode 53: Guest of Honor

Originally Aired on Feb 26, 1962.   Average User Rating: 3.2 out of 10  (263 entries).

It's Founder's Day again, and thistime the celebrration centers on honoring the first vistor to town with the key to the city. Unfortunately, the first person to drive in is Sheldon Davis, an expert pickpocket and petty thief. When Andy runs a check on him and finds the truth about their "Guest of Honor" he decides not to tell anyone and just keep a close eye on him until the day is over and he can run him out of town. Barney messes everything up and ends up letting him have the keys to all the business in the city. Andy foils his plan in the end and cathces him red handed.

The Andy Griffith Show Episode 54: The Merchant of Mayberry

Originally Aired on Mar 5, 1962.   Average User Rating: 8.2 out of 10  (72 entries).

Mean old Ben Weaver goes on a rampage when Bert Miller, a traveling salesman, stops in Mayberry. Weaver demands Miller be taken off the street for not complying with a Mayberry law that prohibits anyone from selling goods without a permant structure. Andy, out to have a little fun, decides to settle the matter in his own way by helping Bert build a nice little stand in a vacant lot down the street, setting off a trade war between Bert's and Weaver's Department Store. Ben finally gives in and decides the best way to eliminate the competition is to put him to work in his own store.

The Andy Griffith Show Episode 55: Aunt Bee the Warden

Originally Aired on Mar 12, 1962.   Average User Rating: 8.7 out of 10  (115 entries).

The Gordon boys are brought in for moonshining, and when Otis arrives for his regular stay at the jail, there is no room at the inn. When the Gordon boys accuse Otis of turning them in, Andy has no choice but to take Otis home to let him sleep it off at the Taylor . Come morning, Otis finds that he's been turned over to "Bloody Mary," aka Aunt Bee, who decides to rehabilitate Otis once and for all.

The Andy Griffith Show Episode 56: The County Nurse

Originally Aired on Mar 19, 1962.   Average User Rating: 3.5 out of 10  (106 entries).

Mary Simpson, the first of the county nurses, enlists Andy's help in getting Rafe Hollister to submit to a tetanus shot. Rafe refuses until Andy, using the old reverse psychology trick, gets Rafe to change his mind after he serenades him with a song that Andy plans to sing at Rafe's funeral.

The Andy Griffith Show Episode 57: Andy and Barney in the Big City

Originally Aired on Mar 26, 1962.   Average User Rating: 9.2 out of 10  (108 entries).

In Raleigh Barney gets wrapped up with a jewel thief. Guest Arte Johnson "Laugh-In" and Allan Melvin "All in the Family"

The Andy Griffith Show Episode 58: Wedding Bells for Aunt Bee

Originally Aired on Apr 2, 1962.   Average User Rating: 6.9 out of 10  (41 entries).

Clara convinces Aunt Bee that she's the reason Andy isn't getting married. In order not to feel that she is in the way, Bee invents an imaginary beau. Andy misunderstands and becomes convinced that Bee is serious about finding a husband. When Bee needs to produce a body, she grabs Fred Gross, the Mayberry dry cleaner. When Andy finally figures out what has transpired, he tells Bee that she is not in the way and is part of his family.

The Andy Griffith Show Episode 59: Three's a Crowd

Originally Aired on Apr 9, 1962.   Average User Rating: 6 out of 10  (160 entries).

Andy tries to romance county nurse, Mary Simpson, but Barney constantly interrupts. Finally, Andy becomes exasperated and tells Barney he wants to be alone with Mary. Barney understands perfectly, and he gathers everyone together for the first of several false wedding announcements involving Andy and his current female love interest.

The Andy Griffith Show Episode 60: The Bookie Barber

Originally Aired on Apr 16, 1962.   Average User Rating: 5.2 out of 10  (146 entries).

Floyd gets his chance at being a proprietor of a two-chair shop when semiretired barber Bill Medwin arrives with a proposition of expansion. Floyd jumps at the chance since Medwin promises to supply the chair and the customers. As it turns out, the barber is a bookie, and Barney jumps in to bust the criminal.

The Andy Griffith Show Episode 61: Andy on Trial

Originally Aired on Apr 23, 1962.   Average User Rating: 6.2 out of 10  (168 entries).

J. Howard Jackson, a wealthy newspaperman, seeks revenge on Sheriff Taylor after Andy tracks him down for failing to appear in Mayberry court for a traffic violation. Unwittingly, Barney becomes a key witness in Jackson's attempt to remove Andy from office, supplying female reporter Jean Boswell with informationthat is eventually used as evidence against Andy. When Barney is called to the stand, he is able to dispel all doubts that Andy is an honest man of the law and a true public servant.

The Andy Griffith Show Episode 62: Cousin Virgil

Originally Aired on Apr 30, 1962.   Average User Rating: 5.6 out of 10  (78 entries).

Virgil, Barney's awkward cousin from New Jersey, visits mayberry and immediately makes a mess of everything he touches. Ater Virgil has dumped a roast in Andy's lap, driven the squad car through his gate, and smashed a pane of glass while sweeping up around the courthouse, Andy tries to get him out of his hair by sending him to polish the cell keys. Virgil polishes the teeth right off of them, making it impossible to let Otis out when he's due to leave the cell. At his wit's end, Andy is shown a set of hand-carved wood figures that virgil himself made. Andy realizes the best tonic for Virgil is a good dose of self-confidence and leaves him alone to remove the door of the cell.

The Andy Griffith Show Episode 63: Deputy Otis

Originally Aired on May 7, 1962.   Average User Rating: 9.2 out of 10  (86 entries).

Andy helps his number one prisoner save face when Otis learns his brother Ralph is coming to visit. Having told his brother he is a member of the Mayberry sheriff's office, Andy makes an exception and deputizes his favorite ward long enough to convince Ralph he's a member of Mayberry's finest. As it turns out, Ralph isn't any better a man than Otis, coming in drunk to lock himself in the Mayberry jail--just as he does at home.