When I was younger and missed a day of school I would often go to my grandparents’ house while my parents were at work. Like clockwork, once noon hit, my grandfather and I would always sit down and watch The Andy Griffith Show. For some reason that show appealed to the two of us equally even though there were quite a few years between us and we were from entirely different generations. In watching the first season of Andy Griffith on DVD I can why the show has maintained a popular and wide appeal over the years. It’s pretty funny stuff and even though some of the issues brought up are incredibly dated (any episode involving a duel between the sexes ends up being painful to watch), the majority of comic ideas still work.

Right from episode one the Andy Griffith Show sets up its laid back, down home attitude with that catchy whistling theme song. I always liked the fact that the show never tried to be "cool" and treated Mayberry as a town very much out of touch with the pulse of the nation. A lot of the humor stems from the fact that Sheriff Andy and Deputy Barney Fife (Don Knotts) really don’t do a whole lot of serious police work considering the worst crimes are usually related to public drunkenness. Like many first seasons; however, The Andy Griffith Show takes time to find its rhythm. The first half of the season is pretty hit and miss. As the show begins it is essentially about Andy and his son Opie (Ron Howard), which often results in some lengthy father/son conversations. A particularly painful scene has Andy telling Opie the entire detailed story of Romeo and Juliet for about five minutes.

Fortunately, the producers began to realize that the real scene-stealer in the show was Don Knotts as Barney Fife. Barney gradually begins to become to central focus of the show and Knotts turns him into much more than a bumbling buffoon. Sure he’s great at the slapstick sequences, but Don Knotts allows Barney’s awkwardness to stem from a lack of self-respect and confidence. He’s an exaggerated personality rooted with a very real emotional crisis. Don Knotts and Andy Griffith have great chemistry together and as their relationship develops the show gets better and better. Even after all these years I still found myself laughing at Andy and the Mayberry gang. With its interesting cast of characters The Andy Griffith Show proves that you don’t need to be on the cutting edge of comedy to provide some honest laughs.

The new DVD set from Paramount contains all 32 episodes from the first season. The video is disappointing as there is a great deal of grain and scratches on the black and white picture. The audio is better and the dialogue is pretty clear throughout the show.