QUIZ: How Well Do You Remember “The Andy Griffith Show?”

In the episode, “Barney’s Sidecar,” Barney buys a World War II motorcycle to catch people speeding on Route 6. But it was so noisy and annoying to the townspeople, that Andy gets Barney to donate it to the National Guard.

Andy often referred to Ellie as a lady druggist and writers intended her to be a series regular. Unfortunately, she was only on the show for 12 episodes. Then she never appeared again.

When actor Howard McNear left the series in 1967, his storefront, Floyd’s Barbershop, was replaced by Emmett’s Fix-It. The character, Floyd, retired and sold his shop, allowing Emmett to turn that space into his shop.

Barney dated Miss Rosemary and Hilda Mae. But eventually, he settled for Thelma Lou who was his long-time girlfriend. They ended up getting married in the TV movie “Return to Mayberry” in 1986.

Andy’s son, Opie and his pals called her old lady Crump. She was only supposed to appear on the show once, but she became Andy’s girlfriend and appeared a total of 66 times after producers fell in love with the actress Aneta Corsaut.

The writers were left with little recourse but to explain that Barney Fife landed himself an amazing job working for the police department in Raleigh and fans were okay with that.

Andy’s middle name was Jackson. But there’s not a whole lot of backstory on the character other than the fact that he went to Mayberry High School and that his wife died when his son Opie was a baby.

In the episode, “One-Punch Opie,” Barney gives Andy some parental advice and uses the phrase, “nip it in the bud.” And although the phrase was used in a previous episode, this was the episode where the saying became very popular.

When the pilot was written, Barney Fife had not been conceived of, so Andy Taylor was a Jack of all Trades. This meant that aside from being a sheriff, he was also a justice of the peace.

In the episode titled “TV or Not TV,” Hollywood producers learn of the article about Sheriff Andy Taylor and pop in for a visit. But Andy smells something fishy when the crew start snooping around the Mayberry Security Bank.

Barney was known for misfiring his gun into the wall, on the floor or pretty much anywhere that would pose a threat. So, Andy only allowed him to keep one bullet on him in case of an emergency. So, Barney placed it in his shirt pocket.

Andy Griffith grew up in the town of Mount Airy, North Carolina. Mount Airy inspired Mayberry. In fact, the residents there know it as both Mount Airy and as Mayberry in real life.

When actor Dick Elliot, who played Mayor Pike, passed away in season 2, writers introduced Mayor Stoner. But they never really wrote in an explanation for the departure of the town’s previous mayor.

The song was composed by Earle Hagen and Herbert Spencer, but whistled by Hagen. The song has also been dubbed “The Mayberry March.” Aside from playing as part of the opening theme, it can be heard in the background throughout the series.

In the episode “Barney and the Governor,” Barney places a ticket on the governor’s car for illegally parking in the wrong spot. But he doesn’t realize this until after the governor comes to town. Throughout the episode, Barney is afraid of getting fired, but the governor ends up congratulating him instead.

Actor Michael Pollard played Barney’s cousin, Virgil, from New Jersey. The character was awkward and clumsy. He was also pretty handy when it came to picking a lock, which he does in the season two episode “Cousin Virgil.”

“Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.” starred Jim Nabors as Gomer Pyle, a gas station attendant from Mayberry, North Carolina, who joins the United States Marine Corps. The series ran from 1964 to 1969.

Bass considered himself “the best rock thrower in the county.” Aside from throwing rocks, he was also very rude to women. “He’s a nut!” was one of the ways that the character Barney described Bass.

Barney is kind enough not to tell Aunt Bee that her pickles taste like kerosene, but he does buy some from the store and replaces Aunt Bee’s variety with the help of Andy and Opie. But when Aunt Bee enters a contest, the boys are forced to eat them all so she can enter her original batch.

In the episode “Goodbye, Sheriff Taylor,” Andy travels to Raleigh for a potential job opportunity. This leaves Barney in charge of looking for a new deputy. But when Andy returns to town, he finds that Mayberry is a mess and he realizes that his people truly need him.

Over half of the seasons of the series were shot in black and white before the show switched to color in 1965. So, out of the 249 episodes, 159 were black and white and only 90 episodes were in fact shot in color.

In a season two episode, Barney gets jealous of a new cop called Bob Rogers, who is doing such a great job, that he fears he’s going to get the boot. So, Barney temporarily becomes a vacuum salesman.

In this classic episode, Andy’s son, Opie, tells his dad that Clarabelle and Jennifer Morrison have a flower making machine, which piques Andy’s curiosity. He and Barney later discover that the “machine” is actually a moonshining still.

Otis Campbell was a glue dipper for a furniture factory, but he spent most of his weekends drunk. Otis popped up from 1960 to 1967, but sponsors felt that his character poorly depicted alcohol abuse, so he appeared less frequently towards the end of the show.

16 of the original cast members reprised their role for the 1986 film “Return to Mayberry.” The network ratings were so high that there were plans to do more sequels, but at that point, Griffith was already starring in the series “Matlock.”

While Andy chose a steak dinner at the fancy restaurant, Barney looked at the menu and pointed out the two fanciest words, which of course translated to snails and brains.

Because there was a Ford dealership nearby where the show filmed in Los Angeles, the producers of the series were gifted a new Ford Galaxie to use in the show for free. More than ten different versions of the car were used throughout the run of the show.

The Morrison sisters appeared in the episode “Alcohol and Old Lace,” which is a reference to the classic Cary Grant film “Arsenic and Old Lace.” Because Andy was so kind, he decided to destroy the sister’s still instead of arresting them in the episode.

Foley’s market was sometimes referred to as Crowley’s Grocery because the character Art Crowley managed the store. It seemed to be the only grocery shopping location in Mayberry, which wasn’t uncommon for small towns at the time.

In the episode titled “A Wife for Andy,” Barney finds out that Helen Crump can’t cook Andy’s favorite dish when she says, “I wouldn’t even know where to start. As a matter of fact, I’m a terrible cook!”

Even though she had the support of the Woman’s Club, Aunt Bee was surprised to find out that Andy, Goober and Floyd had already put their support behind Howard Sprague.

Andy’s prized fishing pole was lovingly called Eagle Eye Annie, and a few references to the pole were made throughout the show, like in the episode titled “The Bed Jacket,” where Andy agrees to trade his beloved fishing pole for a bed jacket for Aunt Bee.

In a Christmas themed episode, Ben Weaver plays the role of Scrooge while the people of Mayberry choose to spend Christmas with a bootlegger who was thrown into jail instead.

No one can forget Barney singing the lines, “from your head down to your feet, there’s nothing half so sweet.” And the lady he was singing to was Juanita Beasley, who was never actually seen on camera.

In the seventh season of “The Danny Thomas Show,” an episode was produced where Thomas gets arrested by Sheriff Andy Taylor in a town called Mayberry. This plot line was responsible for the idea of what would become “The Andy Griffith Show” later that year in 1960.

The character of Deputy Sheriff Warren Ferguson was played by Jack Burns, but he only appeared on 11 episodes of the series because his character, who was the nephew of barber Floyd, wasn’t very popular with audiences.

Jack Nicholson appeared in two episodes of the series including “Opie Finds a Baby,” where Nicholson played the father of an abandoned baby and “Aunt Bee The Juror” in which he played a defendant in a trial before he became the most nominated male actor in Oscars history.

The first few episodes of the series explain that Barney is Andy’s cousin, which explains how he got the job at the Sheriff’s station in the first place. But this piece of trivia isn’t mentioned at all later in the series.

Barbara Eden appeared as Ellen Brown in the 1962 episode “The Manicurist,” a few years before she would rise to fame staring as Jeannie on the sitcom “I Dream of Jeannie,” which premiered in 1965.

In the episode, Barney learned that he had to bulk up and get a few inches taller to meet the size requirements for working at the police station. With the help of Andy, he uses a harness to add a few inches to his height.

Ron Howard was just six years old when the series premiered in 1960 and he was credited on the series as Ronny Howard. He later kept up his acting career in the sitcom “Happy Days” before moving behind the camera to have a very successful directing career.

In real life, actor Don Knotts was the one who was famously know by a nickname. The actor’s full name was Jesse Donald Knotts, and other cast and crew members often called him Jesse behind the scenes.

The Dillards consisted of brothers Doug and Rodney Dillard along with Dean Webb and Mitch Jayne. The band auditioned to play musicians on the series and were even given fictional names along with their fictional band name. The band made six appearances during the run of the series.

The imaginary friend in question was described by Opie as a man who walks in the treetops, wears a silver hat and has twelve extra hands! In the end, Mr. McBeevee was revealed to be a telephone linesman who was working when Opie saw him.

The episode “Class Reunion” reveals that both Andy and Barney graduated from Mayberry Union High School in the class of 1945. In the episode, Andy reunites with an old girlfriend after organizing a class reunion.