One of the few unqualified hits of the 1960-1961 season, The Andy Griffith Show was a shoe-in for a second season renewal come September of 1961. Back in the saddle are Andy Griffith as Andy Taylor, easygoing sheriff of Mayberry, NC; Don Knotts as Andy's nervous, anal-retentive deputy Barney Fife; Ronny Howard as the widowed Andy's son Opie; and Frances Bavier as Andy and Opie's warmhearted housekeeper, Aunt Bee. Ever so gradually, and never pushing the issue, the series has evolved into an ensemble piece, with Andy Taylor ...
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One of the few unqualified hits of the 1960-1961 season, The Andy Griffith Show was a shoe-in for a second season renewal come September of 1961. Back in the saddle are Andy Griffith as Andy Taylor, easygoing sheriff of Mayberry, NC; Don Knotts as Andy's nervous, anal-retentive deputy Barney Fife; Ronny Howard as the widowed Andy's son Opie; and Frances Bavier as Andy and Opie's warmhearted housekeeper, Aunt Bee. Ever so gradually, and never pushing the issue, the series has evolved into an ensemble piece, with Andy Taylor frequently and graciously surrendering the spotlight to the supporting characters. Among the citizens of Mayberry who can be seen with more frequency during season two are Betty Lynn as Barney's girlfriend Thelma Lou, Hal Smith as town drunk Otis Campbell ("deputized" so that he can lock himself in the Mayberry jail whenever going on a bender), and Howard McNear as dithery barber Floyd Lawson. After unsuccessfully trying to romantically pair up Andy with drugstore clerk Ellie Walker during the previous season, the writers attempted to develop a new relationship between our hero and county nurse Mary Simpson. However, since Mary is played by two different actresses (Julie Adams and Sue Ane Langdon) in two separate episodes, no sense of continuity is established with the character, thus Andy remains unattached. Closing out its second season as America's seventh most popular series, The Andy Griffith Show also collected its second Emmy Award, again presented to co-star Don Knotts. Hal Erickson, Rovi
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