When Andy and Opie's long-time housekeeper, Rose, ties the knot and moves away, Aunt Bea comes to Mayberry to fill the void in their lives. And so begins one of the finest American sit-coms of early television.
We are introduced to Sheriff Andy Taylor (Andy Griffith of "No Time for Sergeants"), Aunt Bea, (Frances Bavier), Deputy Barney Fife (Don Knotts), and 6 year-old Opie Taylor (Ron Howard), all living in a rural, mid-20th century American dream. In subsequent episodes, we will meet Howard, Floyd, Goober and Gomer Pyle, Otis, Helen Crump, Thelma Lou and the bluegrass-playing Darling family.
We are treated to a slice of small-town Mayberry, North Carolina, in this first episode, and the slow-paced comedy and direction (by creator and producer Sheldon Leonard) leaves us aching to return to this innocent time and place. In that television era, sexism, homophobia and racial bias are unacknowledged, but Sheriff Taylor applies the law with an equal hand while he loves and supports his family and community.
Deceptively simple, this pilot manages to capture the promise of the entire 249-episode series. Heartstrings are tugged, but only because the emotions are real, not calculated.