The Andy Griffith Show

The Andy Griffith Show  is an American  situation comedy  television series that aired on  CBS  from October 3, 1960, to April 1, 1968, with a total of 249 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons—159 in  black and white  and 90 in  color . The series originated partly from an episode of  The Danny Thomas Show .  The show stars  Andy Griffith  as  Andy Taylor , the widowed sheriff of  Mayberry, North Carolina , a fictional community of roughly 2,000–5,000 people. Other major characters include Andy's cousin, the well-meaning and enthusiastic deputy,  Barney Fife  ( Don Knotts ); Andy's aunt and housekeeper,  Bee Taylor  ( Frances Bavier ); and Andy's young son,  Opie  ( Ron Howard ). Eccentric townspeople and, periodically, Andy's girlfriends complete the cast. Regarding the tone of the show, Griffith said that despite a contemporary setting, the show evoked nostalgia, saying in a  Today  interview, "Well, though we never said it, and though it was shot in the '60s, it had a feeling of the '30s. It was, when we were doing it, of a time gone by." The series never placed lower than seventh in the  Nielsen ratings , ending its final season at number one. The only other shows to end their runs at the top of the ratings are  I Love Lucy  (1957) and  Seinfeld  (1998). On separate occasions, it has been ranked by  TV Guide  as the ninth- and thirteenth-best series in American  television history .Though neither Griffith nor the show won awards during its eight-season run, co-stars Knotts and Bavier accumulated a combined total of six  Emmy Awards . The series spawned its own spin-off— Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.  (1964–1969) and a reunion telemovie,  Return to Mayberry  (1986). After the eighth season, when Griffith left the series, it was retitled  Mayberry, R.F.D. ,  with  Ken Berry  and  Buddy Foster  replacing Griffith and Howard in new roles. In the new format, it ran for  78 episodes , ending in 1971 after three seasons. Reruns of  The Andy Griffith Show  are often shown on  TV Land ,  MeTV ,  The CW , and  SundanceTV . On those channels, the episodes are edited to make room for commercials, but some airings on SundanceTV air the full uncut versions. The complete series is available on DVD and Blu-ray and is intermittently available on such streaming video services as Amazon Prime. Mayberry Days, an annual festival celebrating the sitcom, is held each year in Griffith's hometown,  Mount Airy, North Carolina .