Steven Helmer Publications

Synopsis: While playing Robin Hood in the woods, Opie ( Ron Howard ) and his friends meet a hobo ( Douglas Fowley ) who uses their love of the literary character to convince them to steal for him. When Andy ( Andy Griffith ) finds out, he comes up with a clever way of solving the problem without seeming like the bad guy. My Thoughts: In all seriousness, has nobody in Mayberry had the "stranger danger" talk with their kids? You would think Andy, of all people, would have had that discussion with Opie but the very first thing he and his friends do is have a picnic with the homeless guy they meet in the woods. Law & Order: SVU episodes start that way. The episode ruins a great Barney Fife ( Don Knotts ) moment. I think I've said this before, but just because a show or movie is a comedy doesn't mean everything needs to be humorous. Barney's comment about not needing material things to be rich was sincere, insightful and added some depth to a character that is us...

I needed a bit of background noise while working on something in my office today, so I booted up my spare laptop and, because it was readily available, put on the very first episode of The Andy Griffith Show , "The New Housekeeper." As I watched this episode, which introduced Andy ( Andy Griffith ), his son Opie ( Ron Howard ) and Aunt Bee ( Frances Bavier ), something hit me - Andy grew up in Mayberry (evidence of which is provided in later episodes). So why does he seem to have zero relatives who live there? OK, so obviously, there is Bee. However, based on the first episode, she didn't live in Mayberry prior to the start of the series and instead relocated there to help Andy out. She was also his first choice, despite the distance, after his housekeeper got married, presumably because he had no other family around who were willing to help. The only other potential relative is Barney ( Don Knotts ), who is described as his cousin in early episodes. By the time we reach ...

Synopsis: Hardened criminal Johnny Cabot is recruited by bank robber Fred Dorella for his latest heist. Cabot's job is to hold Nancy Wilson hostage in her home while Dorella demands $70,000 from her husband, Ken, the bank's vice president and to kill Nancy if he doesn't receive a phone call confirming the bank robbery's success. As the minutes wind down, Borella discovers an unexpected complication - Ken has been having an affair, plans on leaving his wife and Nancy's death would make it easier for him to marry his mistress. The movie also has the alternative title Door-to-Door Maniac . Who's in it? The movie stars Johnny Cash , Donald Woods , Cay Forester , Vic Tayback , Pamela Mason and Ron Howard . Review: While I do consider myself a Johnny Cash fan, I had completely forgotten the legendary country singer also had an acting career until I came across Five Minutes to Live on one of my movie channels. I was intrigued enough to watch it this morning and wa...

Memorable television sitcoms make full use of their comic relief characters. In the case of The Andy Griffith Show , there wasn't anyone more comical than Barney Fife, a character that the show struggled and ultimately failed to replace when actor Don Knotts left the series following the fifth season. While most Barney episodes featured the sheriff, Andy Taylor ( Andy Griffith ), trying to overcome Barney's bumbling, there were times when the deputy proved to be the smarter of the pair. Here are five that stand out: 1. He saw right through David Browne's likeable personality. When Opie ( Ron Howard ) befriended the hobo (played by Buddy Ebsen ) in season 2's Opie's Hobo Friend , Barney was the one person who didn't think Andy should trust him. As it turned out, Browne was a bad influence on Opie, encouraging him to steal gumballs, skip school and put off doing chores. 2. He saw the importance of having two police vehicles. While he was ridiculed in season 4...

Synopsis: When Andy ( Andy Griffith ) sees Opie's ( Ron Howard ) perfect report card, he rewards his son with a new bike. However, Opie knows the report card was a mistake and doesn't know how to tell his dad. My Thoughts -  The opening sequence with Opie doing math at the kitchen table reminded me a lot of my kids. Both are home schooled and also sometimes find it hard to do homework when there are people around them, for similar reasons (the cats don't always help either). The opening scene is a great reminder for parents to pay attention to that. Sure, Opie doesn't come clean about his grades but I kind of feel like others should be sharing the blame. For one, his teacher, Ms. Crump ( Aneta Corsaut ) should have taken two seconds to double check it before handing it out or, at minimum, told Opie and Andy together. And did Andy really believe Opie got perfect grades despite plenty of evidence of his school struggles? I know I'd be a bit suspicious. Barney ( Don...

Synopsis: When Andy ( Andy Griffith ) pulls over a woman driver ( Jean Hagan ) for doing 70 m.p.h. in a 45-m.p.h. zone, she challenges the $10 fine and his role as justice of the peace. Andy agrees to let her appeal to Mayor Pike ( Dick Elliott ) despite the jail not being equipped to house a female prisoner overnight. However, his case against her begins to fall apart as she charms his three witnesses, Barney ( Don Knotts ), Floyd ( Howard McNear ) and Opie ( Ron Howard ) into testifying on her behalf. My Thoughts: I wonder if Andy should have been investigated for misappropriation of county property . I really find it hard to believe the taxpayers are perfectly fine with him using the county's only patrol car to go fishing, especially since he had his son, his deputy, and the local barber with him. This, of course, raises another question - what would have happened if had been an emergency? All of Mayberry's law enforcement was out fishing and, at least from appearances, he...

Synopsis: Overwhelmed by the number of customers in his barber shop, Floyd ( Howard McNear ) lets a second barber ( Herb Vigran ) set up a second chair and is thrilled by the extra business his new partner is bringing in. However, the new barber is actually using Floyd's shop as a front for his gambling business. My Thoughts: I kind of have to agree with Opie ( Ron Howard ) , he didn't look like he needed a haircut to me. Either Aunt Bee ( Frances Bavier ) was just trying to get rid of him for a couple hours or the show was just trying to find an excuse for Andy ( Andy Griffith ) to be in the barbershop when the new guy arrived. Andy can be kind of pushy. I'm not sure Floyd really wanted a second chair but, even if he didn't, Andy sure made sure he didn't have much say in it. I mean, really, it's not like he owns any stake in that barbershop. What gives him the right to negotiate a deal for Floyd? Seriously, what an ass. And he seriously didn't think to ch...

Synopsis: Andy's ( Andy Griffith ) efforts to sell an old cannon to an antique dealer ( Max Showalter ) directly conflicts with the advice he gave to Opie ( Ron Howard ) about being honest when trading with his friends. My Thoughts: I think the thing that really stands out for me about this episode has to be the ridiculousness of trying to sell something as useless as a broken cannon.  I'm not sure why Mayor Pike ( Dick Elliott ) thought Andy and Barney ( Don Knotts ) had nothing better to do than sell it but watching them try to peddle it door to door was kind of funny. Frankly, I feel like the council was a little too quick to dismiss  Ellie's ( Elinor Donahue ) idea of donating the cannon to the historical museum. I mean, all someone would have had to do was clean it up a bit and it would be a decent exhibit. I wonder if the reason her idea was shot down so quickly was the fact she is the only woman on the council. Andy's decision to try to sell the cannon as a hist...

Synopsis: The Mayberry jail is picked to temporarily house famous con man 'Gentleman' Dan Caldwell ( Dan Tobin ). His personality manages to charm everyone he talks to from his cell, especially Opie ( Ron Howard ). However, Andy ( Andy Griffith ) is suspicious of Dan's motives. My Thoughts: How long does Opie get for a school lunch? Apparently, it is long enough for him to come all the way over to the courthouse, have a picnic lunch with his dad and aunt, and walk back to the school. That seems like an awfully long time, even by 1960s standards, especially since, as far as I can tell, the school isn't across the street. Andy is lucky not to have been shot. Yeah, I get the comedy aspect of Barney ( Don Knotts ) accidentally shooting the floor while practicing his quick draw skills. I'm just saying, with him waiving that gun around as much as he was, it's very fortunate a stray bullet didn't catch the sheriff right between the eyes. I feel like maybe he needs ...

Synopsis: With the jail already full of moonshiners, Andy ( Andy Griffith ) decides to have a drunk Otis ( Hal Smith ) serve his sentence at his house. Aunt Bee ( Frances Bavier ) is opposed to the idea, but ultimately ends up putting Otis to work as part of his sentence. My Thoughts:  This episode shows just how inefficient the Mayberry jail is. Andy likes to keep the cells decorated to make his prisoners comfortable but that decision also means just one bed per cell. How does he not get in trouble when he has two prisoners per cell and is keeping them overnight? Where does the second prisoner sleep? And just how did he get all four moonshiners to the jail? The obvious answer is he put them in the car. However, there were four moonshiners and only three would fit in the back seat. Did he seriously let one ride next to him in the front? Keep in mind, they put up enough of a fight to injure his arm and he even felt the need to lead them into the jail carrying a shotgun. Him being a...

Synopsis: Aunt Bee ( Frances Bavier ) leaves town for a few days and, since Andy ( Andy Griffith ) and Opie ( Ron Howard ) are slobs, is convinced the house will be a disaster when she returns. Andy disagrees with her but Aunt Bee's prediction proves to be correct. Will he and Opie be able to get the house clean before she returns? Review: When I first came across this episode while home at lunch yesterday, I almost skipped it. This is because, if I had a nickel for every television sitcom that "proved" men weren't as good at keeping the house running as women, I probably would have a lot of nickels. However, I realized I'm not a television historian and, for all I knew, this could be the first show to use that plot. So, I wound up watching it anyway and was pleasantly surprised. The thing that really stood out for me when it came to this episode is it wasn't anywhere near as predictable as I thought it was going to be. Sure, Andy and Opie proved to ...

Synopsis: Andy ( Andy Griffith ) and Barney ( Don Knotts ) successfully shut down two moonshining operations as a result of tips given to them by the Morrison sisters ( Gladys Hurlbut and Charity Grace ). What they don't know is the Morrison sisters are also running their own still and are trying to eliminate the competition. Review: Our cat, Echo , was being a bit of a pest this morning and, as a result of that, I wound up getting up about 20 minutes earlier than I normally would. Since everyone in the house was still asleep and I had nearly 40 minutes before I had to worry about getting my oldest daughter out the door for school, I decided to kill time by watching another episode of The Andy Griffith Show . I remembered seeing this episode before and, because of that, did consider skipping ahead to a different one. But, I wound up watching it anyway and, as it turns out, it was still pretty entertaining. I think the thing I liked best about this episode was the way th...

Synopsis: To add something different to the annual Founder's Day celebration, Mayberry decides to hold a beauty contest with Andy ( Andy Griffith ) as the judge. He immediately regrets accepting the position as everyone in town begins pestering him to select their daughter, niece, etc. and, on top of it, a misunderstanding about his new job leads to a fight with his girlfriend, Ellie ( Elinor Donahue ). Review: I was running a little bit behind today at lunch but had enough time to watch a short TV episode while eating. Since it had been a while since I've watched this show and it happened to be on Netflix (no commercials), I decided to put it on. This ended up being the episode I watched. On the surface, there are quite a few things that should have made me not enjoy this episode. For one, the ending (and the woman he ends up choosing) wound up being a little predictable. Not to mention the whole beauty pageant thing is becoming a little dated. Not to mention, Andy ha...