A Guide to Television’s Mayberry R.F.D.

A spin-off of The Andy Griffith Show, Mayberry R.F.D. became successful in its own right. The show aired from 1969 through 1971 and was consistently in the top 15 of the Nielsen ratings. Its demise was caused by the sudden elimination of rural-oriented series by CBS in 1971 in order to make room for more “realistic” fare.
The show’s popularity owed much to the casting; George Lindsey (playing Goober Pyle), Jack Dodson (Howard Sprague), Paul Hartman (Emmett Clark), Ken Berry (Sam Jones), and others who moved seamlessly from The Andy Griffith Show to the new series. Episode-by-episode, this is the definitive reference to Mayberry R.F.D. Each entry provides episode title, writer, director, regular and guest cast, and numerous other facts about it. Capsule biographies of guest stars are given within the entry for the initial episode in which they worked, while more detailed biographies of the writers, directors, and major stars follow the episode guide.

The late David Fernandes lived in Jacksonville, Illinois.
Dale Robinson is a regular contributor to The Mayberry Times.

David Fernandes and Dale Robinson
Foreword by Arlene Golonka
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 245
Bibliographic Info: 15 photos, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2012 [1999]
pISBN: 978-0-7864-7284-0
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents


Acknowledgments vii

Foreword by Arlene Golonka 1

Preface 3

The Episodes 7

Pilot 9

Season One 11

Season Two 79

Season Three 143

The People 207

Regular Cast 209

Writers and Directors 219

Bibliography 227

Index 229

“an incredible job…offer[s] readers both a complete episode guide and an amazingly rich vein of trivia…fans…will enjoy this nostalgic look back at life in a small fictional North Carolina town that has become embedded in the American psyche”—ARBA; “summaries of all the Mayberry R.F.D. episodes in syndication package order, with career biographies of the cast, guest stars, writers, and directors, and notes on connections between the episodes and The Andy Griffith Show”—North Carolina Libraries; “provides an episode-by-episode listing…with information as to title, credits, air date, storyline, and “‘funny scene’”—Classic Images; “the definitive reference”—Midwest Book Review.