Season 5 of The Andy Griffith Show aired on September 21, 1964.
Season 5 Overview[]
In The Andy Griffith Show's fifth season, Opie (Ronny Howard) buys silk stockings for an older woman, and publishes all of Mayberry's gossip in a scandal sheet. Sheriff Andy Taylor (Griffith) is accused of gross malfeasance. A former beau of Aunt Bee's tries to shake Andy down for $400. Bee herself (Frances Bavier) is a victim of a carny purse-snatching ring. And recidivists Otis (Hal Smith) and Ernest T. (Howard Morris) continue their drinking and rock-throwing unabated. As Bee wails in "Banjo-Playing Deputy," "What's this world coming to?" Not to worry. This is, after all, Mayberry, and Andy still has the patience, understanding and country smarts to restore calm and order. In "TV or Not TV," he sees through bank robbers (led by Gavin MacLeod) posing as a Hollywood film crew. In "Opie and the Carnival," he takes aim at two crooked barkers who have rigged a sharpshooting game. As the sheriff of Mayberry, much of his time is spent bailing out his hapless deputy, Barney Fife (Don Knotts). In "Barney's Uniform," Andy recruits a judo instructor to stand in when Barney is threatened by a disgruntled citizen.
Season 5 marked two notable lasts for this beloved series, which never fell below the Top Seven in the ratings. This was the last season in black and white. More devastating, it was multi-Emmy-winner Knotts' last season as Barney Fife. By the penultimate episode, "Opie and the Carnival," he is just gone, an unceremonious departure for an iconic character so integral to the show's success. That "Banjo-Playing Deputy" in the season finale is Jerry Van Dyke, who might have been a worthy replacement for Knotts. Instead, he reportedly turned down the role to star in his own sitcom, My Mother, the Car. The rest is TV infamy. By this time, though, The Andy Griffith Show's best years were behind it. But this season contains at least two classics, "Goodbye, Sheriff Taylor," in which Barney is sheriff for a day while Andy interviews for a job in Raleigh, and "The Case of the Punch in the Nose," in which Barney reopens an unresolved 1946 case involving Floyd the Barber and Charley Foley. And with episodes featuring the late Howard Morris' Ernest T. ("The Education of Ernest T. Bass"), the Darling family ("The Darling Baby"), Mt. Pilot "fun girls" Skippy and Daphne ("The Arrest of the Fun Girls"), and a guest star turn by Don Rickles ("The Luck of Newton Monroe").
Episodes[]
| # | Image | Title | Airdate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 |  |
Opie Loves Helen | September 21, 1964 | |
| Opie has a crush on his teacher Helen Crump and buys her a pair of stockings. | ||||
| 02 |  |
Barney's Physical | September 28, 1964 | |
| On Barney's fifth anniversary with the sheriff's department, Andy learns that Barney's job is in jeopardy when the state passes new height and weight requirements. | ||||
| 03 |  |
The Family Visit | October 5, 1964 | |
| The Taylors find that a visit from relatives comes with complications. | ||||
| 04 |  |
The Education of Ernest T. Bass | October 12, 1964 | |
| Ernest returns to school to win a girl's affection. | ||||
| 05 |  |
Aunt Bee's Romance | October 19, 1964 | |
| Andy dislikes Aunt Bee's old boyfriend Roger Hanover. | ||||
| 06 |  |
Barney's Bloodhound | October 26, 1964 | |
| Barney tries to train a dog to do police work. | ||||
| 07 |  |
Man in the Middle | November 2, 1964 | |
| Barney and Thelma Lou have an argument. They reconcile quickly, but it leads to other arguments between Andy and Barney, Thelma Lou and Helen, Andy and Helen, and another between Barney and Thelma Lou. | ||||
| 08 |  |
Barney's Uniform | November 9, 1964 | |
| When a tough guy threatens to beat up Barney if he catches him out of uniform, Barney begins to wear the uniform all the time. | ||||
| 09 |  |
Opie's Fortune | November 16, 1964 | |
| Opie finds a change purse with $50 in it. | ||||
| 10 |  |
Goodbye, Sheriff Taylor | November 23, 1964 | |
| Andy considers taking a job in Raleigh, and lets Barney take over as sheriff for a day to prepare him for the office. | ||||
| 11 |  |
The Pageant | November 30, 1964 | |
| Aunt Bee auditions for the role of Lady Mayberry in the town pageant. | ||||
| 12 |  |
The Darling Baby | December 7, 1964 | |
| The musical Darling family descends upon Mayberry again. This time they are looking for a husband for Charlene's new baby daughter. | ||||
| 13 |  |
Andy and Helen Have Their Day | December 14, 1964 | |
| Andy and Helen go on a picnic but are plagued by constant interruptions from Barney, Goober and others. | ||||
| 14 |  |
Three Wishes for Opie | December 21, 1964 | |
| Barney buys a fortune-telling game and lets Opie try it out. | ||||
| 15 |  |
Otis Sues the County | December 28, 1964 | |
| After Otis slips in the courthouse, a lawyer convinces him to sue the county. | ||||
| 16 |  |
Barney Fife, Realtor | January 4, 1965 | |
| Barney decides to try his hand at the real estate business. | ||||
| 17 |  |
Goober Takes a Car Apart | January 11, 1965 | |
| Goober assembles a car in the courthouse. | ||||
| 18 |  |
The Rehabilitation of Otis | January 18, 1965 | |
| Barney tries to rehabilitate Otis after he rides a cow, thinking it is a horse. Barney arrests Otis when it happens again, even using handcuffs. Otis leaves town and vows to never return. | ||||
| 19 |  |
The Lucky Letter | January 25, 1965 | |
| Barney regrets throwing away a chain letter. | ||||
| 20 |  |
Goober and the Art of Love | February 1, 1965 | |
| When Andy and Barney get tired of Goober tagging along on their dates, they decide to try teaching him how to act around women and then get him to ask a girl on a date. It proves to be quite a project. | ||||
| 21 |  |
Barney Runs for Sheriff | February 8, 1965 | |
| Andy misses the filing deadline for the election. | ||||
| 22 |  |
If I Had a Quarter Million | February 15, 1965 | |
| Barney finds $250,000 from a bank heist, then goes undercover to find the robber. | ||||
| 23 |  |
TV or Not TV | March 1, 1965 | |
| Bank robbers posing as TV producers come to Mayberry. | ||||
| 24 |  |
Guest in the House | March 8, 1965 | |
| An old friend of Andy's comes to visit and Helen grows jealous. | ||||
| 25 |  |
The Case of the Punch in the Nose | March 15, 1965 | |
| Barney feeds the flames of a quarrel. | ||||
| 26 |  |
Opie's Newspaper | March 22, 1965 | |
| Opie prints some unsavory gossip in his newspaper. | ||||
| 27 |  |
Aunt Bee's Invisible Beau | March 29, 1965 | |
| Aunt Bee tells Andy she's dating the butter and egg man. | ||||
| 28 |  |
The Arrest of the Fun Girls | April 5, 1965 | |
| Andy and Barney hope Helen and Thelma Lou won't find out they've had to arrest The Fun Girls. | ||||
| 29 |  |
The Luck of Newton Monroe | April 12, 1965 | |
| A new man in town is an oaf. | ||||
| 30 |  |
Opie Flunks Arithmetic | April 19, 1965 | |
| Andy wants Opie to improve his study habits. | ||||
| 31 |  |
Opie and the Carnival | April 26, 1965 | |
| Opie wants to win a prize at a shooting gallery. | ||||
| 32 |  |
Banjo-Playing Deputy | May 3, 1965 | |
| Andy hires an unemployed musician. | ||||
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