THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW
The Andy Griffith Show is an American situation comedy which aired on CBS from October 3, 1960, to April 1, 1968, with a total of 249 half-hour episodes spanning over eight seasons, 159 in black and white and 90 in color. The show originally starred Andy Griffith in the role of Andy Taylor, the widowered sheriff of the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina. Other major characters include Andy’s inept but well-meaning deputy, Barney Fife (Don Knotts); Andy’s spinster aunt and housekeeper, “Aunt” Bee Taylor (Frances Bavier); and Andy’s precocious young son, Opie (Ron Howard). Eccentric townspeople and temperamental girlfriends complete the cast. The series never placed lower than seventh in the Nielsen ratings and ended its final season at number one. On separate occasions, it has been ranked by TV Guide as the 9th-best and 13th-best show in American television history. (More from Wikipedia)
Mostly, the Gynecologists mined pop culture – “Aunt Bee” (a character on The Andy Griffith Show), “M.A.S.H.E.R” (based on the long-running sitcom, M*A*S*H), “Love and Haight” (a reference to the center of hippiedom in the Haight-Ashbury section of San Francisco) – news stories – “McMartin Preschool”, “Kent State” – and bodily functions – “Bloody Kotex”, “Gotta Piss”, “Peanut Butter Prophylactic” – as the subjects of their songs. The “Psychopaths” side of their first release, an EP called Feces and Psychopaths (1981) includes songs about Rev. Jim Jones (who was also from Indiana) called “Jimmy Jones” and the child-killing mass murderer John Wayne Gacy, “John Wayne Gacy”. Another song, “Dahmer’s Diner” refers to the cannibalistic serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.
(June 2016)
