Griffith as Andy Taylor and Howard as Opie

Knotts as Barney Fife and Griffith as Andy Taylor

The Andy Griffith Show was an American television series that aired from 1960 to 1968. The series was an immediate hit with its audience, and still enjoys success in syndication. Its whistled theme song ("Down by the Fishing Hole") is instantly recognizable.

When the show premiered in 1960, viewers immediately felt a connection with widowed "Sheriff Andy Taylor " (played by Griffith), his son "Opie" (Ron Howard), his "Aunt Bee " (Frances Bavier), his cousin "Deputy Barney Fife " (Don Knotts), "Gomer Pyle" (Jim Nabors, whose role was spun-off into the series Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.), auto mechanic "Goober Pyle" (George Lindsey), Gomer's brother and replacement following the spinoff, town drunk "Otis Campbell" (Hal Smith), "Ernest T. Bass" (Howard Morris), "Floyd Lawson the barber" (Howard McNear, and the rest of the townsfolk of fictional Mayberry, North Carolina.

Griffith left the show in 1968. Ken Berry joined the cast that year, and the show was retitled Mayberry R.F.D. and continued until 1971.

Years after the series ended, tourists driving through rural North Carolina still ask for directions to Mayberry, not realizing that the town depicted in the series is a composite of the Surry County towns of Mount Airy and Pilot Mountain, combined with other areas of North Carolina. The adjacent town to fictional Mayberry is named Mt. Pilot.

The Andy Griffith Show was a spinoff from The Danny Thomas Show. In the latter show, the character played by Danny Thomas is caught speeding by Andy Taylor while driving through Mayberry.