Try Something Else

Monday night

Sheriff Andy Taylor noticed that his deputy, Barney Fife, was in a rut, so he suggested that Barney take up an extracurricular activity. Barney decided to write stories for the local paper in his spare time. Finally the day arrived when everyone would get to read his first stories in print. Andy and his family gathered around on the porch, and they and Barney each eagerly read their own copies. Soon their expressions changed; Barney was a terrible reporter. His stories were awful. Even Aunt Bee and Opie couldn't believe what they were reading, and rolled their eyes. Worst of all, Barney had talked Andy into being photographed in convict's overalls, complete with serial number, and this picture was splashed on the back page with the headline, "Sheriff Taylor as prisoner." The article was meant to be informative, to explain what it was liked to be a "guest" in the Mayberry jail, but it completely backfired; it made the sheriff look like an idiot.

*****

Barney was never a reporter in any "Griffith" episodes I've seen, but Opie wrote, printed and sold a juicy gossip column about the neighbors in an episode from season five called "Opie's Newspaper." It aired for the first time on March 22, 1965.