Donahue - "Andy Griffith & Friends" (Part 3, 1986)

Here's Part 3 of an installment of Donahue that aired on WBBM Channel 2, hosted by Phil Donahue, with Andy Griffith, Don Knotts, Jim Nabors and George Lindsey reminiscing about their days on The Andy Griffith Show and promoting their upcoming reunion TV-movie, Return to Mayberry, which would air on the NBC Network on April 13th 1986; this was also a few months before Griffith began a nine-year run on TV as crafty defense lawyer Ben Matlock. (By this time, Donahue had moved its base of operations to New York City, where the show aired on WNBC Channel 4 from 1971 to 1972 and, more successfully, from 1977 to 1995.) Includes:

Donahue bumper with street scene looking southwest from the southeast corner of 7th Avenue and West 34th Street in midtown Manhattan, with an entrance of Madison Square Garden / Penn Station peering out (look for a branch of the now-defunct Bowery Savings Bank, on the northwest corner of 7th Avenue and West 33rd Street; a branch of the Bank of America now stands at that location)

An audience member asks if Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier) would be part of the reunion TV-movie.

Another lady in the audience asks about when the writing of the show's scripts was tailored to the actors' personalities, rather than being written for the characters.

A lady who looks almost like a younger version of Ms. Bavier mentions having a teenaged daughter whose favorite program is The Cosby Show and heralds a trend towards "more wholesome family entertainment," and wonders if Return to Mayberry will be a potential pilot for a new series.

Another lady compliments how the show didn't rely on fads or sex or violence, but rather what goes on in everyday life.

Another female audience member asks the quartet if any of them intended to become actors when they were young.

A lady who grew up in a small West Virginia town comments how she identified with the Southern lifestyle as portrayed on the show and found it true to life; Phil then goes to another lady who asks about what Don is doing now, to which he brings up a commercial he'll be doing in Miami the next day.

The first male audience member to pose a question in this show (up to this point) brings up the "storybook life" depicted in Mayberry, and asks it's "really a place or just a state of mind," to which Andy says it's the latter and ventures that "there must be a town called Mayberry somewhere - but not in North Carolina"; he goes on to say that the show's backbone was love, and that was the key to its success.

A lady whose father came from Winston-Salem and grew up watching the show asks what period it was on, claiming she forgot; Phil reminds her it ran from 1960 to 1968. Jim is sure she's not from that city, and Phil assures him she is, adding, "She used to work at the U.N."

Another lady says she was young at the time the Griffith show was on, but loved Three's Company, in which Knotts played landlord Jack Furley, which was her favorite character; she asks how he found playing that role, to which he notes he enjoyed the role "very much," but not as much as Barney.

Another audience member notes she has family in a small South Carolina town, and remembers watching the Griffith show spin-off Mayberry R.F.D. on the porch while living in Minnesota as a child. Phil then brings up the "Citizen's Arrest" episode (originally aired on December 16th 1963) in which Gomer arrested Barney; Jim cites that episode as a favorite.

Another lady asks whether Ron Howard (a.k.a. "Opie"), who by this point had made a name as a director of Hollywood films, had any directorial input with Return to Mayberry; Andy notes that Ron didn't even attempt to exert such input, instead deferring to its director, Bob Sweeney, who was the show's director for its first three seasons. With that, Phil signals for another commercial break.

Donahue "More to Come" bumper

This aired on local Chicago TV on Friday, March 28th 1986 during the 9am to 10am timeframe.

About The Museum of Classic Chicago Television:

The Museum of Classic Chicago Television's primary mission is the preservation and display of off-air, early home videotape recordings (70s and early 80s, primarily) recorded off of any and all Chicago TV channels; footage which would likely be lost if not sought out and preserved digitally. Even though (mostly) short clips are displayed here, we preserve the entire broadcasts in our archives - the complete programs with breaks (or however much is present on the tape), for historical purposes. For information on how to help in our mission, to donate or lend tapes to be converted to DVD, and to view more of the 4,000+ (and counting) video clips available for viewing in our online archive, please visit us at:
http://www.fuzzymemories.tv/index.php?contentload=donate

Видео Donahue - "Andy Griffith & Friends" (Part 3, 1986) канала The Museum of Classic Chicago Television (www.FuzzyMemories.TV)