Andy Griffith meets Dr. Phil...

   After the morning news shows, daytime television leaves a great deal to be desired. But then, most people are working and the audience during the day is probably much like me, retired or currently out of work or..... skipping work to watch the Red Sox. After all, earlier this week was the opening day of the 2014 baseball season

   Often after a brief post-lunch nap, I  awake to the theme song from The Andy Griffith Show. The first time this occurred, I thought I might have been dreaming, but that was not the case. The Andy Griffith Show appears to be part of the mid-afternoon ( retiree) TV lineup.

   Now to remember the Andy Griffith Show you have to be of a certain age, have lived and survived the 60's, remember when the only colors on the television screen were black, white and different shades of gray, (no, not the book!) and if you didn't have an antenna fastened to the chimney of your house you had something called 'rabbit ears, sitting atop the television set and if the reception was really poor even after moving them around a bit, you might wrap a piece of aluminum foil around the antenna tips.

   I rediscovered the Andy Griffith reruns from the 1960's several months ago and I must admit, it brought back some memories, not only about the show, but also the decade. At the time I was finishing high school and getting ready to go off to college and 'too cool' to watch the show. I thought it “pretty lame,” a small town police chief, a bumbling deputy  named Barney, an aunt named Bea and young kid named Opie. (I have since run across many  Opie's out there in the world.)

   I  learned after spending a bit of time watching several of the reruns, there may have been  subtle messages about life, more than just the down home flavor of growing up in Mayberry. Andy was able to guide and direct the characters of the show through many of life's simple but important lessons, lessons often overlooked today.

   In a recent episode rerun, Barney becomes upset and jealous when a local farmer from the outskirts of town attempts to woo his longtime girlfriend, Thelma Lou, away in order to propose marriage to her. As a hardworking farmer, he needed a wife to cook, clean and keep the house neat. . Enraged as Barney was able to get in his squeaky high pitched voice, he challenges the farmer to a fight. But Andy and Aunt Bea eventually intervene and bring peace and understanding to both. The farmer learns a few of life's lessons about about dating and finding a wife and Barney learns the importance of love and relationships.

   Fast forward to 2014. Barney and the farmer are working out their differences on the Dr. Phil Show.
    I am not a big fan of Dr. Phil and I am glad there are other, more family friendly shows, available at the same time. I find him often arrogant and obnoxious, rude and coming across as a know-it-all. For the sake of what the television networks consider a good television show, I often wonder just how real some the issues are that people are willing to discuss on national TV and... are the topics really appropriate for television or a public airing, especially when the kids are still awake.

   While Andy and Aunt Bea worked to teach Barney and the farmer lessons in dating, I suspect Dr. Phil would have taken a far more aggressive approach, having them square off on stage, look back into their family background and cry or get angry, study their failed relationships with parents and who knows what else.

   It is hard to determine if the outcome would have been the same with both sitting there on the stage, cameras running. But as I continue to watch some of the reruns of The Andy Griffith Show, I have concluded that there may have been more to the show than I originally thought. Even in the 1960's, many of the problems the folks of Mayberry faced were not that much different than today and perhaps the show was just a bit ahead of its time. And Andy's style? It seemed to work just fine back then. I know  it was only television entertainment back then, but so is Dr. Phil!
   I'm  not saying that Sheriff Andy Taylor (Andy Griffith) was the Dr, Phil of the 60's in Mayberry, but it might be fun to see them go head to head on national TV today, each with their own unique style.