The Andy Griffith Show – The Complete Sixth Season
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: D Show: B-
The Andy Griffith Show might have gone under
without Don Knotts’ Barney Fife and continuing into the formulaic direction it
was drifting into, but with The Complete Sixth Season benefited greatly
from the conversion to color. Being one
of the biggest hits CBS had at the time, the network, Griffith and Danny Thomas
decided to really make the show over with more production values, taking full
advantage of the switch to color film and need to fill the gap left by Knotts.
There are 30 shows this time over 5 DVDs and Knotts
actually returned for two of them, but the show holds up better than expected
and seeing them in copies this remarkable gives one a whole new respect for the
shows latter years. It also continued
Griffith’s run as one of TVs most popular male actors. Another development in the show that helped
was that Ron Howard’s Opie was growing up and the scripts became more involved
in his life than before. The show had a
laugh track, but it was often limited in appropriate ways that also save it
from aging. Even if you are not a fan
of the show, you have to see these transfers to believe them.
The full frame 1.33 X 1 color image is a very pleasant
surprise, and though it has some fine detail issues, the color is very wide
ranging and just rich enough that the transfers here are impressive and will
even be a revelation for some. The
Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono feels small at times, but is usually pretty good, give
or take some instances of harshness here and there. Again, there are no extras, but some color ads Griffith did for
General Mills are in the vaults and it would be nice to see them on the next
set.
- Nicholas Sheffo
