The Andy Griffith Show: The Complete Seventh Season

The Andy Griffith Show disproves the old adage that you can't go home again. Although many familiar faces are gone (most prominently Jim Nabors' Gomer and Howard Morris' Ernest T. Bass), Mayberry is still as inviting as ever in its 1966-67 penultimate season, and Barney Fife (the inimitable Don Knotts) even pops in for two episodes. In "A Visit to Barney Fife," Andy helps his former sidekick, as hapless as ever, redeem himself in the Raleigh Police Department. In "Barney Comes to Mayberry," Barney's homecoming is bittersweet when he is reunited with a former flame who has become a famous movie star. Town drunk Otis Campbell (Hal Smith) is still stumbling about, and helps rescue a captured Andy in "Otis the Deputy." And the backcountry Darling Family (featuring the legendary bluegrass group the Dillards) stirs up more romantic ruckus in "The Darling Fortune." Series newcomer Howard Sprague (Jack Dodson), the county clerk, is not the liveliest of wires, but in "Howard the Comedian," he surprisingly proves himself to be "the merry madcap of Mayberry" when he jests about his fellow Mayberrians on a televised amateur talent contest ("Aunt Bea's family came over on the Mayflower. Of course, in those days, the immigration laws weren't so strict!"). Opie (future Oscar winner Ron Howard) is growing apace and maturing gracefully, keeping his endearing naturalism and charm. And Andy? Well, he's a little less patient and quicker of temper than in earlier seasons. The old Andy would have found a more understanding way to deal with Goober (George Lindsey) when, in "Goober Makes History," the local yokel becomes an annoyance after a new beard inspires the confidence to impose himself as the town "thinker" and "philosopher." The new Andy loses his patience and reads him the riot act. This seventh season may not rank among the series' very best, but The Andy Griffith Show is the essence of comfort television. Presented on an extra-less five-disc set, this is recommended. (D. Liebenson)