I was not a huge fan of the reunion movie entitled "Return to Mayberry" as I thought that the writing was just terrible, but it really was cool seeing the cast back together so that our imaginations could be fed on what the characters were up to at that point.
But you might have noticed that several "Maberrians" were missing from the movie. Although Elinor Donahue (Ellie Walker) and Jack Burns (Warren Ferguson) were both still acting when the movie was made, neither were included.
None of the "Mayberry RFD" alumni (Ken Berry "Sam", Buddy Foster "Mike", or Arlene Golonka "Millie") were included as well, although Ken Berry was set to reprise his role as Sam Jones, but could not due to his commitment to "Mama's Family" which was on the air during the time of the movie.
Hope Summers (Clara), Howard McNear (Floyd), and Paul Hartman (Emmitt) had all passed away before the movie was made.
If you haven't seen the movie, even though like I said that I don't care for the writing, it's worth seeing just for the fact of the reunion of cast and characters.
Did you know that, originally, Andy Griffith had told Don Knotts that he only wanted to do the series for five years? They both signed 5 year contracts and during the 5th season Knotts started looking for work. When Andy decided to stay another 3 years on the show he also offered Don Knotts a contract to stay as well, but by that time Knotts had already signed a 5 year deal with Universal and was bound by that contract, and that is why Barney left Mayberry.
In my opinion the show was never the same and it seemed that the writing was also lacking and that the Andy Taylor character got a rougher edge and didn't seem to be the same happy guy as when Barney was part of his force.
Anyone else notice that or am I just crazy?
According to most things I have read, Andy Griffith and Francis Bavier did not get along during the time that series was filmed. According to Andy and Howard Morris (Earnest T Bass), Bavier was extremely sensitive and resented her role as Aunt Bee.
Reportedly even when Griffith and Ron Howard went to visit her at her home in 1972, she turned them away and would not see them. In 1989, however after becoming terminally ill, Bavier contacted Griffith and apologized to him and told him that she regretted that they did not get along better.
