The Andy Griffith Show

The Andy Griffith Show (1960)

41 mistakes in season 5

(63 votes)

TV or Not TV - S5-E23

Continuity mistake: When Barney's outside the bank loading his gun with the bullet, there are window blinds on the inside of the doors' windows - nothing else, but when Barney's inside the bank there are white shades between the glass panes and the blinds. As for the bank's large side window the opposite happens - there's a white shade between the pane of glass and blinds in the exterior shot, but in the interior shots we can see through the blinds' slats and there's no shade.

Super Grover

Guest in the House - S5-E24

Other mistake: When Andy and Helen are in the squad car alone after going to the movies with Gloria, both car doors are closed, but in the closeups from outside both sides of the car, note that both triangular vent windows are missing and we can see the doors' rubber seal - both doors are open for these closeups.

Super Grover

Opie's Newspaper - S5-E26

Other mistake: After the preacher walks past Andy and Sam, when the two men comment that the preacher's sermons "go on" and are "dry as dust," we can tell that all of the store's glass window panes have been removed, presumably to avoid the crew/camera's reflections as the shot pans across the window to Howie.

Super Grover

The Arrest of the Fun Girls - S5-E28

Other mistake: When Andy, Helen, and Thelma Lou are parked in front of the courthouse the lights turn on, and in the closeups from outside both sides of the car, note that both triangular vent windows are missing - the two doors are actually open for these closeups. This happens again later, when Andy and Barney are each apologizing individually to Helen and Thelma Lou.

Super Grover

Aunt Bee's Invisible Beau - S5-E27

Other mistake: After Andy talks to the butter and egg man in Mt. Pilot, when Andy gets in the squad car with Barney all the car doors are closed, but in the closeups from outside both sides of the car, note that both triangular vent windows are missing - the two doors are actually open for these closeups.

Super Grover

Opie Flunks Arithmetic - S5-E30

Other mistake: When Aunt Bee walks out of the grocery/meat store the door's located between the grocery's one display window and the TV display window, but the grocery store actually has two display windows with its door between the two. This was shot on the soundstage, not backlot.

Super Grover

Barney's Bloodhound - S5-E6

Other mistake: When the escaped convict takes Barney hostage, they walk away from the lake and Barney drops the piece of paper with the convict's picture. Later, when Andy walks across the grass he finds Barney's cap and the paper lying on the grass, but the problem is that Andy needs to pull up at the center of the paper because it's pinned to ground, presumably so it wouldn't move or blow away for the shot.

Super Grover

Barney Fife, Realtor - S5-E16

Character mistake: Barney claims he would be losing $3478 on the real estate deal not going through. Considering the houses only were selling for that amount or less there is no way he was making that amount of money on 5% commission.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: I have no idea where you got the idea the houses were being sold for less than $4K. In the beginning Barney says Andy could get $24,000 for his house and $27,500 for the Williams' house (which is also how he got the figure that Andy can get into the Williams' house for $3,500, that's not the price of the house). Those 2 houses alone are $51,500 and 5% would be $2575, and he was losing out on 2 more houses.

Bishop73

That has bothered me forever! I thought the house Andy was thinking of buying was 3500 not 35000! Now the amount of commission makes sense although 35000 is LOT for a house in North Carolina in the early 60's! Thank you for clearing that up.

Just watched that episode and yes, you are correct on the math. But my problem is, new houses in this era were around $8000 - $8500 new, so these older houses would have been worth nowhere near $24-$27k.

Opie's Group - S8-E9

Andy: Clara, sometimes a parent can't see what he should do, and sometimes it takes a person from the outside to show him. And I'd like to thank you.
Clara: Groovy.

Super Grover

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Convicts-at-Large - S3-E11

Question: Beginning with the "Convicts at Large" episode in season 3, full width window boxes appear at the bottom of both front windows on the inside of the Sheriff's Office. Prior to this episode, they did not exist. Window boxes are often used to display decorative plants but I don't see any plants. And if they were supposed to partially block the background, the blinds were long enough to accomplish that. I find it hard to believe that the producers would spend additional money (for material and labor) for something that seems to serve no purpose. So why were they added?

Answer: Those "boxes" are valences that used to be very common, before air conditioning. They allow for windows to be open during rain storms. They permit air circulation, without letting the rain in.

Answer: As noted in the previous answers, in real life, things like this provided wind and/or rain deflection, and also maintained a bit of privacy when blinds were raised somewhat. The interior courthouse set was located in the studio, so the "outside" Main Street didn't exist. I believe these things were added to the courthouse windows for practicality, to avoid some crew movement being visible on the opposite side of those windows. These are not "window boxes" to hold anything, as they're actually bottomless; we can see the Venetian blind's long pull cords under them. They're made of plywood and simple to build, so the "material and labor" was inexpensive. Similar variations made of different materials are in other movies/shows. In 1957's "12 Angry Men," textured chicken wire glass panels are in the jury room windows, and in "Jesse Stone: Night Passage" another type is in Jesse's office windows.

Super Grover

Answer: I suspect these were common, as to block the wind from blowing the blinds and papers on the desk.

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