Revealing mistake: When the bus pulls up for the Taylor family to leave for Hollywood you can see behind the bus a California freeway with cars moving in both directions. I don't think that Mayberry had a freeway right outside town. The scene is fixed when they return in "Aunt Bee on TV." There has been a tree put there so the road wouldn't show.
The Taylors in Hollywood - S6-E8
Revealing mistake: While the Taylors are watching the scene being filmed of the attempted jailbreak Gavin MacLeod plays the sheriff, but while he's fighting the Calhoun brothers it's the actor's stunt double who's actually doing the fighting. (00:17:45)
The Taylors in Hollywood - S6-E8
Revealing mistake: When Andy, Aunt Bee, and Opie are visiting the studio set while the scene between fake Aunt Bee and fake Andy is being filmed in a fake Taylor living room, note that behind the real Taylors we can see bits of the interior of their Mayberry house scattered in the background offstage. Some things to look for include their living room's stone wall with the mantle, their two reddish chairs (one with the fringe at the bottom), and a wall with their distinctive gold/silver design wallpaper. It's particularly funny when Opie looks at the "fake" living room set and comments, "Is that our house? It sure looks different!" while we the viewers can see the "real" Taylor set behind him. (00:20:35)
The Taylors in Hollywood - S6-E8
Revealing mistake: While Andy, Aunt Bee, and Opie are at the Hollywood studio watching a scene being filmed, when Andy mistakenly stands up and interrupts the filming we can see the wall and shelves behind the director, and it should look familiar because it's the wall and shelves from Floyd's shop in Mayberry.
Revealing mistake: When Andy arrives at the studio for the publicity shots, while he's speaking to Mr. Michaels note that behind them we can see the Taylors' Mayberry kitchen cabinet/counter and a wall with their distinctive gold/silver design wallpaper. (00:03:50)
The Legend of Barney Fife - S6-E18
Revealing mistake: When Andy and Goober enter the Taylor house Andy calls for Aunt Bee, and just as she walks out of the kitchen we can see the end of the set wall inside the kitchen. (00:14:20)
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 ★