Sunday, January 30, 2000

Griffith, Knotts chat with TV critics

LOS ANGELES - Fans of the old "Andy Griffith Show," which has been in continuous syndication and reruns since it went off CBS in the late 1960s, can learn more about Mayberry and its lovable citizens in a special coming up on cable's TV Land channel in March. (TV Land is available on digital through AT&T Cable)
   "Inside TV Land: The Andy Griffith Show" tells the story of the classic sitcom through the memories of its stars, including the title actor, Griffith, who played Sheriff Andy Taylor; five-time Emmy-winning co-star Don Knotts (Deputy Barney Fife); and Ron Howard, who was cast as Andy's son Opie at the age of 6.
   Griffith and Knotts, both in their 70s, talked to TV critics gathered at cable's winter press tour last week, the day before, incidentally, Knotts finally received a much-deserved star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
   The two began working together in the 1950s in the comedy film "No Time for Sergeants," continued on the Griffith show in the 1960s (Knotts suggested to his pal that Andy Taylor needed a deputy) and teamed up again more recently on CBS' "Matlock." They remain good friends who say they chat by phone (Knotts lives in L.A., Griffith in North Carolina) at least once every few weeks.
   "The five years that Don and I worked together (on 'The Andy Griffith Show') were the best five years I ever had in my life," Griffith said.
   Knotts concurred, affirming that there were no down times during those years.
   "Been pretty positive" ever since, too, he said.
   Knotts most recently was cast in a cameo as the TV repairman in the feature film "Pleasantville." His role in the movie, which took modern-day teens and plunked them inside a black and white TV show of the '50s, served as a reminder of what TV was like during the "classic" years when shows like Griffith's were filmed on location, movie-style, in black and white.
   It was the little incidental scenes that made life in Mayberry seem so real.
   Andy and Barney sitting on the porch, jawing about drinking a bottle of pop and maybe walking down to the gas station. Andy and Opie fishing and talking about life. Barney and Otis, the town drunk, trading stories through the bars of the jail cell where Otis was sleeping off another bender.
   Some of the funniest, most memorable moments of the series happened in those throwaway scenes, Knotts said.
   "Andy and I started something in the series I hadn't seen before. We began to do little things, have little scenes where we just talked about things that had nothing to do with the plot. In the beginning, CBS didn't want us to do that. But as time went on, other shows picked up on that. I think we were the first to do it," Knotts said.
   The show was also the first place young Ron Howard began learning what goes on behind the cameras. Now known as director of hits such as "Splash" and "Apollo 13," Howard gave his co-stars little inkling of his intentions to move onto calling the shots when he grew up.
   "I didn't know that he was interested in being a director, but he's certainly made a go of it," Griffith said.
   "Well, he was a natural actor from the beginning," Knotts said. "I think we just assumed, at least I did, that he'd go on acting. We wish we had known. We'd probably have sucked up to him a little more."
   Added Griffith, "We'd have told him we want a job."
   Actually, both actors now work only when they want to. And they still enjoy tuning into reruns of "The Andy Griffith Show" to catch their favorite episodes.
   Griffith likes the one called "Barney's First Car," in which the hapless deputy is swindled by a little old lady con artist (played with tremendous comic flair by Ellen "Grandma Walton" Corby).
   Knotts is fond of "Aunt Bee's Pickles" in which Bee (Frances Bavier) cooks up a batch of what the boys call "kerosene cucumbers." But nobody has the heart to tell her how bad they are, so day after day Barney, Andy and Opie are forced to swallow the bitter dills.
   Griffith doesn't get enough credit for how great the writing on the show was, Knotts said.
   "He sat with the writers and figured out the storylines at the beginning of each season," Knotts said.
   "I was always there," added Griffith. "Only the last few years did I get a writer's (union) card. Don's had his for a long time. But we both wrote the show. We worked very hard on the scripts and never ad-libbed. We rehearsed and shot it."
   Few shows match the grace, wit, wisdom, acting talent and all-around comedy goodness of "The Andy Griffith Show." But the stars say that while they don't care for most TV sitcoms running currently in primetime, they have recognized quality work on "Seinfeld" and "Frasier."
   "I enjoy watching reruns of 'Seinfeld,'" Griffith said. "But I go to bed at 8, so if it ain't on by 8, I ain't going to see it."
  
  

 
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