The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show was an American television series that aired from 1960 to 1968. The series was an immediate hit with its audience and is still enjoying much success in syndication. Its whistled theme song is instantly recognizable.
When the show premiered in 1960, viewers immediately felt a connection with widowed Sheriff "Andy Taylor" (Griffith), his son "Opie" (Ron Howard), his "Aunt Bee" (Frances Bavier), his cousin "Deputy Barnie Fife" (or "Fyfe") (Don Knotts), "Gomer Pyle" (Jim Nabors) whose role was spun-off into the series Gomer Pyle, USMC, auto-mechanic "Goober Pyle" (George Lindsey), "Ernest T. Bass" (Howard Morris), and the rest of the townsfolk of "Mayberry," North Carolina.
Griffith left the show in 1968. Ken Berry joined the cast that year, and the show was retitled Mayberry R.F.D and continued until 1971. Even years after the series ended, tourists driving through rural North Carolina would still ask for directions to Mayberry, not realizing that the town depicted in the series never existed except in Hollywood and was not based on any particular town, although Andy Griffith lived in Mount Airy, North Carolina.
The Andy Griffith Show was a spinoff from The Danny Thomas Show. In the latter show, the character played by Danny Thomas is caught speeding by Andy Taylor while driving through Mayberry.
When Andy Griffith decided to leave the show, many of the characters were imported into a spinoff show, Mayberry R.F.D