General Questions

FAQ: General Questions

Where did the writers come up with the names used on TAGS?

An unusual piece of trivia was supplied by Paul Gerefi of Fort Lauderdale, FL. He observed that within a 30 mile radius of Andy's birthplace in Mt. Airy, NC, are the following towns: Lawsonville, Walkertown, Crumpler and Taylorsville. The names of such characters as Floyd Lawson, Ellie Walker, Helen Crump and Andy Taylor naturally come to mind. Is this simply coincidence?

Who was the announcer at the beginning of the show that said, "The Andy Griffith Show...staring, Andy Griffith....with Ronny Howard. Also starring, Don Knotts?

This answer avoided us for years but thanks to TAGS fan Dennis Hasty we now have an answer. The name of the announcer is Colin Male. He was a former radio announcer in Cincinnati who moved to Hollywood to be part of the motion picture business. Colin appeared in the TAGS episode where Andy and Helen are caught fishing without a licenses by the game warden (#140 "Andy and Helen Have Their Day") . Colin was the game warden.

I have a tape that starts out saying "Andy of Mayberry" instead of "The Andy Griffith Show". Why the name change?

During the original run of "The Andy Griffith Show," CBS began to show reruns of TAGS during the daytime hours. To reduce confusion they re-titled the show "Andy of Mayberry." When TAGS original run was over the titles were changed back but when VIACOM began looking for "uncut" episodes, some of the best ones still had the "Andy of Mayberry" title on them and the tape distributors didn't fix it. They sometimes show up on your local stations, too, so be on the lookout.