The Andy Griffith Show: Season 5

Season 5 marked two notable lasts for this beloved series, which never fell below the Top Seven in the ratings. This was the last season in black and white. More devastating, it was multi-Emmy-winner Knotts' last season as Barney Fife. By the penultimate episode, "Opie and the Carnival," he is just gone, an unceremonious departure for an iconic character so integral to the show's success. That "Banjo-Playing Deputy" in the season finale is Jerry Van Dyke, who might have been a worthy replacement for Knotts. Instead, he reportedly turned down the role to star in his own sitcom, My Mother, the Car. The rest is TV infamy. By this time, though, The Andy Griffith Show's best years were behind it. But this season contains at least two classics, "Goodbye Sheriff Taylor," in which Barney is sheriff for a day while Andy interviews for a job in Raleigh, and "The Cast of the Punch in the Nose," in which Barney reopens an unresolved 1946 case involving Floyd the Barber and Charley Foley. And with episodes featuring the late Howard Morris' Ernest T. ("The Education of Ernest T."), the Darling family ("The Darling Baby"), Mt. Pilot "fun girls" Skippy and Daphne ("The Arrest of the Fun Girls"), and a guest star turn by Don Rickles ("The Luck of Newton Monroe"), Andy Griffith Show devotees are advised to take the Fifth. --Donald Liebenson

• Disc #1 -- The Andy Griffith Show: The Complete Fifth Season, Disc 1
  • Opie Loves Helen
  • Barney's Physical
  • Family Visit
  • The Education of Ernest T. Bass
  • Aunt Bee's Romance
  • Barney's Bloodhound
  • Man in the Middle
  • Play All
  • Previews
• Disc #2 -- The Andy Griffith Show: The Complete Fifth Season, Disc 2
  • Barney's Uniform
  • Opie's Fortune
  • Goodbye, Sheriff Taylor
  • The Pageant
  • The Darling Baby
  • Andy and Helen Have Their Day
  • Three Wishes for Opie
  • Play All
• Disc #3 -- The Andy Griffith Show: The Complete Fifth Season, Disc 3
  • Otis Sues the County
  • Barney Fife, Realtor
  • Goober Takes a Car Apart
  • The Rehabilitation of Otis
  • The Lucky Letter
  • Goober and the Art of Love
  • Play All
• Disc #4 -- The Andy Griffith Show: The Complete Fifth Season, Disc 4
  • Barney Runs for Sheriff
  • If I Had a Quarter-Million
  • TV or Not TV
  • Guest in the House
  • The Case of the Punch in the Nose
  • Opie's Newspaper
  • Play All
• Disc #5 -- The Andy Griffith Show: The Complete Fifth Season, Disc 5
  • Aunt Bee's Invisible Beau
  • The Arrest of the Fun Girls
  • The Luck of Newton Monroe
  • Opie Flunks Arithmetic
  • Opie and the Carnival
  • Banjo Playing Deputy
  • Play All