What if Sheriff Taylor had been the Barney Fife of the series?
Andy Griffith was an undoubtedly funny man. He was hilarious in films like No Time for Sergeants, and even as straight-man Sheriff Taylor, he had a dry sense of humor that could sneak up on you every once in a while. While it was a much more rare form of humor, some of our favorite chuckles have been the result of Andy Taylor’s quips.
Griffith was aware of the importance of his more serious character in The Andy Griffith Show. It was a role that he took great pride in, as he should. While many of Mayberry’s residents are quirky and zany, quick to get a viewer’s attention, Sheriff Taylor provided a comfortable, grounding energy that kept the series feeling like home. He was the sweet nucleus that the other characters revolved around. Without him, they’d be aimless.
Originally, Griffith was intended to have a more comedic role before relinquishing that honor to Don Knotts, who went on to win multiple Emmys for his hilarious performance as Barney Fife.
While we’re not one to chance fate, one can’t help but wonder how the show might have changed if Griffith continued as the series’ comedic compass. Well, Griffith himself has his answer for that, as he believed it would have changed the show for the worse. In an interview with The Daily Times, Griffith confessed, “I think if I had been the comic it [The Andy Griffith Show] might have lasted about six months.”
The decision to have Andy Taylor become more serious was a calculated move on Griffith’s part, and it worked to the benefit of the show. He said, “I realized that Don should be funny, and I should play straight. That opened up a world of opportunities because each time we had a fine comic actor come on the show, such as Floyd the barber, we signed him as a regular and I played straight to him. And I played straight to Otis and sometimes I played straight to Aunt Bea, and to the boy.”
He explained, “Those people made up the population of Mayberry, and it gave the show great longevity. It gave us an opportunity to write for each one of these characters, and write different kinds of shows.”
