A Black Day for Mayberry

This is a classic episode. What a Great One! I just noticed after seeing it on DVD that there is no laugh track. I was wondering if this was an experiment? It is a fairly dramatic episode for the sitcom, so maybe they thought that they'd try it with no canned laughter like usual. This show was never filmed with an audience anyway.

Interesting....

And it was neat to see three members of the Howard family in one show--Ron, Rance, His Dad, and lil' brother Clint.

Another beautiful DVD transfer. There are so many great old shows coming out on DVD from studios like Paramount--This one was originally Desilu, like Dick Van Dyke, Star Trek and many more until 1968 when Desi and Lucy sold out to Paramount Studios, which was right next door.

This episode further establishes that Barney is an incompetent and the folks of Mayberry are mostly a lot of likable rubes. Andy and Barney are called in to assist with a gold shipment that is coming their way. They are instructed to keep it secret, but naturally Barney totally blows it--and as a result, EVERYONE in Mayberry knows the shipment is coming. And, like a bunch of yahoos, the people decide to have a giant celebration to welcome the G-men and the gold!! You have to laugh at the situation and it's all very predictable. What isn't so predictable is what happens to the gold itself.

All in all, a very clever episode from start to finish. The only problem with it is that making Barney look stupid isn't exactly a new idea and there is a familiarity about the plot that keep it from being among the very best of the series--but it's still very worth seeing--especially so you can see three of the Howard family (Ron, Clint and their father).

There is a point where the silliness of the series becomes stupidity. This is one of the episodes/times.

An armored truck with $7M in gold comes through Mayberry, and supposed to be a secret. The trouble is that Barney was told.

I did not consider the episode humorous at all, only full of idiotic behavior. That started with Barney and his big mouth, then Gomer filling the inside of the armored truck with gasoline. And the two of them were handed guns to guard the truck. That is dangerous to anyone in range.

Even after the fiasco, when Barney is told what really was going on, he behaves in the same imbecilic way.

I see little redeeming value with the episode.

They did use a laugh track in this episode. At least they did on version they aired on TVLand on 5.9.07.

Perhaps the DVD version is different. I have no idea what the original version was like. I don't specifically remember this particular episode "A Black Day for Mayberry" when it was originally broadcast on network television.

I have nothing to compare this version to. Perhaps the version on DVD had the soundtrack removed to enhance the dramatic effect of the program. Although there are portions of the show that deserve laughter - specifically those scenes involving Barney spilling the beans and Gomer trying to act serious.

Maybe some other viewer can shed some light on this.

Episode is loaded with classic comedy. Just the whole premise of the leaked news traveling town wide in such a short time is hilarious. I don't think there's one scene that's not 10*. I always liked Barney's "I did not say gold" to Juanita, Gomer putting gas in the gun port, Barney's shakey truck entrance, then his discombobulated state exiting the truck with what looks like a machine gun no less, then Andy easily disabling the weakling. Gomer's "shazams" are perfectly placed. Barney undercover with Asa giving one of many in the episode "When's the gold truck coming? " Each time asked is funny. Barney still doesn't learn his lesson in a very good epilogue again giving classified information to Juanita.