A Date for Gomer

The annual Mayberry Chamber of Commerce Dance is coming up, and Barnie is looking forward to it. Then Thelma Lou gets a call from her cousin Mary Grace who is passing through town for a few days. This coincides with the big dance, and so Thelma Lou demands that Barney find a date for her to go to the dance or else she will stay home with Mary Grace rather than go herself.

The issue here is that Mary Grace is not very good looking. She's being played by the same actress who played the plumber, Ralph, in Green Acres if that jogs your memory. Andy and Barney convince Gomer to take her to the dance, sight unseen. When Gomer goes all out on buying a new suit of clothes for the occasion and talks about how Mary Grace might be "the one" even before he meets her, the boys wonder if Gomer isn't for a giant letdown.

This episode is absolutely endearing, and shows how much romance is about people making a connection and that maybe they see things and find things in each other that nobody else can see.

Richard Crenna of "The Real McCoys" directed this episode. Directing a few episodes of "The Andy Griffith Show" was the first show other than "The Real McCoys" in which he was a director.

According The goofs ,Thelma Lou, should have been Arrested for assaulting Barney. I disagree, this was something personal and not official. I think it would have been more trouble than it was worth, anyway.

This is a classic episode, with Barney and Andy on one side, and Thelma Lou and Helen on the other, trying to persuade the socially inept Gomer and Thelma Lou's painfully shy cousin, Mary Grace, to go on a date so the rest of them don't miss out on the big dance they've been looking forward to. Their conversations with either party, where the adjectives "nice, real nice!" are continually proffered as a means of evading descriptions of physical appearance are quite good. The best is the scene is when Mary Grace, coming around to the idea of attending the dance as Gomer's date, says, "Tall, dark, and-" and Thelma Lou and Helen blurt out in unison, "Door prize!"

The best episodes of the Andy Griffith Show are the ones that highlight the characters and use the storyline to emphasize the interaction between them. We love watching what everyone does in their off time whether it is choir practice, preparing for the town picnic, or in this case going to the annual Mayberry Dance. Most of the comedy in this episode comes from Gomer who is a little naive when it comes to dating. The Mayberry Dance coincides with a surprise visit from Thelma Lou's cousin (sweetly played by Mary Grace Canfield) who is also a "wallflower" type and Thelma Lou does not want to leave her alone while everyone else goes out on the town. The solution is to find her a date, however this late in the game most everyone has plans. Everyone, that is, but Gomer Pyle. At this point it takes a lot of convincing talk, but ultimately the three couples (Andy and Helen, Barney and Thelma Lou, and Mary Grace and Gomer) get together and its time to go to the dance. What happens next is a lesson in humanity and at the same time we see a side of Gomer that further defines one of the best characters to ever come out of Mayberry. This is a very funny well-played episode.

Some classic scenes throughout. Especially liked Gomer showing his newly purchased wardrobe, "in life we travel many roads", Barney getting punched in the nose by Thelma Lou, Gomer's dancing.

Never really liked Barney calling Mary Grace a dog. Andy & Barney were deceitful coaxing Gomer to come along. Barney acts like a pig being aggressive with Thelma Lou in the car.

First time we see Helen & Thelma Lou's friendship which will be integral in some great double dating future scenes. The more you see Thelma Lou & Barney together I realize how mismatched they are looks wise.

Epilogue only ok One of the series best episodes with many memorable Gomer moments.