Mayberry in the rearview.

This is a response to a Boomerville, USA Facebook Group query about how it would be nice to bring Mayberry back.  I know the comment was in fun, but it caused me to ponder about where we have come, where we are, and going..

So many remakes being made today of previous television shows/old movie classics. The original Andy Griffith Show actors, to me, are cemented to the characters they played. Even when the original characters reunited for 'Return to Mayberry' in the 80's - it fell flat. Even the original characters seemed out of step in their own shoes.  Eventually Andy left town and the show was renamed Mayberry RFD.  The lead roll was given to the very talented and down to earth fellow Ken Berry. The show was good, but Mayberry just wasn't the same anymore. Andy was gone, Barney was gone, Floyd was gone.  I just lost interest in Mayberry.  All my friends had left.  The town just wasn't the same anymore.

A few years after leaving the show Andy Griffith tried to recreate his prior success with The New Andy Griffith Show that also fizzled. The New Andy Griffith Show had many of the same actors but not the same names/characters. The town was Greenwood, NC and Andy played Andy Sawyer.  It didn't have the depth.  It just wasn't the same.

Today's ethics/values/morals have gone down the tubes. Even if someone could capture the time, place and people - it just wouldn't be the same. My mind goes to the movie Pleasantville. Here an era was captured but the wholesomeness of what we desire in a picture would more than likely be bastardized by the perverted minds of today. Andy would be fornicating with Ellie Walker. Opie would be suspended from school because he was found with a slingshot in his back pocket. Gomer would come out of the closet. Thelmalu would be a feminist pushing her NOW pro-abortion agenda. Poor Barney would become a  basket case because his masculinity would be completely stripped because of his love for Thelmalu. If it's up to Hollywood - there would be an underlying twisted agenda that we see everyday on the big and little screen. I seriously doubt if the Hollywood today could make something as good and wholesome as the original.   I don't know if you can really return to Mayberry.  That's the bad news.  The good news is...we'll always have reruns.