1. Andy Griffith had a dog named "Blue" in No Time for Sergeants.

 

No Time for Sergeants — a Broadway production and later 1958 film adaptation — serves an important part in The Andy Griffith Show lore. The military comedy brought Don Knotts and Andy Griffith together as actors, and essentially set the mold for Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. In the movie, Griffith's character has a dog named Blue, too! Perhaps Barney's "Bloodhound" was a nod to their past work? (Here the dog can be seen in an image from the No Time for Sergeants television series.)

Image: The Everett Collection

2. Pluto was one of the hardest working dogs in Hollywood.

 

Let's spend a little more time discussing Blue, because he is a good boy. A canine actor named Pluto portrayed the "Bloodhound" (he's actually an Otterhound). Pluto can be spotted all over classic television. He was Walter the Dog on Bonanza, in the 1963 episode "A Friend of Walter's." The same shaggy dog turned up in Elly May's menagerie on The Beverly Hillbillies ("Dash Riprock, You Cad") and memorably wagged his way onto The Dick Van Dyke Show as "The Ugliest Dog in the World." He even appeared multiply times in Mayberry, as you can see him here with Goober in "A Man's Best Friend."

3. The episode took place… in the future! (Barely.)

 

Take a closer look at the calendar hanging behind Floyd in his barbershop. It is displaying the page for February, as the month only has 28 days. The 28th falls on a Sunday, an occurrence that happened in 1965. Well, the episode aired in October 1964 — so it seemingly took place four months in the future! Either that or Floyd had not changed his calendar since February 1954.

4. The buy guy was later a good guy on Star Trek.

 

Keen-eyed classic TV viewers will recognize Arthur Batanides, who plays the escaped criminal Ralph Neal in "Barney's Bloodhound." Five years later, he would serve as the Enterprise's senior geologist on Star Trek. Here he is sporting the blue sciences division shirt in "That Which Survives." 

5. It was directed by ''Ernest T. Bass'' himself.

 

Hopefully, you watch through the credits to give the creators their due. Note the director — Howard Morris. That's right, it's the Ernest T. Bass actor himself! Morris helmed eight episodes of the series in total, giving him some of his earliest director credits. If you're keeping count, that indeed means he worked on more TAGS episodes as the director than as Ernest T. Bass, whom he only portrayed five times.

6. Howard Morris was the voice of "The Masked Singer."

 

Morris pulled triple duty in "Barney's Bloodhound"! Early in the episode, Andy and Barney listen to the radio, a broadcast from Mt. Pilot. Morris is both the voice of the WMPD radio announcer and the voice of the "Masked Singer," Leonard Blush, who croons, "Who is Sylvia…" That's right, The Andy Griffith Show had a Masked Singer long before it was a modern reality show sensation.

7. This state trooper sure looked familiar.

 

Did this state trooper look familiar? He had appeared in the exact same role just 16 episodes early, turning up as the state trooper in "Andy's Vacation."  James Seay also played a policeman on The Twilight Zone ("In His Image"), as well as the film The Asphalt Jungle.

8. The other state trooper later turned up in a memorable 'M*A*S*H' scene.

 

Next to Seay is another unnamed state trooper, played by Brad Trumbull, who later popped up as an MP in the M*A*S*H episode "The General Flipped at Dawn." You might remember that season-three premiere as the one with Harry Morgan as a general, not Potter. Trumbull can be seen next to Morgan in the trial at the end. 

9. The wanted poster is filled with more fictional North Carolina towns.

 

This bulletin from "Halron P. Spriggs" of the Central Police Bureau has some interesting details next to Ralph Neal's mugshot. It mentions the towns of "Compass City" and "Flintridge," which do not exist in North Carolina. The description explains that Flintridge is nearby Route 12. There is a Route 12 in North Carolina — but it runs through the Outer Banks.

10. This cabin was popular with outlaws.

 

Neal hides out in the Forbes cabin. Well, it wasn't always the Forbes cabin. The same structure can be seen two years earlier in "Convicts-at-Large." Only then it was known as O'Malley's cabin.

11. It was written by the creator of 'Saved by the Bell.'

 

Sam Bobrick, the creator of Saved by the Bell, wrote some of the funniest Barney episodes for The Andy Griffith Show. The Air Force veteran and journalism major penned "Barney's Bloodhound," " Barney Fife, Realtor" and the later color episodes that centered around the deputy, including "The Return of Barney Fife" and "A Visit to Barney Fife."