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The Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club helped keep Mayberry alive for future generations
What started in a fraternity house led to a reunion movie.
It was not your typical frat party. The year was 1979, and a group of Vanderbilt University students gathered before the television in the Phi Kappa Sigma house. Jim Clark, a North Carolina kid attending the Nashville school, put the club together. Forget beer pong and togas. These college guys were going to Mayberry. They were dedicated viewers of The Andy Griffith Show.
"It started out tongue in cheek but it really caught on," Clark told the Associated Press in 1983. "I was surprised at how many people were fanatics about it like I am."
Clark grew up watching the wholesome sitcom, set in a fictional town near his own home. "They were more than just jokes, one-liners. There was almost always a moral."
After graduating, Clark was working as a waiter in Nashville. But he kept his Andy Griffith Show club going. It was more than just watching tapes of old episodes.
"When a station takes it off the air, we write them," the 23-year-old explained. He also published a newsletter titled The Bullet three times each year. Clark claimed some famous members of his club, including cable magnate Ted Turner, country rockers the Oak Ridge Boys, the governor of North Carolina — and even castmembers Andy Griffith, Don Knotts, and Jack Dodson.
At that time, in 1983, Clark's faction was one of 15 chapters of the Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club nationwide. The AGSRWC counted 1,000 members. There was a "Kerosene Cucumbers" branch run by preachers in North Carolina. The Otis Campbell Chapter — named after the town drunk of Mayberry — in Mississippi touted 300 members. A woman named Debbie in Ohio paid a dollar to join her local chapter. It was a no-brainer for her. She named her dog Opie Taylor and her parrot Barney Fife.
In 1986, fellows from the Mayberry Union High chapter in Longview, Texas, spoke to the AP about their fandom.
"I saw a story about the fan club in The Dallas Morning News," Mayberry Union High founder Ronnie Morrison said. "We then got a charter." Morrison had 25 tapes of the show, recorded on a VCR.
This was the state of TV fandom before the internet — word of mouth, newspaper profiles, and lots of dubbing with VHS tapes. Morrison had a goal of grabbing every single episode off the airwaves. "My family gives me a hard time with where I'm going to store all my Andy Griffith tapes," Morrison joked. Ah, the storage conundrums of pre-streaming.
In just three years, the AGSRWC has ballooned to 12,000 members around the world. The mission remained clear — keep Mayberry on the air. (Well, and watch The Andy Griffith Show as frequently as possible.)
"Our purpose is to keep it on the air," Morrison said. His chapter took a kind approach, like the folks in Mayberry might. They wrote stations thanking them for airing the sitcom, and sent letters to sponsors, expressing their gratitude.
Morrison credited Jim Clark, that kid from Vanderbilt, for convincing networks to reunite the cast of The Andy Griffith Show for a reunion movie.
"I'm convinced the actions of Jim Clark and this club is what got NBC interested in the reunion show," Morrison said of Return to Mayberry, which premiered in 1986. "It was the driving force of the movie and its success. They're supposedly making a second one."
Well, they never did make a second one. But The Andy Griffith Show remains a cherished part of American television viewing to this day. Thanks to the dedication of its fans.
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62 Comments
If you happen to visit it, say that Sterling sent you. That was my name I used back on there. I haven't posted there in a while now, but I am sure most of the people I talked to there are still there.
I'm not a super fan, but timing in my area is about 8:00pm and find it a pleasant alternative to contemporary stuff. But agree new series would be interesting to rotate into the lineup, but they won't do it during primetime. Thank heavens for DVRs.
Shortly after Jim Clark started TAGSRWC, I ran one of the chapters for about ten years. It was just like the description above. I eventually taped all of the episodes on VHS and generally played four at each monthly meeting. And the chapter was publicized in several local newspapers. We even had Don Knotts' nephew speak at one meeting, as he lived locally.
I live in the past - I own a condo back there....LOL!
My Mother The Car was never as bad as it was made out to be. The premise was
inane but for a show aimed at kids Beaver Cleaver's age it was decent entertainment.
The title song was quite snappy, the car a thing of beauty, it was filmed in rich
colors and the prints available when it ran a few years ago on Antenna TV
(I think it was that station) were beautiful. That said, Jerry Van Dyke was
strictly a second banana and couldn't carry the star role, and it was so
skewed to the very young kid audience I could only watch a few episodes, any more
and I would have lost IQ points. But when it first aired, all the kids - and
me - loved it.
The theme was constantly sung when we were doing other kid stuff.
As for Saved By The Bell, it is crud but then again it's aimed square at
12 to 16 year olds not you and me.
is because the silly title became a easy punchline for comics and pundits.
Ted Danson's current sitcom Mr. Mayor is worse, a train wreck.
I still will tune in for a few minutes just to gaze in appalled amazement
that alleged 6th grade grads -hello Jethro Beaudine - put it on.
Producer Tina Fey must have made a bet that she could put on garbage
masked as clever commentary on LA and network honchos would
go along so as to seem to be "with it".
Danson clearly was blackmailed into appearing.
Joe Friday, Pete Malloy, please look into this and free Ted Danson.
Weigel has the budget and clout to do whatever they wish. But the idea behind programming blocks (such as the format that H & I uses) is to keep fans in the habit of viewing especially at certain times of the day. Also to keep them viewing for consecutive hours. Because the principle behind doing so, is to make advertising very effective! They WANT those Ads to become so repetitious in a viewer's mind, that they can quote them (because people "try" to tune them out otherwise). I mean, look how many of us can quote that truly obnoxious Medicare ad with the celebrities as much as we hate it! That is, an absolute Advertisers dream commercial. Because they want a very dependable demographically appropriate segment of viewers to justify dropping as much as they do to run their ads!
Sad, but true.
1-5 are available on DVD.
COOL CHARACTER on Happy Days is because Moose did NOT go to the
Drag Race between Skizzy
And Fonzie and that means
that Moose did not get grounded like Richie and
Potsie and Moose(Barry Greenberg) got to dance
With a cute girl played by
Carey Williams.
Another Cool Character on
Happy Days is a guy with the name EUGENE BELVIN plUrf by DENIS MANDEL.
Eugene Belvin was also a smart guy. He forced Jenny
Piccalo )Cathy Silvers) to go on dates with him by telling Jenny that he would
tell Fonzie that Jenny Piccalo spread the Rumor
About Mikki(Crystal Bernard).
(Joanna Moore)had stayed on
The Andy Griffith Show longer
than 4 episodes.
Ed Sawyer moved to Mayberry
because Mayberry was a town
that he liked but Ed Sawyer
Appeared on TSGS on episode
ONLY called Stranger In Town
From season one.
If Ed Sawyer) William Lanteau)
Really moved to Mayberry in
1960 then where was Ed Sawyer.
HIDING during the 8 years of
The Andy Griffith Show and 3
Years of Mayberry RFD?
Going to move to Mayberry
Ed Sawyer might have change his mind and we back to the city he came
From (New York City) ..
The last time we saw Ed
Sawyer he was getting a haircut by Floyd number 1
Walter Baldwin .
Jack Larson who played
Jimmy Olsen on The Adventures of Superman
Played a Corporal named
Tommy for one episode only on Gomer Pyle USMC
And later Tommy Leonetti played Cpl Nick Cuccinelli
And Roy Stuart played Cpl
Boyle on Gomer Pyle USMC.
I guess Ed Sawyer remained a stranger in town. Maybe that's why he was never seen again. Maybe he liked being "incognito."
Chuck Cunningham 1 Gavan O'Herlihy and Chuck Cunningham 2 Randolph Roberts vanished into thin air on Happy Days.
Characters Who Disapeared from TV Shows:
Happy Days
Chuck Cunningham 1 Gavan O'Herlihy
Chuck Cunningham 2 Randolph Roberts
Bag ZOMBROSKI:
Neil J SCHWARTZ
EUGENE BELVIN:Denis MANDEL
MOOSE Barry Greenberg
Melvin Belvin Scott Bernstein
Wendy Misty Rowe
Trudy Tita Bell
Spike Danny Butch
Marsha Simms Beatrice Colen
Flip Phillips Billy Warlock
KC Cunningham Crystal Bernard
Gloria Linda Purl
Gomer Pyle USMC
Cpl Nick Cuccinelli Tommy Leonetti
Cpl Boyle Roy Stuart
Sgt Whipple :Buck Young
Pvt Frankie Lombardi:
Ted Bessell
With Lucy Matthews and
that might be the reason
that viewers of TAGS Never
Saw Ed Sawyer (William Lanteau)and Lucy Mathews
(Marlene Willis) again.
Maybe ED SAWYER and
Lucy Matthews sent
Andy Taylor a Honeymoon
Postcard from Hooterville
(HOOTERVILLE??).
You could watch it to see if they actually show him settling in Mayberry or if it's just suggested.
Then there would be no "maybe's". You could watch the episode when it comes on again on
MeTV, TV Land, or Pluto TV Channel 510. MeTV is in season 2 /TV Land is in season 4/ Not sure if Pluto follows the season schedule. Either way it will be a while before the "Stranger in Town" episode airs again. Just a thought.
Certainly sounds like he had plenty of support with the notable individuals mentioned.
