Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2025 July 18

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July 18

Andy Griffith Show

Was this show set in its own contemporary era at the time it was made? I.e. it was made in the 1960s but was it also set in the 1960's? Not in the sense of commenting on then-current events, but just not being like MASH (set in Korean War) or Star Trek (set in the future). Like if a car from the 1960s was seen on the show, would that have been anachronistic? It was before my time but I've seen some episodes and had thought of it as a 1950s show. I don't see any mention of this in the wiki article. Thx 2601:644:8581:75B0:DB7E:831:B3FB:7659 (talk) 18:37, 18 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It was definitely contemporary to its broadcast schedule. The various cars used in the series (including the sheriff's car, which was an early-60s Ford) are strong clues. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 19:06, 18 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! I sort of remember the car but wouldn't have recognized the model year. 2601:644:8581:75B0:DB7E:831:B3FB:7659 (talk) 19:22, 18 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Here's a 1961 Ford Galaxie:File:1961 Ford (5837961886).jpg I Googled "andy griffith sheriff car" and the AI that popped up said that Ford was a show sponsor, and provided the show with a new car every year. (The article likewise says so.) ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:11, 18 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. I wasn't concerned about cars in particular, just wanted to know the time period, thus to some extent the cultural milieu. Of course the milieu in the show was unrealistic in a particular notorious way described in the article, but igoring that. 2601:644:8581:75B0:DB7E:831:B3FB:7659 (talk) 22:27, 18 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

They didn't get into politics very much if at all. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:56, 18 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Having carefully read it, I can see nothing whatever in the article that explicitly corresponds to "the show was unrealistic in a particular notorious way described in the article". Neither is there in the related articles Mayberry and Mayberry R.F.D..

Although I can guess what that might have been, for the benefit of those of us from a different continent who have never seen the show, can you spell it it out, and should it indeed be mentioned (with appropriate citations)? {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 94.5.172.125 (talk) 08:28, 19 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Basically there were, unrealistically, almost no Black people in Mayberry. I thought the article discussed that, at least some time back. I don't see it mentioned now. It certainly should be and I'm sure there are tons of RS for it. Maybe it was there and someone edited it out. The unrealism is relevant because a segment of the US population is driven by nostalgia for "Mayberry America" (free of the degeneracy that we live in today), but the Mayberry depicted in the show amounts to mythology. 2601:644:8581:75B0:DB7E:831:B3FB:7659 (talk) 09:31, 19 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

That is indeed what I guessed, but as a Brit unfamiliar with the historical demographics of North Carolina, I could not of course be sure. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 94.5.172.125 (talk) 20:01, 19 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Very few TV shows in those days, or at least sitcoms, had any significant number of non-whites. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 15:31, 19 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

There was indeed a statement to the effect in our article Mayberry, but it was removed on September 7, 2020, without explanation. There are reliable sources discussing this (e.g. [1], [2], [3], [4]), but it may not be easy to distill this into a brief section. The topic of the representation of racial relations in US film and TV could probably bear a full article.  ​‑‑Lambiam 17:59, 19 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Sure, regarding 1960s TV, Nichelle Nichols' role on Star Trek was considered groundbreaking, enough that when she considered leaving the show for Broadway, Martin Luther King Jr. intervened to talk her out of it (see her biography). So Mayberry's depiction was unsurprising for its time. The depiction's relevance in the present is the people today who dream of a return to Mayberry. They see the changing times since then as having done damage, but what they really want is a mythical world that is, among other things, ethnically cleansed. Oops. 2601:644:8581:75B0:7D27:E422:5BB0:1A92 (talk) 20:37, 19 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]