The BEST episodes of The Andy Griffith Show
Every episode of The Andy Griffith Show ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of The Andy Griffith Show!
Down-home humor and an endearing cast of characters helped make The Andy Griffith Show one of the most beloved comedies in the history of TV. The show centered around widower Andy Taylor, who divided his time between raising his young son Opie, and his job as sheriff of the sleepy North Carolina town, Mayberry. Andy and Opie live with Andy's Aunt Bee, who serves as a surrogate mother to both father and son. Andy's nervous cousin, Barney Fife, is his deputy sheriff whose incompetence is tolerated because Mayberry is virtually crime-free.
#1 - Christmas Story
Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/19/1960
Mayberry's local "Scrooge," storeowner Ben Weaver, manages to have harmless bootlegger Sam Muggins thrown into jail on Christmas -- but the Mayberry folks manage to celebrate Christmas with Sam in a most unusual way.
#2 - Citizen's Arrest
Season 4 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/16/1963
A minor argument between Barney and Gomer over a traffic ticket erupts into an all-out feud that leads to reckless driving, staged burglaries, and eventually Barney's resignation from the force. Can Andy get the two friends to make up before things really get out of hand?
#3 - Andy's Vacation
Season 4 - Episode 22 - Aired 3/9/1964
Andy decides to take a vacation in the mountains and leaves Barney to guard a prisoner the state police have brought in. Inevitably, the prisoner escapes Barney's grasp and flees into the mountains -- the very same mountains Andy is vacationing in.
#4 - Bringing Up Opie
Season 1 - Episode 32 - Aired 5/22/1961
After being scolded by Aunt Bee, Opie decides to run away from home -- a plan that quickly turns into a series of eye-opening, and sometimes dangerous, adventures for Opie and a scare for both Aunt Bee and Andy.
#5 - Barney Comes to Mayberry
Season 7 - Episode 19 - Aired 1/23/1967
Barney returns to Mayberry and rediscovers an old girlfriend who has become a movie star.
#6 - The Haunted House
Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/7/1963
Barney is sent into a reputed "haunted" house to retrieve Opie's baseball and sees things that make even the skeptical Andy wonder if there really are ghosts, until Andy discovers who's really doing the haunting.
#7 - Crime-Free Mayberry
Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/20/1961
Two crooks masquerade as an FBI agent and a professional photographer in a scheme to honor the Mayberry Sheriff's Department for preserving the community's low crime rate -- but they actually have their eye on the town bank.
#8 - Back to Nature
Season 4 - Episode 31 - Aired 5/11/1964
While on a camping trip with Opie and his friends, Barney brags to Gomer about his outdoor skills and promptly gets them lost in the woods. When Andy finally does find them, he and Gomer hatch a plan to save Barney the embarrassment and prove to everyone what a mountain man he really is.
#9 - High Noon in Mayberry
Season 3 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/21/1963
Andy gets a letter from a criminal he had wounded years before and learns the man is coming to Mayberry to see him. Barney becomes convinced the man wants revenge and enlists Gomer and Otis to secretly protect Andy, which ends up wreaking more havoc than any criminal ever could.
#10 - Three Wishes for Opie
Season 5 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/21/1964
Opie makes three wishes on a "magic lamp" Barney bought. When one of his wishes doesn't come true, Barney dismisses the whole thing. Opie learns there are many different ways for a wish to be granted.
#11 - Alcohol and Old Lace
Season 1 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/30/1961
Opie comes home talking about a "flower-making machine" owned by sisters Clarabelle and Jennifer Morrison, the spinsters who run the local flower shop. Andy and Barney do a little investigating -- and discover the contraption is actually a still and the kindly sisters are in the moonshine business!
#12 - The Bank Job
Season 3 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/24/1962
Barney becomes convinced the Mayberry bank is ripe for a robbery and tries to prove his point by staging a fake one. When he discovers a weak spot in the security system, he unknowing relays this information to a couple of actual robbers.
#13 - Andy Forecloses
Season 1 - Episode 28 - Aired 4/24/1961
Andy, faced with the unpleasant task of serving an eviction notice on a family who has fallen on hard times, tries desperately to come up with a way for the tenants to keep their home.
#14 - The Sermon for Today
Season 4 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/21/1963
A visiting minister preaches the importance of relaxation and inspires Aunt Bee, Andy, and Barney to throw a Sunday afternoon band concert. When it ends up being more work than they imagined, it leaves them wondering if they'll ever have time to relax again.
#15 - Barney's Sidecar
Season 4 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/27/1964
Barney buys an antique motorcycle in order to set a speed trap for speeding truckers on Highway 6. After Barney makes a complete nuisance of himself to all of Mayberry, Andy realizes that the answer may be to make the motorcycle more valuable to the town than to Barney.
#16 - Sheriff Barney
Season 2 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/25/1961
When Barney gets an offer to become the sheriff of nearby Greendale, Andy decides to let him be the sheriff of Mayberry for a day to give him a taste of what the top law-enforcement spot entails.
#17 - Dinner at Eight
Season 7 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/9/1967
With Aunt Bee off visiting relatives and Opie away on a Scout trip, Andy is home alone. He is ready to spend a relaxing evening when Goober arrives to keep him company. He insists on making his special spaghetti recipe. Andy gives in, eats heartily, and then is reminded by Goober of an invitation to Howard's for dinner. Andy goes to see Howard, who did not actually invite Andy at all. They still whip up some spaghetti and eat, but then Andy realizes dinner was at Helen's. He rushes over, but is in hot water for being late so he must endure another dinner of spaghetti.
#18 - Opie's Charity
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/28/1960
Andy is dismayed when Opie refuses to contribute money to the school charity drive -- but there's a secret reason for Opie's apparent selfishness.
#19 - Ellie Saves a Female
Season 1 - Episode 27 - Aired 4/17/1961
Ellie Walker takes pity on a shy tomboy named Frankie Flint and is determined to give a "Cinderella" makeover to the young girl -- much to her gruff father's displeasure.
#20 - Quiet Sam
Season 1 - Episode 29 - Aired 5/1/1961
Barney is convinced that the new, mysterious farmer in town warrants further investigation. Andy finally agrees to pay a visit to the man's farm -- and finds himself drawn into a predicament he never imagined he'd find himself in.
#21 - Andy and the Gentleman Crook
Season 1 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/27/1961
A notorious, nationally known con man dubbed "Gentleman Dan" becomes a hero of epic proportions to Aunt Bee, Opie and Barney when he is held for two days in the Mayberry jail.
#22 - Barney and the Choir
Season 2 - Episode 20 - Aired 2/19/1962
Things hit a sour note when Barney joins the Mayberry choir -- and it's quickly determined that his singing voice isn't exactly harmonious to the other members of the group.
#23 - Only a Rose
Season 7 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/5/1966
Aunt Bee is totally excited about her rose that she has been growing for over a year for the annual flower show. While Opie and Arnold are playing, however,they accidently destroy it.
#24 - Aunt Bee, the Swinger
Season 6 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/4/1965
Aunt Bee and a retired politician experience a very fast-paced relationship.
#25 - Andy and Opie's Pal
Season 4 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/13/1964
After becoming jealous of the attention Andy give to the new boy in town, Opie comes to Andy wrapped in bandages and tells him he and the new boy got into a vicious fight. One peek under Opie's bandages, however, tells Andy the fight may not have been as bloody, or as real, as Opie says.