Donahue - "Andy Griffith & Friends" (Part 4, 1986)

Here's Part 4, the final part, of an installment of Donahue that aired on WBBM Channel 2, hosted by Phil Donahue, with Andy Griffith, Don Knotts, Jim Nabors and George Lindsey reminiscing about their days on The Andy Griffith Show and promoting their upcoming reunion TV-movie, Return to Mayberry, which would air on the NBC Network on April 13th 1986; this was also a few months before Griffith began a nine-year run on TV as crafty defense lawyer Ben Matlock. (By this time, Donahue had moved its base of operations to New York City, where the show aired on WNBC Channel 4 from 1971 to 1972 and, more successfully, from 1977 to 1995.) Includes:

Donahue bumper with still from The Andy Griffith Show opening sequence (Andy and Opie out going fishing) as seen in its final three seasons on the air (1965-68) and backing music consisting of show theme "The Fishing Hole" (written by Earle Hagen)

Phil standing in front of an RCA TK-44A/B class camera (nearing the end of its long run at NBC's studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza where the show was being taped at this point), taking a question from a lady who asks Jim how he went from being a U.N. typist to an actor; he explains that he was working at a nightclub called "The Horn" in Santa Monica, CA, where he was "discovered" by Andy; his "schtick" consisted of singing baritone but speaking high-pitched tenor.

A male audience member asks the actors if there was any part they'd wanted to play but hadn't; George opines that he'd love to play Gandhi. Another lady in the audience asks about the elapse in years between the end of the Griffith show and the reunion movie; Andy estimates about 20 years.

Phil then introduces a clip from the upcoming Return to Mayberry in which Andy and Barney see each other for the first time in many years. Afterwards, another female audience member asks what transpired with Opie over the 20-year period between the show's end and the reunion; Phil says he turned out to be a "very successful film producer," and Andy says he became the editor of the Mayberry newspaper.

A balding man wearing a suit with a red vest poses two questions, one about "Ronny" (as Andy and the rest of the cast and crew still refer to him by force of habit) and the "magic" between him and Andy, and the other about Andy's hair and how he stays so young. Andy mentions that Ronny wasn't his choice for the role of Opie, but rather that of the show's executive producer, Sheldon Leonard (who also served in that capacity on such shows as The Dick Van Dyke Show and I Spy); and attributes good genes and the influence of his parents to Ronny's "magic." Andy then notes that his own father had lots of hair, and contrasts himself with Don who, as he emphasizes, always wears a cap - in response to which Don takes off his cap to reveal some hair on top, to enthusiastic audience applause.

A lady in a blue dress speaks of loving Goober and Gomer, but can't remember how Goober came in; it is explained that Goober is Gomer's cousin, and George mentions he became part of the show after Jim left for the spinoff Gomer Pyle - U.S.M.C. He then mentions that both he and Jim had auditioned for Gomer but Jim got that role.

Another lady asks if the four are personal friends; they all answer in the affirmative. Phil takes another female audience member who asks if any of them felt typecast due to the Griffith show; Jim, speaking in his Gomer drawl, volunteers that he doesn't think so.

Another member of the audience asks where the reunion film was filmed, and Andy mentioned it was shot on location, in Los Olivos, CA. A question of whether Doc Harvey would appear in the reunion is answered in the negative by Andy, then follows up by mentioning that the town drunk Otis (played by Hal Smith) appears, sobered-up, as an ice cream salesman. Phil ventures that Otis locking himself up every Saturday might not make it through Standards & Practices in the day and age of the time this show aired, due to growing awareness of the destructive effects of alcoholism on everybody, including immediate family, and it was this awareness that led Andy to try (unsuccessfully) to get the Otis character eliminated, but the reunion film's writers (Harvey Bullock and Everett Greenbaum, whom Andy did not mention by name) instead proposed Otis' change in life and direction.

In response to a question about Opie from another female member of the audience, Andy mentions that in the script he's married with a child - and then brings up that Ronny, in real life, is married with three children. As Phil strolls through the stage (with another RCA TK-44A/B camera in sight), Andy explains about how Opie was late to his own blessed event, and then a clip from the film where Opie's baby son has been born is shown.

A question is posed to Jim about whether he's still singing in nightclubs, to which he responds he has no such gigs until later in May when he plays Harrah's. Afterwards, another lady in the audience waxes about how people want the actors to be as nice off-screen as on, and contrasts the Griffith show with more recent programs whose atmosphere behind the scenes is anything but convivial, and another notices how the four seem as nice off-screen as on. Phil himself seems impressed by this, and makes his own contrast with actors who made it big and then had difficulty afterwards; Jim brings up his quitting acting for awhile to raise macadamia nuts on a farm in Hawaii, leading Phil to brand him "a multinational corporation."

Phil then takes a question from a lady in the back who asks whose idea it was to make the reunion film, and how long it took to make it, and whether anyone had difficulty getting into their roles again. Don didn't find it too difficult to pick up with Barney, although it came after the "loud and boisterous" Mr. Furley of Three's Company; then a lady wearing a magenta pink blouse asks whether it was difficult for the principals to find any work or build on their resumes after the show went into reruns, to which George brings up his gig on Hee Haw, and Andy touches on his post-show career slump as he'd mentioned in Part 2.

As the Donahue theme is struck, Don is asked whether he's married, to which he replies "Yes and no"; with that, Phil signals for the next commercial break.

Donahue "Be Right Back" bumper

Bumper slide advising where to send for transcripts of Donahue transcripts (to a P.O. box in Cincinnati, OH)

Phil, in the middle of the studio audience, advising of Return to Mayberry's air date, then taking other audience members' questions (one about whether any of the four are fathers, which is answered in the affirmative by all but Jim; another about whether the show is more popular now than on its original run, to which Andy believes more people are watching the show at the present time; and another asking for an elaboration on the show's basis vs. current shows' being more based on sex and violence, and the actors' views on such programs' impact on children, which Andy plans to answer before it cuts out) as the closing credits roll:

Executive Producer - Patricia McMillen
Senior Producer - Gail Steinberg
Directed By David L. McGrail
Producers - Lorri Antosz Benson, Janet Harrell, Marlaine Selip, Susan Sprecher
Researchers - Claudette Roper, Lillian Smith
Office Manager - Lorraine Landelius
Promotion Managers - Kathleen Gold, Joycelyn Marnul, Penny Rotheiser
Promotion Asstistant [sic] - Lillian Bryant
Audience Services - Sharon Campbell
Executive Secretary - Joanna Belessis
Production Secretaries - Lynn Carlson, Nora Guzewicz, Laura Lynn Roth
Production Manager - Pat O'Keefe
Technical Manager - Scott Davis
Technical Director - Bryan Russo
Lighting Director - Gregory Williams
Audio - Julie Anna Perez
Video - Ronald G. Adams
Associate Director - Joyce Hurley
Stage Manager - Bob Van Ry
Scenic Designer - Frank Lopez
Cameras - R. Jordan-Blondi, George Ciliberto, William Goetz, Steve Jambeck
Audio Assistant - Jan Switkes
Electronic Graphics - Debra J. Morrishow
Electronic Still Storage - Carol Collings
Videotape - Nellie Kemp, Robert Rizzo, Richard Nemetz, Leonard Fuchs, Tim Gorry, Roger Russell
Electronic Technician - Jorge Velez
Make-Up - Michael Laudati
Donahue

Promotional consideration is provided by the following:
True Value Hardware
Volvo

Ending voiceover by ??

This aired on local Chicago TV on Friday, March 28th 1986 during the 9am to 10am timeframe.

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