TAGS #14: Extras Mystery Cache
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This will be my last TAGS cache creation for the foreseeable future. We’ve filled many of the gaps between Springfield and Branson! This one is going to be a tough one and will require significant research or that you have watched TAGS for a while. I am trying to fit in a lot of stuff into one cache so bear with me. I wanted to shoehorn in extras, secondary characters, spin-off shows, etc. Let’s see how far we get. Remember, be patient and share my love of TAGS….
There were lots of secondary characters and extras that they are probably too numerous to mention. Did you know there were 4 Wallys (of Wally’s service station fame)? The very first Floyd was NOT Howard McNear that we have come to love so dearly. Did you know that Andy and Opie’s very first housekeeper was NOT Aunt Bee? There was the choir director, John Masters, who couldn’t get Barney to sing on key. Barney seemed to get vocally upstaged by the rather unsophisticated moonshiners and grease monkeys.
There were a number of girlfriends over the years. The “fun girls” were a little too much for the likes of Andy and Barney. For Barney it was Juanita (we never see her) at the diner, but we all know that Thelma Lou (Betty Lynn) was his steady. Andy had several as well including Peggy, the county nurse, and Karen (she was a crack shot), but we all remember Helen Crump. She was Opie’s perennial teacher and was never meant to be a permanent character at first, but she came to be Andy’s girl. And what about Sarah…along with Mr. Schwamp (pronounced shwump) and Juanita, she was the most famous Mayberrian that was never seen. Gomer Pyle eventually joined the Marines (shazam!) and his cousin Goober Beasley (later named Goober Pyle) who hopped up an outboard motor that would “do 80 on water…now that’s FAST on water!” Goober eventually bought the service station. And then there is Ernest T. Bass (“It’s me, it’s me, it’s Ernest T.!"). He only appeared 5 times, but you get the feeling that he was a regular. Panes of glass feared his penchant for rock throwin’.
Howard Sprague, Emmett, Clara Edwards, Warren Ferguson…don’t forget them either! Oh, and do you remember when advertisers were called sponsors and that they sponsored entire shows? We saw most of the regulars between scenes when they would hawk coffee, cereal and the like.
Then there was the heart-breaking moment in the episode "The Return of Barney Fife" where he discovers that Thelma Lou moved on and got married only six weeks before the big class reunion. Although Barney's ego was soothed by another love interest, this was rectified in the TV sequel Return to Mayberry when all things were “set right” again. Barney married Thelma Lou, Opie is married and looks forward to becoming a father…Otis even dries out!
Did you know that TAGS was actually a spin-off from The Danny Thomas Show where Danny is pulled over for running a stop sign? Many of the characters went on to appear in regular TAGS episodes.
When Gomer left for the Marines, the result was Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. Mayberry R.F.D. (Rural Free Delivery) was a spin-off/continuation of TAGS where Sam took over the void left by Andy Taylor who finally marries Helen in the first episode of Mayberry R.F.D. TAGS was renamed Andy of Mayberry to sufficiently separate itself from Mayberry R.F.D. Aunt Bee continued to be the housekeeper for Sam (after bravely facing the chickens!). George Lindsey (Goober) went on to star in Hee Haw.
The TV movie Return to Mayberry aired in 1986 and there were two Mayberry Reunion shows in 1993 and 2003.
This park and grab is going to require research (have I said that before?). Here is the formula:
IHº AA.BCD
JIº EF.AGB
A = The number of letters in the first name of the *first* housekeeper.
B = The number of “fun girls”
C = The number of color episodes/10 then subtract 1
D = The last number on the license plate of the squad car (see below)
E = The number of episodes that Goober and Gomer appeared in together.
F = Number of R.F.D. seasons
G = The second digit in the number of acres of the location where all the outside shots were filmed.
H = # of Emmy’s (added together) that Don Knotts, Frances Bavier, Andy Griffith and the show won during the course of the 8 seasons that TAGS ran.
I = H-3
J = H+3
Since listing this cache, it has come to my attention that there are two possibilities for the license plate. All I'm going to say is that the license plate is not DC-269. Enjoy!
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