02 July 2022

Social life in Mayberry

The blurb embedded at the right was sent to me by a non-blog friend.  It's typical of the "viral" items that circulate via email and social media - wryly humorous, but commonly exaggerated, skewed, or totally fabricated. 

I'm familiar with The Andy Griffith Show, but never watched it because it was popular when I was in high school (no time) and college (no TV set).  The assertion about no marriages is quite striking, so I decided to check the accuracy of the statement.  I found an article devoted to that very topic.

BTW, younger readers of TYWKIWDBI may find it hard to conceive of a college experience devoid of television.  IIRC, we had access to a television in a "commons room" somewhere, but went there only for events like the World Series or those first two Super Bowls.

7 comments:

  1. AnonymousJuly 2, 2022 at 3:20 PM

    Those characters were from the Andy Griffith Show. Mayberry RFD was a spin-off of that show when Mr. Griffith and others moved on to other things.

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  2. xoxoxoBruceJuly 2, 2022 at 5:25 PM

    The post divorce years in the early 70's without a TV but a killer stereo were very pleasant. LoL

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  3. mamafrogJuly 3, 2022 at 11:14 AM

    Or in my case, reruns of the original Star Trek show in the afternoons. We had a TV when I was young because my dad worked at Sears then and we had the first color TV on the block. We kids were discouraged from watching it and either read or were outside, there were six of us so I understand, lol. I think I finally had a little portable for my room in my senior year but didn't watch it much, too busy with school.

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  4. CrowboyJuly 3, 2022 at 7:38 PM

    The Andy Griffith Show is a jewel. The "blurb" hilarious. And to a great degree truthful, as domestic life is one-quarter bliss and one-quarter tyranny and half boredom. All said, I'm glad Mayberry was marriage dynamic-free. A valid aesthetic basis for all kinds of comic devices. (Though I did fall in love with Ellie and missed her after Season One.)

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  5. nepkarelJuly 4, 2022 at 11:09 AM

    Not sure college kids still watch TV. They watch Netflix on their iPad. Or gaming on Youtube. They don't listen to the radio either. They listen to Spotify.

    The common experience of listening to the same radio station and watching the same tv show is going away. And because streaming is asynchronous, you can't even talk about that good episode of Obi-Wan because someone will not have seen it.

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  6. HumbabaJuly 5, 2022 at 5:01 PM

    I went to college in the late 80s early 90s. My roommate had a TV but I basically never watched it, was always doing other things.

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