>>>>>>"Barney Fife, the overdevoted deputy of a 20-miles-per-hour town,
>>>>>>Mayberry,
North Carolina, took the standard big-mouthed bumbling sidekick archetype
established in television's earliest sitcoms and pushed it right over the
edge. "Barney's megalomania, paranoia, persecution complex, and
psychological inadequacies combine to produce one certifiable basket case
who should never be given a gun or a badge," say Harry Castleman and Walter
J. Podrazik in "Harry and Wally's Favorite TV Shows (Prentice Hall, 1989).
But bug-eyed Barney is armed ( if only with a single bullet) and would be
sort of dangerous (by virtue of his utter incompetence) if Sheriff Andy
Taylor weren't around to defuse his high-strung buffoonery - to talk him
down, to reason with him, to serve as therapist to this most dysfunctional
of public servants. But thank goodness for Barney! His various
maladjustments and his clich?-spitting habit ("Nip in it the bud!") keep us
from drowning in all the molasses warmth and old-fashioned good cheer of
"The Andy Griffith Show." "If Andy is soothing to watch," Castleman and
Podrazik add, "Barney is an electric shock, always shooting off on some
tangent."<<<<<
I bet Harry Casleman and Walter J. Podrazik subscribe to that Learn-a-Month
magazine. Last month's was on psychology, which is obviously where they
learned those fancy words. I'm sure that Harry's and Walter's inner children
are crying Help me, help me. All they need are some molasses warmth and
old-fashioned good cheer. Barney should be there to answer that call. That's
where I get my warmth and good cheer. I just leave it to Big Barn. And
furthermore, the therapee(s) don't talk back to the therapist!
Kind behind the eyes but smoldering a little bit right now.
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