>>>I personally think Andy had to act this way because of the people around him >>>acted so... well to put it nicely moronic at times. I mean you have to treat >>>Otis, Howard, Goober and at times Floyd like children.<<<
I think it might be more accurate to say that in the color years particularly, Andy played straight man to the other characters, who were given the comic roles. This was true somewhat in the black and white years when Andy was the foil to Barney's comedy, but Andy still made jokes and pulled pranks on Barney then, whereas he was almost entirely straight man by the color years. This set off more of a contrast between him and the other characters, which may make them seem more childish by comparison. Although Andy was normally the most mature-acting character, at least in the later years, you must remember that much of Barney's comic effect was derived from the more childish aspects of his personality. Frank's post did remind me of an episode when Otis's character was portrayed in an unusually childish way. In "Otis the Deputy" from season seven, Otis comes across more like a little boy or an eager puppy than a grown man. His desire to serve Andy to repay him for looking out for him over the years borders on the obsequious. This episode, I think, distorted Otis's character somewhat. In previous episodes, Otis displayed some *childlike* qualities but still managed to retain some personal dignity when he was sober, which seems to be missing in this particular episode. (Think of when Otis received the plaque for being the descendant of Nathan Tibbs, or when Otis's brother came to visit and Otis became a deputy temporarily.) As to Goober and Floyd, yes, at times their attitudes and behavior were somewhat unreasonable (and we probably all know grown people who act that way!). Howard, on the other hand, was certainly not childish--sheltered and somewhat naïve, yes, but not childish. His level of maturity was more on par with Andy, Helen, etc. That's how I see it, anyway. Thelma Lou (Janet) "I think it's pretty childish of Helen to call Thelma Lou childish!" _______________________________________________ WBMUTBB mailing list [email protected] http://mail.wbmutbb.com/mailman/listinfo/wbmutbb_wbmutbb.com http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
