And now some words about Barney...much as we all love him, he was probably the most inept peace officer in television history, at least until the cast of "Reno 911!" came along.? But perhaps that's part of the reason we all love him, it's easier to laugh with and sympathize with someone like him than if he had a Jack Webb level of competence.
There are quite a few things Barney did that would've gotten him fired in the real world just on the first offense, but Andy let him by...and he did it again!? It's hard to imagine anyone keeping their job after the second time they unwittingly helped a prisoner escape...unwittingly assisted someone in a criminal act...or fired his gun into the courthouse ceiling/floor.? And remember when he "locked up the whole town"?? In the real world, a massive number of false arrests at once would've bankrupted the town in lawsuits, gotten Mayberry massive national publicity as a laughingstock, and pretty much made Barney a pariah in the law enforcement community in general.? The fact that Andy managed to convince the town they were right to be locked up (after he personally found them all innocent!) is a masterstroke of reverse psychology. Dixon ? _______________________________________________ WBMUTBB mailing list WBMUTBB@wbmutbb.com http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
