First I want to thank all those of WBMUTBB club who sent me get well wishes and their concerns..I was surprised and appreciative that there were so many e-mails...Knowing your following of TAGS I probably shouldn't have been surprised..Thanks again..Because of my illness I missed out on the posts concerning the Fife vs Furley popularity contest..If I may I'd like to leave a few thoughts on the subject...1. Consider TAGS was on the air when their were only 3 major networks...Three's Company competed against 100's of cable stations and remember Atari and Pac-man came in about the same time..which would have pulled a lot of viewers away from the TV series.....TAGS was indeed a wholesome family show while T.C. had an underlying plot toward sex. Now let's look at some similarities between Fife and Furley. 1. both were self proclaimed womanizers....2. both were interested in karate...3. both had a sense of power in their position, Barney Fife as deputy and Ralph Furley as landlord.. 4. both worked for a higher authority, Barney answered to Sheriff Taylor and Ralph to his brother-in-law. there are probably others but the bottom line in all fairness is, TAGS has been on for 50 years...while TC. has come and gone and come again for 34 years..but what might have hurt the popularity of Ralph furley more than anything is the cyber space...but in all Don Knotts was just as entertaining as Ralph Furley as he was as Barney Fife...An absolute superb actor who faced a different audience in the 70's and 80's than in the 60's...I love him in both series as well as his appearances in Matlock...Long live Don Knotts memory as Barney, Ralph and Les. vic friskey _______________________________________________ WBMUTBB mailing list [email protected] http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
