Despite what most people would naturally assume, actor Andy Griffith did not at all leave the beloved "The Andy Griffith Show", which was aired eight successful years and seasons, due to how the final three seasons dropped in quality once Don Knotts's Barney Fife left at the end of Season 5. While Barney was a huge part of what made the show successful in his uptight, oversensitive character of the incompetent deputy, ratings remained high after he left, and the popularity the series was as strong as ever (even though the color episodes of those three seasons have a negative connotation when mentioned today). In short, there was no reason for it to end, at least to the average viewer. Except for one thing: Andy Griffith did not desire to be seen as only Sheriff Andy Taylor; he was an actor, and to keep at the show even longer would make it hard to find a new role to fit in future shows. And here was where Griffith made his big mistake: he left the series as it was still going strong, hoping that he could show himself worthy of other, more diverse roles.
However, the damage had already been done, if you want to call it that. Audiences could not imagine seeing him playing someone else; following "The Andy Griffith Show" was a new series starring Griffith entitled "The Headmaster", which ran for only fourteen episodes and featured him in the role of a school headmaster named Andy Thompson. The thing flopped as it was only two years after the other show, and even Griffith admitted it was an embarrassment. Thus, having failed to transfer his persona into a different setting, he tried again with "The New Andy Griffith Show", which ran even shorter.
"The New Andy Griffith Show" attempted to reprise the setup of a small town, this time called Greenwood, where Andy this time portrayed Mayor Andy Sawyer, who is installed just as the series opens. It's obvious the show tries very hard to be similar enough to the original while still remaining original, and perhaps that was the problem: it was close, but not the same. Audiences didn't want a new show, they wanted the old show, and it certainly didn't do to give Andy new family including a wife, a sister-in-law (who sort of replaces Aunt Bee) and two kids Lori and TJ. Initially, it did have a very strong start when the characters of Emmett and Goober from TAGS made an appearance in the first episode (with even Don Knotts playing a character who is practically Barney), but with Andy having a different name than everyone else, it had the feel of an alternative universe. Furthermore, the new character of Buff McKnight didn't cut the cake one bit, and is obviously trying too hard to take the place of better characters from the first show (like Gomer Pyle).
However, the show might have managed to be okay had it been given more of a chance. For starters, the two kids, Lori and TJ, are certainly not bad picks, although they certainly do better separated than when together (and then they just fight). Nora, the sister-in-law, is played for humor, and I could see her getting better overtime, although for the ten episodes we got she's nowhere near perfect. The character of the wife (Lee Sawyer, played by Lee Meriweather) is rather plain, but could have been made more interesting overtime. What it really needed to work was a presence like Barney in there to make things interesting; if Don Knotts hadn't made just that one appearance, the initial excitement wouldn't have fizzled out. Even the first several episodes of the original show were slightly odd compared to the later ones; every show gains momentum as the characters are more developed, and this one never got the chance to. Within months it was cancelled, the second of Griffith's failures, and it would take him another fifteen years or so before he finally managed to pick up a role that stuck when "Matlock" first premiered. It was too early on in 1971 to give him a new character, and while the two episodes I've viewed of this show aren't bad, they lack the charm and quirks that made the first one successful. Mainly worth a look for historical purposes than for seeing anything remotely close to the original.
