The Christmas Story

On Christmas Eve, Andy and Barney decide to empty Mayberry's jail so that neither of them will have to spend Christmas guarding their prisoners. Of course, before letting them go, Andy makes them all swear to come back right after the holidays. Unfortunately, Ben Weaver, the local department store owner, brings in Sam Muggins and demands that Sam be locked up for making moonshine. Despite Andy's protests and promises, Ben threatens to make trouble for Andy if he doesn't keep Sam locked up over the holidays. Andy, being Andy, decides to have it both ways. He locks up the rest of the Muggins clan, so that they'll at least be together for Christmas. And he also deputizes Opie, Aunt Bee and Ms. Ellie Walker, on account of needing some extra help to look after all the prisoners. But while all is merry and bright inside the jail, Ben seems determined to get himself locked up as well. Now, why would a fella go and do something like that?

This may have been the first episode of The Andy Griffith Show that I ever watched in its entirety. And even though I enjoyed it, I have to say that it was much hokier than I'd anticipated. I had expected Don Knotts to provide a lot of goofball charm but I was surprised to see just how silly Andy Griffith's character acted. Perhaps that was due to the jovial nature of it being a holiday themed episode or maybe that's how the character was played in its earliest seasons. After all, "The Christmas Story" was only the 11th episode out of the show's 8 season, 249 episode run.

Rating: Roller Skates%