1960: CBS Introduced 'The Andy Griffith Show'
On this day in 1960, CBS introduced The Andy Griffith Show, a series spun from an episode of The Danny Thomas Show. Griffith played Andy Taylor, the widowed sheriff who dispatched justice and genial advice in the fictional town of Mayberry, North Carolina.
Griffith's co-stars included Don Knotts as his bumbling deputy, Barney Fife, and Frances Bavier as Andy's spinster aunt and housekeeper, Aunt Bee. Andy's young son, Opie, was played by Ron "Ronny" Howard, who would go on to star in another TV classic, Happy Days, before becoming one of Hollywood's premiere filmmakers.
The beoved series ran eight seasons, from 1960 to 1968. The show inspired its own sequel, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., starring Jim Nabors, and a sequel series, Mayberry R.F.D.