Entertaining and well-balanced, The Andy Griffith Show will appeal to all fans of the classic television comedy. The particular strength of the book is the variety of information that it presents: the history of TAGS; details about its cast members, producers, and writers; an analysis of the show’s comedy; two complete scripts, one never filmed; and summaries of all 249 televised episodes. Particularly interesting are the extensive comments and recollections from people involved with the show in the sixties, including Andy Griffith himself.

On the other hand, the book was copyrighted in 1981, and given that over twenty-five years have passed since it was written, it is understandably outdated. Kelly devotes part of a chapter to speculation about whether an Andy Griffith Show reunion will ever be filmed (as it was with the 1986 television movie Return to Mayberry), and the chapter about the show’s fan clubs of course predates the Internet and the wealth of information available online. More annoying are the book’s flaws that are unrelated to its age; as a devoted fan, Kelly’s prose sometimes borders on fawning, and the episode summaries that close the book are not always completely accurate in their descriptions of the plots of the shows.

Despite these drawbacks, though, The Andy Griffith Show is a thorough and respectful treatment of one of the most popular television comedies of all time. It will not be the only source of TAGS information that a twenty-first century fan will want, but the breadth of information it offers and the quotations from the people who created the series make it a worthwhile read. Supplemented by more up-to-date information available online and the kind of juicy behind-the-scenes gossip that Kelly tastefully omits, The Andy Griffith Show still provides engrossing reading for would-be citizens of Mayberry. ( )