Ron Howard on The Andy Griffith Show: ”You’d never be able to put on that show today”
Howard argued that such a show wouldn’t be made today.
There are positives and negatives to every medium, and television is no different. In some cases, people might hold the opinion that television was at its peak when they were growing up and has only since gone downhill from there. It’s the curse of every generation to believe that your era of entertainment was the best, and more often than not, there’s no room for argument.
While each decade of television has its own individual merits, there are simply some shows on television that were on air a number of years ago that seem physically impossible to produce today.
A show like All in the Family has long been the topic of arguments between fans over whether a series like that could benefit from a reboot. While there is no shortage of Archie Bunkers today, it’s debatable whether an audience would tolerate one on our screens these days.
The Andy Griffith Show is about as wholesome of television as you can get, yet there have been a few comments that a show like TAGS would never be made today. Namely, these comments are coming from none other than little Opie Taylor himself, Ron Howard.
By the time Howard made the comments regarding The Andy Griffith Show, he certainly wasn’t Opie Taylor any longer. Howard spoke to the Abilene Reporter-News in 1988, when he was well into his career behind the camera, leaving his acting escapades behind. Howard argued that the show wouldn’t be able to air new episodes today, precisely because of its comforting and nostalgic nature.
“You’d never be able to put on that show today,” Howard said. “Even when we were doing the show, it was twenty years behind the times. It was already nostalgia. But its staying power had to do with the uniqueness of the show and the integrity of the show. Though it was funny and even goofy, Andy wanted the audience to laugh with them and not at them.”
