The Andy Griffith Show Episode Review: "Goober's Replacement"

Guest stars include Alberta Nelson as Flora.

I ended up watching this episode last night while my daughters were getting ready for bed and, while it did prove to be funnier than I expected it to be, it did, as expected, also leave me with some mixed feelings. This is mostly because a lot of the material is very dated.

The part with Flora taking over pumping gas at the filling station was definitely entertaining. I loved how the gas station had a line of cars at it full of men looking to catch a glimpse of her bending over in her tight pants (who knew the men in Mayberry were like that?). This, of course, put Goober in a pretty bad spot since he didn't want to hurt his girlfriend's feelings by taking his job back but he really wasn't qualified for much else (including working as a cashier at the local department store).

However, as I said, by today's standards at least, this episode is very dated. This includes that scene with Andy (Andy Griffith) at the diner with Flora and giving her that speech about choosing between having a career and being married (complete with a story about another woman that was successful and having to live with her cats). That, in all honesty, was a little disappointing because Flora does seem like such a bright woman.

Of course, the part I couldn't figure out is exactly why Wally (Cliff Norton) wouldn't just keep both of them on his staff. Flora was great at selling gas but he still needed Goober because I'm sure she didn't know how to repair cars. If it were me, I'd let her run the gas pumps and put Goober in charge of the repair shop. But, I guess the episode wouldn't have had much of a story then.

This episode had some funny moments but, because some of the concepts really don't hold up over time, probably isn't as funny as it was when it first aired.

My Grade: B