The Andy Griffith Show (TV Series) Mayberry R.F.D. (1968) User Reviews

What a strange episode

[mentalpix · 5/10 · 5 July 2007]

This is apparently the very last official Andy Griffith Mayberry show, becoming the defacto pilot for the spin-off Mayberry RFD though for some reason it introduces the Italian family that moves in with Sam Jones that will never be heard from again once the new series starts. Sam's character is adverse for some inexplicable reason to having the hot sister and father of his Italian army friend move in when he was only expecting the friend.

The sister (Letícia Román) is quite pretty and ready to cook Italian dishes instead of southern fried chicken for him so clearly Sam is an idiot. The friend's father is treated as a buffoon who drives Sam's tractor into the barn door for what I suppose passed for comic effect.

Sam is shamed out of trying to pawn them off to an Italian family in a neighboring town when Aunt Bee meets them and has them come to a town hall meeting and gets Mayberry to embrace them as the newest citizens.

It's not bad, but it seems a strange note to end a TV show on. I came here trying to find out more about after seeing it on TVLand tonight, but there was nothing. I remember Mayberry RFD from my childhood, but couldn't remember the Italian family and now I know why. For some reason the hot Italian actress Letícia Román made this her last film role, at least according to IMDb.

Yes indeed...very strange episode

[hagfan57 · 5/10 · 27 December 2007]

Yeah, the attitude by Sam is strange. But I wonder if this wasn't another total spin-off that was planned as another, separate series. That would have made sense. And then altered when AGS stopped production. That would explain why the Italian family was dumped. They just didn't fit the pattern for the final plans for the MRFD series. Very odd, I agree. Can you imagine what the viewers in the mid-60's must have thought when this episode came down the pike? In those days, it must have seemed like the final episode of a modern Seinfeld or the final Sopranos. A total and absolute jaw dropping HUH?? I imagine the answer is available somewhere on the internet. Overall, though, the AGS is still the finest television comedy ever produced. We're still watching after 40 years later.

Pack It Up and Send It on Its Way

[Hitchcoc · 5/10 · 11 January 2020]

This is so out of character for the eight year run of the show. Sam Jones is at the center. I understand that RFD did not use the Italian family when it premiered. We also have no idea what happened to any of the Griffith cast. Of course, today a show of this duration would have received a great deal of attention and would have had a final episode of some gravity.

Just a terrible send off.

[novamovieguy · 2/10 · 23 January 2020]

This is just a horrible final to a great show. Most of the last season was awful but this ending was horrible. What happened to everyone? The never tell us. Ridiculous.

A Bad Ending to a classic show

[mdilday94 · 4/10 · 1 November 2018]

This episode isn't worth watching, it didn't feel like the Andy Grifth Show, also it was boring.

Terrible sendoff

[dinga6969 · 2/10 · 27 December 2021]

This episode not only feels outside the norm of what you expect from The Andy Griffith Show, but it's pretty sad that this is the final episode. This show deserved a far better ending.

"R.F.D. stands for Rural Free Delivery "

[SombeeKillah · 6/10 · 30 March 2012]

The last show of the series. All good things must come to an end. I'm happy to say I finally got to see all 249 episodes of T.A.G.S. I watched them all with my grandma.She really did enjoy all of them. I had fun translating them for her since she does not speak English. (She's Italian) So on this episode she really enjoyed the fact of the Italian family that comes to stay at Sam Jones(Ken Berry) farm.

What a strange way to end a show. Sort of just got ready for the spin-off which was "Mayberry R.F.D." Essentially a continuation of "The Andy Griffith Show". In fact the series premier of "Mayberry RFD" featured the wedding of Andy to his long time girlfriend Helen Crump, and Barney Fife can briefly be seen serving as Andy's best man.

This episode must have been confusing because in the continuing spin-off series,their is no mention of Mario and his family!? What a shame because it would have been interesting to have a Italian family in a such beloved franchise. Maybe it had to do with the death of actor Bruno Della Santina who played Papa Vincente. He passed away exactly 5 months after this episode premiered.. And the actress Letícia Román who played Sophia Vincente, was never ever heard of since! This was her final screen appearance ever! The only one who kept going to a prolific career was the handsome and dynamic Gabriele Tinti (Mario Vincente) he sadly passed away in 1991 but he left behind a tremendous amount of work for us to enjoy. When I 1st saw him in this episode, I thought he looked like another great actor named Gregory Sierra (Julio of Sanford & Son fame) I said "Wow Julio's got hair and he's young!" Ha-ha It was until they did a close-up and showed his face with those trademark green eyes I knew I was wrong. Anyways, I have yet to see the famous spin-off of which this last episode of "Andy" introduced.

I also happen to just noticed that by sheer coincidence that the main protagonist of "Mayberry "was another famous Berry! Ken Berry! Imagine having a show with your name in way, what would be the odds on that?

Late to the party - What a sad way to end the show

[studmeister · 3/10 · 12 August 2022]

I'm very late to the Andy Griffith Show. For many years Andy Griffith has been Matlock to me and Opie, Richie Cunningham. I've spent the best past of three months watching episode after episode. It's thrown me at times, such as sweet Ellie's unexplained departure from Mayberry and how long it took to address Barney Fife's disappearance, But this, this episode is plain insulting to the actors who made the show what it is/was and the audience.

To end the show with Andy, Opie and aunt Bee having such small parts in the last ever episode of a show which was still running high audience numbers , just to shoe horn in their new show is just .criminal (pun indeed intended)

To those, like me, new to the show, don't watch this episode and class whatever episode to you choose as the show's finale.

Not the way it should have ended

[jarrodmcdonald-1 · 26 March 2020]

This final episode of the long-running series should not have ended this way at all. The consensus among most fans of 'The Andy Griffith Show' is that this was a terrible send off for all involved with the original program. We are clearly in 'Mayberry RFD' territory at this point. The goings on in town with Andy are peripheral and handled in a rather anticlimactic way.

Ron Howard is no longer on the show at this point, though he's still credited. His last appearance was two episodes back, the one that introduced Sam's son Mike who is essentially Opie's replacement. However, Opie will reappear as a guest in the official premiere episode of 'Mayberry RFD' when Andy marries longtime sweetheart Helen Crump. I guess the writers wanted to save all that for the first episode in the fall, but what we get here at the end is very dissatisfying to say the least.

The action focuses on Sam and an Italian family, the Vincentes, who arrive in Mayberry and quickly become part of Sam and Mike's lives. However, as viewers know, the Vincentes are never to be seen or heard from again in the successor program. It would have been better if their entrance had been delayed and they had been brought on later, as recurring background characters. After all, there is an Italian restaurant that starts to feature regularly in 'Mayberry RFD' called Morelli's. The Vincentes could have been introduced as the Morellis, a family from the "old country" who try farming and fail, then end up running a new restaurant in town. And even if Sam and Millie find their way as a couple, the daughter of the Italian family could still have had her eye on Sam to provide some ongoing interest and humor.

This episode as it stands really serves no purpose in the larger scheme of things except to provide an odd punctuation mark at the end of 'The Andy Griffith Show.' It easily could have been pulled from syndication and just not included at all. We should have just gone from the prior episode with Goober's computer dating into the next one where Andy marries Helen. None of this with the Vincentes is at all necessary. Aunt Bee going to work for Sam and Mike could have been saved and worked into the next episode. In fact that would have made more sense, since with Andy marrying Helen and Opie now grown up, Bee would logically transition to a job with another family anyway.

Sam Jones episodes were huge failures.

[vitoscotti · 2/10 · 10 September 2022]

The Vincente family are somewhat interesting. But it's because they're imposing, pushy, freeloaders. Italian Americans of 1968 couldn't of been too happy of all the nationalities Italians were chosen as the family's ethnicity. Sam Jones at the city function was made to feel guilty for wanting them out. The only slightly humorous part was the choir singing "O Solo Mio" as the Italian national anthem. Very bizarre and awkward placement of the Mayberry RFD Jones for multiple episodes ending season 8 was a huge failure. Very forced friendship of Andy Taylor and Sam Jones came out of the blue. SJ checking in with Andy for every move he made laid an egg. The average rating for all season 8 episodes I gave was 6.6 out of 10. The dreadful final 4 with Ken Berry averaged 2.5. Minus those 4 the season 8 average is 7.2.

What a terrible ending? What a terrible last 3 seasons!

[pmike-11312 · 1/10 · 27 October 2022]

I laugh reading these posts lamenting the finale of this show. It had been progressively degenerating into boring blandness over the final three seasons and this ending was not only NOT a surprise, but was a relief! I know the ratings continued over those seasons, but even as a kid I watched it because there was really nothing else worthwhile on. RFD certainly never achieved the heights of TAGS, but then the last three seasons of TAGS never achieved the heights of the first 5 seasons.

I rarely watch when TVLand gets into the last three seasons. I'm very thankful MeTV doesn't bother with them!