The Andy Griffith Show (TV Series) The Perfect Female (1961) User Reviews

The Sheriff is out gunned

[mloessel · 7/10 · 3 June 2023]

Thelma Lou's cousin is visiting from Arkansas (Karen aka Gail Davis) and is immediately set up w/the Sheriff. Thelma Lou, Barney, Andy and Karen meet at the local eatery and Andy and Karen seem to hit it off. Andy invites her to skeet shooting that he had planned to do prior to their blind date. On the date Andy doesn't give her a chance to share that she is a crack shooter herself. Oh well. Of course Barney does his usual of saying more then he should and tells Thelma Lou and Karen that Karen has measured up to his standards. Andy didn't actually say that as Barney tends to misquote and exaggerate. Oh well again.

Andy then invites Karen to Mayberry's annual skeet shooting contest. Karen accepts. What Andy doesn't know is Karen plans to enter the contest and reveal her crack shooting skills. At the contest Andy is shocked when Karen demonstrates her shooting skills hitting every clay target. Andy ends up missing one as Karen wins the contest. Barney is not pleased as Andy asks Karen why he didn't tell her when they had their skeet shooting date. Karen tells him he never gave her a chance to talk preferring to show off his skills.

I've watched this episode several times and Karen had an opportunity to speak up but chose to say quiet. She could've easily stepped and showed her skills but the writers went a different direction.

I liked the ending as Barney attempted to show his gun shooting skills as Andy, Karen and Thelma Lou looked on. Barney's ego got the best of him. Don Knotts aka Barney Fife did a super job of showcasing his rather inflated ego.

For some reason, you don't see this one all that often

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 13 March 2013]

"The Perfect Female" is a decent episode of "The Andy Griffith Show" but for some reason it doesn't seem to be shown that often on TV...or perhaps I just seem to be missing it when it airs. Regardless, it's not one of the better episodes but is still quite solid.

Thelma Lou's cousin is coming to town and she and Barney want to set her up with Andy. While Barney and Thelma Lou connive on how to get them together, Andy is amazingly willing to meet her. And, Andy and Karen hit it off well. However, Andy doesn't know she's a champion shooter and never bothers to ask her if she can shoot--and proceeds to try to impress her with his skeet shooting prowess. She's amused by this and doesn't tell him that she's a crack shot. Later, after Barney opens his big mouth, Karen is determined to show up Andy at the upcoming shooting competition.

While this is an enjoyable episode, it isn't a particularly funny or heartwarming one. Decent but not especially memorable.

A Rare Woman for Andy (and Barney)

[[e-mail] · 7/10 · 28 July 2020]

This episode gets into pretty serious territory about the dating game, and female equality. Karen, played by the talented Gail Davis (in both shooting and riding) helps make this a historically important outing.

She does have a sincerity and, yes, sweetness, but is also very confident and strong willed.

It is Barney's re-creation of a conversation between himself and Andy that makes Andy look like a "chauvanist pig" to Karen (or anyone)

Is it really possible that Karen would not at some point have revealed to Andy that she was a good shooter? (If you watch carefully, you will find her try twice to tell him, but he began talking and she "just didn't get around to it"--same thing Opie does in trying to explain something to his dad in at least two other episodes)

Still, I found it watchable, more to study than to relax and laugh. Not a standard Andy Griffith, but exceptional in its way.

Ahead of the times

[msdeborahadavis · 10/10 · 6 May 2023]

SPOILERS. SPOILERS. SPOILERS.

Thelma Lou has another cousin, (hey, it's the south) who she and Barney decide to set up with Andy.

She's beautiful, and when they are thrown together in the diner by Thelma Lou and Barney, Andy certainly is surprised. See Andy and Barney talk a lot about how women look. It's a bit of a running joke that people keep setting poor Andy up with any and all women they can find, and some of them are "dogs," some are "homely," some are "smart," or "nice," all fair and good reasons to reject that particular gal, of course. Hey, those were the times they lived in.

Now, I can't imagine who the staff writer was that thought things could occasionally be different, maybe it was Andy himself? But regardless, someone hit a tough nail about every year or so with something insightful. This is one of those episodes.

This "pretty set up gal" and Andy get along SO well, that Andy pleases Barney by telling him he's asked her for a date the next day. Barney is shocked though that Andy has invited her with him to shoot crows. He defends himself by saying that he had it already planned anyway and she said yes.

The truth is, she tried to say more than yes, she tried to tell Andy that she was a crack shot, but, as men of his day, (and some who inaccurately reviewed this episode) he wouldn't listen, but made it all about his skill and her as an accompaniment to his showing off, even though he misses a few times. Karen tries again to tell him, but Andy is very self absorbed. Still, she is smiling, and

after the date, while Thelma Lou is SHOCKED that Karen let Andy do all the shooting, Karen says she liked it, that he treated her not like a champion shooter, but a lady. (The only moaner of the episode)

As is usual, Barney messes it up. He expounds on Andy's praises of Karen's second visit to Karen. See, she likes little boys and bakes gooseberry pies (Andy's favorite) Barney tells Karen that she's "passed muster" and caught herself "quite a catch."

Karen asks Barney if this was some kind of test. Barney admits it was (though Andy wasn't testing her, just bumbling through his own mansplaining, chest popping 60's ways.) After Karen gets enlightened about her "place" in their male schemes, she gets angry and tries yet again to tell Andy something, but this time to tell him "NO!" But then realizes it's a skeet shoot competition and says yes.

Here is where the episode gets tough, as it's way too real. The crowd of men mumble and yell for Andy to not let them down when they see Karen step out as Andy's competitor in the skeet shoot. Sure enough, Karen's skill outmatches Andy's. He's just a "good ole boy" anywho... except here he stands up and shines like a white knight; he admits he was pompous and proud, talking over Karen again and again. He gets Karen to hear his realization and repentance, and the show ends with all four having a shooting fun fest and Barney doing his usual goofball antics. It's hilarious.

This show was often far above the lagging pack in realized women were full humans with personality and passion. It couldn't entirely break free of its time, but definitely pushed through occasionally with visionary bits.

One of my favorite episodes, and one where one imagines what went on behind the scenes and within the extras and writers.

Women shooters

[greggaver · 8/10 · 14 February 2019]

Nice to see that women where into skeet shooting even if people thought it was a mans sport. Of course Barney doesn't believe Andy is really trying to win as to not show up Karen. But again he puts his foot in his own mouth & Andy feels the same way about himself that he was beat by a better shooter female & that's OK with him. I like the way it ends with Karen using a pistol & of course Barney steps up & boom the gun goes off in his holster like always. I liked this episode but not a favorite but you can't always ask for good ones all the time.

Great episode but they are mostly all the same on purpose

[Brad1965 · 10/10 · 23 September 2018]

Proto-feminist statement guided gently by Andy despite Barney.

Pretty good proto-feminist statement made most by the guy whose name was on the show.

Barney Fife: Losin' to a woman. Jiminy. It's the end of an era... of all the unmitigated gall.

Andy: Yep I sure had it...Let's put it like this. I just come in second in another contest the battle of the sexes. Second ain't so bad.

Brad Laidman: Elvis Need Boats

Brad Laidman Pop Learning Service

A good episode

[mcrallins · 8/10 · 18 March 2021]

I liked it because Karen got and Andy "good and told" for being sexist!

Not my favorite

[scottie_stanley · 6/10 · 7 November 2020]

Of the first 5 seasons, this is one of my least favorite episodes. I just don't like Karen as a character.

Barney Can't Keep His Mouth Shut

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 29 November 2019]

Barney seems to think that Andy is God's gift to women and apparently has attempted matchmaking before. Thelma Lou's cousin is staying with her and she and Barney finagle a meeting. The two seem to like each other, but Barney runs off at the mouth and offends her. I did like the way things play out though, showing the young woman had more class than Andy deserved. By the way, what happened to Elly?

Annie Oakley Out-Guns Andy and Barney

[Johnny_West · 3/10 · 21 December 2019]

Gail Davis plays Karen, who is Thelma Lou's cousin visiting Mayberry. Gail Davis had an affair with Gene Autry for eight years, and he put her in about 15 of his movies, and got her a TV show as Annie Oakley from 1954-1957. Annie Oakley was a great trick shot, and this episode is basically the Annie Oakley expert shot character versus Andy Griffith.

Barney sets Andy up with Karen, and Andy tries to impress her with his shooting skills. Thanks to Barney, Karen manages to get upset about the date, and decides to humiliate Andy by beating him at the annual skeet shooting competition.

Karen comes across as a very angry woman in this episode. She cuts Andy no slack, and takes no prisoners. She not only beats Andy at the skeet shooting match, but then she tells Andy what a loser she thinks he is in life too. It is a pretty brutal scene. Maybe Gail Davis was a great actress, but she did not seem to like Andy Griffith. The animosity seemed real. I wonder if there was any back-story to this episode? It would be interesting to know.

This episode was an early example of politically correct feminism on TV. After Karen cuts Andy to bits, Barney is upset about it, but Andy tells him it was his fault for being "too big for his britches." Gail Davis did a great job of acting like a lady who resented being treated in a condescending manner.

A Plea for Honesty in Relationships, and Against Meddlesome Matchmaking

[aramis-112-804880 · 4/10 · 22 February 2019]

Major Spoilers Ahead:

The problem starts when Barney and Thelma Lou scheme to set Andy up on a blind date with Thelma Lou's cousin from Arkansas, Karen (Gail Davis).

Andy is going out "shooting crows" anyway and he asks her along. Then she starts the problem. She's a champion skeet shooter, but when Andy mentions shooting she never mentions it (she wants to be appreciated for being a woman rather than a champion). Had she mentioned her skill then or during the shooting everything would have been fine. Later, she and Andy have a good time at his place for dinner and singing good old country songs.

That was where she made her first mistake. Then, when Barney starts blabbing about how the date was an "audition" (which it wasn't, except in the eyes of Barney and Thelma Lou), rather than confronting Andy about it she accepts Barney's stupidity and exacerbates the problem, again, with her own frank dishonesty. She should have queried Andy, or at least said something to his face and let him give a chance to defend himself against these ridiculous charges.

Instead, she has to show Andy up on a skeet shooting match to "get her own back" and humiliate Andy publicly as she feels (wrongly) that she was humiliated privately. It's notable that she never visits Thelma Lou again in the series. I hope she found out who the instigators were of this major embarrassment and resented her cousin the rest of her life.

Actress Gail Davis, star of the show "Annie Oakley" (Andy obviously doesn't watch much television) was constructed along the lines of late-fifties movie goddesses (Marilyn Monroe, Anita Ekberg, etc.) It's also notable this is the last acting job for her listed on imdb.

Worst TAGS episode of them all

[bbcds · 1/10 · 26 February 2022]

Ok, so in this episode we meet yet another of Thelma Lou's hundreds of relatives. This one happens to be from Arkansas. Andy is paired up with her and he enjoys her company. He really likes that they both have things in common, one of them being shooting. Sharon is not just a mere fan of shooting. No, she's a champion shooter and she deceptively keeps this from Andy. Shady. To cut to the chase, this woman gets fully outraged when she finds out that Andy likes her. She puts a feminist spin on this by stating that Andy judged her and approved of her. This somehow is a bad thing when meeting a stranger. Apparently it would have been better if Andy had said "We don't like Arkansas hogs here and you sure are one big Razorback...and you're ugly too". But no, Andy is polite and cordial and all it gets him is her feminist wrath. I understand that Andy is the boss of this show and he definitely approved of this script. I also get that it was the early 60s and not 2023 but I still don't get her outrage. There was zero misogyny and he was never condescending to her. It's the only episode I refuse to ever watch again.

A "stinker" episode

[vitoscotti · 2/10 · 13 March 2022]

I want to say Karen Moore (Gail Davis) was miscast. But, with such a bad episode who knows? Barney's quick draw was the only laugh in the episdode. Andy Griffith singing is always a treat. No one wore ear protection shooting which seems basic. A real chore to get through this forgettable misfire.