The Andy Griffith Show (TV Series) The Wedding (1968) User Reviews

"The Weird"

[SombeeKillah · 5/10 · 29 March 2012]

A very weird episode for sure. I truly felt bad for the Helen Crump(Aneta Corsaut). Being the only woman at the so-called bachelor party thrown by Howard. Howard had a weird vibe to him in this one. Sleazy like. No wonder neither he nor Goober could get dates! And No wonder Andy and Helen were uncomfortable being there..Not once did Helen dance with Andy!? All Goober & Howard!? And then Emmett shows up and same thing!? A truly weird episode written by none other than Danny Bonaduce's dad,Joseph Bonaduce. The music is a trip! But Emmett really got down!

Interesting cameo bit appearance with a young Teri Garr as one of the many girls Goober tries to pick up for the party but fails. Instead of being called "The Wedding", it should have been called,"The Weird" ha-ha

Cringeworthy Episode

[vestdennis · 5/10 · 29 December 2014]

Like many of the episodes in season eight (the last) "The Wedding" is not funny, even mildly. Written by Joseph Bonaduce, (Danny's father), who also wrote four other episodes, things start out with Howard's mother & her fiancée announcing their upcoming marriage. Howard tells the gang about the wedding & how he plans to change the house into a bachelor pad. Soon he had new abstract paintings brought in, throw pillows, beads strung over the door, a light dimmer, some new records & a bear skin rug.

Howard decides to have a party & asks Andy to bring Helen & that he & Goober will bring a date. Oddly he refuses to allow Emmitt to come with his wife.

The party is a disaster as Goober & Howard can't get dates (which makes for one of the most pathetic & uncomfortable scenes ever). With Helen as the only female she gets passed around as a dancing partner. By 9pm Andy announces they have to leave. That's when Emmitt barges in (alone) & dances Helen into a stupor.

The episode produces a few mild chuckles but it is more awkward than anything else. One notable item: Teri Garr makes a brief appearance when the ever-growing desperate Goober tries to find a date.

This episode gets a 5 from me. It is one of the few episodes that I usually avoid watching.

Poetic Justice

[mrmonkjr · 7/10 · 5 October 2023]

Finally being freed from the smothering attention of his mother, Howard is intent on beginning a new lifestyle in his own bachelor pad. He reconfigures the living room into a poor man's Playboy den, replete with dimestore native American, floor pillows, dimmed lighting and bear skin rug. After Andy, Goober and Emmett drop by to observe the new digs, Howard announces an inaugural "singles bash" for Saturday night, and Emmett tells him to count him and his wife, Martha, in.

Howard painfully explains that the initial party is for singles-only, then proceeds to invite Andy, his main squeeze, Helen Crump, and Goober to the gathering, fending off Emmett's attempts to join in anyway.

Predictably, neither Howard or Goober come close to getting a date, and are left to make the best of the Swiss cheese sandwiches, soft drinks and abstract art paintings that Howard picked up in Mt. Pilot. As Andy and Helen arrive as the only "singles couple" of the night, Andy's contempt for Howard is palpable. Clearly, it's difficult to see how Emmett and Martha would have clashed very much with the ever-taciturn and conservative Mayberry sheriff and prissy grade-school teacher, never of whom could be confused with Sean and Madonna.

Lacking two dance partners, Goober and Howard end up hoofing poor, but good-natured, Helen into the ground, with Andy having to declare an early curfew at 9:00 pm. As Howard makes one final attempt to unload his rapidly molding Swiss cheese sandwiches on his three weary guests, Emmett bursts into the house, asks why the party is breaking up so early, then proceeds to reinvigorate the evening by exhibiting his well-honed dancing prowess, sparing Howard the embarrassment of a busted evening and--perhaps more importantly--leveling his exalted opinion of his newfound manhood and modus vivendi.

Guilty pleasure...

[rooster_davis · 7/10 · 6 September 2021]

Yes this episode is cringeworthy! But I like it for a couple of reasons. Watching Howard Sprague and Goober getting shut down trying to call up party dates was funny, but the high spot is when Emmet from the Fix-It Shop shows up and shows us his real life dancing chops. He must have been quite the party guy back in the 30's or 40's! And while he's letting loose with whatever kind of dancing he was doing - very well - Howard Sprague is saying 'Go man, go!'

The best part of this is that a good friend of mine virtually IS Howard Sprague. Just as nerdy, just as socially awkward, just as unintentionally funny.

One of those Truly Strange Final Season Episodes

[richard.fuller1 · 1/10 · 11 May 2009]

Episodes toward the end of the Andy Griffith show have an odd watch to them.

Andy having to eat three dinners of spaghetti, Helen's run-in with the law (turns out she was undercover), over and over, truly bizarre offerings.

This episode, in which Howard's mother marries all of a sudden, hence the title, is definitely one.

So now Howard becomes a swinging bachelor. Okay.

He invites Andy, Helen and Goober over for a small get-together.

The odd thing is Howard and Goober can't seem to find dates.

So this leaves Helen (in an odd, very dated outfit) to be the only female for the guys to dance.

So she dances over and over again.

What makes this even more peculiar is she never dances more than once with Andy, only Howard and Goober.

The final joke? Andy and Helen are about to leave, Emmett shows up and takes Helen in a different direction of dancing.

What was this show saying? There are no available single women in Mayberry? Howard and Goober are that homely? The dance sequence used to run as a promo years ago in my area. Helen looked like a victim then and she still does to me.

Find a plot or moral in this episode.

Or a joke for that matter.

what then makes this amusing is that Joe Bonaduce, father to Danny Bonaduce, wrote the silly mess.

He also wrote for Mr. Ed, then would go on to write for All In The Family.

According to the Partridge Family telemovie, he hit a slump when Danny was a star, then he was successfully working again after the Partridge Family left the air and Danny couldn't find work.

Has its moments

[vitoscotti · 6/10 · 8 September 2022]

The Howard is so painfully dull theme is beaten to death. Even while he's spreading his wings he's still boring. Everything leads up to the party. The dancing of Howard, Goober, then Emmett with Helen highlights a flat otherwise episode. If Helen refused to dance there wouldn't be much else. Goober & Howard unable to get dates was humorous. Goober snapped his fingers to slow dances. Emmett (Paul Hartman) stole the show with his dancing prowess. Helen's blue party dress resembled an earlier episode blue choir robe. Goober blowing his kazoo again during a decent epilogue. This is it for non Sam Jones (Ken Berry) episodes.

Howard the Weird

[Hitchcoc · 4/10 · 11 January 2020]

When Howard's mother gets married, he gets the house to himself. He furnishes it with a bunch of junk from some shop in Mount Pilot. The main thing is a party he throw where the only woman is Helen. What happens there is basically embarrassing. The show was at its nadir.

A great episode!

[alexbogue3889 · 10/10 · 14 May 2020]

I must say, Howard really flourished here. Now that his overbearing mother remarried, he's finally able to branch out and be his own man. Definitely worth the watch.

Howard Snubs Emmett; What a JERK!

[edwardophelan · 8/10 · 10 February 2023]

Howard is planning a "bash" at his newly remodeled bachelor pad and invites Andy, Goober and their dates. Emmett is present at the time and expresses interest in attending the gathering with his wife Martha as well. Howard rather rudely and condescendingly, lets Emmett know TWICE that he and Martha aren't welcome as the party is "just for singles only". To add insult to injury, Howard proceeds to emphasize to Andy and Goober that they are indeed, invited right in front of poor Emmett. What a sorry way to treat a close friend!

Howard should be thankful that Emmett quite surprisingly, showed up anyway and rescued the otherwise, bomb of an evening.

The Sprague Batchelor Pad Experiment

[AudioFileZ · 8/10 · 13 February 2024]

Belatedly Howard gets to "spread his wings" as his newly married mother moves out with new hubby leaving the homestead to Howard. In a radical move Howard reinvents his home into a "swinging bachelor pad" This in itself is quite humorous as the decor Howard creates is a kind of omage of things considered to be trendy and cool for the time: bearskin rug, hi-fi, abstract art, wet bar, and beads. Howard decides he wants to host an inaugural singles party.

The guests are to include Andy and Helen along with Goober. Emmett very much wants to come too and is roundly snubbed by Howard as it's a singles only affair. This, of course, is also out of character for Howard who previously has been the poster child of kowtowing to mom while being overly polite and, well, boring. One of the funniest parts is how both he and Goober get roundly shutdown while attempting to find dates. When Andy and Helen arrive the awkwardness ramps up to good effect. Helen bears the brunt of it as she has to dance with everyone. As Helen fades and Andy attempts to make their exit. The unexpected occurs. Emmet arrives stag. Emmet turns out to be the real party king with his energetic surprising good dancing skills once more forcing the now tired out Helen to dance. Emmet, the uninvited, save the otherwise dud of a party!

This is a polarizing episode. Personally I find it funny and enjoyable because of the constant insertion of some wicked bits of humor. For instance, when explaining the awful art to Goober, Howard reiterates again about the "out of the way little shop this time with the "individual" (does this mean not heterosexua,l or simply a hippie?) who sold him the art underscoring Howard's klunky liberal personna that is still absolutely square underneath. In the epilogue Goober bursts in on Andy announcing there is to be another "bash" and this time Howard has secured two nurses as dates for them both. Andy seems pleased enough at the news to say he and Helen will come...then he hears the dates are being brought by their mother. LOL! Could this be worse than the previous party?