The Andy Griffith Show is returning to CBS on Christmas night. The network plans to air two episodes on December 25, and they plan to colorize both episodes.
This is the second announcement of this type made by CBS in recent weeks. The network recently announced plans to air two colorized episodes of I Love Lucy on December 23.
Read the press release below to find out more about The Andy Griffith Show Christmas Special:
“THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW CHRISTMAS SPECIAL,” A NEW ONE-HOUR SPECIAL FEATURING TWO CLASSIC EPISODES OF THE SERIES, TO BE BROADCAST FRIDAY, DEC. 25 ON CBS
The Special Will Feature the Newly Colorized “The Christmas Story” and “The Pickle Story” Seamlessly Combined
Brighten up the holidays with THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW CHRISTMAS SPECIAL, a new one-hour special featuring two newly colorized back-to-back episodes of the classic series to be broadcast Friday, Dec. 25 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT), on the CBS Television Network.
The special features the heartwarming “The Christmas Story” and “The Pickle Story,” two episodes considered favorites by fans and the general public alike. Each is newly colorized to match as closely as possible to later episodes of the series that were actually filmed and broadcast in color. The main titles and end credits of the two episodes are seamlessly combined into one set at the beginning and end of the hour, with no interruption between the episodes.
“The Christmas Story,” originally broadcast Dec. 19, 1960, finds Andy and Barney planning a joyful holiday at home with friends and family, only to have the town Scrooge insist that Andy lock up one of the community’s known moonshiners. With a prisoner in custody, either Andy or Barney will have to stand guard. If Andy cannot be home for Christmas, maybe Christmas can come to Andy.
In “The Pickle Story,” originally broadcast Dec. 18, 1961, Aunt Bea whips up a batch of homemade pickles that leaves much to be desired in the way of taste. Not wanting to hurt her feelings, Andy and Barney secretly switch her pickles with the store-bought variety. Everyone raves, and Bea soon decides to enter a jar in the competition at the county fair, leaving Andy and Barney in a bit of a “pickle.”
“The Andy Griffith Show” originally aired on CBS from Oct. 3, 1960 through Sept. 16, 1968, and has been seen in reruns, first on the Network and later in syndication and on various cable networks, ever since. During its primetime run, it was one of TV’s most popular programs, regularly finishing in the Nielsen Top 10, and was ranked as the nation’s most popular program in its eighth and final season from 1967 to 1968. The program stars Andy Griffith as Sheriff Andy Taylor and Don Knotts as his trusty-yet-bumbling deputy Barney Fife. Ronnie Howard, child star who went on to become the Academy Award-winning director and noted producer Ron Howard, appears as Andy’s son, Opie, and Frances Bavier as Andy’s housekeeper, Aunt Bea. Elinor Donahue appears in “The Christmas Story” as Andy’s girlfriend, Ellie Walker.
Are you a fan of The Andy Griffith Show? Will you watch the colorized special on Christmas night? Tell us what you think.
I will absolutely watch these two shows. The Andy Griffith Show has been my favorite show for decades.
The color was outstanding! Added to an already fantastic episode! Hope CBS does Dick Van Dyke show in color next!
They did an amazing job with the color…should be in black in white though!
Love Andy Griffith!!
The best Christmas-themed sitcom episode ever.
I will watch it for sure!! It is still one of my favorite shows. I do like the black and white but I think color might be fun
I just finished watching the original Christmas Story episode from the Paramount First Season DVD box set in black and white. This is a classic episode! I noticed some inconsistencies while watching the show tonight. The two calendars on the office walls at the beginning of the episode appear to have Christmas falling on Friday, just like in 2015. But the calendar on the jail cell wall, when the camera is moving to show Ben Weaver singing from outside, shows Christmas falling on Wednesday. Both are incorrect, since Christmas fell on Sunday in 1960. Another interesting tidbit I noticed was… Read more »
What next – are they going to colorize The Twilight Zone??
Great idea. We are fans of the show and are excited to watch these episodes in color with the whole family!
Love this show. Thank you. Wish you would just leave it black and white though.
Love this wonderful old shows. More family values. Watched this show with one of my sons’ gf kids, they all calmed down, sat and watched the show then went to bed afterwards not quarreling, backtalk.. I’m told they watch it nightly now before they go to bed.
I will definitely record it to watch later!
It was filmed in black & white and should be broadcast that way, in my opinion; colorizing looks fake and kind of cheapens the whole product.
If you like the Andy Griffith Show , a new trivia book just came out called : “Mayberry Trivia”
I grew up with The Andy Griffith show. Loved every episode. Can’t wait to see this broadcast.
Heaven forbid they just run this **** as it originally aired.