Tuesday, September 25, 2007

But You Hit Her Muhhh-ther

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Last week I re-watched a favorite movie of mine, Pleasantville, being aired on some cable channel. I love that movie, because I identify with Tobey Maguire's character, who escapes the harsh realities of daily life by watching reruns of a Father Knows Best -type 1950's sitcom called "Pleasantville".

I've found myself falling into that same type of escapism lately. Whenever I remember last year's Harvey & Tucker family murders just a mile or so up the road from me, or last month's shooting at the nearby Baskin Robbins, or even just last night's neighborhood screamers, (when did they move in, and when are they leaving??), I find myself craving a simpler, (if fictional), time. So, I've been recording episodes of my all-time favorite sitcom, The Andy Griffith Show, to snuggle into when there's nuthin' but crap on the boob tube, (which is most of the time).

TV Land is airing "Best of Andy" episodes every night this week, which I'm loving, of course. And last night they aired one of my very favorite episodes, "Ellie for Council".

This scene is why it's my all-time favorite episode:

(you may need to turn up your volume a bit)
(can you hear my cat clawing the carpet at the very beginning?)
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Just to be clear, I don't find domestic disturbances amusing, but Andy's facial expression and delivery of that line, "But you hit her muhhh-ther!" just slays me! And then what Barney says to Otis next is the icing on the cake. Gentle, yet brilliant comedy, IMHO.

One other reason why I adore this series is that, for some reason, my cat Ali absolute LOVES the theme song. Whenever an episode comes on and we hear Andy whistlin' while he walks Opie to the fishin' hole, Ali will wake from a dead sleep, run over to me and start meowing excitedly. If I start whistling along, well, she's just beside herself with glee, and will utter a meow during each pause in the melody. I've got to figure out how I can record a movie of her doing this, because she's just so cute about it. I'm not sure where the fascination comes from, but it's become "our song". Sometimes, however, I have to fast-forward through the theme song so as not to wake her, or else she's crawling all over me, driving me nuts for the next ten minutes.

I do try to watch at least one episode of "Ange" a day, if only to give Ali a daily dose of her favorite song.

It makes her happy.

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7 comments:

Cat said...

Truly classic; I agree; I feel warm and fuzzy when I watch Andy too, it's calming, isn't it?

Robin said...

I'm a HUGE Andy fan...watch it everyday. I can't tell you how many times I've seen the reruns and I laugh each time like it's the first!

Margaret said...

I never appreciated the show when I was little, but watching it now, that clip is perfect comic timing. The funniest things get our cats going, but yeah, sometimes you don't want to wake them up. :)

Anonymous said...

Guess it's time to move! - Call me!

Just kidding. I'm a TV escapist too. except I go the route of scifi. Hello Star Trek Voyager! and Grey's and Lost... etc.

I watch TV entirely too much. What better to do when knitting though?

Kimberly said...

I'm a big fan of the movie Pleasantville! I've watched it way too many times. My favorite scene is when the black and white landscape gets color. It reminds me of all the beauty we take for granted.

Leslie Shelor said...

I grew up watching Andy Taylor in a small community not far from Mount Airy, North Carolina, where Andy Griffith grew up. The county seat here, Stuart, reminds me more of Mayberry than Mount Airy does these days.

Anonymous said...

Ali is so cute!!! Want me to whistle the theme song?? I think I can do it backwards and forwards!