Breaking Mayberry

In this episode, Marty and Dan are both absolutely furious, but at different times. It's a real bad cop/also a bad cop situation. In Season 1, Episode 25, "A Plaque For Mayberry", the town of Mayberry ignores an alcoholic's obvious cries for help, and Marty and Dan are thrown by a Southern-ism that makes even less sense than usual. Next, Season 1 Episode 26, "The Inspection," in which it finally l...

This week breaks Marty and Dan a little as they deal with episodes ranging from needlessly convoluted to unbelievably dull. First, in episode 23, "The New Doctor", Andy is jealous of a new young doctor in town that he thinks is trying to steal Ellie. In the studio, Marty and Dan stumble upon a piece of Queer Lit history and wonder how many Opies it would take to beat one Barney Fife in hand-to-han...

This episode is full of romantic antics and serial killer seduction! First, Marty and Dan take on S01EP21 "Andy and the Gentleman Crook", AKA "Silence of the Fifes." When Mayberry plays host to a smooth-talking con-man, everyone but Andy is taken in by his charms - including Marty and Dan. Barney is wildly incompetent at his job and it nearly gets everyone killed, but it's cool. Then, we go onto s...

It's Christmas in July and the Breaking Mayberry crew is celebrating with a special guest, Joe Wade from the hit podcast Christmas Creeps! ( https://christmascreeps.com/) Joe joins us to talk about S01EP11, "The Christmas Story", the only holiday episode in the entire Andy Griffith canon - and maybe it's not even that? Join us for holiday hijinks and traditional Mayberry madness on this most festi...

We're back on the recap track with episode 18 of Season 1, "Andy the Marriage Counselor." Dan and Marty needed an adult in the room for this one, so we got special help from Sharon Rice, a social worker and relationship educator with Women Against Abuse ( www.womenagainstabuse.org ) We also talk about The Lockhorns, the anger of youth games, and how to make sure your child looks fly as fuck at bed...

It's the mental health episode of Breaking Mayberry! We're not actually recapping any AG episodes this time, but we thought it might be a good time at the halfway mark to unburden ourselves and talk through some of the things we've learned and observed on our journey so far. Join us as Dan introduces us to an unsung hero of the Red Scare, Marty introduces us to newspaper comic strips, and in gener...

Another round of Mayberry goodness and this time we have a special guest - Joseph McCarthy! (No seriously, we talk about McCarthyism and blacklisting in this one, turns out the Andy Griffith show was not immune from it.) First up, yet another episode about a stranger coming into town and getting under Andy's skin, but this one has like 30% more bluegrass - it's S01EP19 "Mayberry on Record" Next, i...

Okay, look, we talk about a LOT of stuff on this episode and at one point we have a complete breakdown about a line we totally missed. This time around, Breaking Mayberry covers S01Ep17 - "Alcohol and Old Lace," talking about Andy and Barney's crackdown on the controlled substances in Mayberry County, NC. We brought on freelance cannabis writer Russ Smith to talk about some parallels to today's mo...

It's another trek through the long cons and manipulations of Mayberry's finest with Marty and Dan taking on Season 1, Episodes 15 and 16 - "Those Gossipin' Men" and "The Beauty Contest" First, an irritated Aunt Bee drives the entire town to madness with one sentence and the men of Mayberry either save a man from suicide or drive him to it - we can't tell which. Second, Andy is picked to be the sol...

Marty and Dan take on two more of Season 1's finest, episodes 13 "Mayberry Goes Hollywood" and 14 "The Horse Trader". First up, the glitz and glam of the movies arrives in little old Mayberry... in the most boring, monotonous way possible. Marty gets to share some classic and modern film trivia, and Dan tells us of the time Rob Schneider irritated his entire hometown. Next, would you like to buy a...

It's another informative episode as Marta Rusek (WHYY Newsworks, Political Theater) joins Dan and Marty to talk about voter suppression, questionable relationships, and the potential use of a leg of lamb as a murder weapon! First up, the team dives into Episode 10 "Ellie for Council", which shows how Ellie deals with the RIDICULOUS PREPOSTEROUS notion that a woman might run for office! Crazy, righ...

The good news: Marty and Dan like both of these episodes! The bad news: That means things go off the rails REAL HARD. We talk about charity balls, donkey bites, and Barney Fife's role in World War II, all the while dancing around how Season One Episode 8 "Opie's Charity" and Episode 9 "A Feud Is A Feud" are both absolutely great. A family fight is resolved, a wedding is held, and a man comes back...

This episode is so big and so totally illegal that we had to lawyer up. Actual Lawyer Ian Roberts joins us for Season One, Episode Seven, "Andy the Matchmaker", where Andy and Ellie falsify a crime to boost Barney's self-esteem. But this fake crime leads to an actual arrest - and actual jail time. Ian explains the Supreme Court rulings that would impact this series, Dan screams into the void, and...

Andy basically kidnaps a kid in this episode, and Marty and Dan don't know how to react. But first, Andy is very upset that... a pretty woman wants to date him? Look folks, not a whole lot makes sense here and we are only six episodes into this show. Follow Breaking Mayberry on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BreakMayberry

Marty and Dan get down with the musical insult comic stylings of Bobby Fleet, an amazing dude who flies in from a totally different universe to bless us with jokes and jailhouse jam sessions. Also, Andy books him in on completely trumped-up charges, but whatever. Next, we meet Andy's greatest challenge yet: A pretty woman who just wants to do her job. Follow Breaking Mayberry on Twitter: https://t...

(For some reason, our first episode did not hit iTunes, so this is a re-upload of Episode 1 to get in there. New listeners START HERE) Marty and Dan are two guys who have decided to watch ALL of the Andy Griffith show, mostly out of spite, and discover the secret dark undertones of quaint little Mayberry. Episode 1 details the first two wildly-different episodes of The Andy Griffith Show: "The New...