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The Best Episodes of The Andy Griffith Show Season 3

Every episode of The Andy Griffith Show Season 3 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of The Andy Griffith Show Season 3!

Binge this in 10h 25m•Peaking at 9.3/10

Andy Taylor is the widowed sheriff of the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina. His life is complicated by an inept, but well-meaning deputy, Barney Fife, a spinster aunt and housekeeper, Aunt Bee, and

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    The Andy Griffith Show Season 3 Episode 11 - Convicts-at-Large
    9.3/10(829 votes)

    S3:E11

    Barney and Floyd stumble upon a cabin in the woods where three dangerous female convicts are hiding out. They are taken prisoner and it's Andy to the rescue when he manages to capture two of them. But it's up to Barney to get the third using all the charm he can muster, along with his best Rudolph Valentino impression.

    Director:Bob Sweeney
    Writers:James Fritzell, Everett Greenbaum

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  2. The Andy Griffith Show Season 3 Episode 27 - Barney's First Car
    9.2/10(661 votes)

    S3:E27

    Barney learns that the car he's spent his life savings on is a lemon, and the little old lady he bought it from may have put one over on him. When Barney and Andy set out to return the car and arrest her, however, they find the hardest part may be just getting there.

    Director:Bob Sweeney
    Writers:James Fritzell, Everett Greenbaum

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  3. The Andy Griffith Show Season 3 Episode 16 - Man in a Hurry
    9.0/10(716 votes)

    S3:E16

    Malcolm Tucker, a business tycoon from Charlotte, has the unfortunate luck of having his car break down in Mayberry on a Sunday. Now he's willing to do just about anything to be on his way, including stealing Gomer's truck. Andy invites the man over for Sunday dinner to try and teach him the importance of relaxation before he does something he'll really regret.

    Director:Bob Sweeney
    Writers:James Fritzell, Everett Greenbaum

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  4. The Andy Griffith Show Season 3 Episode 13 - The Bank Job
    8.9/10(528 votes)

    S3:E13

    Barney becomes convinced the Mayberry bank is ripe for a robbery and tries to prove his point by staging a fake one. When he discovers a weak spot in the security system, he unknowing relays this information to a couple of actual robbers.

    Director:Bob Sweeney
    Writers:James Fritzell, Everett Greenbaum

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  5. The Andy Griffith Show Season 3 Episode 1 - Mr. McBeevee
    8.8/10(631 votes)

    S3:E1

    Opie tells Andy about his new friend Mr. McBeevee, who Andy believes to be a figment of Opie's imagination. But when Andy begins to suspect Opie is using his new-found friend as an excuse to lie, he decides to set the record straight and prove Mr. McBeevee doesn't really exist. Or does he?

    Director:Bob Sweeney
    Writers:Harvey Bullock, R. Allen Saffian

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  6. The Andy Griffith Show Season 3 Episode 32 - The Big House
    8.7/10(456 votes)

    S3:E32

    Andy is told to keep two big-time bandits in his jail until detectives from Tennessee come to get them. Knowing that the bandit's friends will try to break them out, Barney spots two suspicious men outside the jail and promptly arrests them. As it turns out, they are the detectives from Tennessee, giving the bandit's real friends the opportunity they've been waiting for.

    Director:Bob Sweeney
    Writer:Harvey Bullock

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  7. The Andy Griffith Show Season 3 Episode 7 - Lawman Barney
    8.6/10(434 votes)

    S3:E7

    Barney loses his self-confidence when two unlawful bullies laugh off his attempt to run them out of town. Andy tells them Barney is actually a trigger-happy lawman out for vengeance, but the bullies quickly see through the ruse and Barney now must find the courage within himself to stand up to them.

    Director:Bob Sweeney
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. The Andy Griffith Show Season 3 Episode 5 - The Cow Thief
    8.5/10(464 votes)

    S3:E5

    Two cows suddenly go missing in Mayberry and Mayor Stoner has decided to bring in a professional investigator to solve the crime. The investigator's conclusion goes along with what the rest of the town already suspects, but Andy has his own idea of what happened, an idea just crazy enough to be true.

    Director:Bob Sweeney
    Writers:Harvey Bullock, R. Allen Saffian

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  9. The Andy Griffith Show Season 3 Episode 15 - Barney and the Governor
    8.5/10(447 votes)

    S3:E15

    Barney believes his job is on the line when he accidentally gives the governor's car a parking ticket. When he learns the governor is coming to town to see him about it, his nervousness causes him to drink cup after cup of water from the water cooler, the very same cooler Otis has spiked with alcohol.

    Director:Bob Sweeney
    Writers:Bill Freedman, Henry Sharp

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  10. The Andy Griffith Show Season 3 Episode 20 - Rafe Hollister Sings
    8.5/10(553 votes)

    S3:E20

    Rafe Hollister stops by the auditions for the Ladies League Musicale and shocks everyone with his beautiful voice. But Mayor Stoner and Mrs. Jeffries are aghast at his shabby appearance so Andy and Barney decide to give him a makeover, despite Rafe's objections.

    Director:Charles Irving
    Writer:Harvey Bullock

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  11. The Andy Griffith Show Season 3 Episode 31 - Mountain Wedding
    8.5/10(505 votes)

    S3:E31

    The Darling clan is back and this time need Andy's help to wed their daughter Charlene to Dud Walsh before crazy old Ernest T. Bass makes good on his threats to kidnap her and take her for his own. Andy sets Barney up as a decoy bride while the real wedding takes place elsewhere. The plan works, until Ernest kidnaps Barney and decides he's just as good a bride as Charlene.

    Director:Bob Sweeney
    Writers:James Fritzell, Everett Greenbaum

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  12. The Andy Griffith Show Season 3 Episode 23 - Andy Discovers America
    8.4/10(468 votes)

    S3:E23

    Opie complains to Andy about how his new history teacher Ms. Crump is a mean old woman who likes to assign extra homework. Andy tells Opie it's not important if he doesn't know every answer, which leaves Opie believing history isn't important. Now Andy has to show Opie, and his class, how much history matters before Ms. Crump decides to quit.

    Director:Bob Sweeney
    Writer:John Whedon

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  13. The Andy Griffith Show Season 3 Episode 6 - Barney Mends a Broken Heart
    8.3/10(448 votes)

    S3:E6

    When Andy and Peggy must break a date, Barney mistakenly sees this as the end of their relationship. He decides to play matchmaker to help Andy mend his broken heart, with disastrous results.

    Director:Bob Sweeney
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. The Andy Griffith Show Season 3 Episode 21 - Opie and the Spoiled Kid
    8.3/10(492 votes)

    S3:E21

    Opie's new friend Arnold is a spoiled brat used to getting his own way. He convinces Opie to try and get a raise in his allowance by throwing a temper tantrum, showing Andy that he must teach Arnold's father the importance of discipline before Opie picks up any more of Arnold's spoiled habits.

    Director:Bob Sweeney
    Writers:James Fritzell, Everett Greenbaum

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  15. The Andy Griffith Show Season 3 Episode 25 - The Darlings Are Coming
    8.3/10(524 votes)

    S3:E25

    A family of musicians who live in the mountains descend on Mayberry to await the arrival of their daughter Charlene's fiancee. When Andy tries to help by putting them up in the courthouse, he gets more than he bargained for when Charlene suddenly sets her sights on him.

    Director:Bob Sweeney
    Writers:James Fritzell, Everett Greenbaum

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  16. The Andy Griffith Show Season 3 Episode 17 - High Noon in Mayberry
    8.2/10(451 votes)

    S3:E17

    Andy gets a letter from a criminal he had wounded years before and learns the man is coming to Mayberry to see him. Barney becomes convinced the man wants revenge and enlists Gomer and Otis to secretly protect Andy, which ends up wreaking more havoc than any criminal ever could.

    Director:Bob Sweeney
    Writers:James Fritzell, Everett Greenbaum

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  17. The Andy Griffith Show Season 3 Episode 18 - The Loaded Goat
    8.2/10(508 votes)

    S3:E18

    Cy Hudgins has a pet goat with a taste for dynamite and Andy and Barney are forced to put it in a padded cell until the danger "passes." But when Otis unknowingly lets their new prisoner out, it's up to Barney and his harmonica to safely lead the goat out of town.

    Director:Bob Sweeney
    Writer:Harvey Bullock

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  18. The Andy Griffith Show Season 3 Episode 24 - Aunt Bee's Medicine Man
    8.2/10(458 votes)

    S3:E24

    Aunt Bee becomes depressed about her age and falls for the charms of Colonel Harvey, a traveling medicine man selling a magic elixir to restore her youth. By the time Andy and Barney discover the secret behind the elixir, they find he has gotten the entire Ladies Aid Church Committee under his spell!

    Director:Bob Sweeney
    Writer:John Whedon

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  19. The Andy Griffith Show Season 3 Episode 28 - The Rivals
    8.2/10(403 votes)

    S3:E28

    Opie develops a case of puppy love for a girl in his class, but is crushed to find she isn't interested. Barney tries to lift his spirits by letting Opie hang out with him and Thelma Lou awhile. It works great, until Opie forgets his crush and sets his sights on Thelma Lou.

    Director:Bob Sweeney
    Writer:Harvey Bullock

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  20. The Andy Griffith Show Season 3 Episode 8 - The Mayberry Band
    8.1/10(457 votes)

    S3:E8

    When Mayor Stoner decides not to cover the expense of sending the Mayberry Marching Band to their annual competition in Raleigh because he thinks they're terrible, Andy helps out by having a few of his friends from "Freddy Fleet And His Band With A Beat" step in.

    Director:Bob Sweeney
    Writers:James Fritzell, Everett Greenbaum

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  21. The Andy Griffith Show Season 3 Episode 30 - Dogs, Dogs, Dogs
    8.1/10(443 votes)

    S3:E30

    A pack of stray hunting dogs descends upon Mayberry at the same time that a state investigator has come to review Andy's request for more funds for the jail. Barney and Opie decide to bring the dogs to the courthouse to shelter them from a storm, not realizing that Mr. Somerset is already there.

    Director:Bob Sweeney
    Writers:James Fritzell, Everett Greenbaum

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  22. The Andy Griffith Show Season 3 Episode 22 - The Great Filling Station Robbery
    8.0/10(418 votes)

    S3:E22

    Andy suggests to Gomer that he hire a troubled young man named Jimmy to help out at Wally's gas station. But everyone soon suspects Jimmy of being a thief after valuable items start disappearing from the station. Andy believes Jimmy is innocent but must prove it, even when all the evidence is against him.

    Director:Bob Sweeney
    Writer:Harvey Bullock

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  23. The Andy Griffith Show Season 3 Episode 14 - One-Punch Opie
    7.9/10(433 votes)

    S3:E14

    A new boy named Quincy moves into town and starts getting Opie and his friends into trouble. When Opie is dared to break a streetlight, he refuses and is teased mercilessly. Andy tries to help by telling the boy's parents, but Opie sees that it's up to him to stand up to Quincy once and for all.

    Director:Bob Sweeney
    Writer:Harvey Bullock

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  24. The Andy Griffith Show Season 3 Episode 26 - Andy's English Valet
    7.9/10(452 votes)

    S3:E26

    A tourist from England causes a traffic accident and finds himself unable to pay the damages, so Andy decides to let the man pay it off by being his valet. But it's not long before Andy finds his laid-back small-town lifestyle clashing with the man's strict, English ways.

    Director:Bob Sweeney
    Writer:Harvey Bullock

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  25. The Andy Griffith Show Season 3 Episode 4 - Andy and Opie, Bachelors
    7.8/10(464 votes)

    S3:E4

    Given Andy's habit of burning meals, Aunt Bee asks Peggy to look in on Andy and Opie while she's away visiting her aunt. When word gets around town, however, Andy is told Peggy's cooking may be her way of buttering him up to the idea of marriage.

    Director:Bob Sweeney
    Writers:James Fritzell, Everett Greenbaum

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Season 3 Ratings Summary

"Convicts-at-Large" is the best rated episode of "The Andy Griffith Show" season 3. It scored 9.3/10 based on 829 votes. Directed by Bob Sweeney and written by James Fritzell, Everett Greenbaum, it aired on 12/10/1962. This episode is rated 0.1 points higher than the second-best, "Barney's First Car".