Aired: 1968-71
DAD: Sam Jones (Ken Berry) / Widower
DAD’S JOB: City Councilman of Mayberry, NC.
KIDS: Mike (Buddy Foster)(7)
WHERE’S MOM?: Dead – unknown cause.
STAND-IN “MOM”: Aunt Bee (again!) (Frances Bavier)
What do you do when Andy Griffith wants off The Andy Griffith Show? Easy – you replace him (and Opie, too) with Ken Berry and son, keep Aunt Bee(!) and continue the franchise. The show lasted until the CBS purge of “rural” comedies in 1971.
Update: Here’s some info on Mike Jones from Alert Viewer Roberta Gibson: “I just read your clips of single tv dads and it brought back some happy memories! The clip about Mayberry RFD mentions a son named Mike. Mike was played by Buddy Foster who is Jodie Foster’s brother. I don’t know what happened to him after that show – I think I read somewhere that he is on the other side of the camera now.”