Jim Nabors: An appreciation of the 1960s TV star who was a reminder of America’s “good old days” that existed only on TV

HuffPost

Nabors, with his Gomer Pyle character, “exemplified what older folks mean today when they pine, wistfully or angrily, for the time when the going was good in America, doggone it,” says David Hinckley. “Nabors made Gomer human,” he adds, “and it didn’t hurt that we first got to know him alongside (Andy) Griffith, who gave a small-town Southern television sheriff as much dimension as a sophisticated big-screen movie star.  Together, and of course with the help of Barney Fife, Aunt Bee, Opie and the rest of the Mayberry posse, they created the image that the World War II generation and the early Baby Boomers are referencing when they talk about the good old days when the whole country felt like family. You didn’t have to lock your doors at night. The kids could play anywhere. Everyone had a good job, all families got along and no one had any secret problems. That America existed. It really did. On television.”

ALSO:

• Gomer Pyle’s most memorable moment was his citizen’s arrest of Barney Fife
• Here are Nabors’ five best Andy Griffith Show episodes