The Andy Griffith Show, Season 5

The fifth season of The Andy Griffith Show marked two notable lasts for this beloved series. This was the last season in black and white and more devastating, it was Don Knotts' last season as Barney Fife. By the penultimate episode, "Opie and the Carnival," he is just gone, an abrupt departure for an iconic character so integral to the show's success. This season contains at least two classics, "Goodbye Sheriff Taylor," in which Barney is sheriff for a day while Andy interviews for a job in Raleigh, and "The Case of the Punch in the Nose," in which Barney reopens an unresolved 1946 case involving Floyd the Barber and Charley Foley. Other notable episodes include "The Education of Ernest T," featuring the late Howard Morris' Ernest T. and a guest star turn by Don Rickles in "The Luck of Newton Monroe."