Fife Finishes a Strong Second, But Comes Up Short of Claiming the Top Spot

2. Barney Fife, “The Andy GriffithAndy Griffith Show.” Yes, he was funny. Everyone knows that. But what many do not know is that Don KnottsDon Knotts’ portrayal of the diminutive deputy with a big heart and an ambitious mind comically brimming with delusions of law enforcement grandeur has inspired more than 1,400 graduate-level papers at American universities since 1974, the first year the National University Library League (NULL) began keeping records.

Topics range from the predictable (“The Fife Factor: Andy Griffith, Helen Crump and the Kinsey Report,” Brannells, Jasper Mahorn; Dartmouth 1988) to the highly original ("Fife, Drum and Disco: A Post-Ken Berry History of Mayberry," Roach, Hakim-Abdizah; Oklahoma State, 1994) to the completely unintelligible (“Camus, Fife and the Copenhagen Interpretation: A Call for National Service in Grade School,” Montauge-Zock, Larianna; St. Louis University 1991). There is also the inexplicably accurate (“The Fife Fix: How to Pick NFL Winners Based on ‘Andy Griffith’ Reruns With Nearly 70 Accuracy,” Dimplewyre; Elsmore J. ; University of Nevada-Las Vegas 1999). But what all 1,447 Fife-related graduate theses (as of Dec. 31, 2007) have in common is the recognition that Barney Fife was more than what he appeared to be while consistently manifesting less than his innate potential.

More than just Andy’s pal, Barney Fife was an ancient Jungian archetype given form in a mid-20th century TV series. A small man in a big place, his struggles are emblematic of our own Sisyphean tasks in an untelevised world suddenly transformed from black and white to living color by the social upheavals that rocked post-JFKJFK America.

Where Fife failed, he succeeded, and where he succeeded, he failed. Yet he managed to do everything in a transcendently unambiguous way, the way of a man who is true to his own Code of Honor. To laugh at Fife is to love him, and to love him is to laugh. Everything is everything. Deputy Fife has it under control, but he doesn’t.

Welcome to the Pantheon, Barney. Just remember you’re off-duty, and please check the bullet at the door.

There are those who will say Fife should be the undisputed champion in this contest, and Punditty certainly agrees that one could make a convincing case to that end. What Fife lacks, however, is a capacity for wonder that goes beyond mere dogmatic certainties and opens up to a universe of wild contradictions, ever-expansive questioning and a healthy respect for the Great Mystery that propels the quest for all knowledge.

In the final analysis, Fife would not be able to hold his own in a philosophical discussion with the Aquinases, Kants and Schopenhauers of history; he would need Andy to step in and sort it all out. It would be a funny episode, of course, and Andy could probably teach old Fred Neitzsche a thing or two about the way things work in these parts. But the man at the top of the Punditty Pantheon of TV Greats in a Secondary or Lesser Role could easily hold his own with any philosopher what knows how to philosophize: past, present or future.

See Barney Fife lecture newly deputized Mayberry residents, including Floyd the Barber (at right end of the formation) in the clip above left. Floyd rated an honorable mention (No. 20) in the Pantheon.

Up next: Well, not exactly "next"...

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The Punditty Pantheon of TV Greats can be viewed in full at:

http://www.punditty.com/tvcharacters.html