Today in Television History: On this day in 1960, “The Andy Griffith Show" began airing on CBS.

It ran four eight seasons and 249 episodes came starring Andy Griffith, Ronny Howard, Dob Knotts, Frances Bavier, Jim Nabors, and George Lindsey. The series originated partly from an episode of The Danny Thomas Show.

The Show follows Andy Taylor, a widower sheriff of the small, sleepy North Carolina town of Mayberry. Andy and son Opie live with Aunt Bee, who takes care of the family.

Andy's deputy is his bumbling but neurotically hilarious cousin, Barney Fife. Among Andy's Mayberry friends is the town's resident barber, Floyd.

The series never placed lower than seventh in the Nielsen ratings, ending its final season at number one.

The only other shows to end their runs at the top of the ratings are I Love Lucy (1957) and Seinfeld (1998). The series spawned its own spin-off-- Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. (1964-1969) and a reunion telemovie, Return to Mayberry (1986).

After the eighth season, when Griffith left the series, it was retitled Mayberry, R.F.D., with Ken Berry and Buddy Foster replacing Griffith and Howard in new roles alongside the return of recurring characters of Howard Strague, Goober Lindsey, and Emmett Clark.

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