The Surprising Reason Ron Howard Didn’t Watch ‘The Andy Griffith Show’

Imagine you’re a 5-year-old actor, and you’ve appeared on some of the biggest TV shows of the day—but you haven’t been able to watch any of them because they come on too late. Such was the fate of a young Ron Howard.

Howard, 71, shared this detail while on People magazine’s Life In Pictures. When it came to a photo of himself alongside Andy Griffith on The Andy Griffith Show, Ron confessed, “At the point that I did this show, I don’t think I’d ever seen myself on TV, because usually my bedtime was before the shows went on.

At age 5, Howard landed the role of Opie Taylor, but it was far from his first role. Before he went to Mayberry, Howard appeared in a handful of episodes of Dennis the Menace and The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, and in the “Walking Distance” episode of The Twilight Zone.

Thankfully, when The Andy Griffith Show became one of the biggest shows of the day, his parents decided to make an exception.

“I began to be allowed to stay up and watch The Andy Griffith Show, which I think came on at 8:30 or something like that,” said Howard. “It wasn’t until much later that I began to understand the impact the show had on audiences.”

Richard R. Hewett/TV Guide/Courtesy Everett Collection

Howard also shared that he “learned cursive writing” while working on The Andy Griffith Show so that he could sign autographs for fans.

The Eden director also confirmed what the late Andy Griffith once said about the character of Opie Taylor. Originally, Opie was written to be like any other TV kid: mischievous and cleverer than his father. But Howard’s real-life dad, Rance Howard, spoke with Andy about changing things.

“My dad, who was…just a working day actor, had the confidence, the nerve, the belief that it was the right thing to actually, in a very gentle way, go up to Andy, and say, ‘I see they’re writing Opie in the traditional, contemporary sitcom way…and I know that works and that Ronnie can do those jokes, but what if they had a different relationship?’”

“Andy said he thought about that,” said Ron, “and he went to the writers and said, ‘Let’s make Andy and Opie be [more like] Ronnie and Rance.”