A Goat Gets ‘Loaded’ in a Hilariously Memorable Episode of ‘The Andy Griffith Show’

Don Knotts as Barney Fife, playing harmonica alongside a goat, in
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Don Knotts as Barney Fife, alongside a goat guest star, in "The Loaded Goat" Season 3 episode of The Andy Griffith Show

A goat — and Mayberry town drunk Otis — get loaded in different ways on The Andy Griffith Show, Ball joins Burnett on Carol’s classic variety series and a memorable installment from Gunsmoke‘s 20th and final season.

Classic TV on Today: Thursday, March 23

All Times Eastern.

The Andy Griffith Show: “The Loaded Goat”

MeTV, 8:30pm

In this hilarious Season 3 episode of the beloved sitcom, which first aired on CBS Jan. 28, 1963, an escaped goat eats a case of dynamite that was going to be used for blasting and puts Mayberry in danger — especially when town drunk Otis Campbell (Hal Smith) gets loaded in an entirely different way.

Andy Griffith and Don Knotts in "The Loaded Goat" Season 3 episode of The Andy Griffith Show

Andy Taylor (Andy Griffith) and Barney Fife (Don Knotts) try to handle “The Loaded Goat” (Courtesy Everett Collection)

The Carol Burnett Show: “Lucille Ball and George Carlin”

Decades, 6pm

Two legendary funny women team up onstage once again in this Season 3 installment of Carol Burnett‘s famed comedy/variety series that originally aired on CBS Nov. 24, 1969, and featured fellow icon Lucille Ball making the third of her four guest appearances on the program (she would return once more in a Season 4 episode). The episode also features comedian George Carlin performing stand-up and appearing as a DJ in a sketch with Burnett and Ball.

Carol Burnett and Lucille Ball in a 1969 episode of <i>The Carol Burnett Show</i>

Carol Burnett and Lucille Ball in a 1969 episode of The Carol Burnett Show (Courtesy Everett Collection)

Gunsmoke: “In Performance of Duty”

INSP, 9pm

Originally airing on CBS Nov. 18, 1974, during the 20th and final season of the long-running Western, this episode finds elderly Judge John Kendall (Eduard Franz) arriving in Dodge City and frustrating Matt Dillon (James Arness) with his handling of outlaw Emmett Cassinger (David Huddleston) and his boys, who are known to rob and kill their victims. When the judge learns that he himself is near death, he plans a way to deal out justice to the gang quickly.