How old was Aunt Bea? She acts like an old woman. She was only 58 when the show started.
There's an episode here where she thinks that Andy wants her to get married and clear out. I think Clara gave her the idea. So she starts dating a simple-minded dry cleaner and she actually seems to be planning to marry the idiot even though she can't stand him because she thinks Andy wants her to.
I don't think I'd want a dry cleaner who works with a cigarette dangling from his mouth.
A few years later, the same thing. Clara gives Aunt Bea the idea that she's a parasite on Andy and Opie, sucking the life out of them. So she falsely claims to be dating the milk man. When it turns out the guy is married and is quite upset at Aunt Bea spreading these rumors, Bea is humiliated.
I guess the real question isn't, how old is Aunt Bea. It's how dumb is she?
After Don Knotts left, the people of Mayberry all became child-like simpletons. It's hard to imagine many people being charmed by this. Maybe people would watch and dream about living in Mayberry where they'd be the smartest person in town.
Turns out Gomer Pyle wasn't developmentally disabled
On Gomer Pyle, in one episode, Gomer is threatened with a "breach of promise" lawsuit when a con artist falsely claims he promised to marry her. Gomer quickly adds up how long it would take him to pay off a judgement against him, calculating compound interest in his head. I think they were trying to show he wasn't actually intellectually deficient even if he did act like it.
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