The Andy Griffith Show Was One of the Great Sitcoms

of television history, and I believe one of the key reasons was because the show was character-driven. ALL of the characters were multidimensional; they weren't just a part of the scenery. In fact, Andy Griffith was more like the glue that held the show together while the plots often centered on other characters in Mayberry.

From this link:

Mayberry was based upon Andy Griffith's real hometown, and perhaps this was partially responsible for the strong sense many viewers got that Mayberry was a real place. Over the years the writers fleshed out the geography and character of the town with a degree of detail unusual for series television. The directorial style of the series was also strikingly distinct, employing a relaxed, almost lethargic tone appropriate to the nostalgic settings of front porch, sidewalk, and barber shop. The townspeople, and the ensemble of actors who portrayed them, were crucial to the success of the show. Most of these characters were "hicks," playing comic foils to the sagacious Andy. Gomer Pyle (Jim Nabors) and his cousin Goober (George Lindsey) came right out of the "bumpkin" tradition that had been developed years ago in films, popular literature, and comic strips. Town barber Floyd Lawson (Howard McNear) was a font of misinformation and the forerunner of Cheers' Cliff Clavin. Otis (Hal Smith), the unrepentant town drunk, was trained to let himself into his jail cell after a Saturday night bender and to let himself out on Sunday morning. Without much real police work to attend to, Andy's true job was protecting these and other citizens of Mayberry from their own hubris, intemperance, and stupidity.

Indeed, it WAS an ensemble show long before The Mary Tyler Moore Show came along and perfected that kind of comedy.

I mentioned this before that I didn't appreciate the show when I was a child when the series ran on network television. That's because it was actually an adult sitcom with situations that were far more sophisticated than the average kid could understand. Now, though, I have the entire series on DVD and have seen and appreciated all of the episodes.