A local construction crew is blasting for an underpass near Mayberry. The rumor is that the mayor wants to bring the highway past his brother's gas station. A farmer brings his goat uptown to experience his weekly shopping trip, and partly because of the blasting making the goat nervous. The goat frees itself from a bench on main street and wanders into a storeroom. The goat eats a half of a case of dynamite. Andy and Barney treat the goat with kid gloves and place him in Otis's cell. The fun starts when Otis lets himself into the locked jail using his own key and kicks the goat out of "his" cell.

I’ve always been sort of indifferent toward this episode, but I do still get a good laugh out of Otis first stumbling into his cell and thinking Jimmy the goat is actually his Uncle Nat.

I like Mayor Stoner's reaction when he was told any explosion would be upward, damaging his office. I've wondered if the Mayor contacted Neil Bentley to find out Mayberry's liability if Jimmy the loaded goat did explode?

Don Knotts was a chain smoker at the time.  It was odd to see him smoke on screen though.  He and / or Andy decided early on that it wasn't a good form to light up on camera, so even though they both smoked off camera, you seldom see them do it on TAGS.  Back in that day smoking was just beginning to be seen as a cause of lung and other cancers.

Yes, at the time it was seen as an ice breaker when meeting women in bars to have a lighter at the ready for when a woman pulled out a cigarette.  My aunt, a smoker, taught me that at a fairly young age.  Much to the perturbation of my mother who was not a smoker.   Neither of my folks ever smoked, neither have I.  There were times I heard my dad say, when offered a cigarette, "No thanks, I'm not old enough to start."  I've used that line numerous times in my life.  The usual response from the smoker, "Man I wish I had the guts to say then years ago when I started."

Now-a-days, this is not a social norm to offer to share one's pack with someone when lighting up. 



Interestingly, I remember The Flintstones having a Winston commercial at the beginng and / or end credits.  There was quite a lot fo consternation that got this clip and sponsor removed from a children's show.  You might still be able to see the Flintstones ad on YouTube.  If memory serves me, both Fred and Wilma lit up a Winston.