Headmaster (TV series)

Headmaster is an American half-hour television comedy-drama starring Andy Griffith and broadcast by CBS in the United States during the 1970-71 season.
"Headmaster" marked the return to series television of Griffith, whose previous eponymous show had been one of CBS's major hits of the 1960s prior to his voluntary departure and a program which was still in production (as "Mayberry R.F.D."), when "Headmaster" was launched. Griffith had just signed a three-picture deal with Universal Pictures but was so disappointed with the first film in the contract, the rural comedy "Angel in My Pocket", that the two parties never made the other two films and he quickly returned to television.
With "Headmaster", Griffith fulfilled his desire to be cast in a television series as something other than a rural bumpkin dispensing folksy wisdom; here his character, Andy Thompson, was the headmaster of a prestigious Californian private school, the Concord School. His wife, Margaret (Claudette Nevins), was an English teacher. Two other cast members from "Angel in My Pocket" joined Griffith on "Headmaster": Parker Fennelly essentially reprised his role as a caretaker, here named Mr. Purdy, and Jerry Van Dyke played the role of athletic coach Jerry Brownell, Thompson's best friend. The show's theme song was performed by Linda Ronstadt.
"Headmaster" was given a favorable time slot, Friday at 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time, which had most recently been occupied by the hit sitcom "Hogan's Heroes". The new program proved to be, by Griffith's own admission, "a very bad show" and was routinely beaten in the Nielsen ratings by both "The Partridge Family" on ABC and "The Name of the Game" on NBC. When this pattern became apparent, production of " Headmaster" was terminated, with the last first-run episode being broadcast January 1, 1971, and the program replaced by a new situation comedy starring Griffith, "The New Andy Griffith Show". This replacement program met with little more success than "Headmaster", and was last broadcast on May 21, 1971. In June 1971, "Headmaster" returned to the time slot in reruns, with the last repeat episode being aired on September 10, 1971.
Viewing this series now is a rarity, despite the big name lead. It is not on YouTube, has had no DVD release, did not show up in syndication, and seldom is available with private collectors. One episode, "One for the Gipper," is archived in the collection at the Paley Center for Media.
References.
Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, "The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows"