When Don Knotts left The Andy Griffith Show after five seasons to pursue a movie career, the show was left scrambling to find a worthy replacement. Knotts’ bumbling deputy Barney Fife was not only a fan favorite, but the perfect comedic partner for Andy Griffith — but when producers rushed to replace him in season 6 with a new character, Warren Ferguson, played by comedian Jack Burns, things didn’t go as planned. Audiences did not connect with Ferguson, and neither did Griffith; he was eventually axed after just 11 episodes.
