If you like your pizza with all the standard toppings—minus pineapple and anchovies—you’d hit it off right away with a certain laid-back and loveable small-town sheriff in the 1960s-era South, according to a quiz on MeTV, a streaming network that features TV classics like, oh, say, The Andy Griffith Show.
Touted as “the best tasting quiz you’ll ever take,” this silly but fun questionnaire promises to tell you which Mayberry denizen you’d “get along best with” based on pizza preferences. Could it be the bumbling deputy Barney Fife, known for his skinny (but supposedly “wiry”) frame and ravenous appetite, plus a tendency to accidentally discharge his firearm while showing off his quick-draw skills? Or maybe it’s Gomer Pyle, the slow-witted gas station attendant who’ll charge you for fuel but will happily air your tires for free?
More than 60 years after its debut on CBS, The Andy Griffith Show remains a perennial sitcom favorite in syndication and on streaming networks. A Facebook page for the Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club has more than 253,000 followers, and the club has chapters nationwide and a monthly newsletter. But what’s the significance to pizzeria operators? Depending on your pizza shop’s location and clientele, an in-store trivia contest based on the series could make for an engaging customer promotion, or the show’s widespread appeal might inspire themed menu ideas, such as a specialty pizza called The Barney Fife or The Ernest T. Bass.
Judging from the MeTV quiz, Sheriff Andy Taylor likes his pizza piled with lots of toppings. He is a pretty easygoing fella, after all, and we suspect he’ll eat whatever you put in front of him. If you’re crazy about pepperoni and bacon, you’ll bond with the kindly but no-nonsense Aunt Bee, the quiz claims.
But the quiz yields some results that don’t quite ring true, such as little Opie Taylor’s inexplicable preference for pineapples and anchovies. Then again, according to the quiz, Opie will just as happily nosh down on a pizza loaded with sausage, pepperoni and bacon. (Note: Sliced kerosene pickles are not an option.)
If you’d reject all the meats and opt for mushrooms, onions, red peppers and black olives, then Barney’s your pizza pal, the quiz asserts. But from what we know about Andy’s always-hungry deputy, he would never turn down sausage or bacon. So let’s just nip that one in the bud right now. Nip it!
