I remember watching The Andy Griffith Show as a small child and complaining Barney was the most annoying character in the world. (Ronnie Howard is exactly my age, so I was watching this program from his point of view, though I think Opie didn't get as exasperated as I did.) My mother explained to me that he was an actor and that he was very good at what he did because he was supposed to be so annoying. He provided a great yard stick to use when measuring other actors in similar kinds of roles.

SRS