Well, my place of residency Reidsville, NC, was not actually the basis for "The Andy Griffith Show." That distinction belongs to Griffith's hometown of Mount Airy, NC, due north of Winston-Salem near the Virginia border. But, there is a Mayberry's Cafe in Reidsville. Over the Easter weekend, they had a sign that said: "The tomb is empty." Welcome to North Carolina.
But, the town is ironically the setting of a pretty funny satire of the famous opening sequence to the hit HBO series (pardon the pun) "The Sopranos." The video is actually the opening for a rather silly local talk show called "Political Soup," which airs on a small tv-station called Star-TV.
In the video, Richard Moore the host of "Political Soup" doubles for James Gandolfini (Tony Soprano)and he is seen chomping a cigar as he drives by various local landmarks, including the Confederate Monument in downtown Reidsville, the Short Sugar's Drive-In and Hayne's Barber Shop, which is never open. The juxtaposition is similar to the ones of the New Jersey Turnpike on "The Sopranos."
The footage was directed by Christopher Knight who somehow got national attention for his ads which parodied "Star Wars" as he was running for a seat on the Rockingham County School Board. Amazingly enough, so did Moore. Both lost. But, one of the winners is actually more extreme than either of them!
I love the fact that lifted the actual title song from "The Sopranos," which could get him in a lawsuit if someone from HBO decdided to take this matter seriously (and, yes things like that have actually happened!- just ask a nursing home which showed some Tom Hanks movie without Paramont's approval).
To see this surreal footage, go to:
and type "Reidsville, NC, Sopranos" in the search engine.
Though the footage is lackluster in terms of production value, it is a 'hoot.'
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