Heartwarming / The Andy Griffith Show

• In the opening of one episode, Barney is upset because he thinks no one remembers his fifth-year anniversary as deputy. Then it turns out that they were all just pretending not to because they had a surprise party planned, complete with an engraved watch. The look on Barney's face when he realizes that they remembered him after all is just incredibly heartwarming.
• "Lawman Barney," from early in the series' third season, has Barney realize the only way to build up his fragile self-esteem is to stand up to two intimidatingly-large men who are selling produce illegally. Barney, who is much smaller than the two thug-sized men, refuses to back down ... and when he tells them that the badge he wears is for all people, including those who are larger than the bullies, they decide to back off. Andy praises his deputy, who lets out a huge sigh of relief. (Just the same, Andy waits behind the truck, ready to intervene if the bullies get violent.)
• In "The Cow Thief", when Andy tries to explain to the mayor his theory about how the cows were stolen (the thief fitted them with human shoes to confuse the investigators), the mayor and the state agent roundly insult Andy for wasting their time, calls his idea "hare-brained", and walk out on him. Barney, who had been hero-worshiping the state investigator all week, at first follows them, but a moment later returns to Andy to help him, confessing that he was reminded of another old "hare-brained idea" of Andy's — the idea to make Barney his deputy.
• In "Man in a Hurry", the titular man, who has been grousing about being stranded in Mayberry all episode, is nearly moved to tears when he stops worrying and obsessing about work and being late long enough to notice Andy and Barney strumming a guitar and humming "The Little Brown Church in the Vale" while lazing in the sun on the porch, realizing the value of the little things he's been missing in his hurry.
• The scene in "Mr. McBeevee", when after a very tense scene where Andy tries to make Opie admit Mr. McBeevee is just make-believe, with the threat of a whipping very clear, Opie still insists that Mr. McBeevee is real, desperately asking, "Don't you believe me, Pa?" After a very long silence, Andy gets up, pats Opie on the shoulder, and says, quietly, with complete sincerity, "Yeah, I believe you". He has no evidence apart from Opie's word to support his belief, but according to his explanation afterwards:
  Andy: I guess it's a time like this, when you're asked to believe something that just don't seem possible, that's the moment that decides whether you got faith in somebody or not.
  Barney: Yeah, but how can you explain it all?
  Andy: I can't.
  Barney: But you do believe in Mr. McBeevee?
  Andy: No...no...no. I do believe in Opie.
• In "Opie's Job", after Opie tearfully explains to Andy that he had to purposely get himself fired from his grocer job so that the other trainee, whose father is poor and needed his son to work to help pay the bills, could land it instead of Opie, Andy quietly gives Opie possibly the greatest praise a parent can give their child:
  Andy: You know, when I was bragging on you to Floyd and Goober, I told 'em how proud I was to have a boy like you. But that's not quite true. You're a man.
• The end of "Opie the Birdman".
  Opie: The cage sure looks awful empty, don't it, Pa?
  Andy: Yes, son, it sure does. But don't the trees seem nice and full?
• Andy's speech to Barney about why he hasn't remarried.
  Andy: You want me to tell you? I'll tell you. I ain't found the woman I want to marry yet. I ain't putting it off. I miss being married. Sometimes I get to feeling downright lonesome. I miss going home to a wife. But then you see, getting married means you've found the woman you want to settle down with, and I ain't found her yet. But when I do, you'll be the first to know, okay?
• Pretty much any appearance by Ben Weaver, the mean, bitter department store owner, ends this way. Especially the episode where he wants to evict a man who has recently lost his job (and his wife and daughter) from a house he owns so he can build a warehouse on the property. He is bound determined to go through with it, right up until Andy decides to play up how mean Ben is being by cruelly going in the house and demanding they get out without even packing up their belongings, and mentioning they might wind up in a shack. Ben puts a stop to the eviction, and winds up giving a job to the man to help him pay off his debt to him.
  • In a Christmas episode, Weaver has a man run in for moonshining, which not only spoils the family's Christmas, but also potentially wrecks Andy's (as they were going to close up shop for the weekend and go home). Long story short, the man's entire family winds up in jail with him so they can celebrate together, Andy deputizes Aunt Bee, Ellie, and Opie so they can be at the courthouse with him, and Weaver's left out in the cold. Until Weaver gets himself arrested deliberately so he can not be left out, but asks Andy if he can go by his shop and "pick up a few things." When he unpacks in the jail, it turns out he brought presents for everyone. Later that evening, Andy goes to check the moonshine the man was arrested with into evidence, only to find the jug empty. The man asks Andy if he'd discreetly disposed of it, to which Andy replies he'd never tamper with evidence, but the man didn't do it either.
    Andy: Well if I didn't do it, and you didn't do it, then who... [both of them look at Ben, who is asleep on a bunk with a big goofy smile on his face]
• In one episode Barney mistakenly believes that Helen and Andy are engaged and arranges a big party to celebrate. That's heartwarming enough as it is. Then after the rumor comes to light and Andy assures everyone that they aren't getting married, he draws Helen aside and tells her that he only meant that for now, but that he'd be only too happy to marry her someday. It ends with a tacit agreement that they probably will get married "when they're ready."
• After putting in a lot of hard work to be socially presentable to the people of Mayberry, and after nearly ruining it through a faux pas, Ernest T. Bass finally gets a girl.