Talk:Barney Fife

article link from here--Striver 21:53, 20 August 2006 (UTC)

Confident or not??

You start the article with a description of Barney... "Andy knows that Barney's false bravado is a smokescreen for his insecurities, and low self-confidence." and then a few sentences later... "Barney is smug and self-confident..."

Well, which is it? Low self confidence or self confident????

It can't be both...You either are or you aren't....pick a side, guys and stick with it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.48.204.23 (talk) 09:22, 14 March 2013 (UTC)

Barney Fife injokes

• IN at least three cartoons-a epiosde of Freakazoid and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles {1980's series} and Scooby-Doo Movie-are unnamed goofy Deputy Sherriffs that look and act like Barney Fife! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.53.145.127 (talk) 12:36, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

The newspaper continually misprinted Barney's name as "Fike". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.60.119.90 (talk) 22:50, 21 February 2011 (UTC)

Barney Fife as an Insult

• Barney Fife has become a slang term for a security guard on a power trip. For example, a security guard that accosts an amateur photographer on a public street for taking pictures of "their building". Should this be added to the main page, or as an alternate definition of the original term? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Thomasrdean (talk • contribs) 01:35, 1 September 2009 (UTC)

[comment removed by original poster]WikiBernardMD (talk) 17:20, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

crossdresser

he wore a dress 3 times —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.69.137.22 (talk) 19:46, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

He was on his own time "under cover"-such as to expose a shoplifter-and as usual fails to arrest the crook! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.83.126.88 (talk) 14:40, 16 January 2010 (UTC)

Middle Name

Isn't he mentioned more often as Bernard P. Fife, he was only called Bernard Milton Fife in the high school reunion episode, and he was even called Bernard Oliver Fife once.

Andy's Cousin?

In Barney's first appearance, Andy said Barney was his cousin, perhaps we should add this?

Barney's Marriage to Thelma Lou?!?!

That's impossible! I thought Thelma Lou was married already in one of the later episodes to someone else! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2606:4100:1840:808:1848:808:0:7977 (talk) 22:16, 23 April 2014 (UTC)

It didn't work out. --64.233.152.49 (talk) 02:47, 9 November 2014 (UTC)

Episodes with Barney breaking the Law

S2 ep2 "barneys replacement" At the very end Barney is out front of Sheriff's Office writing the man from State's Attorney's Office a parking ticket. Then he tears in in two and drops it to the ground in front of Andy. Andy says nothing about the offense as show ends. Litter Bug Barney. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bugatti35racer (talk • contribs) 03:38, 5 October 2017 (UTC)

TVCHAR

Hey Butlerblog, you've reverted my edit and pointed to MOS:TVCHAR. I think you were talking about the "impact on popular culture" bit, am I right?

That bit says "Some television characters have influences on other television shows, or in other entertainment mediums. (...) This section deals with how a television character reaches outside their respective show, and becomes part of popular culture in some fashion. Analyses should be backed by reliable sources and not just by personal observations."

The section in question:

In the Scream movie franchise, the character Dewey Riley is compared to Barney Fife on multiple occasions.

In the video game series Half-Life Black Mesa security guards were nicknamed "Barneys" after an early character model was said to resemble Don Knotts, and were voiced with a faint Southern accent, similar to the West Virginia-born actor. This later became official in Half-Life: Blue Shift, which featured as the player character a security guard named Barney Calhoun.

At least two cartoons pay homage to Barney Fife: In Freakazoid "Toby Danger" when a out of control giant robot is destroying Las Vegas, Nevada, there is a cameo of a Barney Fife deputy sheriff in a crowd. In The New Scooby-Doo Movies a highway patrol officer on a motorcycle (a cameo of Barney Fife) helps the kids solve a mystery.

In The Sopranos season 6, episode 15, Paulie Gualtieri tells Tony Soprano a story about getting pulled over by a state trooper while driving Tony's father's Cadillac without a license in the 1960s. Mr. Soprano, Sr. tells the young Paulie to smooth things over by telling the trooper he has a cousin who is a trooper named Barney Fife. He gets punched in the head by the trooper for his troubles and Mr. Soprano has to bribe the trooper $100 (said to be an average month's wage at the time) to avoid charges.

References

Of these four entries, one is referenced by Scream-thrillogy.com, which doesn't look like a reliable source. Per WP:BURDEN, before reinstating the section again, it should be properly sourced. Now, there's not a WP:DEADLINE and you can take the time, but will you add sources? Thanks, and happy editing. soetermans. ^{↑↑↓↓←→←→ B A TALK} 20:33, 14 January 2023 (UTC)

@Soetermans: Thanks for opening the discussion. You're correct - I was referring to the MOS:TV section of character articles, and we do make specific provision for cultural impact. And you're also correct that this shouldn't turn into an unsourced "catch-all" of nonsense or irrelevant information. In the case of some of this, however, the media itself as the primary source would be acceptable as it is merely stating the plot information. The Film and TV projects' MOS on this point derives from WP:PRIMARY - as long as it is stating verifiable information from the primary source and doesn't stray into interpretation or synthesis. The one I'd actually have the most problem with is the one you didn't mention - the video games paragraph, but I don't have a problem digging into it and trying to find some better sources for all of it. ButlerBlog (talk) 21:27, 14 January 2023 (UTC)

Hi Butlerblog, I stumbled upon [[this RfC which states that "in popular culture" do need secondary sourcing. What do you think? soetermans. ^{↑↑↓↓←→←→ B A TALK} 11:14, 21 January 2023 (UTC)

@Soetermans: I would say that depends upon how it's presented. If it's direct and obvious (i.e. straight plot synopsis), then primary would be adequate. It's when it requires intepretation to draw the connection (i.e. WP:SYNTH) that a secondary source is necessary. Popular culture references for film and television when it's in another show or film is pretty straight forward. Example: a cameo of a Barney Fife character, or a reference to a police officer in a show (i.e. the Sopranos) as "Barney" is straight forward. Those are verifiable and there's no interpretation - it's just a statement of what is there. But stating that a slang term for a bumbling deputy is "a Barney" is original research without a source. There's a distinct difference. ButlerBlog (talk) 21:18, 1 February 2023 (UTC)