Some fans hated the way Sheriff Taylor was scripted to ask the Darlings if they could not handle Ernest T. Bass. As if Andy was trying to get out of doing his duty.
Why was Andy not scripted to already know the Darlings in the first ep we saw them in? Some fans speculated he did know them a bit from his youth but just did not recall them. Others speculated that when Mayberry was like resurveyed the Darlings home fell under Andy's jurisdiction. Thus, the Darlings lived on the very outer fringes of Mayberry county for a short time before they first met Andy.