The Dukes of Hazzard is an American television series that aired on the CBS television network from 1979 to 1985.

The series was inspired by the 1975 film Moonrunners, which was also created by Gy Waldron and had many identical or similar character names and concepts.

Overview [link]

The Dukes of Hazzard follows "The Duke Boys", cousins Bo and Luke Duke, who live in a rural part of the fictional Hazzard County, Georgia with their attractive cousin Daisy and their wise old Uncle Jesse, as they race around in their customized 1969 Dodge Charger stock car, christened (The) General Lee, evading crooked county commissioner Boss Hogg and his inept county sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane, and always managing to get caught in the middle of the various escapades and incidents that often occur in the area. Bo and Luke had previously been sentenced to probation for illegal transportation of moonshine; their Uncle Jesse made a plea deal with the U.S. Government to stop brewing moonshine in exchange. As a result, Bo and Luke are not allowed to carry firearms (instead, they often use compound bows, sometimes with arrows tipped with dynamite) or to leave Hazzard County, although the exact details of their probation terms vary from episode to episode: sometimes it is implied that they would be jailed for merely crossing the county line; on other occasions, it is shown that they may leave Hazzard as long as they are back within a certain time limit; several other technicalities of their probation also came into play at various times.

Corrupt county commissioner Boss Jefferson Davis Hogg, who either runs or has fingers in just about everything in Hazzard County (and whose exact powers, much like the terms of the Duke boys' probation, often vary between episodes) is forever angry with the Dukes, in particular Bo and Luke, for eternally foiling his crooked scams and is always looking for ways to get them out of the picture so that his plots have a chance of succeeding. Many episodes revolve around Hogg trying to engage in an illegal scheme, sometimes with aid of hired criminal help. Some of these are get-rich-quick schemes, though many others affect the financial security of the Duke farm, which Hogg has long wanted to acquire for nefarious reasons. Other times, Hogg hires criminals from out of town to do his dirty work for him, and often tries to frame Bo and Luke for various crimes as part of these plots. Bo and Luke always seem to stumble over Hogg's latest scheme, sometimes by curiosity, and often by sheer luck, and put it out of business. Despite the Dukes often coming to his rescue (see below), Hogg forever seems to have an irrational dislike of the clan, particularly Bo and Luke, often accusing them of spying on him, robbing or planning to rob him, and other supposedly nefarious actions as he believes they are generally out to get him.

The other main players of the show are Cooter Davenport, who in very early episodes was seen to be a wild, unshaven rebel, often breaking or treading on the edge of the law, before settling down and becoming much more laid-back, and who owns the local garage and is the Duke family's best friend (he is often referred to as an "honorary Duke"), and Enos Strate, an honest but naive young Deputy who often finds his morals conflicted as he is reluctantly forced to take part in Hogg and Rosco's crooked schemes. In the third and fourth season, when Enos leaves for his own show, he is replaced by Deputy Cletus Hogg, Boss's cousin, who is slightly more wily than Enos but who is generally also a reluctant player in Hogg's plots.

Owing to their fundamentally good natures, the Dukes often wind up helping Boss Hogg, albeit grudgingly. More than once Hogg is targeted by former associates who are either seeking revenge or have turned against him after a scheme has unravelled in one way or another. Sheriff Rosco also finds himself in trouble more than once. On such occasions, Bo and Luke usually have to rescue their adversaries as an inevitable precursor to defeating the bad guys; in other instances, the Dukes and Hogg and Rosco mutually join forces to tackle bigger threats to Hazzard or one of their respective parties. These instances became more frequent as the show progressed, and later seasons saw a number of stories where the Dukes and Hogg (and Rosco) temporarily work together.

Production [link]

The series was developed from the 1975 B-movie Moonrunners. Created by Gy Waldron in collaboration with ex-moonshiner Jerry Rushing, this movie shares many identical and very similar names and concepts with the subsequent TV series. Although itself essentially a comedy, this original movie was much cruder and edgier than the family-friendly TV series that would evolve from it.

In 1977, Waldron was approached by Warner Brothers with the idea of developing Moonrunners into a television series. Production began in late October / November 1978, originally with the intention of just nine episodes being produced, to be used as mid-season filler. The first five episodes were filmed in Covington, Georgia, and surrounding areas, including some location work in nearby Atlanta. These first five episodes feature a noticeably different tone from the rest of the series, including some more adult-oriented humor, with some raunchier elements and slightly coarser language; several of the characters, primarily those of Rosco and Cooter, are also given different interpretation to their more recognized roles. After completing production on the fifth episode, "High Octane", the cast and crew broke for Christmas break, expecting to return in several weeks' time to complete the ordered run of episodes. In the meantime, executives at Warner Brothers were impressed by the completed episodes and saw potential in developing the show into a full-running series; part of this plan was to move production from Georgia to the Warner Brothers lot in California, primarily to simplify and streamline production, as well as developing a larger workshop to construct and service the large number of vehicles the series would get through.

Rushing appeared as shady used car dealer Ace Parker in the early episode "Repo Men", the fourth episode broadcast, and the third to be produced. Rushing believed this to be the start of a recurring role, in return for which he would supply creative ideas from him experiences - much of the character of Bo Duke he states to be based on him. However, "Repo Men" would turn out to be the character's only appearance in the entire show's run, leading to a legal dispute in the following years over the rights to characters and concepts between Rushing and Warner Brothers, although he remained on good terms with cast and crew and in recent years has made appearances at several fan conventions.

By the end of the first season, the far more family-friendly tone of the series was firmly in place; after the show returned for a second season in Fall of 1979, the template was set in place that would remain for the rest of the run.

As well as its regular car chases, jumps and stunts, the show relied on character familiarity, with Deputy Cletus replacing Deputy Enos in the third and fourth season, and Coy and Vance Duke temporarily replacing Bo and Luke (due to a salary dispute) in the fifth season, being the only major cast changes through the show's run (Ben Jones and James Best both left temporarily during the second season due to different disputes with producers, but both returned within a couple of episodes). Of the characters, only Uncle Jesse and Boss Hogg appear in every single episode; Daisy appears in all but one, the third season's "To Catch a Duke".

Characters [link]

Main characters [link]

• Lucas K. "Luke" Duke (Tom Wopat) is the dark-haired, slightly older cousin. More mature and rational than his cousin Bo, he is typically the one who thinks of the plan that will get the two out of whatever trouble they have gotten into. Luke wears a checked blue shirt (a plain blue shirt in most, though not all, second season episodes), and a denim jacket over it in first season and a few later second season episodes. He is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps and a former boxer. Luke was the first Duke to perform the "hood slide" across The General Lee, which is seen in the opening credits of the show (a shot taken from the second episode, "Daisy's Song") and later told by Tom Wopat to be an accident because his foot got caught on the side of the General Lee when he attempted to jump across the hood; he also caught his thigh on the hood's radio antenna, cutting himself, resulting in such antennas being removed from later versions of the General Lee. However, the "hood slide" quickly proved popular and became a regular feature of episodes. The only episode to directly reference the slight age difference between Luke and Bo is in the seventh season opener, the "flashback" episode "Happy Birthday, General Lee", where it is stated that Luke had already been in the Marines while Bo was in his last year at High School.

• Beauregard "Bo" Duke (John Schneider) is the blond-haired, slightly younger Duke boy. He is the younger, wilder one of the pair. He is more of a "shoot first, ask questions later" type, and is often the one to get the duo into the various scrapes in which they find themselves, although the character did mature slightly as the seasons passed; he is also the one more likely to have his eye, or heart, distracted by a pretty girl, which proves to be the Achilles' heel that leads the Dukes into trouble in several episode plots. Bo usually wears a cream-yellow shirt; it is a stronger yellow in the first and second season, a lighter cream colour from the third season, and in the sixth and seventh season has more of a grey hue to it. (The only break from this norm is in the second episode produced and broadcast, "Daisy's Song", where Bo wears a red shirt for much of the story, and a sequence in the fifth episode, "High Octane", where he wears a light blue shirt. Many early publicity shots show the character to be wearing a dark blue denim shirt.) For the first two seasons he wears a blue t-shirt underneath (brown in the first episode); this was slowly phased out during the third season. An ex-stock car driver, Bo is the one who, in the earlier episodes at least, drives The General Lee most of the time (very early episodes suggest that it belongs solely to him; Luke is said have a car that Cooter has wrecked shortly prior to the start of the opening episode, "One Armed Bandits"). Bo is known for his rebel yell, "Yeeeee-Haaa!". The Duke boys share the CB call sign or handle "Lost Sheep."

• Daisy Duke (Catherine Bach) is Bo and Luke's pretty young cousin. She is honest and kind, although she can sometimes be slightly over-trusting and naïve, which leads the Duke family into trouble on a number of occasions. She sometimes aspired to be a songwriter and singer, and at other times a reporter. She raced around Hazzard with her cousins, first in a yellow and black 1974 Plymouth Road Runner (later on it was a Plymouth Satellite) and then, from the mid-second season, in her trademark white 1980 Jeep CJ-7 christened "Dixie" with a Golden Eagle emblem on the hood (and the name "Dixie" on the hood sides). Daisy worked as a waitress at the Boar's Nest, the local bar owned by Boss Hogg, as part of an agreement with Boss Hogg so that he would give Uncle Jesse and the boys a loan for a lower interest rate so the boys could purchase the entry fee for a race that they wished to race General Lee in. The arrangement was supposed to be for an indefinite time, but there were several times throughout the series that Hogg fired her. However, he always ended up rehiring her at the end of each episode because of various circumstances. Daisy often used her looks and her position at the restaurant to get insider information to help the Dukes in foiling Hogg's various schemes. Daisy also has the distinction of having her trademark provocatively high-cut jean short shorts named after her: "Daisy Dukes". Her CB handle was "Bo Peep"; occasionally the variant of "Country Cousin" would be used.

• Jesse L. Duke (Denver Pyle), referred to by just about everyone in Hazzard other than Boss Hogg as "Uncle Jesse", is the patriarch of the Duke clan, and the father-figure to all Dukes who stayed with him on the dilapidated "Duke Farm." Jesse apparently had no children of his own, and happily provided for his nephews and niece in the unexplained absence of all of their parents (Gy Waldron, the creator of the show, states on the DVDs that their parents were killed in a car wreck, but it was never mentioned in the show). In the third broadcast episode, "Mary Kaye's Baby", Jesse says that he has delivered many babies, including Bo and Luke. Jesse Duke, in his youth, had been a ridgerunner in direct competition with J.D. Hogg. However, while both Boss Hogg and Uncle Jesse would scowl at the mention of the other's name, the two enjoyed a lifelong "friendship" of sorts, with one helping the other when in desperate need. Jesse educated his nephews against Hogg, and often provided the cousins with inspirational sage advice. Uncle Jesse drove a white 1973 Ford F-100 pickup truck. In the barn, he also had his old moonshine-running car, called "Sweet Tillie" in its first appearance (in the first season episode "High Octane"), but referred to as "Black Tillie" in subsequent appearances. In the second season episode "Follow That Still" and the sixth season episode "The Boars Nest Bears", the marriage to and death of his wife is mentioned; he also mentions marrying her in the first season episode "Luke's Love Story". His CB handle was "Shepherd."

• Rosco Purvis Coltrane (James Best) is the bumbling sheriff of Hazzard County and right-hand man and brother-in-law of its corrupt county administrator, Jefferson Davis "J.D." Hogg ("Boss Hogg"), whom Rosco referred to as his "little fat buddy", "Little Chrome Dome", "Little Meadow-Muffin", and several other names. In the very early episodes, it was mentioned that Rosco spent the first 20 years of his career as a mostly honest lawman, but after the county voted away his pension Rosco joined Hogg in an effort to fund his retirement in his last couple of years as Sheriff. As the series settled down and found its footing, this was soon dropped into the background, and by the end of the first season had been virtually forgotten (and his role as Sheriff appeared to be open ended). He is also the younger brother of Lulu Coltrane Hogg, Boss Hogg's wife. Rosco frequently initiated car chases with Bo and Luke Duke (whom Hogg wanted to get rid of due to them constantly exposing his corrupt schemes), but the Duke boys were usually able to easily elude Rosco by outwitting him, with him usually meeting some accident in his patrol car as a result (from which he would nearly always escape uninjured - only two episodes, the fourth season's "Coltrane Vs. Duke" and season six's "Too Many Roscos" toy with the concept of him being hurt during one of these escapades). These chases were often the result of Rosco setting up illegal speed traps such as a false or changing speed limit signs and various other trickery, which would evolve into being increasingly more cartoonish and far-fetched as the seasons passed. While he enjoyed "hot pursuit" much like a little boy playing with toy cars would, he (and Boss Hogg as well) never intended for anyone to get seriously hurt. His middle initial, 'P', was added at the start of the second season, and only one episode (the third season's "Mrs. Rosco P. Coltrane", in which he is subject to a scam marriage) revealed his middle name, 'Purvis'. Rosco also had a soft spot for his dog Flash, introduced at the start of the third season. His radio codename was "Red Dog". When James Best briefly boycotted the show during the mid-second season, he was temporarily replaced several "one off" Sheriffs, the longest standing being Sheriff Grady Bird, played by Dick Sargent, who appeared in two episodes ("Jude Emery" and "Officer Daisy Duke").

• Boss Jefferson Davis "J.D." Hogg (Sorrell Booke) is the wealthiest man in Hazzard County (except in a 4th season episode, "Ten Million Dollar Sheriff", in which Rosco allegedly inherits $10 million), and owns most of its property and businesses — whether directly or by holding the mortgages over the land. Usually dressed in an all-white suit, he was the fat, greedy, corrupt County Commissioner with visions of grandeur, a voracious appetite for fatty foods, and constantly orders his bumbling sheriff, Rosco, to "Get them Duke Boys!" Boss Hogg was also married to Rosco's fat sister, a point that did not always sit well with either Boss Hogg or Rosco; Hogg often claimed that Rosco was indebted to him because of it. His vehicle was a white 1970 Cadillac Coupe de Ville convertible, with bull horns on the hood. In the first couple of seasons, he was almost always driven around by a chauffeur; from the fourth season onwards, he usually drove himself. His old moonshine-running car was called the "Grey Ghost".

• Cooter Davenport (Ben Jones) is the Hazzard County mechanic, nicknamed "Crazy Cooter". In the very early episodes, he was a wild man, often breaking the law (such as stealing the Sheriff's patrol car for impounding his in "One Armed Bandits", reportedly borrowing Luke's car prior to the same episode and using it to "run the sheriff off the road to make him mad" to facilitate the aforementioned theft of the sheriffs car, running moonshine for Boss Hogg in "Mary Kaye's Baby", seemingly breaking into Boss Hogg's home to retrieve a trophy for an upcoming race in "Luke's Love Story", and 'borrowing' the President's Limousine for a joy-ride in "Limo One Is Missing"). By the end of the first season, he had settled down and become an easy going good ol' boy. Although not mentioned in the first couple of episodes, by the mid-first season, he owned "Cooter's Garage" in Hazzard County Square, directly across from the Sheriff's Department. Cooter was an "Honorary Duke", as he shared the same values and often assisted the Dukes in escaping Rosco's clutches, or helped them to foil Boss Hogg's schemes. During the second season, Ben Jones left the series for a few episodes due to a dispute over whether the character should be clean shaven or have a full beard. In his absence, Cooter's place was filled by several of Cooter's supposed cousins who were never mentioned before or since. Jones returned when the dispute was solved—Cooter would be clean shaven (although, for continuity reasons, with the episodes being broadcast in a different order to that which they were filmed, he was not clean shaven until the third season onwards). Cooter drove a variety of trucks, including Fords, Chevys, & GMCs. His CB handle was "Crazy Cooter" and he often started his CB transmissions with "Breaker one, Breaker one, I might be crazy but I ain't dumb, Craaaazy Cooter comin' atcha, come on."
• Deputy Enos Strate (Sonny Shroyer) (1979–80; 1982–85) is generally a friend of the Dukes, but, working under Rosco and Boss was often forced into pursuing the Dukes and/or arresting them on trumped up charges. In the very early episodes, Enos was shown to be a rather good driver (and respected as such by Bo and Luke), but by the end of the first season, he was shown to be as incompetent a driver as Rosco (and later Cletus). When he returned from his stint in Los Angeles, he seemed to be able to stand up to Boss and Rosco slightly more, and sometimes refused. In the very early episodes, Rosco frequently called him "Jackass", which soon evolved into the more family friendly "dipstick" as the show become a hit with younger viewers (though Boss Hogg, who would also use the term "Jackass" of Sheriff Rosco, would occasionally return to calling him this in later seasons). Enos had a crush on Daisy Duke that she often used to the Dukes' advantage in unraveling Hogg and Rosco's schemes. Enos is very much in love with Daisy, and although Daisy is indicated to love him back, it is only as a close friend. In the last-but-one episode, "Enos and Daisy's Wedding", the two plan on getting married, only to have Enos call it off at the last minute due to an attack of hives, brought on by the excitement of possibly being married to Daisy. Later, in the first Reunion movie, Enos and Daisy become a pair again and plan to get married — but this time Daisy backs out at the last minute, upon the unexpected sight of her ex-husband. Enos' radio code name was "Blue Fox". However, he frequently got both his own and Rosco's codes confused, saying instead "Hound Dog", "Red Fox" or other variations.

• Deputy Cletus Hogg (Rick Hurst) (1979–82), Boss Hogg's second cousin twice removed, is also generally friendly and dim-witted. Like Enos, Cletus would often be forced by Rosco and Hogg to chase the Dukes on trumped up charges. While Cletus was generally good-hearted, and sometimes resentful of having to treat the Dukes in such way, he was generally more willing to go along with Hogg and Rosco than Enos. Cletus had a crush on Daisy and was even convinced she wanted to marry him. Like Enos, Cletus often ended up landing in water when pursuing the Duke boys in a car chase. Cletus made his first appearance as the driver of a bank truck, part of Hogg's latest get-rich-scheme, in the first season episode "Money To Burn", and became temporary deputy while Enos was away in the second season episodes "The Meeting" and "Road Pirates". Leaving a job at the local junkyard, he became permanent deputy in the third season's "Enos Strate to the Top" when Enos left for California. When Enos returned at the start of the fifth season the pair both served as deputies and shared the same patrol car for five episodes before Cletus disappeared (his last appearance being in the episode "Big Daddy"), said to have gone on vacation, never to return (until 1997's Reunion movie after Enos' apparent return to California after the series). Each of the Hazzard County Sheriff's Department officers drove various mid to late '70s Chrysler mid-size B body patrol cars, most often a Dodge Monaco or Plymouth Fury.
• Coy Duke (Byron Cherry) (1982–83), the replacement for Bo, is another blond-haired cousin who moved to Uncle Jesse's farm along with cousin Vance after Bo and Luke left Hazzard to join the NASCAR circuit. Supposedly, with cousin Vance, Coy had previously lived on the Duke farm until 1976, before the series had started.
• Vance Duke (Christopher Mayer) (1982–83), an obvious replacement for Luke, filled the void of a dark-haired Duke on the show. Like Luke, Vance was more the thinker and the planner of the duo.
• The Balladeer (voice of Waylon Jennings) sang and played the Dukes of Hazzard theme song, "Good Ol' Boys", and also served as the show's narrator. During each episode, he provided an omniscient viewpoint of the situations presented, and regularly interjected comical asides during crucial plot points (often, during a freeze frame of a cliffhanger scene right before a commercial break) and "down home" aphorisms. (Note that these freeze frame cliffhangers were often abridged in showings in some countries, such as the commercial-free BBC in the United Kingdom). After numerous requests from fans to see the Balladeer on-screen, Waylon finally appeared in one episode, the seventh season's aptly titled "Welcome, Waylon Jennings", in which he was presented as an old friend of the Dukes.
• Flash (Sandy and others) is a slow-paced Basset Hound and Rosco's loyal companion, who hated Hogg but loved the Dukes. She first appeared in the first official third season episode "Enos Strate to the Top" (season opener "Carnival of Thrills was held over from the previous season), although was not formally "introduced" in that episode. Initially referred to as a boy, Flash was later regularly a girl (despite an occasional male reference afterwards). Flash was added at the start of the third season, after James Best suggested to the producers that Rosco have a dog. Flash was portrayed by several Basset Hounds (distinguishable by different facial colors), the most regular being "Sandy".^{[citation needed]} James Best bought a share of Sandy, who was rescued from an animal shelter and was trained by Alvin mears of Alvin Animal Rentals. Sandy lived to age 14. A stuffed dog named Flush was used for dangerous work.^[1]

Recurring characters [link]

Notable guest appearances [link]

Throughout its network television run, The Dukes of Hazzard had a consistent mix of up-and-comers and established stars make guest appearances.

• NASCAR driver Terry Labonte makes a brief, uncredited appearance as a crew man in the episode Undercover Dukes Part 1. The race cars supplied for both part 1 and part 2 of Undercover Dukes were supplied by Labonte's race owner, Billy Hagan. However, the sponsors of the cars (at that time Labonte was sponsored by Budweiser) were covered to avoid paying royalties.

The celebrity speed trap [link]

During the show's second season, the show's writers began flirting with the idea of incorporating a "celebrity speed trap" into some of the episodes, as a means to feature top country stars of the day performing their hits. On its first couple of instances, the "Speed Trap" was featured early in the story, but for most of the cases, it was featured in the last few minutes of an episode, often used when the main story was running too short to fill episode time.

The "celebrity speed trap" feature was essentially similar: Aware that a big-name country star was passing through the area, Boss Hogg would order Rosco to lower the speed limit on a particular road to an unreasonable level, so that the targeted singer would be in violation of the law. The singer would be required to perform at the Boar's Nest in exchange for having their citations forgiven; the performer would then perform one of their best-known hits or other popular country music standard, while the Dukes, Boss, Rosco, Cletus, Cooter, and other patrons whooped and hollered in enjoyment of the performance. More often than not, the performer would give a parting shot to Boss and Rosco. Singers who were featured in the "speed trap" segments were:

Honorable Mentions: Mickey Gilley, Loretta Lynn

Gilley's and Lynn's appearances were not solely for the celebrity speed trap. After performing a concert in Hazzard, Gilley was nabbed while leaving and forced to do a second show to nullify his citation. Lynn was kidnapped by criminals wanting to break into the music business.

Coy and Vance [link]

The Dukes of Hazzard was consistently among the top-rated television series (at one point, ranking second only to Dallas, which immediately followed the show on CBS' Friday night schedule). Then, in the spring of 1982, as filming was due to begin on the fifth season, series stars Tom Wopat and John Schneider did not report to the set due to a contract dispute over their salaries and merchandising royalties owed to them. Catherine Bach also considered walking out due to similar concerns, but Wopat and Schneider convinced her to stay, insisting that settling the dispute was "man's work".^[2]

Production was pushed back by a few weeks as two lookalike replacements were subsequently, hastily hired: Byron Cherry as Coy Duke and Christopher Mayer as Vance Duke. Bo and Luke were said to have gone to race on the NASCAR circuit; how they managed to do this, bearing in mind their probation conditions, was never explained. Cherry and Mayer were originally contracted at just ten episodes as stand-ins, still with hope that a settlement might be reached with Wopat and Schneider^[3] (in total, they made 17 episodes). The scripts for Coy and Vance were originally written for Bo and Luke but with their names quite literally crossed out and Coy and Vance penned in.^[2] The new Dukes — previously-unmentioned nephews of Uncle Jesse, who were said to have left the farm in 1976, before the show had started — were unpopular with the great majority of viewers, and the ratings immediately sank. Much of the criticism was that Coy and Vance were nothing but direct clones of Bo and Luke, something that show creator Gy Waldron himself has said was wrong,^[4] and that he insisted, unsuccessfully, that audiences would not accept direct character clones and the two replacements should be taken in a different direction characterwise. Waldron also commented that if Bach too had walked, the show would have most probably been cancelled. Hit hard by the significant drop in ratings, Warner Brothers renegotiated with Wopat and Schneider, and eventually a settlement was reached, and the original Duke boys returned to the series in early 1983, four episodes from the conclusion of the fifth season. Initially, part of the press release announcing Wopat and Schneider's return mentioned that Cherry and Mayer would remain as part of the cast,^[5] but it was quickly realised that "four Duke boys" would not work within the context of the series, and due to the unpopularity associated with their time on the show, were quickly written out of the same episode in which Bo and Luke returned.

Bo and Luke return [link]

Although Coy and Vance were never popular with the majority, many viewers were disappointed by their departure episode, "Welcome Back, Bo 'N' Luke", which was very much a standard episode, with the return of Bo and Luke and the departure of Coy and Vance tacked onto the beginning (Bo and Luke return from their NASCAR tour just as Coy and Vance leave Hazzard to tend to a sick relative). Many viewers commented that they were disappointed by this, and that they would have liked to have seen both pairs of Duke boys team up to tackle a particularly dastardly plot by Boss Hogg but as it turned out, Coy and Vance had very little dialogue and were gone by the first commercial break, never to be mentioned again.^[6]

While the return of Bo and Luke was welcomed by ardent and casual viewers alike, and as a result saw ratings recover slightly, the show never completely regained its former popularity. One of Wopat and Schneider's disputes even before they left was what they considered to be increasingly weak and formulaic scripts.^[7] With Wopat and Schneider's return, the producers agreed to try a wider scope of storylines, even including some science fiction elements in certain episodes.^[8] However, although it continued for two more seasons, the show never fully returned to its former glory. As well as what was widely recognised to be increasingly inferior scripts, many fans, or indeed cast members, did not take to the miniature car effects used to make it appear as if the General Lee was performing even more breathtaking feats (in part to compete with TV's newer supercar, Knight Rider). Finally, at the end of its seventh season, in early February 1985, The Dukes of Hazzard quietly ended its run.

Vehicles [link]

The General Lee's charger.

The General Lee by itself

The General Lee [link]

The General Lee was Bo and Luke Duke's 1969 Dodge Charger. It was orange with a Confederate battle flag painted on the roof, and the words GENERAL LEE over each door and the number "01" on each door. In the original five Georgia-filmed episodes, a Confederate flag along with a checkered racing flag in a criss-cross pattern could be seen behind the rear window; this was removed when it was felt that this extra detail did not show up enough on-screen enough to warrant the already very tight time constraints of preparing and repairing each example of the car. The name refers to the American Civil War Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The television show was based on the movie Moonrunners, itself based on actual moonshine runners who used a 1958 Chrysler named Traveler, after General Lee's horse. Traveler was originally intended to be the name of the Duke boys' stock car too, until producers agreed that General Lee had more punch to it.

Since it was built as a race car, the windows were regularly open (except for several shots in early episodes). Through the history of the show, an estimated 309 Chargers were used; 23 are still known to exist in various states of repair. A replica was owned by John Schneider, known as "Bo's General Lee". In 2008, Schneider sold "Bo's General Lee" at the Barrett-Jackson automobile auction for $450,000. That was the original price but by the end of the ebay auction it sold for 9 million 9 hundred and 99 dollars. BO sold that car. The underside of the hood has the signatures of the cast from the 1997 TV movie. Schneider has also restored over 20 other General Lees to date. The show also used 1968 Chargers (which shared the same sheet metal) by changing the grille and taillight panel to the 1969 style, and removing the round side marker lights. These Chargers performed many record-breaking jumps throughout the show, almost all of them resulting in a completely destroyed car.

The Duke boys added a custom air horn to the General Lee which played the first twelve notes of the song Dixie. The Dixie horn was not originally planned, until a Georgia local hot rod racer drove by and sounded his car's Dixie horn. The producers immediately rushed after him asking where he had bought the horn. Warner Brothers purchased several Chargers for stunts, as they generally destroyed at least one or two cars per episode. By the end of the show's sixth season, the Chargers were becoming harder to find, and more expensive. In addition, the television series Knight Rider began to rival the General Lee's stunts. As such, the producers used 1/8 scale miniatures, filmed by Jack Sessums' crew, or recycled stock jump footage, which had always been used to a degree in episodes in previous seasons.

Some of the 01 and Confederate flag motifs were initially hand painted, but as production sped up these were replaced with vinyl decals for quick application (and removal) as needed.

The third episode "Mary Kaye's Baby" is the only one in which the General Lee does not appear. Instead, the Dukes drove around in a blue 1975 Plymouth Fury borrowed from Cooter that Luke later destroyed with a stick of dynamite during a duel with some mobsters.

The Duke boys' CB call sign was (jointly) "Lost Sheep". Originally when the show was conceived, their call sign was to be "General Lee" to match their vehicle, but this was only ever used on-screen on one occasion, in the second episode, "Daisy's Song", when Cooter calls Bo and Luke over the CB by this handle - although they were actually driving Daisy's Plymouth Roadrunner (see below) at the time. As it became obvious that the "General Lee" handle would be out of place when the Duke boys were in another vehicle, the "Lost Sheep" handle was devised (with Uncle Jesse being "Shepherd" and Daisy being "Bo Peep").

AMC Matador [link]

The 1975 AMC Matador^[9] was one of many different Hazzard County police cars used on the series, mostly in the first season; they had light bars and working radios. A 1970 Dodge Polara^[10] and a 1975 Dodge Monaco^[11] were used during the pilot episode "One Armed Bandits", these were also seen in the show's title sequence. From the second season, the 1977 Dodge Monaco^[12] was mostly used. From mid-season four the similar looking 1978 Plymouth Fury^[13] was used instead.

Plymouth Roadrunner [link]

A 1974 Plymouth Roadrunner^[14] (yellow with a black stripe) was used by Daisy Duke in the first five episodes of the first season. For the last episodes of the first season and the second season, a similarly painted 1972 Plymouth Satellite with a matching "Road Runner" stripe was used until Bo and Luke sent it off a cliff in "The Runaway" after the brakes failed. At the end of that episode, she is given her Golden Eagle Jeep "Dixie".

Dixie [link]

Dixie was the name given to Daisy Duke's trademark white 1980 Jeep CJ-7 "Golden Eagle" which had a Golden Eagle emblem on the hood and the name "Dixie" on the sides. Like other vehicles in the show, there was actually more than one Jeep used throughout the series. Sometimes it would have an automatic transmission, and other times it would be a manual. The design of the roll-cage also varied across the seasons. When the Jeep was introduced at the end of the second season's "The Runaway", it was seen to have doors and a slightly different paint-job, but, bar one appearance in the next produced episode, "Arrest Jesse Duke" (actually broadcast before "The Runaway", causing a continuity error), from thereafter the doors were removed and the paint-job was made all-white, with "Dixie" painted on the sides of the hood. These Jeeps were leased to the producers of the show by American Motors Corporation in exchange for a brief mention in the closing credits of the show.

Uncle Jesse's Truck [link]

Uncle Jesse's Truck was a white Ford Pickup truck, most commonly a Sixth generation (1973–1977) F100 Styleside.^[15] However, in the earliest episodes it had a Flareside bed, and varied between F100 and F250 models throughout the show's run. Daisy also drove Jesse's truck on occasion.

Boss Hogg's Cadillac [link]

A White 1970 Cadillac De Ville convertible was used as Hogg's car, notably with large bull horns as a hood ornament. In earlier seasons Hogg was driven by a chauffeur, who was normally nameless and had little or no dialogue, but identified on occasion as being called "Alex"; and played by several different uncredited actors, including stuntman Gary Baxley. This chauffer would often be dressed in a red plaid shirt and deep brown / black stetson, but on occasion would be an older man, sometimes dressed in more typical chauffer attire. Hogg is first seen to drive for himself in the second season opener "Days of Shine and Roses", where he and Jesse challenge each other to one last moonshine race. From the fourth season onwards, bar a couple of brief reappearances of the chauffer (during the fourth season), Hogg drove himself around in his Cadillac (or occasionally driven by Rosco) and frequently challenged others by invoking his driving expertise from his days as a ridge-runner. Unlike other vehicles in the series, Boss Hogg's Cadillac is typically treated with kid gloves. The car is always seen with its convertible top down, with the top only ever being seen in one episode, "Daisy's Song", the second to be produced and broadcast.

Tourist attraction [link]

The Dukes of Hazzard Museums can be found in Nashville, Tennessee and in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The original goes by the name of Cooter's Place, being overseen by Ben "Cooter" Jones from the series. Just like most museums, this one has a gift shop.

These museums have the cast's real costumes, autographs, replicas of the vehicles, Dukes' go-karts and various attractions, and members of the show cast often make guest appearances at events held at these locations. Usually in Tennessee during Dukesfest, there are guest appearances at the museum, such as autograph signing and meet and greets.

Covington and Conyers, Georgia, where the original five episodes were produced, have been two major tourist attractions for Dukes of Hazzard fans.

Theme song [link]

Main article: "Theme from The Dukes of Hazzard (Good Ol' Boys)"

The theme song "The Good Ol' Boys" was written and performed by Waylon Jennings. He was also "The Balladeer" (as credited), and served as narrator of the show. However, the Jennings theme song that is currently available for purchase is not the same version that was used in the show's opening credits. The differences are that the show version featured a different verse ["...Fightin' the system like two modern-day Robin Hoods"], an enhanced bass line, a shorter length, and the famous "Yee-haw" yell at the end.

In 1980, the song reached #1 on the American Country chart and peaked at #21 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[16]

Broadcast history [link]

• The series was originally broadcast in America by CBS on Friday nights, at 8:00 p.m., preceding Dallas.
• Until TNN (The Nashville Network) was purchased by Viacom, it aired reruns of The Dukes of Hazzard. Some months after the creation of "The National Network" (shortly before its change to "Spike TV"), the program was absent from much of television for quite some time. Viacom's country music-themed cable network CMT (the former sister network to TNN) aired the show from 2005 to 2007 at 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. eastern time every weekday. CMT began airing the series in late February 2005. It also aired Monday–Thursday on ABC Family.
• The series was broadcast by BBC One in the United Kingdom, debuting on Saturday 3 March 1979 at 9 pm (just several months after it began in the US). Popular with all ages (and as some of the more adult elements of very early episodes faded out of the series), it quickly moved from its post-watershed position to a more family-friendly Monday evening slot at 7:20 pm. Soon a massive hit, it moved from Monday evenings to prime time Saturday evening (times varied, but typically around 5:25 pm), where it stayed for a number of years. Later when ratings began to dip (partly caused by the change to Coy and Vance, and partly to do with competition from ITV, with new hit shows such as The A-Team), it moved back to Mondays, making the odd return for short runs on Saturdays. Late episodes also popped up occasionally on Sunday afternoons, and the remaining episodes of the final season were broadcast on weekday mornings during school holidays in the late 1980s.
• In 1992, UK satellite channel Sky1 bought a package of the program, owning the rights to the first 60 episodes produced (running up to "The Fugitive"), showing the series on Saturday afternoons at 4 p.m. They later showed the episodes they owned again, including a stint showing it in a weekday 3 p.m. slot, running for fifty minutes (including commercials) with the episodes heavily edited for time as a result, often leaving gaps in the plot. Despite requests from fans, they did not secure the rights to later episodes. The series was later run on the satellite channels Granada Plus and TNT. UK satellite channel Bravo began airing reruns in August 2005.
• The series was also shown in the Netherlands by Dutch broadcasting organization AVRO, with Dutch subtitles, rather than being dubbed.
• It was shown on the 0-10 Network (now Network Ten) in Australia from September 1979 until the end of the series, and repeated throughout the 1980s and 1990s. It was briefly rerun on Pay TV channel TV1 in the 2000s, but is now shown on Nine Network's subchannel, Go!.
• The series was popular in Colombia, dubbed to Spanish. Some late-night reruns continue to the present time.
• In Italy the series started to air in September 1981 on Canale 5, under the title Hazzard and quickly became very popular with the viewers.
• CMT aired "The Dukes Ride Again", a special marathon which featured episodes from the first two seasons, on the weekend of September 10, 2010 and have begun airing episodes weeknights at 7 pm and 11 pm Eastern time starting September 13, 2010.
• The series is currently airing episodes weekdays on New Zealand's channel The Box.
• CMT is currently airing reruns of the show on weekdays,as noted below.

Syndication [link]

Soon before the series ended its original run on CBS, The Dukes of Hazzard went into off-network syndication. Although not as widely run as it was back in the 1980s and the years since, reruns of the program do continue to air in various parts of the United States.

Notably, television stations that aired the show in syndication include KCOP Los Angeles, WGN-TV Chicago, KBHK San Francisco, WKBD Detroit, KTXL Sacramento, WVTV Milwaukee, KMSP Minneapolis–Saint Paul, among others. It has also aired on ABC Family (2000–2001, 2004) and CMT (2005–2007, 2010–present), WMAZ-TV in Macon, Georgia 1979–1985, WGXA-TV Macon, Georgia 1984–1990.

Nielsen ratings [link]

Season one managed to average 18.39 million viewers in 1979. Season 2 grew 15.6% to 21.81 million viewers while Season 3 dropped 15.5% to 18.41 million viewers in 1980–1981. Season 4 dropped extensively to below 14.327 million viewers but as ratings below the top 30, Seasons 4 - 7 ratings are unknown.

Episode list [link]

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Spin-offs [link]

• The character of Deputy Sheriff Enos Strate was spun off into his own short-lived detective show called Enos, which ran from 1980 to 1981. As a result, Enos was written out of The Dukes of Hazzard at the start of the third season in the episode "Enos Strate to the Top." After Enos was cancelled, the character returned to Hazzard at the beginning of the fifth season.
• An animated version of the show called The Dukes aired in 1983. The first season fell under the Coy and Vance era of the live-action show and thus they were adapted into animated form. By the second season, Bo and Luke had returned, and they replaced Coy and Vance in the cartoon.
• Several video games based on the show were created:
  • The Dukes of Hazzard for ColecoVision using Expansion Module #2 (1984)
  • The Dukes of Hazzard for the Sinclair Spectrum (1985)
  • The Dukes of Hazzard (unreleased Atari 2600 prototype by Coleco)
  • The Dukes of Hazzard: Racing for Home (1999)
  • The Dukes of Hazzard 2: Daisy Dukes It Out (2000)
  • The Dukes of Hazzard: Return of the General Lee (2004)
• In 2005, the Humana Festival of New American Plays premiered a full-length comedy-drama entitled Hazzard County by Allison Moore. The story centers on a young widowed mother and a visit she receives from a big city television producer. Interspersed with recollections of Bo, Luke, and Daisy, the play takes a deep look at southern "good ol' boy" culture and its popularization through the lens of American mass media.

The second season episodes "Jude Emery", about a Texas Ranger, and "Mason Dixon's Girls", about a travelling private investigator and his female associates, were both pilots written by Dukes creator Gy Waldron for proposed new shows. Both failed to sell.

Films [link]

There were two made-for-TV reunion movies that aired on CBS, The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion! (1997) and The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood! (2000).

A feature film remake of the series, The Dukes of Hazzard premiered on August 5, 2005. It became a box office hit and was well-received by its audience^{[citation needed]}, although it was critically panned. A second Dukes of Hazzard film, The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning, a prequel to the original (and the first film) was a TV movie and also went straight to DVD release.

DVD releases [link]

Warner Home Video has released all seven seasons of The Dukes of Hazzard on DVD in regions 1 and 2. The two TV-movies that followed the series were released on DVD in Region 1 on June 10, 2008.^[26] In Region 4, Warner has released only the first six seasons on DVD.

Legacy and influence in popular culture [link]

A huge hit when it originally aired, in the decades since The Dukes of Hazzard has remained as something of a staple in popular culture, in both the US and overseas. Character names such as "Boss Hogg" and various other elements from the series are still well recognised and often referenced in daily conversation. Additionally, the series is also held up by many for being a wholesome family show with strong morals, something that is championed by its various stars, including Ben Jones (Cooter) and John Schneider (Bo).

In everyday language [link]

• Getting into a car "Dukes of Hazzard style" is a recognised term for entering a car through the windows.
• "Daisy Dukes" is a recognised term for very short jean shorts.

In other media [link]

In film [link]

Martians stop to watch the The Dukes of Hazzard in midst of invading Earth in the 1996 movie Mars Attacks!.

In games [link]

• In the game Saints Row: The Third, there is an achievement called the "Bo-Duke-En" Achievement for entering a vehicle in similar fashion to the Duke boys 50 times.

In music [link]

• Members of the Canadian alternative rock band Barenaked Ladies appear driving and riding in a replica of The General Lee car from the series in their music video for "One Week".
• On their 1985 album Frankenchrist, the punk rock band Dead Kennedys named the song "Goons of Hazzard", which satirized "macho" attitudes from the series.
• The distinctive "01" door number on orange paint from The General Lee car appears in the background of a scene in the music video for "Rockstar" by Canadian rock band Nickelback.

In television [link]

The series has been referenced in many modern shows, including, amongst many others, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Family Guy, South Park, and The Simpsons. For example:

• In the Family Guy episode "To Live and Die in Dixie", the Griffins enter the witness relocation program and move to rural Georgia. Once there, Peter paints his station wagon in the color scheme of The General Lee, complete with Confederate flag on the roof and "01" on each side.
• *In 2005, Tom Wopat and John Schneider were reunited during "Exposed", a fifth season episode of the Superman-inspired television series Smallville.^[27] Wopat guest-starred as Kansas State Senator Jack Jennings, an old friend of Clark Kent's adoptive father Jonathan Kent (portrayed by Schneider). In the episode, Jennings drives a 1968 Dodge Charger—the same body style as The General Lee which was a 1969 Dodge Charger.^[28]

References [link]

Further reading [link]

1. Best in Hollywood: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful, by James Best with Jim Clark. Albany, 2009. BearManor Media. ISBN # 1-59393-460-2.
2. Redneck Boy in the Promised Land: The Confessions of "Crazy Cooter", by Ben "Cooter" Jones, 2008. Crown. ISBN # 0307395278
3. The Dukes of Hazzard - The Unofficial Companion, by David Hofstede, forward by Catherine Bach. 1998. Renaissance Books. ISBN # 1-58063-038-3

External links [link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: The Dukes of Hazzard

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Dukes of Hazzard

• Dukes of Hazzard Official site
• Dukes of Hazzard at the Internet Movie Database
• The Dukes of Hazzard at TV.com
• Dukes of Hazzard Information & Hazzard County Car Club
• The Dukes of Hazzard at CMT.com
• HazzardNet
• Dukes Online
• Dukes of Hazzard horn
• Dutch Dukes of Hazzard website
• "The Dukes of Hazzard, Television's Simple South, and Resurrecting the Outlaw Hero" — An academic analysis of The Dukes of Hazzard
• Dukes of Hazzard DVD website
• https://modelshowcase.weebly.com/general-lee.html The General Lee