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Dukes of Hazzard

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For the 2005 film, see: The Dukes of Hazzard (film).
The Dukes of Hazzard is an American television series that originally aired on the CBS television network from 1979 to 1985. It was directed by Jack Starrett following his departure from Starsky and Hutch (1975). Starrett went on to direct Hill Street Blues (1981).

Exposition

The TV series, The Dukes of Hazzard, followed the adventures of two good ol' boys, Bo and Luke Duke, living in an unincorporated area of the fictional Hazzard County, Georgia racing around in their 1969 Dodge Charger, The General Lee, evading corrupt Boss Hogg and his inept county sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane. Bo and Luke had been sentenced to probation for illegal transportation of moonshine.

Many episodes revolved around Boss trying to engage in an illegal scheme with criminal associates. Some of them were "get-rich schemes", though many others affected the financial security of the Duke farm (property which Boss long wanted to acquire for various reasons). Other times, Boss hired known criminals to frame Bo and Luke for crimes such as bank robbery (thus, resulting in probation revocation and allowing Boss to easily acquire the Duke farm). It was up to Bo and Luke to uncover the schemes and foil the criminals.

More than once, however, Boss was targeted by former associates who were either seeking revenge or turned against him after a scheme unraveled due to Boss' greedy nature or Rosco's bumbling. Other times, criminals who were even more crooked and ruthless than Boss came to town. Sheriff Rosco also found himself in trouble more than once. In these common situations, Bo and Luke often had to rescue their local Hazzard adversaries before ultimately defeating the bad guys.

Bo and Luke Duke in their famous car, The General Lee
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Bo and Luke Duke in their famous car, The General Lee

Origins

The show was an adaptation of the movie Moonrunners (1975), based on the life and times of Jerry Rushing. In Moonrunners, the "Good Ol' Boys", Grady and Bobby Lee Hagg, run moonshine for Uncle Jesse Hagg. Uncle Jesse prides himself on his old-fashioned moonshining and refuses to buckle to the 'big business moonshine' tactics of boss Jake, who controls the area for the New York mafia. The last name of the protagonists in the film is similar to the last name of the main antagonist in the TV series. Many characters, including "Uncle Jesse", "Sheriff Cole" (which would become Sheriff Coltrane), and "Cooter" are also featured in the film.

A lesser source of characters is the Louisiana scenes from the James Bond film, Live and Let Die, where Sheriff J.W. Pepper attempts to apprehend a speeding 007, with little success. The Sheriff is a recognisable precursor for Boss Hogg, as are his wisecracking deputies (the boys) for Bo and Luke. Aside from the characters, the settings of the Louisiana bayous and local environment are also recognizable precursors of the television series.

Characters

Main characters

Bo Duke
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Bo Duke


Luke Duke
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Luke Duke


The Duke boys shared the CB callsign "Lost Sheep".

Supporting cast of characters

Daisy Duke
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Daisy Duke

Jesse Duke
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Jesse Duke



Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane
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Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane

Rosco's loyal companion (pictured) is Flash.
Boss Hogg
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Boss Hogg


Enos Strate
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Enos Strate


Cletus Hogg
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Cletus Hogg


The General Lee
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The General Lee




Recurring characters

Character Actor Info
Lulu Coltrane Hogg Peggy Rea Boss Hogg's wife, and Rosco's "fat sister". Lulu constantly challenged her husband for authority and rallied for the equality of women in Hazzard.
Longstreet B. Davenport Ernie Lively (credited as Ernie W. Brown) L.B. was Cooter's cousin. He also filled for Cooter when he was away from the garage. L.B. first appeared in "Duke of Duke" and appeared in several other episodes.
Miz (Emma) Tisdale Nedra Volz The postmistress of the Hazzard Post Office, Miz Tisdale ("Emma" to Jesse Duke) was an elderly woman who drove a motorcycle and had a huge crush on Uncle Jesse. She was also a reporter for the Hazzard Gazzette.
Sheriff Edward Thomas "Big Ed" Little Don Pedro Colley The chief law enforcement officer for neighboring Chickasaw County, he had a tendency to knock fenders off of cars when he wrecked. The ill-tempered sheriff hated Bo and Luke immensely, and they were well aware that they were not allowed to enter his county. Sheriff Little was also constantly frustrated by the bumbling performance of Boss and Rosco, although he thought highly of Enos.
Hughie Hogg Jeff Altman Boss Hogg's evil nephew. He drove a white VW Beetle with bull horns on the hood, similar to Boss Hogg's Caddy.
Emery Potter Charlie Dell Emery Potter is the part-time Hazzard County registrar and chief teller of the Hazzard Bank. Emery is a softspoken man with a low tolerance for anything exciting. He is a friend of the Dukes.
Doc Appleby Parley Baer He is Hazzard County's most prolific physician.
Mabel Tillingham Lindsay Bloom Mabel is Boss's cousin who runs the Hazzard Phone Company.

Memorable characters that appeared once in the series

Bo and Luke leave the show

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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, series stars John Schneider and Tom Wopat walked off the set in a contract dispute over their salaries and merchandising royalties.

Two "replacement Dukes" were subsequently hired (Byron Cherry as Coy, Christopher Mayer as Vance), and the ratings immediately sank. The "faux Dukes" (one of the more polite ways viewers described the "long-lost nephews" of Uncle Jesse) were never popular with viewers, and were immediately written out the show when Schneider and Wopat reached a settlement and returned to the series in early 1983. Some fans consider this period as "The Scabs of Hazzard".

While the return of Bo and Luke was welcomed by hardcore fans, the show never regained its former popularity, and by 1985, The Dukes of Hazzard quietly ended its run.

Tourist attraction

Although Hazzard County, Georgia was a fictional location (the early episodes of the show were filmed in Covington, Georgia and Conyers, Georgia), the real-life town of Hazard, Kentucky was a beneficiary of the show's popularity. Members of the cast were frequent visitors to the town's annual Black Gold Festival. There are still gatherings of Dukes of Hazzard fans, the largest of which is the Dukesfest, which is held at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee and organized by Ben Jones (Cooter Davenport) and his wife. More than 25,000 fans attended the 2 day event in 2005.

The \"Cousin Countin' Game\"

Many people have tried to decipher the Duke's family tree in an attempt to understand how it is that so many people could be cousins, all with the last name "Duke." The last unofficial word is that Jesse Duke would have had to have come from a family of seven boys, including himself, as he would have had to have six brothers to have produced offspring named "Duke."

Considering Jesse's advanced age, it is possible he may have been a great-uncle to Bo, Luke and Daisy, and thus the brother of their grandfather. As the term "cousin" has a wide range of familial applications, it isn't strictly necessary for all the various cousins depicted on the show to be first cousins.

''NOTE: "Gaylord Duke" appeared in the episode "The Duke of Duke" (Episode 13, Season 2. Original airdate: 21 December 1979) claiming to be a cousin by marriage, but turned out to be a con man impersonating their real 3rd cousin from London, England where he is a priest at a halfway-house.

Theme song

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.

Episode list

A complete listing of The Dukes of Hazzard episodes, along with synopsis, can be found at List of The Dukes of Hazzard episodes.

After the show

Movies

Moonrunners (1975) was the original film that the series was based on.

There were two made-for-TV reunion movies, ' (1997) and ' (2000)

A feature film remake of the series, The Dukes of Hazzard premiered on August 5 2005. It was not well received.

Spin offs

Reruns

Until TNN was purchased by Viacom, it aired reruns of The Dukes of Hazzard. Some months after the creation of "The New TNN" (shortly before its change to "Spike TV"), the program was absent from all television for quite some time. Viacom's country music-themed cable network CMT (the former sister network to TNN) currently airs the show at 7:00 p.m. eastern time weekday. CMT Canada and Showcase Action airs The Dukes in Canada. CMT America began airing the series in late February 2005. Beginning in June 2006, ABC Family started airing the show Wednesday through Friday at midnight. In the United Kingdom, satellite channel Bravo began reruns in August 2005.

DVD releases

Dukes of Hazzard references

Trivia

External links


The Dukes of Hazzard
Characters:
Bo Duke | Luke Duke | Daisy Duke | Uncle Jesse | Cooter Davenport | Boss Hogg
Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane | Enos Strate | Cletus Hogg
Minor characters:
Lulu Coltrane Hogg | Hughie Hogg | Abraham Lincoln Hogg
Television:
The Dukes of Hazzard | List of The Dukes of Hazzard episodes | Enos
The Dukes (animated series) | ' (reunion movie)
Film:
Moonrunners (1975) | The Dukes of Hazzard (2005) |
' (2007)
Other:
The General Lee | Hazzard County | Boar's Nest | Daisy Dukes | Jerry Rushing
(video game)

 


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