Never Meanin' No Harm

I've been a Dukes of Hazzard fan since I was thirteen. I was off on summer vacation and my cousin told me about this old show that TNN was running, and, looking up to him as I did, I checked it out. It was unfortunately when the station was running some of the early Coy and Vance episodes (we'll get to that later), but I more or less liked what I saw. It had everything a teenage boy could want: cool car chases, broad slapstick, and a girl in skimpy shorts. I was hooked.

This is all your fault.

Over the next five years, I ate up everything Dukes related, scouring the nascent Internet for any and all information I could find about the cast, the characters, but especially the car. You know the one, the 1969 Dodge Charger known as the General Lee.


Still my dream car.

I even went through a period of months where I carried a printed out photo of Daisy Duke in my wallet, which, fifteen years out, is super sad and dorky.

It was this photo. I never said I was cool.

This continued through high school, even leading me to take some classes I never would have normally, like Auto Shop. I was going to own that car one day, and I needed to know how to work on the thing.

Things cooled for me when, through a series of events, I was told that I could not get a driver's license, and would likely never be able to get one (fourteen years and counting since then).

No soup for you!

Anyhow, I moved on to other things, but the show never truly left my radar. I was super excited to meet Catherine Bach in 2005, and John Schneider in 2009. But I haven't watched the show in a very long time, which leads me to where we are now. Inspired by the great things being done over at Full House Reviewed, I decided to rewatch the show starting from the very beginning to see if it holds up. Hopefully someone will read along as I find out.

Comments

Anonymous said…

Just heard about this place by Full House Reviewed. My grandma owned a Charger ('73, though.)

August 4, 2013 at 12:13 AM

Jay Duke said…

Hey, glad you found your way over! I hope you enjoy the blog.

And the 73 Charger, while not as grand as the General Lee, is a very cool car indeed.

August 5, 2013 at 10:03 PM

Anonymous said…

Another Michigan person! Good to see you!

August 16, 2013 at 4:52 PM

Season 2, Episode 6, “The Ghost of General Lee”

In which the reports of death are greatly exaggerated… We open, like most times, with Rosco chasing Bo and Luke. Bo remarks that they didn’t even do anything, they’re just testing out the General Lee’s new camshaft. Rosco radios Enos the Dukes’ location, and his reply is garbled, due to what seems to be a faulty radio. Luke bets Bo that he can fool Rosco into losing them using his Enos impression over the radio. He does, and we are treated to a shot of Tom Wopat lip synching over an audio track of Enos-type phrases. As a result of this, they lose the police. Meanwhile, over in Sweetwater County, Chief Lacey (who used to be chief of police in Springville County back in season 1 ; I guess maybe he took a different job? Or, more likely, the continuity is non-existent) drops a couple of con men off at the Hazzard line, methodically naming off, and then destroying, their tools for fixing games of chance. He then tells them that if they ever come back, they’ll be going away for 10 ye...

Special Post: “Bo and Luke Use Autotrader.com”

In which the General Lee is finally given a rest, and the boys get a new car… So my wife was telling me about an ad she heard on the radio featuring the Dukes of Hazzard. I was intrigued, and took to the internet to find it. I never did find the radio ad, but I did come across what is probably the visual portion of the same campaign. We open with the General Lee being chased by some modern cop cars, being piloted by a much older Bo and Luke, returning to the roles for the first time since 2000’s “Hazzard in Hollywood” TV movie (which I’ll get around to reviewing much, much later). Bo remarks that they’ve still got it, implying (to me, at least) that they once again returned to their non-Hazzard professions of NASCAR driver (Bo) and Smokejumper for the US Forest Service (Luke), as established in 1997’s “Dukes of Hazzard Reunion’ TV movie (again, more on that in the future). I’m thinking they’ve both retired, and returned to Hazzard to live out their days doing as they please, w...

Season 1, Episode 2: "Daisy's Song" -- Originally Aired 02-02-1979

In which Daisy publishes a song, the Dukes interfere with an FBI case, and the word "pirate" is used far too many times... We open with Bo and Luke practicing archery in the Dukes' backyard. Jesse makes a cryptic remark about wild boars maybe being in the backyard, when Daisy comes flying out of the house, hollering about a song she wrote! Being sung by Jessi Colter! On the radio! Everyone pretends to be impressed, then Bo asks how much they paid her. Daisy asks what he means, and Luke explains to her about royalties. Daisy then informs him that she found an ad in a magazine offering to publish a song for $50. Bo tells her that magazines sometimes run ads for fraudulent operations. Uncle Jesse thinks Daisy's been fucked over, and sends the kids to Atlanta to either get a royalty check or the $50 back. He tells them to go easy on the folks in the big city, as they don't know any better. I see what you did there, Uncle Jesse, you old rascal! Daisy has as lif...

Tonight, on "The Dukes"

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