The Dukes of Hazzard

'A kids show! But well done. Well with today"s P C crowd The Dukes of Hazzard got taken off T V land. I guess the car, the short shorts, and southern stereotypes where laughable in the 70's, but never to be aired on regular t v again. Cable and H B O I would say yes. But back in the 70's Confederate flags, BBQ, short shorts/ tight shirts, male and female eye candy was the norm. Boss hog, and Rosco where two bumblers bad guys and every episode had no social message, but a formulated plot which involved dynamite and high rev gear jamming. Funny the first 3 seasons where more adult oriented with humor, but The Dukes of Hazzard slow became more of a predictable kid's show as the series progressed. Tom and Wil where gone for a season due to a contract hold out, which formulated the series even more. Laughable at times, with some interesting stunts, with funny stereo type humor influenced from the Smokie and Bandit Burt Reynolds 70's make The Dukes of Hazzard a memorable series like M A S H. For the monster truck, and professional wrestling crowd which I love. Ya all have a good time now. 7 stars.

Eight years after Fred Silverman's infamous "rural purge", this show burst on the scene and instantly became a hit. Even though the show did get a lot of heat for the outlandish plots, simplistic characters and scantily clad women, especially Daisy, this show struck a chord with the American public during the late 70's/early 80's. Also, you could tell that this show was done very tongue in cheek and that the cast had a lot of fun doing it. The only bump in the road that hurt its momentum was when John Schneider and Tom Wopat left the show due to a contract dispute. When the producers thought that those two could be replaced by a pair of actors that were almost identical to their predecessors. However the show went downhill during this period. Also, the producers thought that it was the car and not the two leads that everyone turned in to see. However, when the ratings dropped and soon the producers were begging Schneider and Wopat to return.

Even though this show wasn't Shakespeare, it still was one of the highlights of C.B.S.'s Friday night lineup.

I remember being eight years old when I started watching this show. I would anxiously await the Friday line up that included The Incredible Hulk, Dallas, Falcon Crest and this one. That was a great Friday line up, highlighted of course by the Dukes. What was so appealing about this show to so many people was it's virtue. I'm sure parents wanted their kids to watch it because you couldn't have a better show for their kids to watch. It was safe. The Dukes were polite, virtuous and church going. How could they not like that? How could a parent object to anything like that? But of course as kids we liked it for different reasons.

Stunts, fast cars, Daisy, Boss Hogg and Roscoe. The Dukes of Hazard was so absurd sometimes but it always entertained you and more often than not it made you laugh. Could you imagine what the script must have looked like when they first pitched it to studio? Could you imagine how silly Roscoe must have looked on paper? I mean how do you write in his ridiculous laugh? How do you write all of his idiosyncrasies? Or was that all James Best? I don't know, but it sure was funny.

TV is different now in the 90's and beyond. Shows are more gritty and real and there is nudity and foul language and talk of homosexuality and alcoholism and a plethora of other issues. And that is fine. I like shows like Dawsons Creek and Friends and such, but Dukes of Hazard is a throw back to a simpler time. It is a time in television history when innocence was combined beautifully with humour, fast cars and lots of scenes of the General Lee jumping creeks. This was so much fun to watch and even when Coy and Vance came on the show, it was still okay.

The Dukes of Hazard was classic TV. My generation looks at this like my parents generation looks at Leave It To Beaver. Has twenty years really gone by?

I'm biased because I was the of perfect age (and mindset, I LOVE car culture) to grow up with shows like this and Knight Rider. But this show was one of a kind, and took advantage of the car cult flicks of the 70's. While I'll admit some of the episodes were downright cartoonish (actually, most were!), some episodes were really attempting to tell a decent story. As predictable as every episode was, it still had a charm to it that made you want to engage. The main actors were all really good in their portrayals, and you felt like Hazard county really existed somewhere, and to a certain degree, I bet it does, without the jumping car, of course. Bottom line, this was an era where shows were comfortable in what they were, and that alone holds value with me. No agendas, no propaganda, no hidden messages, just "turn your brain off" fun, with eye candy for both sexes. And a fast car to boot. That was all you asked for back then, and honestly, I'd do anything for us to be living in that time again.

Love this show so much, the cars, the family, fighting the system, it was the Fast and the Furious before Vin Diesel.

Contains one of the most underrated comedy duos ever in James Best and Sorrel Booke. There will never be another Roscoe P Coltrane or Jefferson Davis High again.