The Dukes Of Hazzard
 Rural
comedies such as The Beverly Hillbillies had been a staple
of the CBS line-up in the 60's. The Dukes of Hazzard
signalled a revival of the "good ol' boy" comedy.
Luke and Bo Duke were cousins and buddies in Hazzard County,
located "east of the Mississippi and south of the Ohio"
(no state was ever mentioned but there is a Hazard, Kentucky - a
city, not a county).
Their nemesis was Boss Hogg, a fat, blustery and thoroughly
corrupt local politician always seen in a white flannel
suit.
The Dukes easily managed to avoid capture by dim-witted Sheriff
Coltrane, Hogg's brother-in-law, while acting as Robin Hoods of
the county.
The Dukes sped up and down the county in their souped-up 1969
Dodge Charger, the General Lee, occasionally pausing for some
advice from their wise old uncle Jesse.
Moonshine, wild car chases and crashes along with lots of
scantily clad young women, including the Dukes' gorgeous cousin
Daisy (Catherine Bach, who reputedly had her legs insured for $US
20 million), populated the series. Country star Waylon Jennings
served as off-screen narrator, to the accompaniment of fast-paced
banjo music.
The considerable success of The Dukes of Hazzard spawned
several imitations, including: Lobo, Harper Valley PTA
and a spin-off from Dukes itself, Enos starred
Sheriff Coltrane's grinning Deputy Enos. When Enos departed the
series he was replaced by a new Deputy, Cletus.
In the spring of 1982, Tom Wopat and John Schneider walked out
on The Dukes of Hazzard in a contract dispute over their
salaries and share of the merchandising royalties from Dukes
toys, games, T-shirts and other merchandise that were selling like
hotcakes.
Warner Brothers held a nationwide hunt to find two new Dukes to
fill their shoes in the series and, after screening 2,230
applicants, settled on Byron Cherry and Christopher Mayer.
It was explained that Luke and Bo had left Hazzard to try their
luck on the NASCAR racing circuit and that their cousins, Coy and
Vance, had returned home after a six-year absence to help Uncle
Jesse run the farm. Deputy Enos Strate was back, but it just
wasn't the same.
The show's ratings and Wopat's and Schneider's careers all
suffered as a result of the feud, so a settlement was finally
reached and Luke and Bo returned to Hazzard County the following
February.
That fall, Coy and Vance were gone.
The series also took its toll in real automobiles as a result
of all those chases and crashes. Although on-screen, the General
Lee never seemed to have a scratch, almost 300 look-alikes were
wrecked during filming. Identically painted Dodge Chargers were
kept on hand during production of each episode, so filming was
never held up.
The theme song from the series, sung by Waylon Jennings, was on
the charts during 1980. An animated version of the show, titled The
Dukes, aired on CBS's Saturday morning line-up from February
to November, 1983 with the series' regulars providing the voices.
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