Dukes of Hazzard

My car horn on one of my cars when I was a kid played the same thing as the General Lee did in the Dukes of Hazzard (Dixie). Yep, I was just a good ole boy…….with boobies.

I watched The Dukes of Hazzard every Friday night on channel 5 (CBS). It came on right before Dallas. I never watched Dallas but my sister Lori did. She loved Patrick Duffy. Anyway, I’ve always loved cars and cute boys, and Dukes of Hazzard had both. The show began in early 1979 and ended seven seasons later in 1985. The show was based on the 1975 movie Moonrunners but I also see similarities from the movie Smokey and the Bandit.

The main stars of the show were John Schneider and Tom Wopat. They played cousins Bo and Luke Duke. There was also cousin Daisy played by Catherine Bach. She wore shorts that went all the way up her butt and made her look slutty. At least she was really smart. Not.

Coy & Vance

Schneider and Wopat walked out after the fourth season due to a dispute with their salary and royalties from merchandising. Two look-a-like cute boys were brought in and the show tanked big. Byron Cherry and Christopher Mayer came on as Coy and Vance Duke. (It was explained that Bo and Luke went to race on the NASCAR circuit.) The scripts had already been written, but any lines for Bo and Luke were simply (and literally) crossed out and replaced with Coy and Vance. The original boys were back by the end of the fifth season as the powers that be realized the show sucked without them.

My relatives in Turtle Lake, North Dakota actually “played” the characters from The Dukes of Hazzard for fun. That’s cute and everything but you must know there’s really nothing to do there in Turtle Lake. My cousin David has had the nickname Cooter for the last 35 or so years. He opened up an auto repair shop (I think that’s what it is) and named it “Cooter’s Repairs”.

Dukes of Hazzard Trivia

• Waylon Jennings’ band did the music for the early episodes.
• Waylon Jennings is the narrator for the show.
• Sorrell Booke (Boss Hogg) wore padding. He wasn’t really that fat. I wish mine was just padding.
• Sorrell Booke had it in his contract that Boss Hogg would not deal drugs or kill. Cool.
• John Schneider has restored over 20 Dodge Chargers.
• There were a total of 309 General Lee cars used (and probably destroyed) during the series.
• Over half of the fan mail sent to the show was addressed to the General Lee.
• The original Boar’s Nest is now a church. Praise Jebus.
• The P in Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane was added after the 1st season. The P stand for Pervis. FYI, John Coltrane was a super cool hip jazz dude.
• Dennis Quaid was considered for the role of Luke Duke. “Dennis Quaid is here!” (Who gets this quote?)
• Ben Jones (Cooter) owns a store in Tennessee called Cooter’s which I guess is a Dukes of Hazzard store. I wonder if my cousin David has visited there.
• John Schneider lied about his age to get the part. He said he was 24 but was really only 19.
• John Schneider showed up to his audition talking in a twangy Southern accent so that he could get the part. He was from New Yawk.
• James Best (Rosco) based the “coo coo” sound on sounds he used when he played with his kids. Coo coo means something else in our house.
• Uncle Jesse and Boss Hogg are the only characters to appear in all episodes.

Where Are They Now?

The three main stars of the Dukes of Hazzard continue to act. John Schneider was just in the news for being in the slammer. Read about that here. Other than having to deal with a money hungry ex-wife, he has done quite well for himself. He currently has several movies in post-production. Schneider is probably the most successful of the three, but the other two have done fine.

I saw Tom Wopat on Home Improvement in the 90’s. He was hitting on Tim’s wife, Jill. Bad boy! He’s done a ton of different shows. I saw him most recently playing a sheriff in the Netflix original, Longmire.

Catherine Bach showed up on my soap opera, The Young and the Restless. She has gotten a bit fluffy and maybe had some cosmetic stuff done to her face. I’m not sure. I’m pretty sure most of the older cast has died. Sad.

Movie & DVD

There was a Dukes movie made in 2005 that I still haven’t seen. It starred Seann William Scott (Stiffler), Johnny Knoxville (Jackass), and Jessica Simpson (the former Mrs. Nick Lachey). I don’t think it was highly rated and my guess is that it’s pretty stupid.

All seven seasons of Dukes of Hazzard have been released on DVD. I have the first season but think I need to get a few more. I know it was a silly show, but it’s part of my childhood. Leave me alone.

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