Dukes of Hazzard: Remembering Bo and Luke and the rest

The cast of the "Dukes of Hazzard".

Source: https://www.hazzardnet.com/dukes-of-hazzard-original-tv-series/the-characters/#google_vignette

(May be subject to copyright)

It was must-see TV when I was a kid – two handsome good old boys tearing around the countryside in a souped up car avoiding local law enforcement.

Yesterday – January 26 – was the 45th anniversary of “The Dukes of Hazzard” first hitting the airwaves in 1978, and it brought back a lot of memories.

Friday nights
When “The Dukes of Hazzard” aired in 1979, I was just nine years old, and had no idea it was on. I was introduced to the show by Mike, a friend and neighbour I rode the school bus with. He and some other guys talked about this show, and kept referring to it as “The Dukes” – drawing out the ‘u’ like “The Dooooooks”.

I had no idea what that meant. I found the show on a Friday night on Channel 13 on the peasant vision dial. It was on at like 10 p.m., which was late then, so I had to keep the volume really low not to disturb my parents. I don’t recall watching a whole episode, but watching bits and pieces because it was on late, but I kind of pieced together what the show was about.

Bo and Luke Duke, played by John Schneider and Tom Wopat respectively, were cousins who lived with their Uncle Jessie, played by Denver Pyle, and Cousin Daisy Duke, played by Catherine Bach on a farm in Hazzard County. The Duke boys drove a souped up Dodge Charger and, as it turned out, were on probation because they had been convicted of running moonshine. They were constantly pursued by Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane, played by James Best, who was trying to catch them violating their probation so he could throw them back in jail. He was assisted first by Deputy Enos Strate, played by Sonny Schroyer, who had a soft spot for the Dukes and a crush on Daisy, then Deputy Cletus Hogg, played by Rick Hurst. Roscoe’s boss was, well, Boss Hogg, played by Sorrell Booke. He pretty much owned or controlled everything in Hazzard County, including the “Boar’s Nest”, a bar that Daisy worked at.

The first episode I actually remember watching was a Friday night after we had company over, so I was still awake when the show came on. The Dukes had a friend named Cooter, played by Ben Jones, who was a mechanic in town. In this episode, the limousine of the President of the United States stops in Hazzard. Cooter is supposed to fix it, but something comes over him and he steals the president’s car.

The car
The Dukes drove that aforementioned Dodge Charger and called it “The General Lee”. It was pretty much a character in the show. “The General Lee” was orange with the number “01” painted on the front doors. They were welded shut, so the Dukes had to enter their car through the windows. When they were in a hurry to get into the car and go, Bo would hop through the driver’s window while Luke would slide across the hood and wheel around in through the passenger side window. A Confederate flag was painted on the roof of the car too.

Virtually every episode had a car chase with Roscoe in pursuit of the Diukes, often on back roads and through bush. Ultimately, the Dukes would come to a water body with a bridge out, or a ravine. With Roscoe hot on their tail there was only one thing to do – jump over the water or ravine. They would take off with the narrator building the tension and – go to commercial.

Coming out of commercial, “The General Lee” always landed, giving the Dukes a clean getaway and Roscoe trapped on the other side.

I read a “TV Guide” story about how fast the show’s producers were going through Dodge Chargers because the cars could only survive one jump before they were undrivable. The story was accompanied by pictures of the “01” doors and Confederate flag roofs being cut out to protect trademark and copyright. They were stacked in rows leaning up against buildings.

Interestingly, my cousin Vince in Brooks had a Dodge Charger. It had the shape of “The General Lee” but not the look of it.

The narrator
Every show opened with scenes of the upcoming episode that dissolved into a picture of a man playing a guitar and starting a song with the words, “Just a good old boys…”

That musician was Waylon Jennings playing the song “Theme from ‘The Dukes of Hazzard’ (Good Ol’ Boys)” He also served as the narrator, who the audience could hear periodically during various parts of each episode. The song went all the way to number one on the Billboard Hot Country singles chart in 1980.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
Boys will be boys. During the first couple years of the show, I would be playing with my friend Mike at his place or mine, and I was Bo and Mike was Luke as we pretended our bikes were the General Lee. I was Bo because I was blonde like him, while Mike was brunette like Luke.

The other Dukes
Tom Wopat and John Schneider got into a contract dispute in the fifth season, 1982-1983, and were written out of the show. The explanation for their exit was that Bo and Luke were off on the NASCAR circuit.

They were replaced by two new Duke cousins. It would seem Jessie Duke had no end of brothers who had good-looking, macho sons. The two new Dukes were Coy and Vance, played by Byron Cherry and Christopher Mayer respectively.

I read about all of this in the “TV Guide” fall preview issue. However, “The Dukes of Hazzard” aired on Channel 13 of the peasant vision dial and, like many shows, was pre-empted and aired at odd times such as Sunday afternoons. Consequently, I saw a piece of one episode with Coy and Vance, and it wasn’t even listed in “TV Guide”. Instead it looked like filler after the conclusion of a CTV telecast of football or baseball.

Ratings tanked to the point a settlement was reached and Wopat and Schneider returned near the end of the fifth season. Cherry and Mayer were unceremoniously dumped in the same episode Wopat and Schneider returned.

Missing in action
Another thing I recall vividly is missing various episodes after seeing their commercials and getting excited.

One in particular I recall was Luke training for a boxing match and seeing him train, doing one-armed push-ups and other exercises. We went to Brooks that Sunday, and got back just in time to see Luke chasing after the bad guy in his boxing robe.

Another episode was the debut of Boss Hogg’s identical twin brother Abraham Lincoln Hogg, also played by Sorrel Booke. He was the opposite of an evil twin. As greedy and despicable as Boss Hogg was, Abraham Lincoln Hogg was just as good. He even wore a black suit, in direct contrast to Boss Hogg’s white suite. In this case he was the good twin.

The end
Over time, I lost interest in “The Dukes of Hazzard” partly because it was harder to find on a weekly basis. I think Channel 13 actually stopped carrying it in its last years. In any event, by that point I had moved on to other things.

“The Dukes of Hazzard” ran seven seasons from January of 1979 to February of 1985 for a total of 147 episodes. Deputy Enos Strate would get his own show, called “Enos”, which I watched faithfully, although it only lasted a season and a bit. There were also two reunion movies I saw, and actually own on DVD – “The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion!” in 1997 and “The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood” in 2000.

Parting thoughts
“The Dukes of Hazzard” will always hold a special place in my heart, because I really liked Bo, Luke, Daisy and Uncle Jessie. When I got into the show, I was still young enough to play pretend with my friends. The funny thing happened when I got older and me and my friends started to drive. When a friend of mine got his own vehicle, I remember trying to slide across the hood like Luke Duke did.

It looks a lot easier than it is.

But that just illustrates the power of a show like that. It wasn’t going to win any awards for writing or acting, but it was always fun, and never took itself seriously.

It was pure escape, and sometimes we need shows like that.