Shérif, fais-moi peur!

'Just some good ol boys, never meanin' no harm - they been in trouble with the law since the day they wuz born...' So began the classiest of all hicksville county roadchase shows, where each week those loveable two modern day Robin Hoods, Beaureguard "Bo" Duke [John Schneider] & Lucas K. "Luke" Duke [Tom Wopat] would pit themselves against some ner do wells, probably from Chickasaw county, and inadvertently manage to rub Sherriff Roscoe P Coltrane [James Best] up the wrong way to boot. Cue slo-mo shots of an airborne General Lee [1969 Dodge Charger]flying down leaf littered byways with Roscoe's cruiser once again in hot pursuit.

This was a fantastic early Saturday evening kid's classic, mainly because of the shows hugely appealing basic premise -Bo & Luke are on probation for running moonshine, and they have the fastest motor in the county. So they're basically outlaws with hearts of gold who never really do anything particularly anti-social, they're just fighting the system that's run by corrupt town official Jefferson Davis Hogg, AKA "Boss Hogg" [Sorrell Booke]. He's fat, he's greedy and he wears a ridiculous white suit. And to make matters worse he's always trying to aquire the deeds to the Duke's farm, managed by his long time rival Uncle Jesse [Denver Pyle]with the help of Daisy Duke [Catherine Bach]. Show me a ten year old boy who, in 1981, didn't have a major Daisy Duke fixation - I mean, her legs were insured for two million dollars. Crikey.

So our renegade heroes would have at least a couple of car chases each week, they'd hang out with Cooter in the garage, take the p**s out of the educationally sub-normal deputy Cletus, stop some really bad guys from doing something dastardly and probably blow up a barn or something with a stick of dynamite fired from a bow and arrow. And that's just before lunch.

It all went pretty badly wrong in about '83 when the the boys were replaced by some pseudo Duke-lite wannabes named Coy and Vance. Their names alone speak volumes. This kind of signalled the beginning of the end, and I'm not sure the show ever quite recovered. Still, it's better not to dwell on this shamefully duff period in the show's history, instead it's better to fondly remember the Dukes in all their glory - flagrantly disregarding the law, and only ever climbing into and out of the General Lee via the windows, as the doors were soldered shut. Yee-haww.

OK, I'm a junkie. I just can't help myself. I watched the "Dukes" episodes when they originally aired, built a website for the show in the 1990s, watched the show again on TNN (when it was the NASHVILLE Network, you understand), wrote a book companion to the show, and now, as the show is airing again on CMT, I'm STILL watching the episodes again!

Was there any other TV show like it? I don't think so. "The Dukes of Hazzard" was a one-of-a-kind. You can watch these episodes over several phases of life and maturity -- and still find value in them! Holy cow.

I was always, of course, impartial to Flash, Rosco's hound, as well as the rarely appearing brother of our dastardly Boss Hogg, Abraham Lincoln Hogg, the "white sheep" of the family. And you could always appreciate the country values the Dukes always espoused ... be good to your neighbor, thank the Lord before meals, don't lie or cheat or steal.

"The Dukes of Hazzard" is not rocket science, it's not deep or profound or socially redeemable or whatever else. It's just plain heckin' fun!!!!

I just realised that this series was based on the 1974 movie "Moon Runners," which didn't have the Duke family, but it did have characters named Uncle Jesse, Cooter, and Waylon Jennings as the Balladeer. The main characters, Bobby Lee Hag and Grady even had a stock car which they raced. The car wasn't named "General Lee," but was named after Robert E. Lee's horse, Traveler. They significantly cleaned up the story to make it family-friendly for television. In the movie, the main characters were involved in the illegal alcohol business. Uncle Jesse was a moonshiner who was in trouble with other local moonshiners because of his insistence on quality. Bobby Lee was a rum runner, who used his big old Chevy to outrun the local sheriff and the revenuers (tax authorities).

'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.

Yes, I grew up watching this (along with All in the family, facts of life, Diff'rent Strokes, The A-Team, etc) I was born in 72 in Marietta, GA and I remember loving this show (yes, I am a male) I would be sitting in front of the T.V. every time this show came on. It was great back then and I could relate to the scenery, Plots, etc. Georgia really looked like that back then, no traffic, not many people and a lot of the main roads were dirt (Canton road, Acworth, 41, etc, were one lane roads and usually dirt) I miss those times and blame technology on busting us people apart... it's too bad they don't have good shows on like this anymore.. If you have not seen this I would suggest you watch some but you have to have the right frame of mind to understand them... :) This was made when America was a great place to live, we were free and did not live under a dictatorship...