# Dukes of Hazard dropped from TV Land schedule
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazard-dropped-from-tv-land-schedule/723962
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [July 1, 2015, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazard-dropped-from-tv-land-schedule/723962 "2015-07-01T16:05:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 6
### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2015, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazard-dropped-from-tv-land-schedule/723962/101 "2015-07-02T20:09:41Z")
> [@AtomicDog](#):
>
> The Hazzard Heroes drive around with a terrorist symbol on their car. Don’t expect me to cry for them.
Balls. I’ve been a black man for 45 years, and I’ve always loved Daisy and her cousins. And I’m fairly sure that I’d my sister T had met John Schneider back in the day, she’d have boinked him senseless.
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### Author:  [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2015, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazard-dropped-from-tv-land-schedule/723962/102 "2015-07-02T20:16:44Z")
Just a minor factoid: Catherine Bach (Daisy Duke) is from my state of South Dakota.
You are welcome.
ETA: So is Cheryl Ladd. So you are doubly welcome.
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### Author:  [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2015, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazard-dropped-from-tv-land-schedule/723962/103 "2015-07-02T20:27:59Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#):
>
> Then why didn’t they have their own damn car? Instead they had to mooch of their much better off cousins.
>
> 😃
Whatever point you think you’re trying to make, you’re only serving to further illustrate my point.
The fact that Coy and Vance felt no need to own their own muscle car further differentiates them from Bo and Luke. The vehicle sharing green-minded thinking of Coy and Vance paved the way toward innovations like ZipCar and Citi Bike.
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### Author:  [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2015, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazard-dropped-from-tv-land-schedule/723962/104 "2015-07-02T20:31:05Z")
> [@Jophiel](#):
>
> Again, go buy the DVDs if you want. There’s no Soviet style government purge here and people sound ridiculous comparing the two. There’s absolutely no onus to keep a show on a commercial television station.
I don’t think anyone here actually cares about Dukes of Hazzard. But if people were watching it before, I think it’s a poor decision to remove it just because it’s controversial. You seem hung up on things that have nothing to do with what is being said. I’d agree with your point if people were saying “TV Land has to keep this on the air.” No one is saying that, we’re saying it’s not a good policy to just remove everything from the past that offends people. Dukes of Hazzard is a very small thing. But stupid sanitization of the media happens by a thousand cuts, and when the media is nigh 100% owned by private companies the more self-censorship of the past we have the more we get to a place where we essentially act like we can’t show or talk about our past in public. The “go buy the DVDs” argument is irrelevant and frankly stupid.
The concern isn’t about access to Dukes of Hazzard, it’s about the general presence of controversial information and media, particularly from our past. The media absolutely controls what people see because that’s the way the world works, and if the media sanitizes everything a large portion of people lose exposure to stuff that frankly, we shouldn’t be afraid to air.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2015, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazard-dropped-from-tv-land-schedule/723962/105 "2015-07-02T20:31:43Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#):
>
> Just a minor factoid: Catherine Bach (Daisy Duke) is from my state of South Dakota.
>
> You are welcome.
>
> ETA: So is Cheryl Ladd. So you are doubly welcome.
Shouldn’t that be “quadruply welcome?”
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### Author:  [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2015, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazard-dropped-from-tv-land-schedule/723962/106 "2015-07-02T20:37:58Z")
Cultural artifacts of genuine value can be lost through self-censorship. Disney’s “Song of the South” is damn near impossible for anyone to legally find in America in 2015.
Context is really important. When you have a person like Donald Trump who is actively involved in currently running television, who makes racist statements in public, I support a company distancing themselves from him and taking him off their airwaves. To not do so would be a tacit endorsement. But allowing shows like Dukes of Hazzard or releasing films like “Song of the South” do not represent the same thing, they represent small pieces of American media history. Due to the extremely long (and frankly unreasonably long) copyrights on American media when companies decide to self-censor this stuff is functionally lost forever.
Like I said, it’s a death from a thousand cuts. I could see arguments about pretty much every major television series that aired from 1950 to 1980, for example. How many feature women in a “traditional family role” that is “not empowering” for women? How many feature Native Americans as villains, or Mexicans? (Hint: almost all Westerns of that era.) We could quite easily get to a place where for all intents and purposes the average viewer will have no meaningful access to anything released before the late 20th century.
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### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2015, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazard-dropped-from-tv-land-schedule/723962/107 "2015-07-02T20:41:24Z")
> [@silenus](#):
>
> Shouldn’t that be “quadruply welcome?”
Four-play, anyone?
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### Author:  [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2015, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazard-dropped-from-tv-land-schedule/723962/108 "2015-07-02T20:50:55Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#):
>
> Also, one more I found. Apparently, in 1973, there was a lawsuit that led to a decision by a district judge that Escambia High School in Pensacola had to get rid of Confederate symbols and change their football team’s name from “the Rebels”. The judge ruled that the symbols were “racially irritating”, and that “the symbols were not chosen as racial irritants, but they do carry an offensive racial connotation to a substantial number of black as well as to a minority of white students.” The case went through the court system, and in 1976, while it was still going through the courts, the school board responded to a Court of Appeals suggestion to have a referendum of the student body. They did, and the “Rebels” name couldn’t get the 2/3 vote it needed to change the name back. In protest of the results (and because there were about 300 students absent on the day of the vote who didn’t get to vote), some white students hoisted a Confederate flag on the school’s flagpole. Some black students responded by throwing rocks and bricks, and, in the words of Finnegan’s Wake, a row and a ruction soon began, which led to three people shot, 27 others treated for minor injuries, and five adults and three juveniles arrested.
Huh. I went to South High in Denver. “The Rebels” Very diverse school and still is. Confederate flags where common on kids cars and stuff. Just identified you as a South High Rebel. The yearbook was the Johnny Reb. The cheerleaders where rebel rousers.
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### Author:  [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2015, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazard-dropped-from-tv-land-schedule/723962/109 "2015-07-02T21:23:25Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#):
>
> You seem hung up on things that have nothing to do with what is being said. I’d agree with your point if people were saying “TV Land has to keep this on the air.”
Do you agree with “OMG _Soviet_ style purges!!”?
Because that’s what is being said and it’s just stupid and hyperbolic.
> [@](#):
>
> The “go buy the DVDs” argument is irrelevant and frankly stupid.
Nonsense. Market forces took the Dukes out of your living room and market forces can have it playing there again 24/7. There’s no “purge”, _Soviet_ style or otherwise. No censorship, no one keeping you down and refusing to let you see the General Lee.
> [@](#):
>
> The concern isn’t about access to Dukes of Hazzard, it’s about the general presence of controversial information and media, particularly from our past.
That media is available to you _at this very second_ if you only decide to go purchase it. It’s not TV Land’s duty to curate the past to your liking or approval.
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### Author:  [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2015, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazard-dropped-from-tv-land-schedule/723962/110 "2015-07-03T14:59:41Z")
> [@gnoitall](#):
>
> C’mon, certainly it’s one of HIS most beloved shows ever.
>
> I mean, he worked with Catherine Bach in short shorts. Closely.
>
> Who wouldn’t love that?
Yeah, he was definitely in an enviable position. She is the major reason I watched the show.
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### Author:  [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2015, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazard-dropped-from-tv-land-schedule/723962/111 "2015-07-03T19:16:24Z")
When did TV Land ever play Dukes of Hazard? I never ever saw this in my TVLand schedule, unless during the workday? Or, is programming by geographic demographics?
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### Author:  [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2015, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazard-dropped-from-tv-land-schedule/723962/112 "2015-07-03T21:41:02Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#):
>
> In the 1970s, especially in the south, but not only in the south, there was a lot of Confederate flag symbolism. A lot of it probably was racist, but a lot more of it wasn’t…the flag was used as a symbol of rebellion, or resistance to authority, or general “fuck the Man” sentiment. Here’s a bit from the Atlantic, which, while it’s about the current attitudes about the flag, and mentions how the Dukes of Hazzard helped normalize it, also points out that, in the 60s and 70s, the Klan and Dixiecrats helped revive the flag:
>
> [How 'Dukes of Hazzard' Tried to Neutralized the Confederate Flag - The Atlantic](http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/06/confederate-flag-pop-culture-phenomenon/396596/)
Exactly this. I used to have the battle flag hanging in my dorm room in college. I was displaying it as a marker of my Southern identity, and in honor of my Confederate Army veteran great-great-great grandfather. My black roommate never complained about it. And I was then as I am now a flaming pro-civil rights pro-LGBT equality liberal.
As I grew up a bit, and my “Southernness” stopped being so important to my identity, I recognized that that symbol has become so tainted by connotations of racism and hatred that it is impossible for it to convey a neutral or positive meaning. I wouldn’t be upset if the battle flag disappeared forever. But at one time, people _did_ use it for non-racist meanings.
I always did hate the _The Dukes of Hazzard_, because it depicted Southerners as a huntin’, fishin’, and moonshinin’ peckerwoods. (Catherine Bach in a pair of jean shorts did offer some redemption, though. Since Bo and Luke lived every other redneck stereotype, I don’t see why they didn’t go for cousin-diddlin’ as well. )
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### Author:  [@Subterraneanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subterraneanus)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2015, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazard-dropped-from-tv-land-schedule/723962/113 "2015-07-04T00:28:56Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#):
>
> … appreciated for what it was in its time.
I.e, fucking stupid.
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### Author:  [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2015, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazard-dropped-from-tv-land-schedule/723962/114 "2015-07-04T14:30:28Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#):
>
> I don’t think anyone here actually cares about Dukes of Hazzard. But if people were watching it before, I think it’s a poor decision to remove it just because it’s controversial. …
If _enough_ people were watching it before then they wouldn’t be removing it from the current schedule. Its a tautology but true.
_Dukes_ was a mindless stupid show that was an enjoyable empty confection like something you might buy at some county fair but with less substance, more guilty of promulgating various stereotypes about rural White Southerners than anything else. In the context of the time it originally aired the Confederate flag was not too offensive to the mainstream and its being so prominently featured on that show likely _contributed to_ the mainstream accepting it, in that time, as an innocent symbol of rural Southern hick good ole boy-ness.
Yeah the flag symbol on that car was …
Just’a good ol’ boys
Never meanin’ no harm …
Fast forward. Today that symbol’s other connotations prevail and the symbol offends many people, some quite deeply. Today running shows featuring the Confederate flag as just an innocent good ole boy thing is doing something that _is_ offensive to the mainstream. If the ratings were high enough they’d show it anyway but the wind aint blowin’ that way on the county line.
Them fictional Duke boys, never meanin’ no harm, would probably have painted the roof and renamed that Charger after last week, after learning that it’s insulting to a whole bunch o folk they see no cause to insult.
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### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2015, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazard-dropped-from-tv-land-schedule/723962/115 "2015-07-04T14:51:33Z")
And the pro golfer who owns (what is probably just one of) the original Dukes of Hazzard car is painting over the roof with a US flag.
The descent into madness is complete.
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### Author:  [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2015, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazard-dropped-from-tv-land-schedule/723962/116 "2015-07-04T15:09:00Z")
> [@Subterraneanus](#):
>
> I.e, fucking stupid.
Your chosen name of “anus” suits you well.
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### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2015, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazard-dropped-from-tv-land-schedule/723962/117 "2015-07-04T15:16:09Z")
Really. I don’t think anyone can defend DOH as anything but bottom-tier, slack-jawed cartoon entertainment for the undiscriminating. Even without any of the overall racism issues, it’s a stupid, stupid show. Its only redeeming quality was the opening credits and song; as a country-crossover video, that worked.
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### Author:  [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2015, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazard-dropped-from-tv-land-schedule/723962/118 "2015-07-04T15:34:10Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#):
>
> And the pro golfer who owns (what is probably just one of) the original Dukes of Hazzard car is painting over the roof with a US flag.
>
> The descent into madness is complete.
They [went through](http://mentalfloss.com/article/30999/what-happened-all-those-chargers-destroyed-dukes-hazzard) roughly two Chargers an episode, totalling (heh) about 300. But that one might be _the one_ in that article as the others were usually painted over and used as prop cars.
> [@](#):
>
> … In 2001, two collectors found a General Lee in a Georgia junkyard. The car ended up being the original, from the first episode. The car was restored and sold for $110,000. …
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### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2015, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazard-dropped-from-tv-land-schedule/723962/119 "2015-07-04T15:46:19Z")
Yeah, I would assume there was one, or a very few, “hero” cars. That’s how it’s usually done, no matter how many prop-laden or stunt cars might be used.
There was a “Knight Rider” car, for example, that was completely stripped out and built to do nothing but long jumps with little damage. I seem to recall quite a few DOH jumps in which you could see the poor car crumple on impact, only to be seen **hero** ically driving away in the next shot.
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### Author:  [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2015, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazard-dropped-from-tv-land-schedule/723962/120 "2015-07-04T18:04:02Z")
DOH wasn’t high-brow entertainment but at least it isn’t a Kardashian or Bachelor show. The Dukes were honest and cared about each other and their neighbors. The boys worked on the farm and helped old ladies and fought against whatever schemes Boss Hogg came up with. There were car chases and fist fights, some great musical guests, and a great narrator. It wasn’t intended to be Shakespeare and didn’t take itself too seriously. I can name 50 shows that were worse than DOH. I remember it fondly and it still holds up decently today, especially the somewhat grittier first season.
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