# 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:** 11
**Page:** 7
### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2015, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazard-dropped-from-tv-land-schedule/723962/121 "2015-07-05T11:54:59Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#):
>
> 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.
Yeah, cultural artifacts are important. But they are NOT the reason why TVLand (or pretty much any other TV network nowadays) airs shows. They air shows because people today like to watch them. There are tons of historical shows that are not aired.
It’s not like Song of the South, because _Song of the South_ is not readily available (legally anyways). The _Dukes of Hazard_ show is. You say they should explain the historical context and still air the shows? Where is that sort of thing done? On disk, like with Tom and Jerry. Not on TV.
When it comes to the selection of what we can watch, TV is less important now than it has ever been. And the type of self-censorship you mention is less powerful than it ever has been.
(I can very easily watch Song of the South. Not even Disney polices that, since they have no intent to sell it. Their self-censorship means little in the age of the Internet.)
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### Author:  [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2015, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazard-dropped-from-tv-land-schedule/723962/122 "2015-07-06T06:10:47Z")
How many times on “The Jefferson’s” did George use the word “honkies”? I’ve heard 20 times in one season yet that show is still on.
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### Author:  [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2015, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazard-dropped-from-tv-land-schedule/723962/123 "2015-07-06T09:22:38Z")
TV Land obviously has the right to do as they please when it comes to their programming but I think some of this censorship is getting ridiculous. When are we going to start removing Mark Twain books from public libraries for their use of racial epithets?
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### Author:  [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2015, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazard-dropped-from-tv-land-schedule/723962/124 "2015-07-06T09:37:01Z")
> [@pool](#):
>
> TV Land obviously has the right to do as they please when it comes to their programming but I think some of this censorship is getting ridiculous. When are we going to start removing Mark Twain books from public libraries for their use of racial epithets?
Its been done before or they redo them and use words like “Tom” and “Joe” instead.
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### Author:  [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2015, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazard-dropped-from-tv-land-schedule/723962/125 "2015-07-06T11:05:53Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#):
>
> 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.
At the end of the DoH movie there are repeated shot of the car (or rather a series of identical cars) doing one of the big jumps from the film, and you can watch one after the other get absolutely destroyed upon landing.
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### Author:  [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2015, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazard-dropped-from-tv-land-schedule/723962/126 "2015-07-06T20:39:59Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#):
>
> How many times on “The Jefferson’s” did George use the word “honkies”? I’ve heard 20 times in one season yet that show is still on.
Do you think a majority of Whites or even a sizable fraction of the country is offended by the use of the word by that character in that context, or that most who have seen the show completely get that like Archie in _All in the Family_ it is the character and that behavior that is being made fun of?
I suspect that if DOH had been an “edgy” comedy making fun of good ole boy racism by showing idiots riding around and crashing in a Confederate flag decorated car that its being there would not be a problem either.
> [@pool](#):
>
> TV Land obviously has the right to do as they please when it comes to their programming but I think some of this censorship is getting ridiculous. When are we going to start removing Mark Twain books from public libraries for their use of racial epithets?
DOH was not the worst show ever but a valuable cultural artifact, a great work, it warn’t. No one argues it was. It was meant for mindless consumption and was consumed in that manner … and nothing wrong with that. It was a low level Saturday morning cartoon in live action. The Confederate flag had no critical meaning to its value other than (in its time) a cultural shorthand for Southern Good ole boy. _Huck Finn_ OTOH is A Great Work, and is not consumed mindlessly, and its use of the word “nigger” by the characters who used the word and how they used it is an integral part of it as a work of literature.
_Huck Finn_ has been banned from many libraries - it’s number 14 on [the list of the most banned books](http://www.ala.org/bbooks/top-100-bannedchallenged-books-2000-2009) from 2000 to 2009, admittedly behind books like _I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings_, _Of Mice and Men_, and the _Harry Potter_ series (first place). That is an action made out of ignorance.
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### Author:  [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2015, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazard-dropped-from-tv-land-schedule/723962/127 "2015-07-07T04:16:37Z")
> [@DSeid](#):
>
> Do you think a majority of Whites or even a sizable fraction of the country is offended by the use of the word by that character in that context, or that most who have seen the show completely get that like Archie in _All in the Family_ it is the character and that behavior that is being made fun of?
> .
Well just how many people have to be offended before something is removed? Sorry I still say if they are going to get rid of DOH because of a flag on top of a car, then they should also get rid of “The Jefferson’s”.
Along with that, they should also get rid of “The Beverly Hillbillies” because in some of the early episodes Granny is seen waving a Confederate flag and singing “Dixie”.
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2015, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazard-dropped-from-tv-land-schedule/723962/128 "2015-07-07T04:24:09Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#):
>
> Well just how many people have to be offended before something is removed?
How about one? Because no white person in the history of white people has been genuinely offended by being called a honky. If you meet one who says otherwise, that white man is lying to you.
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### Author:  [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2015, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazard-dropped-from-tv-land-schedule/723962/129 "2015-07-07T04:31:52Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#):
>
> Well just how many people have to be offended before something is removed?
Enough to make TV Land care. If you’re that upset about it, go write a letter.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2015, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazard-dropped-from-tv-land-schedule/723962/130 "2015-07-07T11:01:12Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#):
>
> How many times on “The Jefferson’s” did George use the word “honkies”? I’ve heard 20 times in one season yet that show is still on.
Which is part of why I say that word is a joke. It has no punch. No white person actually gets offended by it, especially when not directed at them.
I mean, it’s even used as a joke on that very show. It’s George’s seni-affectionate name for Tom, kinda like Meathead is for Mike to Archie Bunker.
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2015, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazard-dropped-from-tv-land-schedule/723962/131 "2015-07-08T02:38:15Z")
> [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](#):
>
> Does anyone even watch TVLand anymore? With MUCH better retro stations like METV, Antenna TV, etc… TVLand’s prgramming is way behind. I mean, they have evenings where they just run marathons of “Family Feud”.
> [@Kimballkid](#):
>
> I wish they still did this but, alas, not any more. It’s _Gilligan’s Island_, _How I Met Your Mother_ and _Everybody Loves Raymond_.
Looking for Richard Dawson? See if your provider carries BUZZR.
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