# Was the Dukes of Hazzard tv series any good?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-dukes-of-hazzard-tv-series-any-good/414877
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [August 8, 2007, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-dukes-of-hazzard-tv-series-any-good/414877 "2007-08-08T16:50:28Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-dukes-of-hazzard-tv-series-any-good/414877/21 "2007-08-08T18:15:07Z")
[QUOTE=Brain Wreck]
I don’t remember seeing that. Was he really black or were some people just saying he was near?
[/QUOTE]
A black sheriff?
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_Hildo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Hildo)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-dukes-of-hazzard-tv-series-any-good/414877/22 "2007-08-08T18:24:46Z")
Did you ever notice how much Hazzard County, Georgia resembles Walnut Grove, Minnesota?
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### Author:  [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-dukes-of-hazzard-tv-series-any-good/414877/23 "2007-08-08T18:28:34Z")
It was a great Friday show. End of the work week, dump your brain in front of the TV and let it relax with the Dukes. You know the good guys are going to win and you’re going to see a car chase and you’re going to see Daisy’s legs. What’s not to like?
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### Author:  [@DudleyGarrett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DudleyGarrett)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-dukes-of-hazzard-tv-series-any-good/414877/24 "2007-08-08T18:32:19Z")
[QUOTE=BobLibDem]
It was a great Friday show. End of the work week, dump your brain in front of the TV and let it relax with the Dukes. You know the good guys are going to win and you’re going to see a car chase and you’re going to see Daisy’s legs. What’s not to like?
[/QUOTE]
Enos.
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-dukes-of-hazzard-tv-series-any-good/414877/25 "2007-08-08T18:34:42Z")
[QUOTE=tremorviolet]
The show wasn’t great. It had trite, cheesy plots that rivaled Scooby Doo in simplicity. But the actors had a natural, easy chemistry, car chases, and real stunts which made it entertaining.
[/QUOTE]
Yep. I believe the simplistic plots were intended to echo those of early TV sitcoms, also some critics have compared Rosco & Boss to Laurel & Hardy.
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### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-dukes-of-hazzard-tv-series-any-good/414877/26 "2007-08-08T18:39:32Z")
I watched it as a young teen. Some action, some cars and a Daisy Duke was hot.
I can’t imagine it aged well.
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### Author:  [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-dukes-of-hazzard-tv-series-any-good/414877/27 "2007-08-08T18:45:55Z")
I may watch it with my four year old - I have nice memories of the show (Bo was HOT) and my sister liked Luke (who has aged well).
I think it appeals to kids but anyone else? Meh
There is someone in my city that owns a charger, has it painted like the Genral Lee AND the horn plays dixie.
I think they take it a little too seriously.
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### Author:  [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-dukes-of-hazzard-tv-series-any-good/414877/28 "2007-08-08T18:49:30Z")
[QUOTE=DudleyGarrett]
Enos.
[/QUOTE]
Enos? At least he admitted to being the oldest virgin in Hazzard County.
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### Author:  [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-dukes-of-hazzard-tv-series-any-good/414877/29 "2007-08-08T18:55:40Z")
[QUOTE=scotandrsn]
No, what he means is that you got whooshed, [Blazing Saddles](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDICYjC8S28) -style.
[/QUOTE]
Here I was thinking we were being whooshed [Finian’s Rainbow](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finian%27s_Rainbow) style.
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### Author:  [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-dukes-of-hazzard-tv-series-any-good/414877/30 "2007-08-08T19:11:44Z")
[QUOTE=DudleyGarrett]
Enos.
[/QUOTE]
Didn’t Enos get his own spin-off show? Or was that a bad, bad, bad nightmare I was having?
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### Author:  [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-dukes-of-hazzard-tv-series-any-good/414877/31 "2007-08-08T19:37:35Z")
[QUOTE=The New and Improved Superman]
Didn’t Enos get his own spin-off show? Or was that a bad, bad, bad nightmare I was having?
[/QUOTE]
[Yes, he did.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enos_%28television_series%29) It lasted one season, eighteen episodes, back in the good old days when the networks would actually give a new show a chance no matter how bad it was, instead of canceling it after three episodes.
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### Author:  [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-dukes-of-hazzard-tv-series-any-good/414877/32 "2007-08-08T19:46:43Z")
Warning: watching _Dukes_ will make you get in and out of the family sedan through the window only! At least, that’s what it did to me when I saw it, back when I used to watch it (of course, I was only 7 at the time)
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### Author:  [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-dukes-of-hazzard-tv-series-any-good/414877/33 "2007-08-08T19:55:22Z")
I think it’s aged fairly well, but it’s really aimed at country folk and 10 year old boys. You get to see car chases, Daisy, a comic duo (Boss and Roscoe), Daisy, and occasionally a good country band gets forced into playing at the Boar’s Nest. Plus there’s Daisy.
Black Sheriff? I think that was just in Smokey and the Bandit. BTW, if you don’t like Smokey and the Bandit, you probably won’t like Dukes of Hazzard.
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### Author:  [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-dukes-of-hazzard-tv-series-any-good/414877/34 "2007-08-08T20:00:24Z")
[QUOTE=BobLibDem]
Enos? At least he admitted to being the oldest virgin in Hazzard County.
[/QUOTE]
I think Enos was an interesting character, more so than Barney on Andy Griffith. Enos was an honorable man while Boss and Roscoe were not, so that put him in an uncomfortable position of enforcing the (corrupted) law while trying to remain friends with the Dukes and other good folk of Hazzard.
By the way the first season is probably the best, the show is more gritty than the later cartoonish goody-goody seasons. There is moonshine running, slot machine hiding, and a great Daisy bikini scene.
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### Author:  [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-dukes-of-hazzard-tv-series-any-good/414877/35 "2007-08-08T20:33:46Z")
We loved the Dukes of Hazzard (and the A-Team!) and watched it faithfully. I’m sure my mom hated it.
Several years ago I was working on a project and wound up watching it for a couple of weeks while I worked–boy, was it bad. Wow. I would say that it’s worth watching a few episodes for mindless fun and MSTing, but after that the pain will become too much to bear. I could watch an entire run of, say, MacGyver on DVD, but not the Dukes.
Is the A-Team available on DVD? I’d like to see a couple of episodes of that to see how it’s aged. Bullets everywhere, but no one ever gets shot, because this is a family show. Murdock was my favorite!
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### Author:  [@DudleyGarrett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DudleyGarrett)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-dukes-of-hazzard-tv-series-any-good/414877/36 "2007-08-08T20:37:36Z")
[QUOTE=control-z]
Black Sheriff? I think that was just in Smokey and the Bandit. BTW, if you don’t like Smokey and the Bandit, you probably won’t like Dukes of Hazzard.
[/QUOTE]
The Sheriff of Osage County next to Hazzard was black.
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### Author:  [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-dukes-of-hazzard-tv-series-any-good/414877/37 "2007-08-08T20:42:10Z")
When you have a [style of shorts](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisy_Dukes) named for the way your ass looks in them, that’s notable.
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-dukes-of-hazzard-tv-series-any-good/414877/38 "2007-08-08T20:45:26Z")
The first few (about 4 I think) episodes were actually much darker/more serious than the show quickly became and they were actually filmed in Georgia. In those episodes Roscoe wasn’t a buffoon but an embittered career sheriff who was cheated out of his pension, Boss Hogg was _really_ bad, and the Dukes weren’t the foster family of Christ like they later became. That actually could have been a good show.
Even then it was “cute”, but it’s main fault was that it went on years and years too long. It would have been a cute one or two season comedy, and a _Brokeback Hazard_ where Bo and Luke finally proclaim their feelings would have been a great ending.
Trivia: James “Roscoe” Best was an acting teacher for many years whose students included Quentin Tarantino and he was also once stalked by Bonnie Bakley (who met him at a party and was willing to do anything to marry a celebrity of any caliber- this was before she met Robert Blake). Sorrell “Boss” Booke was a former OSS officer who spoke several languages in real life and is remembered by the cast as a quiet, nice, and one of the most learned and intelligent people they ever knew- constantly reading and in a variety of languages from tabloid to classics.
Of course I’m forbidden to say it was a terrible show because its creator gave a $1 million endowment to a university I worked for so he’s a might fine man and a creator of folk art. I will say that the crossover episode of _Alice_ that featured Boss and Enos opened a vortex of mindless entertainment that has never been fully closed and has made millionaires of Bronson Pinchot, Suzanne Somers, and Kirk Cameron.
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### Author:  [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-dukes-of-hazzard-tv-series-any-good/414877/39 "2007-08-08T20:49:19Z")
I got a whole stack of the DVDs (review copies) through work. It’s still pretty funny, but one episode at a time is enough!
The earliest episodes series, which were actually shot in Georgia, are the best. Later on they got a bigger budget and started filming in California I think.
Edit… as **Sampiro** just said!
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_Hildo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Hildo)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-dukes-of-hazzard-tv-series-any-good/414877/40 "2007-08-08T20:53:18Z")
I believe we’re talking about the perpetually angry Sheriff Little. Wikipedia says:
> [@](#):
>
> The chief law enforcement officer (driving a 1975 Plymouth Fury patrol car) for neighboring Chickasaw County, he had a tendency to knock fenders off of cars when he wrecked. He was also not afraid to pull out his trusty 12-gauge shotgun and open fire. The ill-tempered sheriff hated Bo and Luke immensely, and they were well aware that they were not allowed to enter his county. Sheriff Little was also constantly frustrated by the bumbling performance of Boss and Rosco, although he thought highly of Enos. Waylon Jennings once characterized Sheriff Little’s feelings as follows:
> “Two things Sheriff Little hates more than anything - Dukes and Rosco P. Coltrane. Every night, he prayed to his maker he’d catch the Dukes before Rosco did.”
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