Pilot Anniversary!

[MonacoMan]

“One Armed Bandits”, the Pilot episode that started it all, premiered 44 years ago today: 1/26/1979! 44 years later DOH is stronger than ever—yee haw!  I’m thinking about watching the Pilot later this evening...along with the Boar’s Nest Special.  

[Garrett Duke]

57 minutes ago, MonacoMan said:

“One Armed Bandits”, the Pilot episode that started it all, premiered 44 years ago today: 1/26/1979! 44 years later DOH is stronger than ever—yee haw!  I’m thinking about watching the Pilot later this evening...along with the Boar’s Nest Special.  

What a great way to celebrate such a great show! I love the pilot!

[Boss JD Hogg]

The pilot is my favorite episode!

[MonacoMan]

What I find interesting about the Pilot, is that it’s so different than the rest of the show...even some of the other real-life Georgia episodes!

Rosco is a lot more with-it & intelligent, and even has a potty-mouth  & uses his gun! Cooter on the other hand is dumber than a box of rocks ...I like how they “smarten” him up not too far down the proverbial road. Cooter’s awesome! But, it’s like after the Pilot they decided to literally switch it. 

Also, I’ve never really noticed or paid that much attention to this before...but tonight I realized that the first place Bo & Luke install the slot machines has these gaudy, grotesque looking purple posts/poles—what was up with that??   Lol! 

[Hobie Hartkins]

I don't know why but I noticed the first episodes seemed to be geared toward an older crowd and when they found out their biggest audience was a lot younger, they made adjustments. That was a great observation! I'm not sure everyone notices......

[MonacoMan]

3 hours ago, Hobie Hartkins said:

I don't know why but I noticed the first episodes seemed to be geared toward an older crowd and when they found out their biggest audience was a lot younger, they made adjustments. That was a great observation! I'm not sure everyone notices......

True, I know when they moved production from Georgia to the Warner Bros lot in California, they decided to “soften” the show even more, as they had discovered it was so popular with kids. Originally I think they were trying to aim towards an audience of perhaps late teens to 30s. But, they ultimately gained an audience & fans of all ages! 

[RogerDuke]

4 hours ago, Boss JD Hogg said:

The pilot is my favorite episode!

I'm more of a High Octane guy but at least we agree about Georgia. 

[MonacoMan]

2 minutes ago, RogerDuke said:

I'm more of a High Octane guy but at least we agree about Georgia. 

I love “High Octane”...fun & awesome plot, we’re introduced to Black Tilly, moonshine, still in Georgia, etc...! 

[RogerDuke]

5 minutes ago, MonacoMan said:

I love “High Octane”...fun & awesome plot, we’re introduced to Black Tilly, moonshine, still in Georgia, etc...! 

It's always been my all-time favorite episode. I especially love the scenes in the woods. 

[MonacoMan]

8 minutes ago, RogerDuke said:

It's always been my all-time favorite episode. I especially love the scenes in the woods. 

The woods/moonshine still scenes are hilarious & classic!   This was also the last episode to be filmed in Georgia before production was moved to Hollywood.

Edited January 27, 2023 by MonacoMan

[RogerDuke]

I'm out of reactions but I'd give a heart  to the still scenes and sad face to the move to Hollyweird.

[MonacoMan]

5 minutes ago, RogerDuke said:

I'm out of reactions but I'd give a heart  to the still scenes and sad face to the move to Hollyweird.

Yeah, the real-life Georgia locations gave a more realistic, southern, down-home charm to the beginning of the show. But, I guess they could control background & what needed to happen in each episode better on a studio lot.

I too love the original Georgia locations, but I did love the Duke farm & The Boar’s Nest at Warner Bros. The town square was cool, too and worked for the chases & ripping around.

[Garrett Duke]

I love the Georgia episodes...I feel like they were more real or life like. I don't know. Something like that. LOL. Though I do like others that weren't in GA...but as MonacoMan said, those shows seemed more realistic.

[Boss JD Hogg]

High Octane has some great moments.  Boss and Rosco were great in that one and you could really see how great they were as a team.  

I liked how the Boar's Nest looked early on in the California episodes.  It was darker and had the poles holding up the roof.  It was closer to how it looked in the pilot.  

Hazzard County in the California episodes looked like Walnut Grove in Little House On The Prairie with the hills, dirt roads and trees.  My wife always says that.  We watch both shows and always get a kick out of how similar they look.  Georgia really doesn't look exactly like that but it gave a feeling of the south. 

Edited January 27, 2023 by Boss JD Hogg

[floyd012010]

I watched all of season one starting Thursday night and finished yesterday.  I'm from Georgia so those first 5 episodes will always be my favorites.  Still such a great show and still holds up even after 44 years.  I dug out my old PS2 and been playing Return of the General Lee last night and this morning.  Love that game, except trying to keep Daisy from going off into the canyon lol. 

[RogerDuke]

1 hour ago, floyd012010 said:

I watched all of season one starting Thursday night and finished yesterday.  I'm from Georgia so those first 5 episodes will always be my favorites.  Still such a great show and still holds up even after 44 years.  I dug out my old PS2 and been playing Return of the General Lee last night and this morning.  Love that game, except trying to keep Daisy from going off into the canyon lol. 

Yes! Someone from Georgia! I think it's been awhile since we've had one. The HazzardNet just got a whole lot better. (not that you can improve perfection). 

Tell us more about your love of the greatest show in history. How long have you been a fan? Favorite character? Favorite episode? (probably a Georgia one, right?). Ever met any of the stars? Have a lot of Dukes toys and collectibles? Do you have all 7 seasons on DVD? Tell us everything.

[RogerDuke]

On 1/27/2023 at 12:11 PM, Boss JD Hogg said:

 Georgia really doesn't look exactly like that but it gave a feeling of the south. 

They did the best they could do.....but it was dramatically different. One reason I love the Georgia episodes so much is that the scenery looks like it does around me....even though Lake Erie is a long ways away.

[MonacoMan]

On 1/27/2023 at 11:11 AM, Boss JD Hogg said:

High Octane has some great moments.  Boss and Rosco were great in that one and you could really see how great they were as a team.  

I liked how the Boar's Nest looked early on in the California episodes.  It was darker and had the poles holding up the roof.  It was closer to how it looked in the pilot.  

Hazzard County in the California episodes looked like Walnut Grove in Little House On The Prairie with the hills, dirt roads and trees.  My wife always says that.  We watch both shows and always get a kick out of how similar they look.  Georgia really doesn't look exactly like that but it gave a feeling of the south. 

Boss & Rosco had a great routine down...very Abbot & Costello, Hazzard style!

As for Hazzard in California looking like Walnut Grove in “Little House” (which was also not supposedly set in California either), that’s because it was the same background! Both were filmed (at least some parts of the shows) on the same backlots with the countryside setting. Although the town sets and interiors of places were I think on different lots/sound stages.

I remember in an interview with John Schneider and Tom Wopat, they were talking about one time they snuck one of the General Lees out on a joyride around the studio set when they weren’t supposed to—and they got too close to the house used as the blind school on “Little House”, and it damaged it. They were laughing at how mad the producers of each show were, lol! 

Edited January 29, 2023 by MonacoMan

[floyd012010]

5 hours ago, RogerDuke said:

Yes! Someone from Georgia! I think it's been awhile since we've had one. The HazzardNet just got a whole lot better. (not that you can improve perfection). 

Tell us more about your love of the greatest show in history. How long have you been a fan? Favorite character? Favorite episode? (probably a Georgia one, right?). Ever met any of the stars? Have a lot of Dukes toys and collectibles? Do you have all 7 seasons on DVD? Tell us everything.

It's hard for me to pick a favorite episode but the first one is probably it. Those first 5 are all so great. Don't really have a favorite character since they were all so great!! If I had to choose it would be Daisy tho ❤️ I went to Duke fest in 06 and 07 in Nashville.  Catherine was so great and really seemed to love being there. I have met Sonny several times and John several times. Met Catherine one time and met Byron one time. Also met Sherriff Little and James Best once. Have met Rick Hurst a couple of times and Ben several times. I have never got to meet Tom and would like to get his autograph under my deck lid one day. I have all the seasons from when they first put them out on DVD and I have a complete series still in the shrink wrap. I have probably 4 DVD sets of season 1 since I watch that season the most. Got several totes full of collectibles from the show. I like anything from the 80's and have a little bit of everything from Transformers and Masters of the universe and some knight rider stuff.  Mostly dukes and transformers make up the biggest part of my toy collection.  So I was hooked from the pilot episode and I was 5 years old then and now I'm 48 so been a fan most of my lifetime.  Got a photo album full of filming sites from the first 5 episodes.  So cool to ride on the same roads they drove on making the episodes.  Have driven my charger down there a few times and to Nashville twice and once to Gatlinburg.  Good old car but it likes the gas stations lol

[MonacoMan]

31 minutes ago, floyd012010 said:

It's hard for me to pick a favorite episode but the first one is probably it. Those first 5 are all so great. Don't really have a favorite character since they were all so great!! If I had to choose it would be Daisy tho ❤️ I went to Duke fest in 06 and 07 in Nashville.  Catherine was so great and really seemed to love being there. I have met Sonny several times and John several times. Met Catherine one time and met Byron one time. Also met Sherriff Little and James Best once. Have met Rick Hurst a couple of times and Ben several times. I have never got to meet Tom and would like to get his autograph under my deck lid one day. I have all the seasons from when they first put them out on DVD and I have a complete series still in the shrink wrap. I have probably 4 DVD sets of season 1 since I watch that season the most. Got several totes full of collectibles from the show. I like anything from the 80's and have a little bit of everything from Transformers and Masters of the universe and some knight rider stuff.  Mostly dukes and transformers make up the biggest part of my toy collection.  So I was hooked from the pilot episode and I was 5 years old then and now I'm 48 so been a fan most of my lifetime.  Got a photo album full of filming sites from the first 5 episodes.  So cool to ride on the same roads they drove on making the episodes.  Have driven my charger down there a few times and to Nashville twice and once to Gatlinburg.  Good old car but it likes the gas stations lol

I’m almost 47 (next month), and I grew up watching & I’ve been a diehard fan most of my life as well. I’ve never gotten to go to a Dukes Fest yet, nor have I ever gotten to meet any of the cast, but that is a dream that I hope to accomplish someday! 

I have lots of memorabilia, though...the original season DVD sets, a newer Complete Series DVD set, my lunchbox & thermos still, the board game, the TV Guides, posters, 8x10s, but my favorite is I have all the action figures set up with 1:18 scale diecast metal models of all the cars/vehicles that have been made (General Lee, Daisy’s Plymouth Satellite & her Jeep, Rosco’s Plymouth Fury Hazzard cop car, Uncle Jesse’s Ford Truck, and recently Cooter’s Hazzard Chevy Tow Truck)! 

[Boss JD Hogg]

On 1/29/2023 at 4:51 PM, MonacoMan said:

Boss & Rosco had a great routine down...very Abbot & Costello, Hazzard style!

As for Hazzard in California looking like Walnut Grove in “Little House” (which was also not supposedly set in California either), that’s because it was the same background! Both were filmed (at least some parts of the shows) on the same backlots with the countryside setting. Although the town sets and interiors of places were I think on different lots/sound stages.

I remember in an interview with John Schneider and Tom Wopat, they were talking about one time they snuck one of the General Lees out on a joyride around the studio set when they weren’t supposed to—and they got too close to the house used as the blind school on “Little House”, and it damaged it. They were laughing at how mad the producers of each show were, lol! 

I never heard about John Schneider and Tom Wopat's joyride.  It's a great story.  I'll have to tell my wife about it.  She's a big fan of Little House On The Prairie and of course The Dukes Of Hazzard.

Edited January 30, 2023 by Boss JD Hogg

[MonacoMan]

1 hour ago, Boss JD Hogg said:

I never heard about John Schneider and Tom Wopat's joyride.  It's a great story.  I'll have to tell my wife about it.  She's a big fan of Little House On The Prairie and of course The Dukes Of Hazzard.

Yeah, they talk about it on one of the special features, on one of the season DVD sets...can’t remember which season has that interview? But, it’s where John, Tom, and Catherine reunite in some NY sound recording room to talk about the show & reminisce. 

[Boss JD Hogg]

2 hours ago, MonacoMan said:

Yeah, they talk about it on one of the special features, on one of the season DVD sets...can’t remember which season has that interview? But, it’s where John, Tom, and Catherine reunite in some NY sound recording room to talk about the show & reminisce. 

I watched that years ago but I don't remember that story.  This weekend I'll watch it again.

[MonacoMan]

5 minutes ago, Boss JD Hogg said:

I watched that years ago but I don't remember that story.  This weekend I'll watch it again.

It could be Season 2’s special features, or Season 3’s...can’t remember?

[Boss JD Hogg]

4 minutes ago, MonacoMan said:

It could be Season 2’s special features, or Season 3’s...can’t remember?

Hey thanks.  I'll look through my DVD sets tomorrow.