Dukes of Hazzard references

[K-Duke15]

So the night before, me and my parents were watching the new Mick and Molly for the week. And wouldn't ya know, there was a reference to Dukes of Hazzard. Now thats not the only thing that I've watched with a Dukes reference. A episode just a month or so ago I think of Raising Hope had a reference.

Now I think that the Dukes are starting to be popular again. What do ya think?

[CDoherty95]

Popular again??

The Dukes has always been popular,afterall there's been 145 fantastic episodes,2 amazing reunion movies,and two erm.....

Anyway there's also been countless toys and the bikemaker DK produce a stunt bike under the name General Lee.

Family Guy made an episode roughly around Dukes,Knight Rider tried (and failed) to make a funny reference to the Dukes.

The Dukes are popular enough to have spawned various fan websites which younger fans like us have joined,and caused fans to recreate their own versions of the General Lee and other Dukes vehicles.

So is the Dukes getting popular again? In my opinion I think it's always been popular

[K-Duke15]

Yah, I know its always been popular. But I seems that a lot of shows are making comments about Dukes of Hazzard. I've only seen it on two shows but I do wonder if any other shows have in the past year or not.

[HossC]

Sorry K-Duke, but I thought I'd share an example of how early a reference to Dukes appeared in another show. The fact that it's mentioned in the popular British sitcom 'Only Fools and Horses' shows how quickly Dukes was adopted into popular British culture. It was back in 1983, the year that saw the release of 'Return of the Jedi', and the episode was called 'May The Force Be With You'. Although the title may be a Star Wars reference, the force in question is actually the Police Force, this time in the shape of Oscar-winning actor Jim Broadbent as Detective Slater.

For those of you not familiar with the show (was it shown in the US?), the main characters make their money mainly by buying and selling goods that are either defective or stolen. In this episode they acquire a stolen microwave oven back when they were a relatively new commodity. So the question is, what would you do with a new microwave oven?.

Edit: The video I originally posted has disappeared from YouTube, so here's the dialogue from the scene:

Grandad is fiddling with the stolen microwave:

Del: What are you doing?
Grandad: I'm trying to get 'The Dukes of Hazzard!'
Del: The 'Dukes of Hazzard!' This is a microwave oven you dozy old twonk! Gordon Bennett, you'll be putting frozen pizzas into the portable next!

SPOILER

Del, Rodney and Grandad are all arrested, and give widely differing descriptions of the thief. Detective Slater threatens unpleasant consequences for Rodney and Grandad if Del doesn't name the robber.

If you want to find out who stole the microwave, and see Jim Broadbent, click here.

Edited January 21, 2019 by HossC
Replaced missing video with text.

[Meadowmufn]

I recall that the martians invading earth in Mars Attacks were watching Dukes of Hazzard. LOL. It sticks in my head that there was a reference to the Dukes of Hazzard on Friends, though I have nothing to back that up but my own faulty memory. Could have been a different show. There was a reference on King of Queens, when Doug told Carrie to put on some Daisy Dukes. And, of course, we've already discussed the mention on Family Guy.

[Meadowmufn]

Oh, and I forgot, Mystery Science Theater 3000 made frequent mentions of Dukes of Hazzard and Wolfman Mac's Chiller Drive-In frequently played a dixie horn often when there were shots of cars driving in the movies they showed. Robot Chicken had a Dukes sequence in a

. (Warning: there is a little violence, blood, and language in this clip.)

[CDoherty95]

The show MythBusters tested whether you could jump a gorge and drive away in their Mega Movie Myth Special. Although it was based on the 2005 movie it's still in a small way relivent to the series.

There's a couple of videos of that myth floating around on YouTube,just look up "mythbusters car jump" or "MythBusters Dukes if Hazzard"

[HossC]

I thought I'd pitch in with some Dukes references from Top Gear. The first is from the British (original!) show. In one of the 2010 Christmas specials they did a roadtrip up the east coast of the US in supercars. Their first stop-off was the original NASCAR track at North Wilkesboro, NC. After Jeremy Clarkson shredded the tires on his Mercedes SLS he called on the local mayor to help him out, and referred to him several times as 'Boss Hogg'. When they got to the tire shop they found the fitter only spoke 'hillbilly'. Later they got to practice drive-by shootings - what could be more American to us warm-beer-drinking, bad-toothed Brits? . I couldn't find the clip on Youtube, but the whole show is here (the bit I mentioned is in part 2):

http://www.streetfire.net/video/top-gear-season-15-episode-7-new-york-special-720p-hd-full-video_part-1_2181989.htm

The second season of the US version of Top Gear has just started airing over here (about 5 months late). In the fourth episode they get a challenge to drive across Death Valley in a $500 4x4. When the boys find that Tanner Foust has chosen a Jeep CJ7 he gets called 'Daisy Duke' a couple of times.

Although it hasn't aired here yet, I found that the challenge in the eighth episode is for the presenters to construct replicas of their favorite Hollywood cars with a budget of $2000. Adam Ferrara turns up in a General Lee replica mode from a 1973 Plymouth Duster. I found a clip on YouTube, I guess I'll have to wait a few weeks to see how the challenge ends.

Top Gear USA - Hollywood Cars

[HossC]

For the past few days there's been a contestant on a UK quiz show that I watch who's name is Denver. Today it was finally his turn in the "hot seat", and the host got to ask about his name (Denver isn't a common name in the UK). He confessed that his mother had named him after Denver Pyle, and mentioned Dukes in his explanation. The contestant's age wasn't given, but I'd guess he was born in the early to mid-50s, so his mother must've been a fan of Denver Pyle's early work.

Here's a reminder of how Denver looked in his first movie role - 'The Guilt of Janet Ames' (1947):

[Hobie Hartkins]

WOW!! That doesn't look like Denver at all!!

[HossC]

I mentioned in an earlier post that Top Gear USA had an episode where Adam Ferrara painted a 1973 Plymouth Duster like the General Lee (the video link is now dead, but you can see a clip:

Well, after watching some of the later episodes of the American version recently, I decided to check out Top Gear Australia. I found two episodes where the General Lee and Dukes of Hazzard are mentioned.

In the third episode of the first season each presenter has to buy a car from a junkyard for A$500. One of them chooses a Camry wagon and inexplicably decides to paint it like the General. As you can see, he didn't spend much on the paint job ...

... although it did include a flag on the roof! The driver was jokingly referred to as "The Duke of Haphazard" .

In the fourth episode of the fourth season the presenters get a challenge to put a short stunt sequence together. I'm not too familiar with Aussie cars, but I think they started out with three Holden Commodores. The presenters then gave their cars very cheap makeovers to turn them into the "Striped Tomato" from Starsky and Hutch, the "Interceptor" from Mad Max and the General Lee. Of course, it was the General that did the jump.

They also had a go at the roof flag on this car, but it wasn't as good as the first effort. The end credits of the sequence referred to the piece as the "Dorks of Hazard".

[Roth Potter]

I regularly watch Top Gear and Top Gear US, I enjoy both very much. Top Gear Australia I never saw beside them testing a V8 Supercar one time.

How is the show? More like UK or US version?

[HossC]

I think I've seen every episode of the modern UK series (2002 onwards), and I've watched the first four seasons of the Top Gear USA (just starting on season 5). The US series started out like the UK series, and even copied some of the challenges, but they decided to scrap the studio section and guests after the first two seasons. Because the commercials in the US version limit the runtime of each episode to around 43 minutes (compared to a full hour for the UK version), I think the change to the newer challenge-only format seems to work well, although I wish they'd cut the preview/recap either side of the breaks. The season 5 preview promises a trip to the Autobahns of Germany and a brief visit to the Scottish Highlands.

By contrast, Top Gear Australia stuck with the UK format. It had the same music, very similar studio layout, guests and power laps. After two seasons on SBS One, the show moved to the Nine Network and some changes were made. The 'Star In A Bog-Standard Car' section ('Star In A Reasonably Priced Car' in the UK, 'Big Star, Small Car' in the US) was changed to 'Star In A Car' when they swapped the small car for a Ute. They also changed the presenters with only Steve Pizzati appearing in all four seasons. So far I've watched most of season 1 and season 4 (and the UK version of the 'Ashes Special' which was part of season 3 in Australia), and have enjoyed the shows.

Australian cars are a bit of a mystery to me - they have some familiar cars from Europe, and are close to the car-producing countries of Asian, but also have a load of models that are unique. There is a huge rivalry between Ford fans and Holden fans which appears to be bigger than any brand rivalry I've seen in other countries. Only a few of these Australia only cars seem to make it abroad, e.g. Vauxhall have sold a rebadged Holden Monaro in the UK, and the Pontiac G8 was a rebadged Holden Commodore. UK and US viewers will notices that metric figures are used almost exlusively in the Australian show, with power output quoted in kilowatts rather than BHP, and distances/speeds in kilometers (these are probably more familiar to the rest of Europe). Other terminology is more British, with cars having bonnets and boots instead of the hoods and trunks they have in the US. Australians also drive on the correct side of the road .

The Australian show retained the irreverence of the UK show (the US show sometimes seems a bit sanitized), so it's sad that it was cancelled after the fourth season finished in 2012. If you have the time, I'd definitely recommend checking out a few episodes.

Just for fun I decided to look up the viewing figures. The third season of Top Gear Australia got around 1 million viewers per episode out of a population of around 22.7 million (2010). The later seasons of Top Gear USA generally got between 1.5 and 2 million viewers out of a popluation of 317 million (the electric car special in season 4 got noticeably less viewers). The latest series of the UK show got 5 million viewers for the first episode out of a population of just over 62 million (2012).

[HossC]

Ever since Prince Philip, AKA. The Duke of Edinburgh, overturned his Land Rover a few days ago, I've been seeing memes and references like this:

(The 97-year-old prince was unhurt)

Edited January 22, 2019 by HossC

[HossC]

One of my posts above mentions a Dukes reference in the British sitcom 'Only Fools and Horses'. I've just had to edit it because the video is no longer available, but while looking for an alternative source, I came across this great Dukes/OFAH mash-up. Maybe you have to be a fan of both shows to appreciate it, but I think it's pretty good.
 

 

[RogerDuke]

He's dressed more like JR Ewing than a Duke boy. Thanks for posting it.  I just love this thread! 

[HossC]

I saw this the other day. In accordance with the no politics rule, I'll post it without comment.

[Roth Potter]

I dont remember that TV show? 

Edited February 1, 2019 by Roth Potter

[Hobie Hartkins]

That's fantastic Hoss!! I love it! Ha! Ha!

[RogerDuke]

LOL I don't remember it either. Did they have a female cousin? If they did what did she look like?

*cue the Nancy Pelosi in Daisy's red bikini picture*

[HossC]

1 hour ago, RogerDuke said:

*cue the Nancy Pelosi in Daisy's red bikini picture*

A 78-year-old in a red bikini? You have some strange fantasies, Roger.

[RogerDuke]

.

Edited February 3, 2019 by RogerDuke

[HossC]

I'm just watching an old episode of 'Wheeler Dealers' where Mike bought a 1970 Dodge Charger and shipped it back to the UK for Edd to fix up. Edd has a bit of a reputation for the occasional wild color scheme, so when Mike paid his middle progress visit and saw that car was still black, he commented that he thought Edd would've welded the doors shut, painted it orange and put a Confederate flag on the roof. The car stayed black, but Edd did fit a Dixie horn.

[Roth Potter]

I WANNA SEE THIS!! Mmh...

[RogerDuke]

On 2/4/2019 at 1:45 PM, HossC said:

I'm just watching an old episode of 'Wheeler Dealers' where Mike bought a 1970 Dodge Charger and shipped it back to the UK for Edd to fix up. Edd has a bit of a reputation for the occasional wild color scheme, so when Mike paid his middle progress visit and saw that car was still black, he commented that he thought Edd would've welded the doors shut, painted it orange and put a Confederate flag on the roof. The car stayed black, but Edd did fit a Dixie horn.

Thanks for posting this Hoss. I needed to get something else in my head. I couldn't stop visualizing Margaret Thatcher and Nancy Pelosi in red bikinis. Woops, sorry. I hope I didn't put that thought in your head.