Uncle Jesse's episode reviews

[HossC]

The episode also contains the quote that I use for my signature.
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[HossC]

The episode title is a play on the old song 'Shine on, Harvest Moon', which always makes me think of the Neil Young song below. By coincidence, it was played on the radio earlier in a comparison with a later version (Neil won). It's such a beautiful song, I had to listen to it again all the way through before posting.
 

 

[RogerDuke]

17 hours ago, HossC said:

The episode also contains the quote that I use for my signature.
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Awesome Hossome!

[RogerDuke]

17 hours ago, HossC said:

The episode title is a play on the old song 'Shine on, Harvest Moon', 

 

The odd thing is that Moonshine is often called shine but is never called moon. If you just say the title and didn't see the episode you wouldn't think of moonshine. I wonder who wrote the episode titles. It might have been the writers but maybe not. I know from experience that if you write an article or letter to a newspaper they write the title for you.....and sometimes do a terrible job. 

[HossC]

3 hours ago, RogerDuke said:

I wonder who wrote the episode titles. It might have been the writers but maybe not.

Great question, Roger, and one I've never thought about before. Movies often have working titles that get changed before they're released, but I have no idea if TV episodes are the same. I did notice that the titles generally got longer as the seasons progressed. Maybe Gy Waldron had the final say.

How many other episode titles were plays on existing songs/movies/phrases? 'Cool Hands, Luke & Bo' was obviously a reworking of 'Cool Hand Luke' (and even featured Morgan Woodward from the original movie). 'Play It Again, Luke' was probably based on the misquotation of Ilsa's famous line from 'Casablanca', although Woody Allen made a 1972 movie called 'Play It Again, Sam'.

When I checked a couple of other episode titles, they actually pre-date movies with similar names: 'Repo Men' came out five years before the Alex Cox directed 'Repo Man' (starring Harry Dean Stanton and Emilio Estevez), and 'Southern Comfurts' came out a year before the classic 'Southern Comfort' (although the drink had been around for over 100 years).

Has anyone got any other suggestions?

[RogerDuke]

Since you included the word "phrases" in there and since I'm cheating and have the episode list in front of me.

Witness for the Persecution - witness for the prosecution- season 2

The Hazzardville Horror- The Amityville Horror- season 3

Baa, Baa White Sheep - Baa Baa Black Sheep- season 3 (old TV series about WW2 fighter pilots)

The Sound of Music (pretty obvious) Hazzard Style - season 4

Pin the Tail on the Dukes (donkey) - season 4

Coy meets Girl - boy meets girl - season 5

The Hazzardgate Tape - the Watergate tape - season 5

Ding Dong the Boss is Dead - ding dong the witch is dead - season 5

The Boar's Nest Bears - The Bad News Bears - season 6

A Boy's best Friend - a man's best friend - season 6

Dead and Alive - dead or alive - season 6

Dr. Jekyll and Mr Duke (Hyde) - season 7

Go West Young Dukes (man)  - season 7

When you Wish Upon a Hogg (star) - season 7

I'm sure I missed some because who knows what the title creators we're thinking. For example, were they thinking of the Orient Express with Danger on the Hazzard Express? It seemed like the later the series went the more they played with the title references.

 

 

 

 

[HossC]

Brilliant list, Roger. I had a small handful of those in mind when I wrote my post, but didn't expect there to be so many. I also wondered about 'Danger on the Hazzard Express'.

This now poses a new question to me: how many ideas for episodes came from the title? I can imagine the writers thinking up a good title and then constructing a story around it.

[RogerDuke]

5 hours ago, HossC said:

 I can imagine the writers thinking up a good title and then constructing a story around it.

I can relate. While using my imagination one day I imagined an encounter with a mythical beast eating a deer. The scene struck me enough that I expanded it and eventually my thoughts went even further and thought of a story line. The next thing you know I thought it was a good idea for a book and have been working on it for 10 years. It is a Lord of the Rings style tale and I have split it up into three books. One where the main character is 15. One where he is 49 and one where he is 82. Now that I'm retired I have a lot more time for it. I guess every big project ever accomplished by anybody, started with a single thought. 

[RogerDuke]

Pin the Tail on the Dukes....season 4

Jesse's old friend Hector Farley gets out of prison after 10 years and immediately starts seeking revenge on Boss. Boss is worried so he tries to get Hector thrown in jail but the Dukes have other plans. Boss embezzled $10,000 worth of taxpayers dollars to buy radar guns but only bought 2 hair dryers disguised as them. One of them got ruined when the General Lee splashed on it so Boss planned to arrest the Duke boys for destroying county property. In the meantime the Dukes have their hands full trying to stop Hector from hurting Boss and going back to prison. Boss calls Hector and tells him to meet in front of the courthouse because he wants to make things right and give him the $25,000 dollars he owes him but Bo and Luke grab him before he can fall into that trap. Daisy and Jesse snatch Cletus's fake radar gun and toss it to the boys and Hector in the General. The boys told Boss they would report his embezzlement unless he drops the charges and gives Hector his money but Boss tricks them and grabs the hair dryer and takes off for Hazzard Swamp to destroy the evidence but the Duke boys get there when Rosco throws it. In the most spectacular catch in series history Luke snatches the dryer in mid air in the passenger seat while Bo is flying the General over the swamp. Boss is forced to accept the deal and a ridge runner handshake seals it. 

-- "Back in 1944 in Hazzard High 'ole Rosco threw two touchdowns....at the wrong goal." -Waylon

-- a rare episode where we see a television in the Dukes house

-- Boss had such a big pile of donuts on his desk you couldn't even see him behind it. 

-- Mr Rhuebottom makes his first appearance even though his store has been there since season number one when filming in California began.....and even though Boss foreclosed on it a few episodes ago in "Trouble at Cooter's"

[RogerDuke]

Miz Tisdale on the Lam.....season 4

A mysterious man with the fake name of John Smith has been coming to the post office for a week getting a LOT of mail. He is working for Boss who is running a mail scam to sell land at Hazzard Highlands, which doesn't even exist. After falling for the scam a lady named Sue Ann Blake shows up looking for her land. She bumps into Bo and Luke but they tell her they've never heard of HH. When Boss finds out a postal inspector is on the way to investigate mail fraud he sends Rosco to the post office to make it looks like Emma Tisdale is running the scam. While Rosco's there Sue Ann shows up. It turns out she's not a victim after all. She's the inspector. Rosco tells her Emma is the scammer. The boys overhear it and run to Cooter's to warn her and take her to the farm for protection. Billy Joe Fong jumped on the loaner motorcycle, with sidecar that Cooter gave her and disguised himself as Emma to trick the law. Of course Emma is pretty happy hanging out with Jesse at the farm. Sue Ann tells Boss and Rosco that she thinks Emma has accomplices so Rosco sets the Dukes up to be framed as well. When Boss, Sue Ann, Cletus and Rosco go to the farm everybody scatters, Jesse hopping in Emma's sidecar. The romantic couple (in Emma's mind) end up hiding in the back of Billy Joe's CB shop where Emma starts running her fingers through his hair. After Bo and Luke get caught and tied up by "John Smith" and his accomplice those two bad guys go to the post office in masks and drop Bo's wallet to frame him. The boys get loose and after a big chase with several vehicles everything gets sorted out and it's another happy ending. Jesse even took Emma catfishing. 

-- Cletus got wet 5 times in this episode....that has to be a record. 

-- "Cletus, you were born stupid and you've been losing ground ever since." Boss

-- This is the episode with that classic scene with Boss and Rosco and that out of control popcorn machine. It was so funny to see Rosco salting popcorn in mid air. 

 

 

[Spike]

The motorcycle in Miz Tisdale on the Lam is a Moto Guzzi, not 100% sure which model though. That's my 3rd favorite motorcycle brand behind Indian and Harley Davidson.

[HossC]

1 hour ago, Spike said:

The motorcycle in Miz Tisdale on the Lam is a Moto Guzzi, not 100% sure which model though. That's my 3rd favorite motorcycle brand behind Indian and Harley Davidson.

I don't know about motorcycles, but IMCDb says it's a 1969 Moto Guzzi V 7 Ambassador.

[RogerDuke]

I'm pretty sure this episode is the only time Emma has driven a street bike on the show. (Cooter gave it to her as a loaner since he was working on her dirt bike). I remember I was considering getting a replica of her dirt bike and Hoss posted what that was. I never followed through with searching for one. She has ridden dirt bikes of three colors as I recall. White, blue and yellow. Suzuki is usually yellow and Yamaha is often blue but those brands have flirted with different colors through the years......and of course any bike can be painted. I don't think any old dirt bike had electric start and old bikes can be pretty stubborn so I don't think I want to fight it since I'm getting older. Still, a replica of one of her bikes would be cool. Especially the white one that has official US post office stickers on the gas tank. 

[RogerDuke]

3 hours ago, Spike said:

The motorcycle in Miz Tisdale on the Lam is a Moto Guzzi, not 100% sure which model though. That's my 3rd favorite motorcycle brand behind Indian and Harley Davidson.

That's pretty impressive that you knew that.

[Spike]

4 hours ago, RogerDuke said:

That's pretty impressive that you knew that.

Moto Guzzi's are the easiest motorcycles to spot because of the way the V twin engine is positioned Transversely with the cylinders showing on the left and right side of the bikes from the front and rear view.

[HossC]

4 hours ago, RogerDuke said:

I'm pretty sure this episode is the only time Emma has driven a street bike on the show. (Cooter gave it to her as a loaner since he was working on her dirt bike). I remember I was considering getting a replica of her dirt bike and Hoss posted what that was. I never followed through with searching for one. She has ridden dirt bikes of three colors as I recall. White, blue and yellow. Suzuki is usually yellow and Yamaha is often blue but those brands have flirted with different colors through the years......and of course any bike can be painted. I don't think any old dirt bike had electric start and old bikes can be pretty stubborn so I don't think I want to fight it since I'm getting older. Still, a replica of one of her bikes would be cool. Especially the white one that has official US post office stickers on the gas tank. 

Well, according to IMCDb again, the white dirt bike that Miz Tisdale rides in 'Double Dukes' was a 1981 Yamaha IT 175 I. You can see my original reply (with pictures) here.

Incidentally, it's noted in several episodes of CHiPs that because Kawasaki supplied the police motorcycles, the bad guys often rode Hondas.

[RogerDuke]

Nothin' But the Truth....season 4

After having the old Hazzard Livery Stable turned into a historical sight Boss rents it out to Mr. Lacey from Atlanta as a casino. After Boss gets a tip that a state gambling inspector is coming to Hazzard to investigate he decides to frame the Dukes so he plants gambling equipment in their barn. While the Dukes are loading the equipment into Jesse's truck to get rid of it,  the inspector shows up with Boss, Rosco and Cletus and throw all 4 Dukes in jail. Moments later Boss sits on a hypodermic needle that Rosco just brought back from a sheriff's convention. Boss doesn't know it but he injected himself with truth serum. The serum kicked in at the casino and Boss told a patron that a gambling machine was rigged. It got much worse later....for Boss that is. He started revealing secrets to everyone he bumped into and even told Lulu he only married her for her money. She booted him out of their house. Eventually Boss figured out why he was being so truthful and he gets kidnapped by Mr. Lacey and his thugs. The Duke boys head to the casino and start a big rumble as a distraction and then rescue Boss. Lacey and his heavily armed henchmen take off after them in 2 cars. The boys called in reinforcements and the next thing you know 8 vehicles are meeting at Clover Crossing where the bad boys get caught. Later the Dukes celebrate with a BBQ back at the farm. 

-- Jesse to Boss.."Your word is about as useless as a milk bucket under a bull." (at the time that wasn't true since Boss couldn't lie) 

-- Daisy's red bikini makes a comback. While she is distracting a binocular viewing Cletus, Bo is losening the lugnut's lugnuts.

[RogerDuke]

Dear Diary.....season 4 

Boss didn't know it but Rosco had been keeping a diary and one of the things in it was all of Boss's crooked deals. The book of dirty deeds ends up in the dirt at the Duke farm when Flash buries it there while Rosco is writing the boys a ticket. When he gets back to town Rosco realizes it is missing and when Boss questions him Rosco reveals that his diary is missing and explains what's in it. The two of them go back to the farm but the 4 Dukes haven't seen It. Boss doesn't believe them and threatens to arrest the boys for "grand theft diary" and hot pursuit begins. Jesse finds the half-buried red book and makes a deal on the CB with Boss to trade It for dropping all the phoney charges. Two bad guys who Boss just double crossed hear the deal and catch Jesse (who twisted his ankle) and take the diary. The boys pick their uncle up but then end up in jail. The 2 bad guys read the diary and call Boss demanding $25,000 for it. Boss gets conterfeit money from the evidence room and makes the Duke boys deliver it in return for dropping the charges. The bad guys notice that it is funny money and take off with the diary. After a chase they jump from their car before it rolls off a cliff and blows up, destroying the diary. The boys know that Boss won't believe them so they have Daisy buy a lookalike (it's the only kind Rhuebottom sells) and they tell Boss they have Rosco's diary. After faking a fight with Luke ("Bo, you're overacting") Bo had Rosco and Boss chase him (actually Luke drove Rosco's car) to a work sight where a wood chipper was in action. Luke destroyed the diary by throwing it in the chipper and Bo did the same with a big box of charges that had accumulated through the years. Of course Boss and Rosco thought it was the real diary. 

-- Forget about easy hood slides....Bo did an amazing roof slide in this one. Rosco did a somersault after failing a hood slide. 

-- Two years after this aired one of the bad guys.....Ernie Hudson.....would go on to become one of the Ghostbusters. 

[RogerDuke]

New Deputy in Town.....season 4

Boss is upset because Hazzard County government funds are running low so he orders Rosco to get more aggressive with tickets. The Dukes are short on money too. If they don't come up with another $500 they won't get their tractor fixed to get the crops in. Meanwhile, Linda May Barnes, a beautiful deputy from Roseville shows up to be a temporary deputy in Hazzard since public enemy #2 Rafe Logan will be spending the night there as soon as his guard delivers him. Every man in Hazzard falls in love with her including Boss who realizes that wasn't a good idea after Lulu isn't too happy. To make money Boss decides to sell tickets to see Logan and turn the event into a spectacle but Barnes isn't too happy about that because she isn't a deputy after all. She is working with Logan's brother Denny to break him out. But Boss likes her so much he makes her Acting Sheriff. The boys figure out she is a phoney and follow her until she meets Denny. The boys get caught and almost die when they get handcuffed to the mirrors of his car and it rolls downhill toward a pond, prompting Bo to say "I'm going to church this Sunday." Barnes and Denny lock everybody in jail but the Duke boys and knock out Logan's guard, kidnap Lulu and take off with the General Lee and boys in pursuit. After they let Lulu go,  the Duke boys catch the 3 and it's into the Hazzard Jail they go. The Dukes get enough reward to fix their tractor and Lulu forgives her Chickabiddy. 

-- Linda... "I have to watch my figure." Rosco...."You're gonna have to stand in line with the rest of us."

[RogerDuke]

Birds Gotta Fly......season 4

Pro race driver Molly Hargrove witnessed Daisy in her Jeep Dixie beat the General Lee in a race so she approaches her and offers to train her for the racing circuit. Molly then goes to Boss for a loan to help fund the training and Boss makes her put up the pink slip to her race car as collateral. Molly wants to test Daisy again so she lets her use her car while Bo and Luke lure the 2 patrol cars into hot pursuit and Daisy wins the 4 car race but she turns down the pro driver job when Molly offers it. Even though Daisy hasn't signed a contract, Boss wants part of it if she does so he sends 2 henchman to losen the straps on the racecar that is sitting on the trailer. He's planning on causing Molly financial troubles so she'll be forced to sign part of Daisy's contract over to him if Daisy ever signs one.....which she does eventually. After a tough farewell Daisy hops in the RV with Molly and her mechanic, on the way to start her new career. After the boys save Molly's car from being destroyed they investigate Molly and find out she was kicked off the circuit for dirty wreckless driving. Boss goes to Capitol City Speedway and Molly still refuses to sell him part of Daisy's contract. Bo and Luke watch Molly train Daisy and don't like her dirty tactics. They later catch Boss's henchmen damaging parts under the racecar's hood and when they catch them they admit Boss hired them. They did so much damage that Molly is forced to sign 51% of Daisy's contract to fix it. Molly then tells the 4 Dukes and Daisy quits. The boys catch up with Boss and Rosco who are on their way to Atlanta to validate the contract with the Racing Commission but Rosco flips the car on the roof and he and Boss are trapped and spinning and are forced to give up the contract. 

-- One of my favorite scenes in the series...all 4 Dukes sitting out in the middle of nowhere at night with a campfire. 

-- Cletus and Rosco end up in a pond. What is unusual is that they are together in the same police car. 

-- It's Cletus's turn for a failed hood slide into a sumersault. 

-- Since I'm from Pennsylvania I liked it when Rosco said the Duke boys were going Penn State and  Cletus asked if the were going to college. Rosco meant the state pen...

[HossC]

58 minutes ago, RogerDuke said:

Since I'm from Pennsylvania I liked it when Rosco said the Duke boys were going Penn State and Cletus asked if the were going to college. Rosco meant the state pen...

They did a very similar gag, but visually, in an episode of Police Squad which originally aired a month after 'Birds Gotta Fly' in 1982.
 

 

[Spike]

14 hours ago, RogerDuke said:

-- One of my favorite scenes in the series...all 4 Dukes sitting out in the middle of nowhere at night with a campfire. 

One of mine too, especially right now in this crazy time. Will be visiting some relatives out in the country for a labor day bbq, I'm looking forward to just sitting out there and enjoying the peace and quiet all day.

One of my other favorite scene's is the end of the Christmas tree's episode where everybody is at the farm. Reminds me of the family holiday get together's at my grandparents house before they passed away. Everybody put their differences aside and had a good time. That's why it's one of my favorite episode's to pop in the DVD player in December.

[RogerDuke]

You have the same tastes in Dukes scenes as me Spike!

[RogerDuke]

Bad Day in Hazzard.....season 4

A big time thief named Thackery and his 3 henchmen come into town with plans to rob an armored car containing ten million dollars of Federal Reserve money. Two of them kidnap Bo and Luke and take them to the Boar's Nest where the other two are holding Daisy, Boss and Jesse hostage. After luring Rosco and Cletus there they have seven hostages. They then ordered Boss to tap into WHOGG radio and order the town to evacuate because it is going to be sprayed for an exotic fruit fly. Luke escapes briefly but has to return because of Thackery's CB message saying Jesse will be killed if he doesn't. Cooter arrives at the Boar's Nest....hostage number 8. Jesse remembers that the Boar's Nest used to be a warehouse and had a secret tunnel in the store room from back in the day when he and Boss ran shine....and it's still there. Boss and Jesse trick the bad guys into locking Bo and Luke in the store room. Thackery and one of his men dress up like Boss and Rosco to meet the armored car to steal it. While trying to get out Bo and Luke get caught but overpower one bad guy while the other hostages overpower the other. Thackery and bad guy #3 get the armored car but the boys and the General are right on them. Luke jumps on the roof and waves his shirt over the windshield forcing it to stop. All 4 thieves go to jail. Thackery was humiliated he got caught by small town folks. "Why couldn't it have been the CIA or FBI....even the state police?"

-- After filling out his will Rosco said "I can't remember if I left Flash to Mama or Mama to Flash."

-- When the guy had to pull over because Luke was waving his shirt on the windshield I thought to myself....he wouldn't be very good at Mario Kart when the ink spot gets in your way. 

[RogerDuke]

Miss Tri-Counties.....season 4 

Miss Melanie Dubois of Hatchapee County enters the Tri-County beauty contest, the 3 counties being Hatchapee, Riverton and Hazzard. Melanie's sugar daddy is Big Jim Mathers and he wants her to win so bad that he gives Boss $10,000 to fix it so she does. Boss wants to use the money to fund his solar powered still and he even has a little scale model of it. Boss knows Melanie's biggest competition is Daisy so he tries to keep her from entering before the deadline but fails. The contest is divided into 3 sections- mechanical ability, a car race and swimsuit competition. The mechanical contest is to see who can put a carburetor together quickest. Daisy won despite the fact that Boss rigged it but she forfeited because she thought it was the right thing to do. Later Rosco found out that Daisy's drivers license had expired so she couldn't enter the race. After telling her, the Dukes rushed off to Chickasaw because Boss wouldn't help her renew it. Boss contacts Big Ed Little and he fails to stop Daisy from renewing it despite chasing her cousins around during her test. Daisy then won the race even though Big Jim sent his two henchmen on the course to trip her up. Having Daisy tied with Melanie 1-1 Big Jim is desperate so he has his men kidnap Daisy but it's the General Lee to the rescue and they get Daisy back to the Boar's Nest  just in time for the swimsuit competition which was easy for Miss Hazzard County to win, pulling down a perfect score of 30. Big Jim got his money back from Boss and Daisy donated her $500 prize to the 4H club for kids (Head, Heart, Health, Hands).

-- Folks in Hazzard County were green before being green was cool. Boss wanted a solar powered still and Jesse invented ethanol in "High Octane"

--- Jesse (talking to himself) "And people ask 'wher'd ya git all that grey hair Mr. Duke.' "