The Dukes of Hazzard Archives - Page 3 of 10

Double Episodes of Dukes of Hazzard on CMT!

Now you have twice as many reasons to stay up all night. CMT is airing 2 episodes of “The Dukes of Hazzard” back-to-back every night this week! So go ahead and have a pot of coffee with dinner, and stay awake to catch these classics:

The Dukes in Hollywood – Wed 11/16 at 1:00 a.m.

Cool Hands Luke and Bo – Wed 11/16 at 2:00 a.m.

Go West Young Dukes – Thurs 11/17 at 1:00 a.m.

Cale Yarborough Comes to Hazzard – Thurs 11/17 at 2:00 a.m.

Danger on the Hazzard Express – Fri 11/18 at 1:00 a.m.

Sittin’ Dukes – Fri 11/18 at 2:00 a.m.

“Cool Hands Luke & Bo” offered fresh excitement late in the series, by getting the Dukes in a heap of trouble outside of Hazzard. For once, the bad guys aren’t coming to Hazzard from out of town – they’re at home in Osage County, and the Dukes just happen to wander over there. Nice goin’, boys. And can anyone listen to Daisy’s emotional protest without feeling sympathy? It’s rare we see Daisy in tears, even if just for a moment.

Another original idea is explored in “Go West Young Dukes.” It’s the closest thing to time-travel that we get in The Dukes of Hazzard, and it’s pulled off rather well. This Duke-ified western admits the remarkable resemblance between the current day Dukes and their storied ancestors, and from there, it’s just plain fun. It’s obvious that John Schneider and Tom Wopat relished the opportunity to do something different.

In the not-so-great department, “Cale Yarborough Comes to Hazzard” is ruined by the over-use of model cars doing stunts that do not look believable in the least. This episode had the potential to be a touching story about how a celebrity race car driver helps a sick little boy. Instead, it was overstuffed with poorly executed, unnecessary “action” scenes of matchbox cars flying over toy buildings and landscapes.

On the positive, Cale performs his role well, and Bo delivers a couple bad puns that are worth it just for Luke’s expression. James Best, as Rosco, delivers an ad-lib that we probably shouldn’t even mention. This scene has often been cut from the TNN and CMT airings to make room for more commercials. Good thing we YouTube’d it.

Tom Wopat Lands Role in Quentin Tarantino Flick

Tom Wopat, known to us as Luke Duke from “The Dukes of Hazzard”, has landed the role of Marshall Gill Tatum in Tarantino’s 2012 movie, “Django Unchained.” This is a spaghetti n’ grits southern-western, promising bullets, havoc and revenge.

In a nutshell, freed slave Django teams up with his bounty-hunter mentor to rescue his enslaved wife from a sadistic plantation owner. The latter will be played by Leonardo DiCaprio.

Tom is no stranger to modern westerns, having played Colonel Slocum in the 2010 movie, Jonah Hex. While Tom’s main bread n’ butter has been Broadway musicals for many years, he continues to obtain roles in movies and television. Additionally, he performs live concerts in an array of venues, receiving critical acclaim for his smooth, crooning jazz vocals.

The Django Unchained cast also includes actor M.C. Gainey, who portrayed Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane in the 2005 big-screen Dukes of Hazzard movie.

Another Hazzard connection is that director/screenwriter Quentin Tarantino was once a student of James Best’s camera technique school. In his book Best in Hollywood: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful, James remarked that he told Tarantino he was a “lousy actor” and that he should “take up writing.” The rest, as they say, is history.

Django Unchained is in pre-production status, and is expected to be in theaters by December 2012.

Dukes of Hazzard “General Lee” Is #1 Iconic Car

Or maybe that should be “#01” most iconic car! The General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard has been named by Edmunds “Inside Line” site as “The Greatest TV and Movie Car of All Time.” This is no surprise to Dukes fans, but for an outfit like Edmunds to endorse the opinion is pretty cool. They considered 100 popular TV and movie cars for this honor.

Hot Rod Magazine had already crowned the General Lee as king in their November 2011 issue, as a result of their reader poll. But hey, the more on the bandwagon, the merrier!

Hot Rod’s runner-up, The Bandit Trans-Am, came in at #4 on the Edmunds Inside Line list. The Knight Rider 1982 Pontiac Trans Am placed in the top ten at #7.

You can read Inside Line’s Top 100 list here. Meanwhile, let’s give a 21-Dixie horn salute to our favorite car, The General Lee! You can also share your opinions on the rest of the Inside Line 100 List in our Forums.

Adopt-A-Dipstick!

Despite appearing in 47 episodes of The Dukes of Hazzard, we’ve noticed that Rick Hurst doesn’t have his own website. At least not one that we can find! This seems an injustice, even for Hazzard County.

Now, we know that Deputy Cletus Hogg was the low man on the totem pole in the Hazzard County Sheriff’s Department. He was ranked somewhere below Rosco’s basset hound in terms of authority. We also know that as a relative of Boss Hogg, Cletus didn’t get any automatic sympathy. His I.Q. was pegged to be somewhere between dipstick and lug nut. Cletus also lacked the innocence of his predecessor, Deputy Enos Strate.

All in all, Cletus was clumsy, dense, easily distracted, and possessed questionable driving skills. Naturally, he fit right in with the Hazzard County Sheriff’s Department.

Rick Hurst’s talent for physical comedy and comedic timing made Cletus a memorable part of The Dukes of Hazzard. Cletus had his first appearance in the episode “Money to Burn” as an armored car driver. Cletus appeared in later episodes as a reserve Deputy, filling in for the temporary absence of Enos in “The Meeting” and “Road Pirates.”

BiteOuttaCrime — Cletus takes a bite out of crime in “The Meeting”

During the third season, Sonny Shroyer was offered his own show in the spin-off series Enos. The translation in Hazzard County was that Boss fired Enos, prompting Enos to accept a position with the L.A. police department. Cletus, already trained in the skills of automotive snorkeling and landscaping with cop cars, threw himself bodily into the position of full-time Deputy.

Rick Hurst’s reliable portrayal of Cletus would eventually earn him the spotlight in the fourth season episode, “Cletus Falls in Love.” Watching Cletus stumble his way through his newfound feelings while Daisy becomes more and more flustered is hilarious. When Daisy said, “We need to talk,” Cletus spoke for men everywhere when he responded with, “I’d rather smooch!”

Alas, the good times for Cletus wouldn’t last. During the fateful fifth season, when Coy and Vance temporarily replaced Bo and Luke, the Enos series was cancelled. Deputy Enos Strate subsequently returned to Hazzard County. Cletus would remain part of the Hazzard County law for only a few more episodes, sharing an awkward co-dipstick duty with Enos.

After receiving an offer in another series, Rick Hurst bowed out from the Dukes of Hazzard. In Hazzard County, Cletus’s abrupt absence was explained once as a “vacation” and then never mentioned again. Enos returned to prominence as Hazzard’s only honest lawman and dipstick extraordinaire.

Cletus did find his way back to Hazzard for the TV reunion movies. And while Rick Hurst has had other roles since his Dukes days, he remains fond of The Dukes of Hazzard and its fans. Rick has made many personal appearances at DukesFest and Cooter’s Place.

All this being said, it’s incredible that Cletus looks homeless out there on the internet. So we’re gonna keep a place for him here on HazzardNet! You can view Rick’s upcoming appearances in our Forums. We’ll also beef up (Hogg up?) our cast and character pages and give this wayward son of Hazzard County his share of attention.

Happy Halloween, Hazzard Style!

Do you believe in ghosts? How about The Ghost of General Lee? This is a great time of year to enjoy some Dukes of Hazzard episodes that feature ghosts, haunted houses, caskets, and spook-talkin’ mediums! Of course, nothing is quite what it seems in Hazzard County, so there’s got to be a rational explanation behind all the spookifyin’. Well, almost rational.

The Ghost of General Lee gives us the greatest premise of the entire series. What if, Bo and Luke died during a chase from Rosco? We know Rosco would feel pretty bad about it, despite his long-running animosity with the Dukes. We also know ol’ Boss Hogg would find some way to try and take advantage of it.

We also know, that cars might be able to die since batteries do. And cars become spook-talkin’ mediums, especially when their not-so-deceased owners play the shuck n’ jive of a lifetime.

Seeing Rosco get treated to a haunting by the General Lee is a moment in Dukes of Hazzard history that never gets old. If you haven’t watched this episode lately, it’s time you saw it again. You can download it from Amazon for a mere $1.99. Also check out this Ghost of General Lee model kit.

The writers of Season Two must of had a morbid streak in ’em, because they also gave us R.I.P. Henry Flatt, an episode that was pretty much a casket-and-carry gag from start to finish. Bo and Luke have been accused of a lot of things by now, but…body snatchers? The coffin and mortal remains within gets passed between vehicles like a game of hot potato. Turns out the General Lee makes a lousy hearse.

James Best gets credit for a good ad-lib during this episode, when Rosco quips a one-liner over the CB to Enos. Not surprisingly, Enos doesn’t have a comeback for it.

Another good choice for this time of year is The Hazzardville Horror. This was the Dukes answer to a Scooby-Doo episode, complete with a spooky old house, weird shenanigans, secret panels, and criminals trying to scare off the locals. Of course, with locals like Bo, Luke, and Daisy, you’re more liable to draw them in than send them running away. They got time on their hands, after all, and snooping around is irresistible to them. Will curiosity kill the cat?

Maybe not, but in the case of the Dukes, it doesn’t do ’em any favors. They manage to incriminate themselves even while solving the mystery of the haunted house and cracking the latest crime spree in Hazzard.

You’d have to agree that on the average, the Dukes made good use of things like coffins, hearses, funerals, and so on. From “Money to Burn” in the first season, to “Ding Dong, The Boss is Dead” in the fifth season, the Dukes didn’t shy away from things that some of us would find just a little creepy.

So, this Halloween, pour a big glass of apple cider, sit down with a bowl of Halloween candy, and treat yourself to some of your favorite Dukes of Hazzard episodes!