Some of the staff at HNet was recently discussing (or rather, lamenting) the fact that the Dukes of Hazzard is not being actively shown on television anywhere, at least not in the US. Last we knew, ABC Family Channel had secured the rights to air the show and instead have just sat on it. We’re not sure why this is. TNN and CMT made a fortune in advertising rev-ah-noo when they aired this show so surely ABC Family would be interested in making a few bucks wouldn’t they?
And certainly we can’t imagine that ABC Family would be embarrassed at all by having aired The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning, with a scantly clad April Scott in the role of Daisy Duke? If they had the gravitas to air the movie, airing the original Dukes shouldn’t be a problem.
As it is, the program remains under wraps. Since the Dukes isn’t currently airing on a television network, the other possibility is Internet airings. This too is scarce. Sites like Hulu.com don’t offer the Dukes of Hazzard and Amazon.com currently has the first and second season of the Dukes available through their Video on Demand option, where you can download an episode to your computer for $1.99.
Yeah, we know what you’re saying. “But folks can just buy the DVDs!” Yes, that’s true, but let’s remind ourselves of how we all got here. We all became fans of the Dukes by watching them on television. And another generation of fans is missing out by not seeing this show on the small screen, without having to fork over two bucks to download the episode.
If all that wasn’t discouraging enough, during the search through the Internet for online Dukes episodes we noticed that Amazon.com and iTunes use the following photo of the Dukes…
Look familar y’all? It oughta…
Let’s face it. Daisy Duke wore some skimpy outfits in her day but for somebody (we might assume Warner Brothers) to decide to totally airbrush her windbreaker for a bare midriff and add extra cleavage is really annoying. Plus, airbrushing half the windbreaker out just looks plain stupid! They didn’t even make up some little tie knot on the front. It just all looks like it’s rolled up under her You Know Whats.
If that wasn’t bad enough it makes our Original Daisy look more like the Latest Incarnation of Daisy.
Awright, now nobody at HNet has ever been accused of being a prude. Ah, well, at least two members have never been accused of being a prude (geeze MaryAnne, lighten up!). But, sheesh y’all! We like our Original Daisy, in her original clothes, thank ya.
Incidentally, we think Bo’s shirt should’ve been airbrushed to reveal more chest. Just to keep things fair.