Good Neighbors, Duke

Title screen

Season 3, Episode 11
Original Air Date: 2 January 1981
Directed by: Dick Moder
Written by: Leonard B. Kaufman (as Len Kaufman)
Created by: Gy Waldron

Plot Summary

Hogg Heights Condominiums

After evading Rosco, Bo and Luke come across some new neighbors, Adam Venable and his daughter Esther. They find that the Venebles haven't yet been into town, so Bo and Luke offer to show them around. What they don't know is that their new neighbors are under government protection after Adam Veneble, AKA. Josiah Benson, testified against a crime boss. A $2 million ransom of diamonds has never been found, and a couple of bounty hunters are trying to track them down.

The Venebles are living on the old Gaylord farm, which Boss had wanted as a site for his Hogg Heights Condominiums. Upset that previous owner Cyrus had forgotten about his interest in the property, Boss sets up a toll on the way to the farm. Boss' determination to get the farm increases when the bounty hunters tell Rosco that they're geologists looking for uranium.

Luke finds an old newspaper cutting about Josiah Benson in the Venebles' car, so he and Bo go to Cedar City to look through the archives. Meanwhile, the bounty hunters have bugged the Venebles' home, and try to stop Daisy when she collects a briefcase from the Venebles. Bo and Luke confront the Adam Veneble, who tells them about the government protection, but denies having the diamonds. Luke figures that the only way to stop people looking for the Venebles is if everyone thinks they're dead, so he hatches a plan to fake an accident.

Trivia

Hoyt Axton

• Country singer Hoyt Axton gets caught in the Celebrity Speed Trap. He was reunited with Tom and John in the 1987 TV movie Christmas Comes to Willow Creek.
• In the same year as he featured in this episode, James Reynolds (Clayton) landed a part as Abe Carver in Days of Our Lives. He is still a current cast member and has now appeared in hundreds of episodes. One of his episodes in 1981 also featured Cynthia Leake (Esther Veneble).
• Cynthia Leake (Esther Veneble) appeared as Teegra in the 1983 animated feature Fire and Ice. Live action shots of the actors were recorded and then rotoscoped frame by frame to produce the animation.
• Grant Owens (Dixon) returned to Hazzard as Whitney in Farewell, Hazzard.

Quotes

• When Rosco crashes out of a pursuit:
  Bo: "All right, looks like we lost Rosco."
  Luke: "You never lose him, Cousin, you just kind of misplace him."

• After their first meeting with the Venebles:
  Bo: "Old man sure gives me a strange feeling, Luke."
  Luke: "What about his daughter?"
  Bo: "She gives me a feeling, too. It just ain't quite so strange."

• When Luke announces that they'll have to kill the Venebles:
  Waylon: "If y'all believe that, I've got some Tennessee beach property that I'm selling real cheap."

Regular Cast

• Tom Wopat as Luke Duke
• John Schneider as Bo Duke
• Catherine Bach as Daisy Duke
• Denver Pyle as Uncle Jesse
• Rick Hurst as Cletus
• Ben Jones as Cooter
• James Best as Sheriff Rosco Coltrane
• Sorrell Booke as Boss Hogg
• Waylon Jennings as The Balladeer (voice)

Guest Cast

• John Larch as Adam Venable/Josiah Benson
• Cynthia Leake as Esther Venable
• William Mims as Hickey Burns
• Spencer Milligan as Leroy Little
• Grant Owens as Dixon
• James Reynolds as Clayton
• Hoyt Axton as Himself

• 
  John Larch
  as Adam Venable/Josiah Benson
• 
  Cynthia Leake as Esther Venable
• 
  William Mims as Hickey Burns

• 
  Spencer Milligan as Leroy Little
• 
  Grant Owens as Dixon
• 
  James Reynolds as Clayton

Crew

• Supervising Producer: Rod Amateau
• Produced by: Myles Wilder and Ralph Riskin
• Executive Producer: Paul R. Picard
• Executive Story Consultants: William Raynor and Myles Wilder
• Executive Story Editors: Leonard B. Kaufman (as Len Kaufman) and Martin Roth
• Story Editor: Bruce Howard
• Creative Consultant: Gy Waldron
• Associate Producers: Skip Ward and Gilles de Turenne (as Gilles A. de Turenne)
• Director of Photography: Jack Whitman
• Art Director: Robert I. Jillson (as Bob Jillson)
• Title Song Composed and Sung by: Waylon Jennings
• Music by: Fred Werner
• Unit Production Manager: Gilles de Turenne (as Gilles A. de Turenne)
• First Assistant Director: Kelly A. Manners
• Second Assistant Director: Nicholas Batchelor
• Second Unit Director: Craig Baxley
• Second Unit Director of Photography: Arthur R. Botham (as Arthur Botham)
• Second Unit First Assistant Director: Kurt Baker
• Supervising Editor: Russell Livingstone (as Russ Livingstone)
• Editor: Murray Jordan
• Music Editor: Abby Marable
• Sound Editor: Alex Bamattre
• Sound: Victor Goode
• Set Decorator: Tom Bugenhagen
• Property: Beverly Hadley
• Special Effects: Frank Toro
• Makeup: Ray Brooks
• Hair Stylist: Virginia Darcy
• Men's Costume Supervisor: Bob Christenson
• Women's Costume Supervisor: Linda Hickman
• Casting: Melissa Skoff
• Creative Consultant: Philip Mandelker
• Some Automobiles Supplied by: AMC
• Location Facilities Provided by: The Burbank Studios
• A Lou Step Production in Association with Warner Bros Television

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Good Neighbors, Duke
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