Maybe I shouldn’t even be writing this but I have a hankering to watch The Dukes of Hazzard lately. It was on TV from 1979 to 1985 and it was definitely my favorite show on TV. In fact, it was the only show on TV that we were permitted to watch. I was four when it started and ten when it ended.
Until around middle school, my brother and my bedtime was 8pm. That means that any prime time TV was out of the question. TV was also severely restricted in our house as well. We got to choose one TV show a week that we were permitted to watch. This is what we chose of course.
Even Saturday morning cartoons got the boot early in my life. My mom thought that my brother and I got too wound up after watching them. I knew that was the edict but I still liked to turn on the TV in the morning before anybody was a up. With the old manual TVs, you could turn the volume down and then turn on the TV. One morning I woke up and the cord was cut on the TV. That ended that.
I think I know the trigger here. I have been looking at CB radios a lot lately. Since CB became super popular in the 1970s, it played a prominent role in the Dukes of Hazzard. All the vehicles, including the General Lee had CBs and the characters communicated via radio during their hijinks. You also had other souped-up cars like the 1976/77 Pontiac Firebird on Smokey and the Bandit during that time that were using CB radio.
This is not to forget the General Lee is a 1969 Dodge Charger and I am helping my son out with his 1969 Mercury Cougar here and there. I was running errands a couple weekends ago and I saw a 1969 Ford Ranchero and all the sudden I was looking up prices of project cars. It seems like my destiny is colliding with The Dukes of Hazzard.
The truth is, as much as I liked the show, I remember very little. I love car chases and jumps. Put a brush guard on a hot rod/race car and drive it like you stole it. Who can resist siding with Robin Hood. I might remind you that Bo and Luke were (wrongly) convicted felons and so firearms were prohibited, that is why they used bows. My brother and I ate that stuff up. Western wear and Daisy Dukes… I am talking myself into buying the entire show since I cannot rent it and it is not streaming anywhere.
Finishing the highlights, the theme was sung by Waylon Jennings, one of the outlaws of country. This was also a time of peak popularity of Hee-Haw. The show reeks of the era of late seventies/early eighties. It was a simpler time, my wife would say a ‘whiter’ time. I can’t argue that, but what I am saying we were all united by less choices.
A few years ago, I was looking for something family friendly and I did end up buying the first episode on Amazon. I don’t think my kids enjoyed it as much as I did. But, it is a new day. My older son has a new appreciation for cars now and he is liking the idea of CB radio and driving passenger cars off-road. So, maybe we can try again.
End Your Programming Routine: After living in the south for a couple of years, The Dukes of Hazzard is not as big of a stretch as people living elsewhere might believe. There are still moonshine runners, there is a lot of debate over the confederate battle flag and racing is popular. I have heard of more than one person outrunning the cops when the ‘blue lights’ come on. But , so is doing the right thing when it matters. Big heart leaves me smiling after thinking about my time in the south as well as the Dukes of Hazzard.
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