that show came along when I was about 8 or 9, the perfect time to enjoy such goofyness, and not care at all about dialog, plot, pacing, quality, etc. It simply was about the best adventure tv that could be found, along with the A Team and Magnum PI.
The characters were likable, goofy, and fun - they did crazy stuff like dynamite sticks on arrows, and cars jumping ridiculous rivers, pointless crashes, and just zany villainy by the Mayor and his henchman the sheriff. And Daisy was simply more beautiful and cool than Wonder Woman.
Heck, now I'd like to see a couple episodes (the earliest and best ones) for kicks. Obviously the latter ones sucked, with needless cousin characters, other police, stupid storylines made up when all the good ones had been used. Sad, but true, that most tv shows only have about 2 dozen good episodes, and the rest forget what made the show something that people returned to see more of. Denver Pyle was perfectly cast... so was James Best. Of course the rest were good, but those two actors, imho, were inherently more personality perfect for their roles than if some other actors had been cast, though, Hoyt Axton probably would have been a good Uncle Jesse.
There is a Cooter's Museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Had a lobby full of memorabilia with a General Lee, a couple other cars from the show.
ReplyDeleteThe cool thing was the indoor miniature golf course, which had seen better days, that was lined with a crap ton DoH trivia. Learned that J.D. Hogg had legit training as an actor that any actor would be jealous of and had been in the business 20 years before he was the Boss. I was there about 4 years ago, looks like a new location now.
Dammit...you see,that's where the crossover Gen .No,that's not right! thing is. See,our gen...like your dad's,enjoyed all that bloody action stuff. Reckon it came naturally from kids of WW11 vets that could sit down and have a laugh with their kids. My old Man served in the RAAF in Darwin and he loved nothing better than to sit with me(when he wasn't bustin' arse) and watch B.Bunny and the rest of them.Three stooges,biggest fans!
ReplyDeleteI grew up watching Dukes of Hazzard, A Team and Knight Rider, too. They were great when we were kids, but I don't know if I could watch Dukes or A Team now without constantly noticing when they changed cars for the stunt scenes or other continuity errors. I saw a clip from an A Team episode recently where they changed a Ford tow truck to a completely different body style when it was crashed or set on fire.
ReplyDeleteSorrell Booke, who played dufus Boss Hogg, was in real life, what I would consider a genius , he was a counter intelligence agent in WW 2 and was fluent in 13 languages, and could passably speak 5 more. he could communicate in virtually --every-- known language. which is why he was so valuable in counter intelligence during the war.
ReplyDeleteBoss Hogg on the show was the county commissioner, basically in charge of all of the county government that didnt fall under schools or the sheriffs dept, the sheriff, the school board chariman and the commissioner were all elected positions.
georgia has 159 counties, 2 of those counties still have a sole comissioner, the other 157 have a board of 5 commissioners, who are elected. but the two counties that still have a sole commissioner, that guy has alot of power, controls the taxes and zoning and all the spending, personally decides which roads get paved and maintained and which roads get ignored etc.
the residents of those two counties have tried for years to get it changed to five commissioners, but by being the sole commissioner for years, everyone owes you so many favors that you cant lose any election.
I was 12 when the Dukes came on TV and they filmed the first episodes in Georgia close enough to our house that my parents took us to watch them film it. we also got to watch the filming of Deliverance, which was about five miles from our house.
wow, I've never heard about Sorrell Booke's background! Politics, always tied to greed, what a shame we either never hear about honest, philanthropic, and ambitious people who attain leadership roles in politics to accomplish something progressive for the public good.. and actually get things done the public majority would agree was needed, even asked for... like lowering govt spending, lowering taxes, eliminating the penny (and cost of making the stupid things) etc
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