If you were a kid in the 1980s, it’s likely that you and your friends went out with your bicycles, set up a ramp of some sort, and did some jumps while screaming yeehaw, and you did your best to pretend your dirt bike was the General Lee–the famous car from the classic television show “The Dukes of Hazzard.”
If this sounds like your childhood at all, then you might be surprised to hear that today marks 35-years since the show first aired on CBS.
For those who were a little too young to remember the show, and for some reason missed all of the reruns, “The Dukes of Hazzard” centered around two charming outlaws, Bo and Luke Duke, who spent most of their days fleeing from the local sheriff, Roscoe P. Coltrane, and his not-too-bright-deputy Enos Strate.
The Duke boys were hardly ever guilty of any real crimes, they were usually framed somehow, and had to break a couple of laws in order to prove their innocence. And they had their gorgeous cousin, Daisy Duke, and their straight-talking uncle, Uncle Jessie, to help them whenever needed.
Some may remember the show being turned into a feature film in 2005, but for some reason stars Johnny Knoxville, Seann William Scott and Jessica Simpson weren’t able to muster up the same kind of chemistry that the original cast did, plus, it seemed the writers wanted the movie to appeal to those who weren’t familiar with the show, and didn’t do too much the honor some of the original plot lines.
In past interviews, John Schneider, who played Bo Duke on the show, said he’s proud of the work he did on “The Dukes of Hazzard,” but he doesn’t want to be defined by it.
“Every time somebody starts out, ‘You know him best from “The Dukes of Hazzard,”‘ I just want to strangle them,” said Schneider. “I did a couple of radio interviews recently, and one guy said, ‘We got Bo Duke on the line,’ so there I am, on live radio, and I say, ‘Really? Is that right? That’s who you have on the phone right now? I’ll do ‘yeehaw’ for you later.’”