The series was developed from the 1975 B-movie Moonrunners. Created by Gy Waldron in collaboration with ex-moonshiner Jerry Rushing, this movie shares many identical and very similar names and concepts with the subsequent TV series. Although itself essentially a comedy, this original movie was much cruder and edgier than the family-friendly TV series that would evolve from it.

In 1977, Waldron was approached by Warner Brothers with the idea of developing Moonrunners into a television series. Production began in late October / November 1978, originally with the intention of just nine episodes being produced, to be used as mid-season filler. The first five episodes were filmed in Covington, Georgia, and surrounding areas, including some location work in nearby Atlanta. These first five episodes feature a noticeably different tone from the rest of the series, including some more adult-oriented humor, with some raunchier elements and slightly coarser language; several of the characters, primarily those of Rosco and Cooter, are also given different interpretation to their more recognized roles. After completing production on the fifth episode, "High Octane", the cast and crew broke for Christmas break, expecting to return in several weeks' time to complete the ordered run of episodes. In the meantime, executives at Warner Brothers were impressed by the completed episodes and saw potential in developing the show into a full-running series; part of this plan was to move production from Georgia to the Warner Brothers lot in California, primarily to simplify and streamline production, as well as developing a larger workshop to construct and service the large number of vehicles the series would get through.

Rushing appeared as shady used car dealer Ace Parker in the early episode "Repo Men", the fourth episode broadcast, and the third to be produced. Rushing believed this to be the start of a recurring role, in return for which he would supply creative ideas from his experiences - much of the character of Bo Duke he states to be based on him. However, "Repo Men" would turn out to be the character's only appearance in the entire show's run, leading to a legal dispute in the following years over the rights to characters and concepts between Rushing and Warner Brothers, although he remained on good terms with cast and crew and in recent years has made appearances at several fan conventions.

By the end of the first season, the far more family-friendly tone of the series was firmly in place; after the show returned for a second season in fall of 1979, the template was set in place that would remain for the rest of the run.

As well as its regular car chases, jumps and stunts, the show relied on character familiarity, with Deputy Cletus replacing Deputy Enos in the third and fourth season, and Coy and Vance Duke temporarily replacing Bo and Luke (due to a salary dispute) in the fifth season, being the only major cast changes through the show's run (Ben Jones and James Best both left temporarily during the second season due to different disputes with producers, but both returned within a couple of episodes). Of the characters, only Uncle Jesse and Boss Hogg appear in every single episode; Daisy appears in all but one, the third season's "To Catch a Duke".

Main characters

• Luke Duke (Tom Wopat) is the dark-haired, slightly older cousin. More mature and rational than his cousin Bo, he is typically the one who thinks of the plan that will get the two out of whatever trouble they have gotten into. Luke wears a checked blue shirt (a plain blue shirt in most, though not all, second season episodes), and a denim jacket over it in first season and a few later second season episodes. He is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps and a former boxer. Luke was the first Duke to perform the "hood slide" across The General Lee, which is seen in the opening credits of the show (a shot taken from the second episode, "Daisy's Song") and later told by Tom Wopat to be an accident because his foot got caught on the side of the General Lee when he attempted to jump across the hood; he also caught his thigh on the hood's radio antenna, cutting himself, resulting in such antennas being removed from later versions of the General Lee. However, the "hood slide" quickly proved popular and became a regular feature of episodes. The only episode to directly reference the slight age difference between Luke and Bo is in the seventh season opener, the "flashback" episode "Happy Birthday, General Lee", where it is stated that Luke had already been in the Marines while Bo was in his last year at High School.

• Bo Duke (John Schneider) is the blond-haired, slightly younger Duke boy. He is the younger, wilder one of the pair. He is more of a "shoot first, ask questions later" type, and is often the one to get the duo into the various scrapes in which they find themselves, although the character did mature slightly as the seasons passed; he is also the one more likely to have his eye, or heart, distracted by a pretty girl, which proves to be the Achilles' heel that leads the Dukes into trouble in several episode plots. Bo usually wears a cream-yellow shirt; it is a stronger yellow in the first and second season, a lighter cream colour from the third season, and in the sixth and seventh season has more of a grey hue to it. (The only break from this norm is in the second episode produced and broadcast, "Daisy's Song", where Bo wears a red shirt for much of the story, and a sequence in the fifth episode, "High Octane", where he wears a light blue shirt. Many early publicity shots show the character to be wearing a dark blue denim shirt.) For the first two seasons he wears a blue t-shirt underneath (brown in the first episode); this was slowly phased out during the third season. An ex-stock car driver, Bo is the one who, in the earlier episodes at least, drives The General Lee most of the time (very early episodes suggest that it belongs solely to him; Luke is said to have a car that Cooter had wrecked shortly prior to the start of the opening episode, "One Armed Bandits"). Bo is known for his rebel yell, "Yeeeee-Haaa!". The Duke boys share the CB call sign or handle "Lost Sheep."

• Daisy Duke (Catherine Bach) is Bo and Luke's pretty, young cousin. She is honest and kind, although she can sometimes be slightly over-trusting and naïve, which leads the Duke family into trouble on a number of occasions. She sometimes aspired to be a songwriter and singer, and at other times a reporter. She raced around Hazzard with her cousins, first in a yellow and black 1974 Plymouth Road Runner (later on it was a Plymouth Satellite) and then, from the mid-second season, in her trademark white 1980 Jeep CJ-7 christened "Dixie" with a Golden Eagle emblem on the hood (and the name "Dixie" on the hood sides). Daisy worked as a waitress at the Boar's Nest, the local bar owned by Boss Hogg, as part of an agreement with Boss Hogg so that he would give Uncle Jesse and the boys a loan for a lower interest rate so the boys could purchase the entry fee for a race that they wished to race General Lee in. The arrangement was supposed to be for an indefinite time, but there were several times throughout the series that Hogg fired her. However, he always ended up rehiring her at the end of each episode because of various circumstances. Daisy often used her looks and her position at the restaurant to get insider information to help the Dukes in foiling Hogg's various schemes. Daisy also has the distinction of having her trademark provocatively high-cut jean short shorts named after her: "Daisy Dukes". Her CB handle was "Bo Peep"; occasionally the variant of "Country Cousin" would be used.

• Jesse Duke (Denver Pyle), referred to by just about everyone in Hazzard other than Boss Hogg as "Uncle Jesse", is the patriarch of the Duke clan, and the father-figure to all Dukes who stayed with him on the dilapidated "Duke Farm." Jesse apparently had no children of his own, and happily provided for his nephews and niece in the unexplained absence of all of their parents (Gy Waldron, the creator of the show, states on the DVDs that their parents were killed in a car wreck, but it was never mentioned in the show). In the third broadcast episode, "Mary Kaye's Baby", Jesse says that he has delivered many babies, including Bo and Luke. Jesse Duke, in his youth, had been a ridgerunner in direct competition with J.D. Hogg. However, while both Boss Hogg and Uncle Jesse would scowl at the mention of the other's name, the two enjoyed a lifelong "friendship" of sorts, with one helping the other when in desperate need. Jesse educated his nephews against Hogg, and often provided the cousins with inspirational sage advice. Uncle Jesse drove a white 1973 Ford F-100 pickup truck. In the barn, he also had his old moonshine-running car, called "Sweet Tillie" in its first appearance (in the first season episode "High Octane"), but referred to as "Black Tillie" in subsequent appearances. In the second season episode "Follow That Still" and the sixth season episode "The Boars Nest Bears", the marriage to and death of his wife is mentioned; he also mentions marrying her in the first season episode "Luke's Love Story". His CB handle was "Shepherd."

• Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane (James Best) is the bumbling sheriff of Hazzard County and right-hand man and brother-in-law of its corrupt county administrator, Jefferson Davis "J.D." Hogg ("Boss Hogg"), whom Rosco referred to as his "little fat buddy", "Little Chrome Dome", "Little Meadow-Muffin", and several other names. In the very early episodes, it was mentioned that Rosco spent the first 20 years of his career as a mostly honest lawman, but after the county voted away his pension Rosco joined Hogg in an effort to fund his retirement in his last couple of years as Sheriff. As the series settled down and found its footing, this was soon dropped into the background, and by the end of the first season had been virtually forgotten (and his role as Sheriff appeared to be open ended). He is also the younger brother of Lulu Coltrane Hogg, Boss Hogg's wife. Rosco frequently initiated car chases with Bo and Luke Duke (whom Hogg wanted to get rid of due to them constantly exposing his corrupt schemes), but the Duke boys were usually able to easily elude Rosco by outwitting him, with him usually meeting some accident in his patrol car as a result (from which he would nearly always escape uninjured - only two episodes, the fourth season's "Coltrane Vs. Duke" and season six's "Too Many Roscos" toy with the concept of him being hurt during one of these escapades). These chases were often the result of Rosco setting up illegal speed traps such as a false or changing speed limit signs and various other trickery, which would evolve into being increasingly more cartoonish and far-fetched as the seasons passed. While he enjoyed "hot pursuit" much like a little boy playing with toy cars would, he (and Boss Hogg as well) never intended for anyone to get seriously hurt. His middle initial, 'P', was added at the start of the second season, and only one episode (the third season's "Mrs. Rosco P. Coltrane", in which he is subject to a scam marriage) revealed his middle name, 'Purvis'. Rosco also had a soft spot for his dog Flash, introduced at the start of the third season. His radio codename was "Red Dog". When James Best briefly boycotted the show during the mid-second season, he was temporarily replaced several "one off" Sheriffs, the longest standing being Sheriff Grady Bird, played by Dick Sargent, who appeared in two episodes ("Jude Emery" and "Officer Daisy Duke").

• Boss Jefferson Davis "J.D." Hogg (Sorrell Booke) is the wealthiest man in Hazzard County (except in a 4th season episode, "Ten Million Dollar Sheriff", in which Rosco allegedly inherits $10 million), and owns most of its property and businesses — whether directly or by holding the mortgages over the land. Usually dressed in an all-white suit, he was the fat, greedy, corrupt County Commissioner with visions of grandeur, a voracious appetite for fatty foods, and constantly orders his bumbling sheriff, Rosco, to "Get them Duke Boys!" Boss Hogg was also married to Rosco's fat sister, a point that did not always sit well with either Boss Hogg or Rosco; Hogg often claimed that Rosco was indebted to him because of it. His vehicle was a white 1970 Cadillac Coupe de Ville convertible, with bull horns on the hood. In the first couple of seasons, he was almost always driven around by a chauffeur; from the fourth season onwards, he usually drove himself. His old moonshine-running car was called the "Grey Ghost".

• Cooter Davenport (Ben Jones) is the Hazzard County mechanic, nicknamed "Crazy Cooter". In the very early episodes, he was a wild man, often breaking the law (such as stealing the Sheriff's patrol car for impounding his in "One Armed Bandits", reportedly borrowing Luke's car prior to the same episode and using it to "run the sheriff off the road to make him mad" to facilitate the aforementioned theft of the sheriffs car, running moonshine for Boss Hogg in "Mary Kaye's Baby", seemingly breaking into Boss Hogg's home to retrieve a trophy for an upcoming race in "Luke's Love Story", and 'borrowing' the President's Limousine for a joy-ride in "Limo One Is Missing"). By the end of the first season, he had settled down and become an easy going good ol' boy. Although not mentioned in the first couple of episodes, by the mid-first season, he owned "Cooter's Garage" in Hazzard County Square, directly across from the Sheriff's Department. Cooter was an "Honorary Duke", as he shared the same values and often assisted the Dukes in escaping Rosco's clutches, or helped them to foil Boss Hogg's schemes. During the second season, Ben Jones left the series for a few episodes due to a dispute over whether the character should be clean shaven or have a full beard. In his absence, Cooter's place was filled by several of Cooter's supposed cousins who were never mentioned before or since. Jones returned when the dispute was solved—Cooter would be clean shaven (although, for continuity reasons, with the episodes being broadcast in a different order to that which they were filmed, he was not clean shaven until the third season onwards). Cooter drove a variety of trucks, including Fords, Chevys, & GMCs. His CB handle was "Crazy Cooter" and he often started his CB transmissions with "Breaker one, Breaker one, I might be crazy but I ain't dumb, Craaaazy Cooter comin' atcha, come on."
• Deputy Enos Strate (Sonny Shroyer) (1979–80; 1982–85) is generally a friend of the Dukes, but, working under Rosco and Boss was often forced into pursuing the Dukes and/or arresting them on trumped up charges. In the very early episodes, Enos was shown to be a rather good driver (and respected as such by Bo and Luke), but by the end of the first season, he was shown to be as incompetent a driver as Rosco (and later Cletus). When he returned from his stint in Los Angeles, he seemed to be able to stand up to Boss and Rosco slightly more, and sometimes refused. In the very early episodes, Rosco frequently called him "Jackass", which soon evolved into the more family friendly "dipstick" as the show become a hit with younger viewers (though Boss Hogg, who would also use the term "Jackass" of Sheriff Rosco, would occasionally return to calling him this in later seasons). Enos had a crush on Daisy Duke that she often used to the Dukes' advantage in unraveling Hogg and Rosco's schemes. Enos is very much in love with Daisy, and although Daisy is indicated to love him back, it is only as a close friend. In the penultimate episode, "Enos and Daisy's Wedding", the two plan on getting married, only to have Enos call it off at the last minute due to an attack of hives, brought on by the excitement of possibly being married to Daisy. Later, in the first Reunion movie, Enos and Daisy become a pair again and plan to get married — but this time Daisy backs out at the last minute, upon the unexpected sight of her ex-husband. Enos' radio code name was "Blue Fox". However, he frequently got both his own and Rosco's codes confused, saying instead "Hound Dog", "Red Fox" or other variations.

• Deputy Cletus Hogg (Rick Hurst) (1979–82), Boss Hogg's second cousin twice removed, is also generally friendly and dim-witted. Like Enos, Cletus would often be forced by Rosco and Hogg to chase the Dukes on trumped up charges. While Cletus was generally good-hearted, and sometimes resentful of having to treat the Dukes in such way, he was generally more willing to go along with Hogg and Rosco than Enos. Cletus had a crush on Daisy and was even convinced she wanted to marry him. Like Enos, Cletus often ended up landing in water when pursuing the Duke boys in a car chase. Cletus made his first appearance as the driver of a bank truck, part of Hogg's latest get-rich-scheme, in the first season episode "Money To Burn", and became temporary deputy while Enos was away in the second season episodes "The Meeting" and "Road Pirates". Leaving a job at the local junkyard, he became permanent deputy in the third season's "Enos Strate to the Top" when Enos left for California. When Enos returned at the start of the fifth season the pair both served as deputies and shared the same patrol car for five episodes before Cletus disappeared (his last appearance being in the episode "Big Daddy"), said to have gone on vacation, never to return (until 1997's Reunion movie after Enos' apparent return to California after the series). Each of the Hazzard County Sheriff's Department officers drove various mid to late '70s Chrysler mid-size B body patrol cars, most often a Dodge Monaco or Plymouth Fury.
• Coy Duke (Byron Cherry) (1982–83), the replacement for Bo, is another blond-haired cousin who moved to Uncle Jesse's farm along with cousin Vance after Bo and Luke left Hazzard to join the NASCAR circuit. Supposedly, with cousin Vance, Coy had previously lived on the Duke farm until 1976, before the series had started.
• Vance Duke (Christopher Mayer) (1982–83), an obvious replacement for Luke, filled the void of a dark-haired Duke on the show. Like Luke, Vance was more the thinker and the planner of the duo.
• The Balladeer (voice of Waylon Jennings) sang and played the Dukes of Hazzard theme song, "Good Ol' Boys", and also served as the show's narrator. During each episode, he provided an omniscient viewpoint of the situations presented, and regularly interjected comical asides during crucial plot points (often, during a freeze frame of a cliffhanger scene right before a commercial break) and "down home" aphorisms. (Note that these freeze frame cliffhangers were often abridged in showings in some countries, such as the commercial-free BBC in the United Kingdom). After numerous requests from fans to see the Balladeer on-screen, Waylon finally appeared in one episode, the seventh season's aptly titled "Welcome, Waylon Jennings", in which he was presented as an old friend of the Dukes.
• Flash (Sandy and others) is a slow-paced Basset Hound and Rosco's loyal companion, who hated Hogg but loved the Dukes. She first appeared in the first official third season episode "Enos Strate to the Top" (season opener "Carnival of Thrills was held over from the previous season), although was not formally "introduced" in that episode. Initially referred to as a boy, Flash was later regularly a girl (despite an occasional male reference afterwards). Flash was added at the start of the third season, after James Best suggested to the producers that Rosco have a dog. Flash was portrayed by several Basset Hounds (distinguishable by different facial colors), the most regular being "Sandy". James Best bought a share of Sandy, who was rescued from an animal shelter and was trained by Alvin Mears of Alvin Animal Rentals. Sandy lived to age 14. A stuffed dog named Flush was used for dangerous work.

Recurring characters

Character	Actor
Info
Lulu Coltrane Hogg	Peggy Rea
Boss Hogg's wife, and Rosco's "fat sister". Lulu constantly challenged her husband for authority and rallied for the equality of women in Hazzard, and was one of the few people in Hazzard that Hogg was actually scared of, though he seemed to genuinely love and care for her.
Myrtle / Mabel Tillingham	Lindsay Bloom
Mabel is Hogg's cousin who runs the Hazzard Phone Company, who often sneak listens to calls and lets Hogg know what's going on. Her name mysteriously changed from Myrtle to Mabel mid-way through the second season.
Longstreet B. Davenport	Ernie Lively (credited as Ernie W. Brown)
L.B. was Cooter's cousin who filled for Cooter when he was away from the garage in several second season episodes (in reality, this was to cover for Ben Jones' absence, after a disagreement with producers as to whether Cooter should have a beard or not). L.B. appeared in the episodes "Follow that Still", "Duke of Duke" "The Runaway", before Jones returned to the series; the episode "Grannie Annie" also features another temporary Cooter replacement, Mickey Jones as B.B. Davenport. Ernie Lively also played a different character named "Dobro Doolan", a friend of Bo and Luke, in the first episode of the series, "One Armed Bandits" (where he was credited as Ernie Brown), and as a guard called Clyde in the later sixth season episode "The Ransom of Hazzard County". In a similar vein to Coy and Vance in the fifth season, both of these cousins of Cooter were very much clones of the original character, and were never mentioned before or after their temporary spells replacing the original character.
Hughie Hogg	Jeff Altman
Boss Hogg's young nephew, said to be as crooked — maybe even more crooked — as Hogg himself. He drove a white VW Beetle with bull horns on the hood, similar to Boss Hogg's Caddy. The character was first introduced in the episode "Uncle Boss", produced as the second episode of the second season, but this episode was not broadcast until the third season (for unknown reasons, and just several episodes prior to "The Return of Hughie Hogg"), and by which time, Hughie had already been seen as Temporary Sheriff in the second season episode "Arrest Jesse Duke" (in which he was written into, in a secondary role, at the last minute, to cover Sheriff Rosco's absence during James Best's temporary boycott of the show). Typically, Hogg would call in Hughie once per season to come up with a particularly dastardly scheme to get rid of the Dukes, before Hughie would turn on Hogg and out-smart him. Hogg would end up throwing him out of Hazzard at the end of the episode. Despite this, Hogg would always give Hughie "one last chance" on his next appearance.
Wayne / Norris	Roger Torrey
One of Hughie's loyal duo of henchman. Played by the same actor but with different names on different occasions.
Floyd / Barclay	Pat Studstill
The other of Hughie's duo of henchman. He and Norris were both bigger than Bo and Luke, but nonetheless struggled in fights against them. Again played by the same actor, but with different names on different occasions.
Emery Potter	Charlie Dell
Emery Potter is the part-time Hazzard County registrar and chief teller of the Hazzard Bank. Emery is a soft-spoken man with a low tolerance for anything exciting. He is a friend of the Dukes, and sometimes falls under Hogg's crooked schemes simply because he is too timid to stand up for himself. He has also served as Temporary Deputy on occasion.
Dr. Henry "Doc" Petticord	Patrick Cranshaw
Hazzard County's ancient, long-serving physician.
Miz (Emma) Tisdale	Nedra Volz
The postmistress of the Hazzard Post Office, Miz Tisdale ("Emma" to Jesse Duke) was an elderly woman who drove a motorcycle and had a huge crush on Uncle Jesse. She was also a reporter for the Hazzard Gazzette.
Sheriff Edward Thomas "Big Ed" Little	Don Pedro Colley
The hulking chief law enforcement officer (driving a 1975 Plymouth Fury patrol car) of neighboring Chickasaw County, who had a tendency to knock fenders off of cars he wrecked, in anger. He was also not afraid to pull out his trusty 12-gauge shotgun and open fire. The ill-tempered sheriff hated Bo and Luke immensely and they were well aware that they were not allowed to enter his county. Sheriff Little was also constantly frustrated by the bumbling performance of Hogg and Rosco, although he thought highly of Enos; Little was strict, by-the-book, and a mostly competent law officer, everything that Sheriff Rosco was not (although he too had little luck in capturing Bo and Luke). His unseen wife's name was Rachel. Before Sheriff Little was introduced, in the third season episode "My Son, Bo Hogg", several first and second season episodes saw several similar tough-as-nails Sheriffs from adjoining counties.
Mr. Rhuebottom	John Wheeler
A local store owner, seen occasionally from the fourth season episode "Pin the Tail on the Dukes" onwards. (The Rhuebottom General Store shopfront is seen as early as the first season episode "Luke's Love Story")
Dr. "Doc" Appleby	Elmore Vincent, later Parley Baer
Elderly successor to Doc Petticord. Played by Elmore Vincent on the character's first appearance, in the fourth season episode "Dear Diary", before Parley Baer took over the role in subsequent appearances.
Elton	Ritchie Montgomery
A DJ on the local WHOGG radio station, seen in the sixth season episode "Enos's Last Chance" and the late seventh season episode "Strange Visitor To Hazzard", and referred to along with the radio station in several other episodes. Other than actor M.C. Gainey (who played Sheriff Rosco in the 2005 movie version and had previously played a villain in the fourth season episode "Bad Day in Hazzard"), Ritchie Montgomery is the only actor to appear in both episode(s) of the TV series and the 2005 movie (where he plays the small role of a State Trooper). Montgomery mentions this in a feature on DVD versions of the movie.

Notable guest appearances

Throughout its network television run, The Dukes of Hazzard had a consistent mix of up-and-comers and established stars make guest appearances.

• NASCAR driver Terry Labonte makes a brief, uncredited appearance as a crew man in the episode Undercover Dukes Part 1. The race cars supplied for both part 1 and part 2 of Undercover Dukes were supplied by Labonte's race owner, Billy Hagan. However, the sponsors of the cars (at that time Labonte was sponsored by Budweiser) were covered to avoid paying royalties.

The celebrity speed trap

During the show's second season, the show's writers began flirting with the idea of incorporating a "celebrity speed trap" into some of the episodes, as a means to feature top country stars of the day performing their hits. On its first couple of instances, the "Speed Trap" was featured early in the story, but for most of the cases, it was featured in the last few minutes of an episode, often used when the main story was running too short to fill episode time.

The "celebrity speed trap" feature was essentially similar: Aware that a big-name country star was passing through the area, Boss Hogg would order Rosco to lower the speed limit on a particular road to an unreasonable level, so that the targeted singer would be in violation of the law. The singer would be required to perform at the Boar's Nest in exchange for having their citations forgiven; the performer would then perform one of their best-known hits or other popular country music standard, while the Dukes, Boss, Rosco, Cletus, Cooter, and other patrons whooped and hollered in enjoyment of the performance. More often than not, the performer would give a parting shot to Boss and Rosco. Singers who were featured in the "speed trap" segments were:

Honorable Mentions: Mickey Gilley, Loretta Lynn

Gilley's and Lynn's appearances were not solely for the celebrity speed trap. After performing a concert in Hazzard, Gilley was nabbed while leaving and forced to do a second show to nullify his citation. Lynn was kidnapped by criminals wanting to break into the music business.

The Dukes of Hazzard was consistently among the top-rated television series (at one point, ranking second only to Dallas, which immediately followed the show on CBS' Friday night schedule). However, in the spring of 1982, as filming was due to begin on the fifth season, series stars Tom Wopat and John Schneider did not report to the set due to a contract dispute over their salaries and merchandising royalties owed to them. Catherine Bach also considered walking out due to similar concerns, but Wopat and Schneider convinced her to stay, insisting that settling the dispute was "man's work".

Production was pushed back by a few weeks as two lookalike replacements were subsequently, hastily hired: Byron Cherry as Coy Duke and Christopher Mayer as Vance Duke. Bo and Luke were said to have gone to race on the NASCAR circuit; how they managed to do this, bearing in mind the terms of their probation, was never mentioned. Cherry and Mayer were originally contracted at just ten episodes as stand-ins, still with hope that a settlement might be reached with Wopat and Schneider (in total, they made 17 episodes). The scripts for Coy and Vance were originally written for Bo and Luke but with their names quite literally crossed out and Coy and Vance penned in. The new Dukes — previously-unmentioned nephews of Uncle Jesse, who were said to have left the farm in 1976, before the show had started — were unpopular with the great majority of viewers, and the ratings immediately sank. Much of the criticism was that Coy and Vance were nothing but direct clones of Bo and Luke, something that show creator Gy Waldron himself has said was wrong, and that he insisted, unsuccessfully, that audiences would not accept direct character clones and the two replacements should be taken in a different direction characterwise. Waldron also commented that if Bach too had walked, the show would have most probably been cancelled. Hit hard by the significant drop in ratings, Warner Brothers renegotiated with Wopat and Schneider, and eventually a settlement was reached, and the original Duke boys returned to the series in early 1983, four episodes from the conclusion of the fifth season. Initially, part of the press release announcing Wopat and Schneider's return mentioned that Cherry and Mayer would remain as part of the cast, but it was quickly realised that "four Duke boys" would not work within the context of the series, and due to the unpopularity associated with their time on the show, were quickly written out of the same episode in which Bo and Luke returned.

Bo and Luke return

Although Coy and Vance were never popular with the majority, many viewers were disappointed by their departure episode, "Welcome Back, Bo 'N' Luke", which was very much a standard episode, with the return of Bo and Luke and the departure of Coy and Vance tacked onto the beginning (Bo and Luke return from their NASCAR tour just as Coy and Vance leave Hazzard to tend to a sick relative). Many viewers commented that they were disappointed by this, and that they would have liked to have seen both pairs of Duke boys team up to tackle a particularly dastardly plot by Boss Hogg but as it turned out, Coy and Vance had very little dialogue and were gone by the first commercial break, never to be mentioned again.

While the return of Bo and Luke was welcomed by ardent and casual viewers alike, and as a result saw ratings recover slightly, the show never completely regained its former popularity. One of Wopat and Schneider's disputes even before they left was what they considered to be increasingly weak and formulaic scripts. With Wopat and Schneider's return, the producers agreed to try a wider scope of storylines, even including some science fiction elements in certain episodes. However, although it continued for two more seasons, the show never fully returned to its former glory. As well as what was widely recognised to be increasingly inferior scripts, many fans, or indeed cast members, did not take to the miniature car effects used to make it appear as if the General Lee was performing even more breathtaking feats (in part to compete with TV's newer supercar, Knight Rider). Finally, at the end of its seventh season, in early February 1985, The Dukes of Hazzard quietly ended its run.

The General Lee

The General Lee was Bo and Luke Duke's 1969 Dodge Charger. It was orange with a Confederate battle flag painted on the roof, the words GENERAL LEE over each door, and the number "01" on each door. In the original five Georgia-filmed episodes, a Confederate flag along with a checkered racing flag in a criss-cross pattern could be seen behind the rear window; this was removed when it was felt that this extra detail did not show up enough on-screen enough to warrant the already very tight time constraints of preparing and repairing each example of the car. The name refers to the American Civil War Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The television show was based on the movie "Moonrunners", itself based on actual moonshine runners who used a 1958 Chrysler named Traveler, after General Lee's horse. Traveler was originally intended to be the name of the Duke boys' stock car too, until producers agreed that General Lee had more punch to it.

Since it was built as a race car, the windows were regularly open (except for several shots in early episodes). Through the history of the show, an estimated 309 Chargers were used; 17 are still known to exist in various states of repair. A replica was owned by John Schneider, known as "Bo's General Lee". In 2008, Schneider sold "Bo's General Lee" at the Barrett-Jackson automobile auction for $450,000. An eBay auction which garnered a bid of $9,900,500 for the car was never finalized, with the purported bidder claiming his account had been hacked. The underside of the hood has the signatures of the cast from the 1997 TV movie. Schneider has also restored over 20 other General Lees to date. The show also used 1968 Chargers (which shared the same sheet metal) by changing the grille and taillight panel to the 1969 style, and removing the round side marker lights. These Chargers performed many record-breaking jumps throughout the show, almost all of them resulting in a completely destroyed car.

The Duke boys added a custom air horn to the General Lee which played the first eleven notes of the song Dixie. The Dixie horn was not originally planned, until a Georgia local hot rod racer drove by and sounded his car's Dixie horn. The producers immediately rushed after him asking where he had bought the horn. Warner Brothers purchased several Chargers for stunts, as they generally destroyed at least one or two cars per episode. By the end of the show's sixth season, the Chargers were becoming harder to find, and more expensive. In addition, the television series Knight Rider began to rival the General Lee's stunts. As such, the producers used 1/8 scale miniatures, filmed by Jack Sessums' crew, or recycled stock jump footage - the latter being a practice that had been in place to an extent since the second season, and had increased as the seasons passed.

Some of the 01 and Confederate flag motifs were initially hand painted, but as production sped up these were replaced with vinyl decals for quick application (and removal) as needed.

The third episode "Mary Kaye's Baby" is the only one in which the General Lee does not appear. Instead, the Dukes drove around in a blue 1975 Plymouth Fury borrowed from Cooter that Luke later destroyed with a stick of dynamite during a duel with some mobsters.

The Duke boys' CB handle was (jointly) "Lost Sheep". Originally when the show was conceived, their handle was to be "General Lee" to match their vehicle, but this was only ever used on-screen on one occasion, in the second episode, "Daisy's Song", when Cooter calls Bo and Luke over the CB by this handle - although they were actually driving Daisy's Plymouth Roadrunner (see below) at the time. As it became obvious that the "General Lee" handle would be out of place when the Duke boys were in another vehicle, the "Lost Sheep" handle was devised (with Uncle Jesse being "Shepherd" and Daisy being "Bo Peep").

AMC Matador

The 1975 AMC Matador was one of many different Hazzard County police cars used on the series, mostly in the first season; they had light bars and working radios. A 1970 Dodge Polara and a 1975 Dodge Monaco were used during the pilot episode "One Armed Bandits", these were also seen in the show's title sequence. From the second season, the 1977 Dodge Monaco was mostly used. From mid-season four the similar looking 1978 Plymouth Fury was used instead.

Plymouth Roadrunner

A 1974 Plymouth Roadrunner (yellow with a black stripe) was used by Daisy Duke in the first five episodes of the first season. For the last episodes of the first season and the second season, a similarly painted 1972 Plymouth Satellite with a matching "Road Runner" stripe was used until Bo and Luke sent it off a cliff in "The Runaway" after the brakes failed. At the end of that episode, she is given her Golden Eagle Jeep "Dixie".

Dixie

Dixie was the name given to Daisy Duke's white 1980 Jeep CJ-7 "Golden Eagle" which had a Golden Eagle emblem on the hood and the name "Dixie" on the sides. Like other vehicles in the show, there was actually more than one Jeep used throughout the series. Sometimes it would have an automatic transmission, and other times it would be a manual. The design of the roll-cage also varied across the seasons. When the Jeep was introduced at the end of the second season's "The Runaway", it was seen to have doors and a slightly different paint-job, but, bar one appearance in the next produced episode, "Arrest Jesse Duke" (actually broadcast before "The Runaway", causing a continuity error), from thereafter the doors were removed and the paint-job was made all-white, with "Dixie" painted on the sides of the hood. These Jeeps were leased to the producers of the show by American Motors Corporation in exchange for a brief mention in the closing credits of the show.

Uncle Jesse's Truck

Uncle Jesse's Truck was a white Ford pickup truck, most commonly a Sixth generation (1973–1977) F100 Styleside. However, in the earliest episodes it had a Flareside bed, and varied between F100 and F250 models throughout the show's run. Daisy also drove Jesse's truck on occasion.

Boss Hogg's Cadillac

A White 1970 Cadillac De Ville convertible was used as Hogg's car, notably with large bull horns as a hood ornament. In earlier seasons Hogg was driven by a chauffeur, who was normally nameless and had little or no dialogue, but identified on occasion as being called "Alex"; and played by several different uncredited actors, including stuntman Gary Baxley. This chauffer would often be dressed in a red plaid shirt and deep brown / black stetson, but on occasion would be an older man, sometimes dressed in more typical chauffer attire. Hogg is first seen to drive for himself in the second season opener "Days of Shine and Roses", where he and Jesse challenge each other to one last moonshine race. From the fourth season onwards, bar a couple of brief reappearances of the chauffer (during the fourth season), Hogg drove himself around in his Cadillac (or occasionally driven by Rosco and, in the series' finale, by Uncle Jesse) and frequently challenged others by invoking his driving expertise from his days as a ridge-runner. Unlike other vehicles in the series, Boss Hogg's Cadillac is typically treated with kid gloves. The car is almost always seen with its convertible top down, with the top only being seen in one episode, "Daisy's Song", the second to be produced and broadcast.

Dukes of Hazzard Museums can be found in Nashville, Tennessee and in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The original museum is called Cooter's Place and is overseen by Ben "Cooter" Jones from the series.

Covington and Conyers, Georgia, where the original five episodes were produced, have been two major tourist attractions for Dukes of Hazzard fans.

Main article: "Theme from The Dukes of Hazzard (Good Ol' Boys)"

The theme song "The Good Ol' Boys" was written and performed by Waylon Jennings. He was also "The Balladeer" (as credited), and served as narrator of the show. However, the Jennings theme song that is currently available for purchase is not the same version that was used in the show's opening credits. The differences are that the show version featured a different verse ["...Fightin' the system like two modern-day Robin Hoods"], an enhanced bass line, a shorter length, and the famous "Yee-haw" yell at the end.

In 1980, the song reached #1 on the American Country chart and peaked at #21 on the Billboard Hot 100.

• The series was originally broadcast in America by CBS on Friday nights, at 9:00 p.m. and later 8:00 p.m., preceding Dallas.
• Until TNN (The Nashville Network) was purchased by Viacom, it aired reruns of The Dukes of Hazzard. Some months after the creation of "The National Network" (shortly before its change to "Spike TV"), the program was absent from much of television for quite some time. Viacom's country music-themed cable network CMT (the former sister network to TNN) aired the show from 2005 to 2007 at 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. eastern time every weekday. CMT began airing the series in late February 2005. It also aired Monday–Thursday on ABC Family.
• The series was broadcast by BBC1 in the United Kingdom, debuting on Saturday 3 March 1979 at 9 pm (just several months after it began in the US). Popular with all ages (and as some of the more adult elements of very early episodes faded out of the series), it quickly moved from its post-watershed position to a more family-friendly Monday evening slot at 7:20 pm. Soon a massive hit, it moved from Monday evenings to prime time Saturday evening (times varied, but typically around 5:25 pm), where it stayed for a number of years. Later when ratings began to dip (partly caused by the change to Coy and Vance, and partly to do with competition from ITV, with new hit shows such as The A-Team), it moved back to Mondays, making the odd return for short runs on Saturdays. Late episodes also popped up occasionally on Sunday afternoons, and the remaining episodes of the final season were broadcast on weekday mornings during school holidays in the late 1980s.
• In 1992, UK satellite channel Sky1 bought a package of the program, owning the rights to the first 60 episodes produced (running up to "The Fugitive"), showing the series on Saturday afternoons at 4 p.m. They later showed the episodes they owned again, including a stint showing it in a weekday 3 p.m. slot, running for fifty minutes (including commercials) with the episodes heavily edited for time as a result, often leaving gaps in the plot. Despite requests from fans, they did not secure the rights to later episodes. The series was later run on the satellite channels Granada Plus and TNT. UK satellite channel Bravo began airing reruns in August 2005.
• The series was also shown in the Netherlands by Dutch broadcasting organization AVRO, with Dutch subtitles, rather than being dubbed.
• It was shown on the 0-10 Network (now Network Ten) in Australia from September 1979 until the end of the series, and repeated throughout the 1980s and 1990s. It was briefly rerun on Pay TV channel TV1 in the 2000s, but is now shown on Nine Network's subchannel, Go!.
• The series was popular in Colombia, dubbed to Spanish. Some late-night reruns continue to the present time.
• In Italy the series started to air in September 1981 on Canale 5, under the title Hazzard and quickly became very popular with the viewers.
• CMT aired "The Dukes Ride Again", a special marathon which featured episodes from the first two seasons, on the weekend of September 10, 2010 and have begun airing episodes weeknights at 7 pm and 11 pm Eastern time starting September 13, 2010.
• The series is currently airing episodes weekdays on New Zealand's channel The Box.
• CMT is currently airing reruns of the show on weekdays, as noted below.

Syndication

Soon before the series ended its original run on CBS, The Dukes of Hazzard went into off-network syndication. Although not as widely run as it was back in the 1980s and the years since, reruns of the program do continue to air in various parts of the United States.

Notably, television stations that aired the show in syndication include KCOP Los Angeles, WGN-TV Chicago, KBHK San Francisco, WKBD Detroit, WTAF/WTXF Philadelphia, KTXL Sacramento, WVTV Milwaukee, KMSP Minneapolis–Saint Paul, among others. It has also aired on ABC Family (2000–2001, 2004) and CMT (2005–2007, 2010–present), WMAZ-TV in Macon, Georgia 1979–1985, WGXA-TV Macon, Georgia 1984–1990.

Nielsen ratings

Year	Viewers (Millions)	Rating
1978-1979	21.0	#20
1979–1980	18.38	#9
1980–1981	21.81	#2
1981–1982	18.41	#6
1982–1983	17.2	#29
1983–1984		Not in top 30
1984–1985		Not in top 30

Season one (a mid-season debut) began with 21.0 rating. In season 2, the series managed to average 18.39 million viewers in 1979. Season 3 grew 15.6% to 21.81 million viewers while Season 4 dropped 15.5% to 18.41 million viewers in 1980–1981. Season 5 dropped extensively to below 14.327 million viewers but as ratings below the top 30, Seasons 6 - 7 ratings are unknown.

The show ran for seven seasons and a total of 145 episodes. Many of the episodes followed a similar structure "out-of-town crooks pull a robbery, Duke boys blamed, spend the rest of the hour clearing their names, the General Lee flies and the squad cars crash".

• The character of Deputy Sheriff Enos Strate was spun off into his own short-lived detective show called Enos, which ran from 1980 to 1981. As a result, Enos was written out of The Dukes of Hazzard at the start of the third season in the episode "Enos Straight to the Top." After Enos was cancelled, the character returned to Hazzard at the beginning of the fifth season.
• An animated version of the show called The Dukes aired in 1983. The first season fell under the Coy and Vance era of the live-action show and thus they were adapted into animated form. By the second season, Bo and Luke had returned, and they replaced Coy and Vance in the cartoon.
• Several video games based on the show were created:
  • The Dukes of Hazzard for ColecoVision using Expansion Module #2 (1984)
  • The Dukes of Hazzard for the Sinclair Spectrum (1985)
  • The Dukes of Hazzard (unreleased Atari 2600 prototype by Coleco)
  • The Dukes of Hazzard: Racing for Home (1999)
  • The Dukes of Hazzard 2: Daisy Dukes It Out (2000)
  • The Dukes of Hazzard: Return of the General Lee (2004)
• In 2005, the Humana Festival of New American Plays premiered a full-length comedy-drama entitled Hazzard County by Allison Moore. The story centers on a young widowed mother and a visit she receives from a big city television producer. Interspersed with recollections of Bo, Luke, and Daisy, the play takes a deep look at southern "good ol' boy" culture and its popularization through the lens of American mass media.

The second season episodes "Jude Emery", about a Texas Ranger, and "Mason Dixon's Girls", about a travelling private investigator and his female associates, were both pilots written by Dukes creator Gy Waldron for proposed new shows. Both failed to sell.

There were two made-for-TV reunion movies that aired on CBS, The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion! (1997) and The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood! (2000).

A feature film remake of the series, The Dukes of Hazzard premiered on August 5, 2005. It became a box office hit, although it was critically panned. A second Dukes of Hazzard film, The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning, a prequel to the original (and the first film) was a TV movie and also went straight to DVD release.

Warner Home Video has released all seven seasons of The Dukes of Hazzard on DVD in regions 1 and 2. The two TV-movies that followed the series were released on DVD in Region 1 on June 10, 2008. In Region 4, Warner has released only the first six seasons on DVD.

DVD Name	Ep #	Release dates
		Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
The Complete 1st Season	13	June 1, 2004	August 15, 2005	August 17, 2005
The Complete 2nd Season	23	January 25, 2005	September 26, 2005	August 17, 2005
The Complete 3rd Season	22	May 31, 2005	November 21, 2005	March 1, 2006
The Complete 4th Season	26	August 2, 2005	February 13, 2006	March 1, 2006
The Complete 5th Season	22	December 13, 2005	April 10, 2006	August 9, 2006
The Complete 6th Season	22	May 30, 2006	July 24, 2006	August 9, 2006
The Complete 7th Season	17	December 5, 2006	September 22, 2008	N/A
Two Movie Collection	2	June 10, 2008	N/A	N/A

A huge hit when it originally aired, in the decades since The Dukes of Hazzard has remained as something of a staple in popular culture, in both the US and overseas. Character names such as "Boss Hogg" and various other elements from the series are still well recognised and often referenced in daily conversation. Additionally, the series is also held up by many for being a wholesome family show with strong morals, something that is championed by its various stars, including Ben Jones (Cooter) and John Schneider (Bo).

"Daisy Dukes" is a recognised term for very short jean shorts.

In 2005, Tom Wopat and John Schneider were reunited during "Exposed", a fifth season episode of the television series Smallville. Wopat guest-starred as Kansas State Senator Jack Jennings, an old friend of Clark Kent's adoptive father Jonathan Kent (portrayed by Schneider). In the episode, Jennings drives a 1968 Dodge Charger—the same body style as The General Lee.

• Redneck Boy in the Promised Land: The Confessions of "Crazy Cooter", by Ben "Cooter" Jones, 2008. Crown. ISBN # 0307395278
• The Dukes of Hazzard - The Unofficial Companion, by David Hofstede, forward by Catherine Bach. 1998. Renaissance Books. ISBN # 1-58063-038-3