The Dukes of Hazzard: The Complete First Season

Arriving smack in the middle of America's love affair with redneck culture in the late-1970s and early-‘80s, writer-producer Gy Waldron's popular family comedy The Dukes of Hazzard (1979-1985) was based on Waldron's 1975 bootlegging feature Moonrunners. Originally shot on location in Georgia (before moving to a Burbank studio midway through the first season), the series followed the misadventures of cousins Bo Duke (John Schneider) and Luke Duke (Tom Wopat), a pair of joyriders buzzing through the backwoods of the Deep South and trying to stay out of trouble. Of course, trouble follows anyway, in the form of arch-nemeses Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane (James Best) and local powerbroker Boss Hogg (Sorrell Booke), who want Bo, Luke, and their fetching cousin Daisy (Catherine Bach) and surrogate father/reformed moonshiner Jesse (Denver Pyle) to keep their noses out of the boss's corrupt business practices. Each of the 13 episodes here pretty much ride the same tired circuit, and while that may prove as comforting as potato chips, the inspiration and the interest quickly run low here. DVD extras include commentary by Schneider and Bach on the pilot episode, the half-hour retrospective documentary “The 20th Anniversary Hazzard County Barbecue,” and the featurette “Dukes Driving 101: A High Octane Salute,” which includes interviews with professional racecar drivers. Optional. (T. Keogh)