"The Dukes" (1983) TV series

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Directors:

Oscar Dufau
George Gordon

Writers:

John Bradford (story) (1983)
Benny Ferman (story) (1983)

Release Date:

5 February 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Animation | Comedy | Family

Plot:

This was another attempt to take a successful primetime television series and turn it into a Saturday morning cartoon...

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Southern | Country | Based On Live Action TV Series | Southern U.S.

Cast

Catherine Bach	...	Daisy Duke (voice)
James Best	...	Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane (voice)
Sorrell Booke	...	Jefferson Davis 'Boss' Hogg (voice)
Byron Cherry	...	Coy Duke (Feb.-Sept.) (voice)
Christopher Mayer	...	Vance Duke (Feb.-Sept.) (voice)
Denver Pyle	...	Uncle Jesse Duke (voice)
John Schneider	...	Bo Duke (Sept.-Nov.) (voice)
Frank Welker	...	Flash / Smokey / General Lee (voice)
Tom Wopat	...	Luke Duke (Sept.-Nov.) (voice)

Runtime:

30 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

Hanna-Barbera Productions

Movie Connections:

Spin off from "The Dukes of Hazzard" (1979)

Great Then, God Awful Now!!

I actually have fond memories of watching the animated Dukes cartoon on CBS in 1983 by Hanna Barbera. This was a fad back then where Hanna Barbera was animating popular prime time shows. On ABC, they did The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang, Laverne and Shirley, and finally Mork and Mindy. On CBS, they set their sights on the Dukes of Hazzard, but picked the absolute worst time to do a cartoon series of them. During the show's deplorable fifth season when Coy and Vance were on there, so in animation, we had Coy and Vance with Daisy racing in the General Lee around the world against Boss Hogg, Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane, and Flash, who had more personality in this cartoon as well as the General Lee. I actually saw these cartoons recently and they are god awful to look at now. I can't believe I actually loved this show as a kid. My fondest memories was when the cartoon was renewed for a second season that same year, and best of all, following what the live series did, Bo and Luke were with Daisy and the race continued with the real Duke boys. And of course, there was Uncle Jesse and his pet raccoon, who also had personality, reading Daisy's letters. I hated the fact that the second season with Bo and Luke was cut too short. There should have been more episodes of that series. I did enjoy the final episode where Uncle Jesse flew out to a bog in a swamp and reunited with Bo, Luke, and Daisy, so this cartoon went out on a good note.

As an adult, this cartoon is a god awful series, but as a kid, I fondly recalled watching this show along with the live series.