{"id":292137,"date":"2017-01-28T11:12:12","date_gmt":"2017-01-28T10:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/taking-on-corrupt-law-enforcement\/"},"modified":"2017-01-28T11:12:12","modified_gmt":"2017-01-28T10:12:12","slug":"taking-on-corrupt-law-enforcement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/taking-on-corrupt-law-enforcement\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking on Corrupt Law Enforcement"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When The Dukes of Hazzard<\/em> premiered on January 26, 1979, it was intended to be a temporary patch in CBS\u2019s primetime schedule until The Incredible Hulk<\/em> returned. Only nine episodes were ordered, and few executives at the network had any expectation that the series\u2014about two amiable brothers at odds with the corrupt law enforcement of Hazzard County\u2014would become both a ratings powerhouse and a merchandising bonanza. Check out some of these lesser-known facts about the Duke boys, their extended family, and the gravity-defying General Lee, which made their small-screen debut 38 years ago today.<\/p>\n

1. THE NETWORK CHAIRMAN HATED THE SHOW.<\/strong><\/p>\n

CBS chairman William Paley never quite bought into the idea of spinning his opinion to match the company line. Having built<\/a> CBS from a radio station to one of the \u201cBig Three\u201d television networks, he had harvested talent as diverse as Norman Lear and Lucille Ball, a marked contrast to the Southern-fried humor of The Dukes of Hazzard<\/em>. In his 80s when it became a top 10 series and seeing no reason to censor himself, Paley repeatedly and publicly<\/a> described the show as \u201clousy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instant Access to Current Spot Prices & Interactive Charts<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

2. THE CAR GOT 35,000 FAN LETTERS A MONTH.<\/strong><\/p>\n

While John Schneider and Tom Wopat were the ostensible stars of the show, both the actors and the show\u2019s producers quickly found out that the main attraction was the 1969 Dodge Charger\u2014dubbed the General Lee\u2014that trafficked brothers Bo and Luke Duke from one caper to another. Of the 60,000 letters the series was receiving every month in 1981, 35,000<\/a> wanted more information on or pictures of the car.
\n\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/span>
\nThe Dukes of Hazzard: …<\/a><\/span><\/span>
\nBest Price: <\/span>$94.99<\/span><\/span>
\nBuy New <\/span>$92.99<\/span><\/span>
\n<\/a><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

3. DENNIS QUAID WANTED TO BE LUKE DUKE\u2014ON ONE CONDITION.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When the show began casting…<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When The Dukes of Hazzard premiered on January 26, 1979, it was intended to be a temporary patch in CBS\u2019s primetime schedule until The Incredible Hulk returned. Only nine episodes were ordered, and few executives at the network had any expectation that the series\u2014about two amiable brothers at odds with the corrupt law enforcement of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-292137","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-newswire"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292137\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}