Probably one of the most repetative TV shows ever, well maybe not as much as Wacky Races, but this show had its formula down and boy didn’t they just beat it to death! This show is just so terrible it defies classification.
As a kid I loved this show, every week I sat glued to the box waiting to see how the Dukes would end up making Boss Hogg look like a total ass yet again. Let me also say that as terrible as it is I can still watch an episode or two and be transported back to those good ol’ days when I used to eat spaghetti hoops (OK they are Os to you Americans) and toast while laying on the floor propped up on my elbows… sigh!
Today I have got something that you may not have seen in a while.
Talk about a mighty crossover… Dukes of Hazzard themed McDonald’s Happy Meals!
Back in 1982 they were both in their infancies, Dukes kicked off in 1979 and ran until 1985 and the Happy Meal was also introduced to the world 1979. It was a match made in heaven.
Things were simpler then and the meals didn’t always have toys in them like they do today. This was the case for the Dukes of Hazzard promotion.
Of course it is the unforgetable General Lee, but that is not all… it is actually the box that held the Happy Meal. Sneaky… the box IS the toy.
Yes, your fries and burger would have been placed inside this thin plastic shell and then closed up with the lid/base.
Genius.
But wait there’s more. How about these for size?
Boss Hogg's Cadillac
Uncle Jesse's Pickup
Roscoe's Patrol Car
And probably my favorite (after the General of course) is…
Daisy's Jeep
Seriously why don’t they do anything as cool as that anymore? It is just too bad 
Some of you may be wondering what happened to the final part of the meal combo, namely the drink. Well fear not they delivered on that too, how about a set of character cups?
Hold on one gosh dasn cottonpickin’ minute, where’s what’s his name?
That would be Luke people, well for some reason his cup is the rarest of the bunch, but here he is… kinda.
Sorry about the crappy picture, but I promise I did my best.
Amazingly the car-shaped boxes sell for about $25-30 a piece and they are a tough find lemme tell you. I mean seriously who would have kept those?
The cups sell for about $30-40 for a complete set. Luke sold by himself would probably go for about $20.
So I admit these pieces are a little on the pricey side, but come on you have got to admit they are pretty cool.
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Man, I loved that show. It held special appeal for me because my 2 cousins Berry & Harley who lived in Virginia were demolition car drivers. That’s right, their hobby was driving around smashing into other cars. Every summer at out family farm in West Virginia they’d drive me around in one of their sports cars (not the demolition ones) at break neck speeds down the dirt back roads just narrowly missing trees. It was as if my cousins were Bo & Luke. I bore no resemblance to Daisy, however.
What a great Friday night of TV that was. The Incredible Hulk, the Dukes of Hazzard, & Dallas. Although Dallas was too much of a soap opera for me so I usually switched it off.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-h0IZPFvBk
Oops, here’s the ad I meant to link to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmsdBtrehYQ
The Dukes was a great show except for the one year when John Schneider and Tom Wopat went on strike for more money so they replaced them with their cousins Coy and Vance, who were lame. Getting back to the toys however, it was a great concept on McDonald’s part because that show was all about the cars and not the actors (except for Catherine Bach as Daisy. She was hot). They should have expanded it a bit thought to include Deputy Enos and Crazy Cooter. The Dukes truly were just two good ole boys, never meaning no harm. Beats all you ever saw, been in trouble with the law since the day they were born.
Holy cow! I remember Happy Meals that came like that! I don’t recall ever having specifically the Duke ones, but I do remember playing with those types of meal boxes! Wow, that’s something I hadn’t thought about in decades.
Goog, I am glad to have stirred up your brain juices after such a long time
Gary, I always thought Coy and Vance were Bo and Luke’s cousins and not the actors’
On a side note I always wondered what the Duke boys actually did to be in trouble with the law from the day they were born? Is there some kind of anti-noise no crying ordinance in Hazzard County? Any ideas people?
I, too, remember those Happy Meals. I may still have an Uncle Jesse cup floating around somewhere. I’m in the minority I know but I never could stand that show! Well except for Catherine Bach, natch! As you say, Dave, they beat that formula to death. Ugh.
Ahhhh… And then some pack rat somewhere had the whole collection!
Might have even thrown them away too… If they didn’t know what they had!