Boss Hogg was a corrupt politician and a main character. I don’t remember much beyond that. But my memory is that the Duke Boys were escaping persecution from local state actors.
Side note: I was a little kid and my friends in pre-school thought the car could fly, which broke my brain when I couldn’t articulate that it jumped.
The show started out as a spinoff of a movie about moonshine runners. Boss Hogg and Sheriff Rosco were both the authorities and the bad guys of the show. Interestingly the sheriff of a neighboring county was played by a black actor and portrayed as a serious and competent / not-corrupt lawman in contrast to the Hazzard Co corrupt officials.
And Enos was the dimwitted gullible but honest deputy in Hazzard.
I really loved this show when I was a kid. Uncle Jesse was my favorite. But as an adult, I don’t think I could get past the whole “General Lee” thing and the Confederate flag.
Born in '69. The bad guys growing up were often the legal officials in tv shows and movies during the 70s and early 80s. Like Smokey & The Bandit and all those exploitation films like Caged Heat and Chained Heat.
Not to mention Scooby-Doo, where each episode revealed that the monster was some grown-up authority figure abusing his power.
And the Sheriff was in Hogg’s pocket. Just a lackey.
