Okay, Listen Here

Okay, Listen Here

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Ducks and Camo


         I have fallen in love with a bunch of guys who are already married…well, except for one and he’s free.  (Cue ZZ Top)  These guys have long hair, long beards and mostly wear camouflage, things I normally don’t like, but they appeal to me in a way that no one has since Adrian Paul (and it ain’t their looks).

         Meet the Robertsons from Monroe, Louisiana.  I know.  They’re a scary looking bunch in their camo and black face paint.  However, these guys are rich (millionaires) and they have their own television show – “Duck Dynasty.”  To their credit, they are devoted family men, God-fearing and about as funny as anything on television.  I watch them every Wednesday night at 9:00 pm and I haven’t been disappointed yet.  Their show centers on their duck call business, Duck Commander, which is a multi-million dollar enterprise. 



The real fun comes when you realize that most of the employees at the business are family (and as Willie tells them “I can’t fire family” even though he wants to), a rough and tumble family that does some of the stupidest redneck things I have seen (yes, Jean, these guys rival my barn boys).  I have laughed until I couldn’t breathe over the uncle's, Si, antics (he’s the free one), and then felt a kinship with him when he explained his blue Tupperware cup was the same one his mother sent him while he was in Viet Nam.  He still carries it and drinks sweet tea all the time.  The father, Phil, is a college graduate (Louisiana Tech) and was the first string quarterback, ahead of a guy named Terry Bradshaw.  Phil was drafted to the pros but it interfered with duck hunting so he didn’t go.  Phil started the family business, making duck calls, in 1973 but Willie, one of his sons, took it into the mainstream.  Jase, another of Phil’s sons, invents new duck calls and, to be honest, sometime I worry about him – he’s a bit slow (I think it’s an act because he can hold his own with Willie). All of the boys graduated from college and they ain’t your average run-of-the-mill rednecks – they just choose to be as they are.  Willie, Duck Commander’s CEO, tries to keep control but it’s awful hard when these guys always have something planned, either hunting, fishing or playing practical jokes.

Seriously, though, I enjoy the show because this family loves each other.  They may get mad or do things but the show always ends with all of them sitting down to a meal at Miss Kay’s (the mother) table, saying grace and enjoying each other.  All of them married their high-school sweethearts and remain married today.  I know, I can hear all of you saying, “Who wants to watch a bunch of bearded red-necks running around doing brain-damaged things?”  Give it a shot.  You’ll be hooked on how they react to things, how they love each other and just how funny some of it is.  Oh, by the way, some of them will be in Florence on August 11th.  I hope I can go…my sister wants to meet Si (he's the one in shorts).



Do you have a favorite television show?  Do you like reality shows?  How do you feel about the latest upsurge of television shows featuring people from the South?  I think we’re an interesting bunch – the rest of the country just doesn’t know that to be Southern you have to have some crazy relatives who do things which involve guns and blowing things up.  Duck Dynasty fits the bill (no pun intended).

18 comments:

  1. I don't usually watch reality shows, but I appreciate them. I believe we have had more of what I call "smart TV" since the appearance of the the reality show. By smart TV I mean things like Buffy, Firefly, Bones, Castle, The Big Bang Theory--and there are countless others. There is also plenty that isn't smart so I may be way off base assuming that there is a correlation between smart TV and the onslaught of reality shows.

    Have you ever gone back and tried to watch a show that you thought was fabulous a decade or more ago? You will cringe. It's just sad.

    And let me say, I don't think I am above reality TV. It's just that I already watch too much television, though I don't turn it on during the day except to occasionally catch a little Sports Center during football season.

    But I must admit the the Ducky guys sound intriguing. It has to be miles ahead of GCB, which is a train wreck I can't look away from.

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  2. I agree Jean. The intellectual level of the shows you mentioned are vast improvements over the mindless television shows which I wouldn't and couldn't watch. Kind of like Bugs Bunny - it's a cartoon but the humor is very high-brow. I still use some of Bugs' classic lines.

    I also do not turn on the television during the day. It holds nothing for me.

    And you would probably think the Ducky guys are funny - but some of the things that Phil says about today's society, especially electronics, is right on the money. To show my ignorance, what is GCB?

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  3. It's my people!!! Well, I went to Louisiana Tech. And for proof of my attendance I give you this... there is a HUGE picture of Terry Bradshaw on one side of the Student Union and an 8x10 of Jesus on the opposite wall. Sad but true...if it's till there, that is. And Monroe is just a hop skip and a jump away from there...that's where I would go to buy art supplies worth anything while in college.

    Anyway....I haven't seen this show, but I'll watch for it. It looks like my family. The men would rather be in a boat, tree or wading through the river any day of the week. And no doubt, Momma's cookin' up somethin' they drug home after playin' in the 'crick' all day.

    As for TV...I don't watch it, usually. Though Kathy has me hooked on Downton Abbey now and it's driving me nuts that I can't get my fix on Netflix.

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    1. You have to watch this Leisa. It's on tonight on A&E at 9:00. And Terry Bradshaw was Phil's back-up; so Bradshaw was behind Phil.

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    1. GCB originally stood for "Good Christian B***hes" but was changed to "Good Christian Belles". A reformed "mean girl" has returned home to Texas, widowed and reformed. Now she has to deal with the girls she was was mean to in high school. They all go to church together. Annie Potts and Kristin Chenoweth--both of whom I like--star in it. Kristin Chenoweth says of the show, "It's so wrong, it's right." I don't know about that, but I like some of the characters quite a bit--mostly the men. And that's what it all always comes back to.

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    2. I hear my husband and Mom laughing every time that show is on. I don't watch it though because I'm usually in the study writing at that time. ;)

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    3. Oh it's that one. My son watches it and nearly dies. I haven't yet but now I will. GCB...

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  5. I watch more reality t.v. than I should. Right now my favorite is a show that Jean would probably love called, "Amish: Out of Order." About people who were raised Amish but left the Order to go live in the English World and one girl who is trying become Amish.

    I also love those Real House Wives of New Jersey and Atlanta, the Swamp People, especially Troy who reminds me of a dear friend from that area, Toddlers and Tiaras and my personal all time favorite, The Steve Wilkos Show.

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    1. I did see that show once. The Amish one. I love the Amish.

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    2. Never heard of this one. Interesting... ;)

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    3. I've been watching the Amish show. I think the girl is crazy to want to do this. Watching it last night I couldn't stand the killing the chicken part. Yuk. Rather go to the grocery store. Guess I'd starve if I had to pull the head off like that. But I do like the show.

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    4. Oh and Troy...I love him! "Choot 'em!" I saw hundreds of shirts down at the beach with Troy on it and "Choot 'em." He is the Kind of the Swamp. Love that show.

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  6. I'll be checking in on the blog today. Cheryl just called and has had a little accident. (It involved a horse, of course.) She's fine, but must go to the ER. I'll keep everyone posted.

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    1. Torn muscle, fracture of the elbow...I still haven't learned that I'm not twenty. I get to start physical therapy tomorrow so the muscle doesn't retract. Such fun. But, all in all, it could have been worse.

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  7. Sending thoughts and prayers Cheryl's way. Sure hope this is nothing serious!

    I watch American Idol and Dancing with the Stars but those are about the only reality shows I watch. Well, sometimes I watch Wipeout. LOL!

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    1. Thanks Kathy. Doing all right now. Just another Cheryl-thing. Guess I have to learn to behave.

      I have never watched American Idol; I am hopelessly out of the loop on that one.

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