Jan 26th: Defying Gravity

About this episode

This episode explores incredible survival stories and the unexpected success of 'The Dukes of Hazzard'.

If I told you someone survived a terrorist bombing and a six mile fall without a parachute - would you believe me? Well, January 26th is full of stories that shouldn't have worked - but actually did! In 1979, CBS took a gamble on a show about moonshine-running cousins in an orange car with a Confederate flag. Critics hated it, but 40 million viewers disagreed. The Dukes of Hazzard became a cultural phenomenon where the real star got 35,000 fan letters a month—and it wasn't ...

People in this episode

Host: Truman Pastworthy

Topics covered

• survival stories
• cultural phenomena
• television history
• unexpected success
• moonshine-running

Keywords

• survival
• terrorist bombing
• The Dukes of Hazzard
• CBS
• cultural phenomenon
• 1979
• moonshine

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: CBS

Books & works: The Dukes of Hazzard