A lot has been written about the series DUCK DYNASTY lately.
Most of that has revolved around the head of the family, Phil Robertson, and
remarks he made in during an interview for GQ magazine. But what about where it
all began? What about the series that put him in a position where a magazine
like GQ would even consider talking to him? If you've never been exposed to the
Robertson family and why they've become so popular now is the chance. All of
the first four seasons are now on DVD.
While the first three seasons have been available for a
while now, a boxed edition has come out that includes a camouflage bandana. If
you watch these discs you'll see what the hubbub us all about. The Robertson
family and the series itself can be summed up in one word: family. That's
something you rarely hear about these days unless it's about the downfall of
the family or an extended family or a family that has some sort of extenuating
circumstances. Here you have a traditional family that lives together, works
together and plays together. That's something rare on TV today.
It's not one particular episode that stands out among the
first three seasons that made this show a hit. It's all of them. It's the
chance to meet this family and know that somewhere in the mix you recognize
them as your own. There're the brothers, Willie and Jase, who have a friendly
rivalry going on to the point where they play pranks on one another. Or baby
brother Jep that the two gang up on to tease. Then there's crazy uncle Silas,
or Si, who spouts off enough witticisms to garner a book release of his own
(SI-COLOGY). Their wives and children are also in the mix from episode to
episode. And at the head of the family is the man who started the company
himself, Phil Robertson, and his wife Miss Kay.
The story behind the family has Phil starting his own
company making duck calls called Duck Commander. Son Willie and his wife bought
the company and made it the leader in the field, no pun intended, making it a
million dollar business. Through the series and the product placements to
follow the entire family has become rich but they don't let it go to their
heads. They continue to live like they always did, although in better homes it
seems.
Episodes range from the family sneaking onto a golf course
in the black of night to snag some huge frogs that Jase saw there that
afternoon with the intent of Miss Kay cooking a mess of frog legs to Willie
trying to teach his daughter Sadie how to drive. Okay so the first one might
not be something we all would do but the second surely is. Each episode is
filled with some of the funniest situations and dialogue found on TV today.
It's those off hand comments and moments that fill all of our lives where we
laugh at one another and tell each other how "you should write for
television". This group has taken those moments, put them together and
actually done so.
At the end of each show has come the moment that has caused
controversy around the country and in the board rooms of A & E, the network
that airs the series. The family always ends up sitting down to dinner around
the table and doing what seems to offend so many: they pray! You would think
this would amount to nothing more than what people always used to do but in
fact at one time was a point of contention with the network. They wanted them
to stop using the name Jesus for fear of offending someone. The family didn't
back down on that one and why should they? Apparently the network wasn't afraid
that they might offend those who found something good in it.
This week you can also lay claim to the fourth season of the
series and it contains just as many fun moments as the first three. Here again,
it's not one episode that stands out, it's the entire season. As you watch this
group you find yourself thinking they'd be fun to be around, to hang out with
or to have a meal with, prayer included. They're not the simple folk that some
would like to portray them as (all of the sons have college degrees and one
friend/co-worker Martin is almost finished with his masters degree) and that
may be why some folks don't like them. They're not the Beverly Hillbillies.
Then again maybe they are. That was a family that didn't care what others
thought of them either. They just loved one another and enjoyed themselves. It
would seem to me we could use more of that rather than less on TV these days.
So if you find families that bicker non-stop, that hate one
another more than love each other, that try to include each diverse culture
they can find or that come off more like the Bundy's than the Cleavers this may
not be the series for you. But if you like this family, like the values they
believe in, like the fact that they're not afraid to stand up for what they
believe in, then you should pick up both DUCK DYNASTY SEASONS 1-3 COLLECTOR'S
SET and DUCK DYNASTY SEASON 4. They'll be DVDs that won't collect dust as you
go back and watch and laugh at each and every episode.
Click here to order seasons 1-3.
Click here to order season 4.
No comments:
Post a Comment