THE SKOLNICK REPORT

Colbert, The Dukes of Hazzard and the Future of This Page

Back in the olden days of the mid to late 2000s (how that’s now two decades in the rear view mirror I have no idea), I had something called a “blog.” Does anyone remember those? I kid, of course, as I know most here were online and aware at that time. I also did an occasional newsletter called “The Skol Report.” The reason I bring this up is that I’m thinking of bringing the Newsletter format back and making it the main premise of this Substack page.

While I’m proud of these long form Substack pieces I’ve done over the past few years, the fact is that their creation requires great concentration and time that just haven’t been available as much as I’d like. My writing ambitions continually get put on the proverbial backburner, particularly during the past year, which has seen the fruition of LPs of jazz guitar, heavy metal my first film score, as well as my upcoming guitar method book for Hal Leonard. Not to mention local concerts, national and international touring and even a recent recruitment as both an artist and concert organizer for a major music festival involving some of my favorite musicians.

So while pondering way to keep this page alive, I’ve been thinking about various writers I follow, particularly pundits here on Substack, who send out these newsletters with quick commentaries on the week’s (or day’s) events. Also, Bob Lefsetz, whose email newsletter arrives in my inbox several times a week with whatever topic or topics are on his mind, and for whom I recently had the great honor of being a podcast guest. My attempt here will be to focus on a few events that are in the headlines or that are just on my own mind.

There are some issues that I have very intensive thoughts about but haven’t addressed at all and would like to start weighing in. Some are impossible to mention without pissing of a large swath of people. But not mentioning them and trying to avoid the hornet’s nest also brings accusations of being “silent.” You can’t win these days.

So I may attempt to wade into a few of these hot button issues and express my thoughts - which tend to be different from the positions being shouted in comment sections. I’m grateful to anyone who listens, whether my content is musical or verbal, and especially grateful to those who’ve supported this page and my Patreon activity, even through the unintended silent periods (it helps make all the other creative projects possible!).

Ok, I’ve already said plenty, so I’m just going to move to current events. I was planning to just touch upon this week’s Colbert news, then move onto various topics. Yet even during the writing of this piece, my experience of the Colbert situation has gotten very interesting so I’ll just focus on that for now and save the other topics for another post.

COLBERT

A lot has happened since my 2024 election post here, in which I attempted to understand the results and not fear the worst in 2025 and beyond. It’s been the worst and then some.

The cancellation of not just Colbert, but the entire Late Show franchise, is far from the most consequential occurance. However, it is emblematic of our current moment, as are the bogus lawsuits, monopolistic mergers and other previously unthinkable post-election developments affecting US Government, media, tech and other giant corporations, all courtesy of our current Administration.

Stephen Colbert’s cable show, The Colbert Report (on the Comedy Central Network) was an all-time favorite of mine. It’s title certainly played a role while thinking about the title of this piece and likely upcoming new approach. I admit drifting off when he moved to the Late Show. The guest roster became more A-list and the jokes more watered down (despite being still too much for some). The Report, on the other hand, had the occasional superstar but also guests as diverse as historian Doris Kearns Goodwin and musicians you don’t see on the main Late Night shows, such as Rush and Peter Frampton.

Colbert’s true persona, while sincere and endearing, lacked the acerbic, edginess of his hilarious archconservative alter-ego on cable, making the Late Show less appealing to some of us who’d found him on Comedy Central (beginning as a cast member on John Stewart’s The Daily Show). Still, Colbert’s Late Show was beloved to regular viewers and he was still well worth tuning into for certain episodes.

There’s not much that hasn’t been said about his final show last Thursday, but here is what I posted over on Facebook and Instagram, along with the photo above:

Attending The Colbert Report about a year or so before his Late Show era. I was admittedly a bigger fan of that show as a viewer, but respect for what he achieved on the big network and last night’s final episode was a heckuva a way to go out, with a Beatle (Paul), an astrophysicist (Neil DT) and so much more. Although there are “official” reasons (costs, budgets, ratings etc), I think we all know why this is happening and it’s not “woke” or any other stupid, meaningless word to point it out (it was well put by “The Boss” on Thursday’s show). We’re in an era in which certain giant corporations have been given permission to behave like bullies on a scale previously unforeseen (regrettably this seems to be affecting the musical instrument landscape as well, not going to name names.. ). We all know about “class war,” but there is also classiness. Having friends who’ve worked on and been guests on Stephen’s shows, as well as seeing the quality of talent backing team @colbert vs the opposition, it’s clear that while this battle may have been lost, there is a very clear winner of the war of classiness. I look forward to his next move.

I probably shouldn’t be surprised, but the above post, while generally well received, has yielded a number of negative comments - not the majority, but far more than expected. I have a feeling they have less to do with being against Stephen Colbert (although there is plenty of venom spat in his direction) than being for whatever comes out of the mouth of a certain someone in Washington and more often, Mar-a-lago, who, to quote Bruce Springsteen on Wednesday’s penultimate Late Show episode: “Can’t take a joke.”

I would have thought that by now - post Epstein file revelations, Iran War, gas prices, falling out and mutiny from hardcore former allies ie Marjorie, Tucker, Candace and now Boebert (not that I have ANY sympathy for these characters!), there’d be visibly less folks taking offense at a comic who is a Trump antagonist. Especially when said comic a such a favorite among their one time favorites. In other words, I can’t imagine any of these commenters were never fans at one time of Paul McCartney, Springsteen, David Letterman, Sally Field, Steven Speilberg, Robert De Niro and too many to name, all of whom have been by Colbert’s side as his Late Show tenure has come to a close. Yet the negative commenters have turned on all of them - all for the sake of a conman selling a counterproductive culture war.

This applies to my own former fans as well. Obviously, my platform is a microcosm by comparison to any of the aforementioned mega-celebs. Yet when the above commentary was posted on my FB page it quickly generated a debate, with close to five thousand reactions and more than a thousand comments so far.

One of the most interesting came from a TV action hero from my youth.

Full disclosure: I doubt John Schneider actually follows me, as he gave no indication of awareness of me or my music. He is someone who engages in right-leaning, “patriotic” (in air quotes) commentary. So as my FB comment section began cooking, with plenty of folks who support his point of view, it seems plausible that my Colbert post reached his timeline algorithmically - so to speak - so he chimed in. Again, that is my guess.

Despite his pushback, this was kind of exciting. I grew up loving the Dukes of Hazzard. Click to watch the trailer — it will bring some of you back to childhood and cause others of you to scratch your heads in disbelief that this was greenlit for prime time network television in the early 1980s.

Mind you, as an eleven year old, I was blissfully unaware of the symbolism behind the biggest star of the show, which wasn’t even a person: A hot-rodded Dodge Charger covered in Confederate “stars & bars.” Watching this awesome automobile outrunning “the law” in high speed chases with occasional Evel Knievel inspired jumps, the car’s look and name, “The General Lee” (as in Robert E) were references which, if you’ll pardon the pun, went right over my head.

The same is true of another vehicle featured on the show, a white Jeep named “Dixie” (I get it now). Dixie was driven by Cousin Daisy - an early crush of many young boys, myself included. Daisy (played by actress Catherine Bach) became such a high profile TV sex symbol that even today, cut-off jean shorts are referred to as “Daisy Dukes”.

This show was watched weekly with a fervor by me and every kid I knew. No one - not our teachers, nor parents - thought anything of it, despite everyone being card-carrying citizens of the most pro-civil rights, pro-diversity, left-leaning city in the country - Berkeley. We were “woke’ long before that was an adjective. On the playground of our school, named after the fallen former head of the Nation of Islam - Malcom X Elementary - my friends and I would run through a play by play account of the latest episode and discuss what happened with the Duke Boys, Uncle Jessy, Cousin Daisy and their opponents who ran fictitious Hazzard County, GA.

Here then, is what Mr. Schneider - aka Bo Duke - said to me the other day in a comment:

“Ratings don’t lie. When your Show loses millions of dollars every year it gets canceled. Nothing to see here really. A not even moderately successful show was kept on years after it should’ve been canceled in the first place. It will not be missed and neither will he.”

And here’s my reply to him:

Ok I admit it’s a bit of a thrill to get challenged on my page by Bo Duke.

That said, The Late Show was still the Number 1 show in that time slot, won 9 Emmys in a row. Ad revenues, while shrinking across late night, cushioned the losses. They still had money to settle a bogus lawsuit with Trump (the source of the joke that likely got Colbert axed).

The right thing to do would have been to address the finances, ask him and all talent to take pay cuts, fire people if necessary and attempt to slash production costs. Instead they just pulled the plug on a whim, without warning and with very suspicious timing politically. Sounds more like Russian dictatorship than the America of the General Lee.

Btw, I watched The Dukes of Hazard religiously as a kid, and did pretty good Boss Hogg and Roscoe P Coltrane impersonations on the schoolyard.

I prefer to focus on the amusement of this, rather than any negativity. Still…I can’t help but feel a bit perplexed and let down. Symbolism aside, I never doubted Bo & Luke were the good guys, on the side of justice and fighting against the corruption of the County. Even later in life, when I connected the dots of references, I chalked them up to naive expressions of Southern Pride, akin to their use in some segments of Country and Southern rock music.

For this reason, the man who once played Bo Duke appearing on my page - regardless of how thrilled the 6th Grade version of me would have been - dismissing Stephen Colbert and, in context, defending Donald Trump, is difficult to square.

Observe how Wikipedia describes Bo & Luke’s fictional nemesis: “Boss” Hogg, whose formal first name was Jefferson Davis (yet another Confederate reference):

“Boss” Hogg was the sole commisioner of (fictional) Hazzard County, Georgia, and thus, held all executive and judicial powers therein. (In reality, Georgia is the only state which still allows this form of government, and in only seven of its 159 counties.) As the wealthiest man in the county, he would do almost anything to get his hands on more money, including executing many nefarious and criminal schemes. Hogg owned most of Hazzard’s property and businesses, either directly or by holding the mortgages over the land…

There is more but this part especially stikes a chord:

Hogg’s lust for money often drove him to participate in criminal activities—usually by enlisting the aid of associates…His greed only seemed to fuel his lust for more and more wealth.

Who does this sound like to you?