THE RETURN OF DUCK DYNASTY!

Thursday February 6^th, 2025

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

THE RETURN OF DUCK DYNASTY!

 

Have you heard the news? This is big. Really big. In just a matter of weeks, Duck Dynasty will return to TV on the A&E network. It doesn’t seem too long ago that America was consumed with the saga of head Duck Phil Robertson and the pros and cons of his right to rants and raves about homophobia and his experiences with neighboring African Americans, who, according to Phil, were happy as a lark in Red Neck country when he was growing up.

Now don’t take this as a knock on being a red neck. I point to mine with pride. I’m from Ferriday, Louisiana, home of Jerry Lee Lewis, country music star Mickey Gilley and Reverend Jimmy Swaggart, among other notables. Ferriday is a stone’s throw, metaphorically speaking, from West Monroe in Northeast Louisiana where Phil and all the Dynasty family hang out.

I bought my first duck call, a Duck Commander, from Phil back in 1975 when I really took to duck hunting. I had a good-sized slough in the front forty of an old plantation site I had restored on Lake Concordia just across the Mississippi River from Natchez. In winter, ducks coming down the Mississippi River flyway flocked to that slough, and they were there for the taking. That is, if you knew how to bring them in with a duck call.

Ole’ Phil had opened up his shop in a dilapidated shed, where he spent 25 years making duck calls from Louisiana cedar trees. And make no mistake — his duck calls were the best. If you knew how to twill your tongue as you blew into the cigar shaped wood instrument, all the while saying “hut”, “quit” or “ut,” you could guide a variety of ducks head right towards your decoys. Phil’s duck calls were a significant factor in making me a pretty darn good duck hunter.

And don’t be misled. Phil ain’t no dummy. He turned down a chance to play professional football for the Washington Redskins, and holds a master’s degree in education. And look at him today. With or without the A&E Network, his Duck Commander Company has been turning big profits. Have you checked out the Duck Dynasty products under patriarch Phil’s label at a Walmart, Target, Kmart or any number of other stores nationwide?

As you would expect, there’s a large variety of hats and T-shirts carrying the Duck Dynasty label. But don’t forget the Duck Dynasty body pillows, watches, fleece throws, fleece jackets, camo jackets, pants and shirts — the list goes on and on. When Phil and the Dynasty where at its peak a few years back, Bloomberg News reported that the Duck Dynasty empire amounted to some $500 million and is growing.

Duck dynasty went off the air a few years back when patriarch Phil got too rowdy with his language on the TV show. But as profits took at dip at A&E, they have now decided to give the Duck team a second shot. This is not their first rodeo and they know what they are doing. They echoed the Godfather’s tactics saying it’s strictly business. “We have our standards,” they lamented, “and if Phil ‘crossed the line’ in the past,” well everyone deserves a second chance.

Louisiana state officials were stunned when Duck Dynasty was taken off the air. “How could they?” demanded then Governor Bobby Jindal, who accused A&E of violating Robertson’s freedom of speech and his religious liberty. 

The new show’s producers will certainly ask for tax breaks from the Louisiana state film and television incentive program. So do we need more tax dollars flowing to the Dynasty gang? 

And will Phil’s past transgressions hurt the new series?  Heck no?  In fact, look for A&E to publicly keep a lid on Phil. They no doubt will hope that the past controversy will create a huge windfall of publicity for A&E and the Dynasty. Millions who never heard of Duck Dynasty could tune in to see what the fuss was all about.

 If a new culture war will be part of the show, it should not surprise us. After all, isn’t that what Duck Dynasty is all about? Make some loud quacks and get a variety of ducks (viewers) to glide right to where you want them – then laugh all the way to the bank.

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide.  You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.