Welcome to Love or Hate with passion. This is a new series in which I review some of the TV shows I watch. I have been thinking for sometime to do this but was not very sure if my readers would be receptive or not. Finally, I decided to take a chance and do it anyway. These are the shows that I love or hate with a passion but still continue to watch them week after week. These shows make me want to write about them, and I cannot stop that urge. 
I watch a lot of TV on the internet. I know, why pay for cable when you can find every episode on the internet? 
As I said in one my previous posts, I do not like to go out a lot except to enjoy nature. I spend most of my free time either watching TV or writing post’s for you.
The first show I wanted to talk about is “Duck Dynasty”. This is an amazing show. “D” and I both love this show. It is a reality show about a redneck family. The family now owns a business, called Duck Commander, that makes duck calls used for hunting ducks. We love the family values and clean talk. They are conservative. The ladies cover their bikinis with t-shirts. ( I do not have a problem with bikinis, but it is nice to see some old school values on TV) .They are very funny, and we laugh like crazy.
Phil Robertson is the patriarch of the family, and he is my personal favorite. I think he is very wise, and I love his philosophy of “happy, happy, happy”. He is a simple man that loves hunting, fried frog legs and squirrels. They were poor when he married his wife, (Miss Kay). He made the first duck call and had a small business. Willie, his third son, turned this into a multi-million dollar business. The family, (especially Phil, Kay and Si,) are down to earth even after their success with both the company and the reality show. Though he is not crazy about shopping for decor and stuff, he accompanies Miss Kay to make her happy. In the season 4 premier, Phil says this in his vows, (for their vow renewal,) “Lets see Miss Kay, we have been running together since we were teenagers, old blue Chevrolet, with Si in the back. You have cooked me many a good meals. From your loins came four healthy, godly men. You are my best friend, and I love you dearly, and I am going to be with you for the long haul till they put me in the ground. Good?” Miss Kay said “Perfect”. Phil puts the ring on and says “I am sorry to say that we did not have that when we first married”. Miss Kay said “That’s okay”.
Miss Kay, (that is what everyone calls her,) is the Matriarch of the family. Phil and Kay have been married for 50 years now. She loves cooking, and her philosophy is “the way to man’s heart is through his mouth”. I totally subscribe to that principle “make your man happy so he will make you happy. 
She cooks frogs and squirrels too. Phil gives love advice to his grand kids sometimes. He tells them never marry a woman who cannot cook or is a “yuppie” (Young Urban Professional). I think there is nothing wrong with a women loving to cook and take care of her family. In the season 4 premiere, Miss Kay says this in her vows (for their vow renewal,) “From the time I was 14 years old, I loved you, and we have been through some good times and some hard times. I loved you when we were poor and you were not so nice. Now you are really nice and kind. All I can say about this is I am not going anywhere.” Phil responded “That is good to know.” Miss Kay continued. “I will love you forever”. What makes me so happy is life is not always perfect. It has its ups and downs, but sticking together works well in the end. We do not need to have a perfect wedding to have a perfect marriage. Instead of spending a fortune on a wedding, we can spend our energy to make the marriage work.
Silas Robertson, (Si,) is Phil’s brother. He is the funniest of all, but sometimes dopey. The philosophy that Si lives by is “work hard, sleep harder”. 
In the season 4 premiere that aired last week, Si was assigned to distract Phil and Miss Kay while the family plans their surprise vow renewal ceremony. (Phil and Kay did not have a real wedding when they got married the first time. They just went to the courthouse.) Si tells Phil and Kay that he wants to take them down memory lane. He takes them to several places where they have never been before and makes up stories of what they did there. Yup that is Si Robertson. 
They have also recently came up with a book called “Si-chology”.
Jase and Willie are Phil’s sons. They are characters themselves too. “D” does not have a personal favorite. He likes all of them most of the time. Last week, he picked up advise on how to deal with your woman from Jase. In the season 4 premiere when they were making preparations for Phil and Kay’s wedding. Jase sneaks away without his wife noticing and starts fishing. When he is caught. He says that there are a few ways to deal with this situation and the first of them is to compliment your wife. After watching the episode, I caught D doing something I did not want him to, and he started complimenting me. I said “Wow, that’s nice thing to say. Why are you saying that now?”. He replied “Remember what Jase said? When in trouble, never underestimate the power of a compliment,. 
” Yep, “D” gets his advice on how to handle a woman from TV. 
Willie is the CEO of the duck commander, and his brothers work for him. All the family gets together and teases him a lot. Poor Willie. He thinks he is smarter than his family, but then he gets outsmarted. 
At the end of every episode, the whole family sits down for dinner. Willie has a narration that summarizes a family value and lesson that applies to the episode, and Phil says the grace. This scene has brought tears of joy to my eyes many times. It just brings a happy feeling. Most of the time their table has fried food, (like chicken or frog). Some may make a big deal of it, but I do not really care. All that matters to me is their love and family values.
Jep is the youngest of all, and is still the baby of the family. He is his parents’ pet as he is the youngest. His brothers tease him, but only in good fun. He reminds me of my brother. My parents are always supporting him because he is the baby. In one episode, Miss Kay gets a new couch. Willie accompanies Miss Kay to the store. Willie carries the couch and loads it in his truck. After they come home, Jep was in the house, and Willie asks Jep to help him with the couch. Miss Kay was worried because Jep is her baby, but she wasn’t worried about Willie. 
The show helps us to get a better understanding about rednecks. They are not stupid. Members of Robertson family went to college and made a fortune. Some of them live in mansions, though others live in regular houses by choice. I think they show us that we do not have to spend a fortune to be happy. We lead such a complicated life, weaving a spider web all around us, but the simple life seems to be so much more fulfilling. A lot of people make fun of rednecks, but I have grown to respect them because of this show. They also teach you about the frugal life style, which BTW is so in fashion. Why do we have to spend $200-300, (for a family,) on water park tickets when we can be creative and do the same in our backyard pond? At least we will not be playing the water that thousands of strangers are in. Unlike the other reality shows, they show us that we do not have to sell our soul to be famous.
I am also not an anti-gun person. I get that from “D”. I am not yet trained on how to use guns. That is something I want to learn in the future when I can make some time. D’s philosophy is we need to know how to use guns for self defense. I totally agree with him now. In the beginning of our relationship, I was of a totally different opinion. Indian’s are not used to the idea of gun= self defense. We think gun= crime. I think since the living conditions are different in India than in America, the rules change. Just a note: my mother is totally anti-gun. This is one of those issues I had changed my view about after getting to know D. I think this is an example of how exposure changes your world view. One of D’s favorite examples of how guns =/= crime is Switzerland. It is a very peaceful country with very low crime, yet almost every home has military rifles. Every able bodied adult male must serve in the military, learn how to use their military guns, and when they are done with their short service, they are expected to take their gun home with them and keep it ready for use in a moment’s notice. According to many people’s views on guns, that means Switzerland must be the murder and crime capital of the world, but it’s not.
The season premiere of this show has broken the prior records of “Walking Dead” and “Bible” mini series, (made for TV and aired on History channel). Bible mini series first episode had 13.1 million viewers. Duck Dynasty crossed it by 100K. That is a big achievement in my view. TV critics were surprised because, according to them, this show does not have what it takes to be a success. It is all about God, guns, and family. I think the American audience proved them wrong. It is proof that TV critics do not always know what the viewer wants. I am adding a link of the season 4 sneak peek for anyone who is interested. More episodes can be found here too:
http://www.free-tv-video-online.me/internet/duck_dynasty/
That is this weeks post on love or hate with passion. The final analysis is I love, love, love Duck Dynasty. I love the Robertson’s. I give the show 10/5. That is not a typo, that is just how much I love them. The best reality show ever.
Comment down below about what you think about Duck Dynasty? Do you like them or hate them?
-R
