John Schneider (Rocky) and Rebecca Sutter (Step by Step) played Bo and Daisy Duke, the country bumpkins in the 1970s TV sitcom, The Dukes of Hazzard, whose sheriff father was also a moonshiner who had left town to make things right. The show lasted a total of five seasons, with Schneider also having had a role as Johnny Rodriguez on TBS’s Major League from 2010 to 2013. It wasn’t him who was fired by the network from this year’s Major League Baseball season, instead being replaced by the network’s own correspondent, Peter Gammons. We asked Schneider for his thoughts on his playing days and the recent reshuffling of Major League, to which Gammons agreed. The former beauty queen also shared a few thoughts on where his career stands now, a view that was contradicted in 2015 by Sutter, now the official Beauty Queen of the Hazzard County Fair.
The run in the Dukes of Hazzard was one of the longest for any TV show. Do you think that counts for anything when it comes to relevance to today’s culture?
In today’s culture? Not much. Does that affect anything? Not really. But I don’t really know the answer to that, because I only see myself as an actor. I play the parts that come to me. I have no problem with acting. It’s what I do for a living. I do like to be good, in every aspect of my work. There are some kids who just want to hit the marks and do great. For me, there’s so much more I want to accomplish as an actor. I’ve made a career out of it, I have no regrets. But there’s definitely more that I’d like to do.
Something that concerns me is that too many of today’s kids don’t have any role models from their parents or any models, really, that they can look up to. It seems like there’s a lot of young people who don’t have any positive role models. I feel it’s very important. They’re living in a world where they see things all the time, where everything’s perfectly packaged and they get to see it without having to work for it or have to put in anything. They get to sit back and let things come to them.
Thanks for answering my questions, John. Are you still quite involved in acting?
I was shooting with Farah [Farah] Farah, who I’ve known since I was six years old. And now she’s the Miss America pageant and I’m her ambassador to Miss America! I got an honorary diploma from Missouri University of Science and Technology as they always do. I’m working on trying to get my acting career going again, just as I was doing. I think it’s important to keep your audience guessing, to keep them engaged.
What attracted you to acting in the first place?
I loved the whole acting aspect of it. As a kid I always thought about acting and dancing. I used to pretend I was Elvis Presley, all those fun things I used to do with my friends. I still think about it. I really enjoy the acting aspect of things, whether it’s in music, dancing, or acting.
You played Johnny Rodriguez in Major League. How long did it take you to get over that?
It took me 15 years. It’s a little weird. I have a hard time saying “thank you” to people. I love to entertain, but on the other hand, I love to do things for myself. I really like to do things that are a gift for myself, so I get emotional when I have to get up there and say thank you. When I didn’t get much criticism for what I did and had to thank so many people, it was very emotional.
You could still go back to the wilderness, John Schneider!
I’m almost all wild myself, pretty much. I’m a little bit shy, I’m afraid of sharing my feelings and stuff like that, so I’ve got a lot of opinions. But after seeing all the negative things going on today – sex, power, money, nakedness, any of that – I think a little transformation could make me a better