"It is like every vile southern stereotype rolled up into one."

[Filmmaker78]

27. How do I explain it?

Well, I don't erroneously blame it on shadowy "Hollywood producers." For starters, the Outdoor Channel is a small independently run network with about 1/3rd the reach of A&E and about 1/10th the programming budgets. They were just recently sold to a company based in Denver, but when the Robertsons were on the air the entire programming budget for ALL of Outdoor Channel's original shows was equal to, or less than, what A&E spends on Duck Dynasty ALONE. The producer who helped the Robertsons make their first TV show for the Outdoor Channel was a guy at the Benelli gun company - not at all a Hollywood producer. And as I proved here already, they had already started sporting the beards and camo prior to that.

And they are legit hunters, regardless of how they once did their hair and dressed. Their family business really is a duck call manufacturing company. They became known for putting out duck hunting videos that were loved by their fellow hunters. None of that is fake.

As for why they changed their look, I don't know why. How many people look the same in middle age as they looked as high schoolers? People reinvent themselves all the time. Phil loves to tell the story about how he was drinking and sleeping around and out of control before finally cleaning up his act and finding religion. Maybe they did go ZZ Top to give their homemade duck hunting DVDs a little edge or an identity. Maybe that's how they preferred to look all along, but had a clean cut look earlier while trying to make their family duck call business a success. I don't know. But the fact is it had nothing to do with producers at A&E or anywhere else trying to manufacture a fake redneck family. I have worked with the Robertsons and they are who they appear to be in that show.

And again, I don't agree with anything that Phil said, and I wish he would get to know some gay couples and families before making remarks like that again.