Entertainment

Lucky ‘Ducks’

Miss Kay and Phil Robertson renew their wedding vows in the season premiere.

Miss Kay and Phil Robertson renew their wedding vows in the season premiere. (
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In Wednesday’s Season 4 premiere of the runaway reality hit “Duck Dynasty,” the Robertson family throws a surprise wedding for matriarch Miss Kay and her husband of 48 years, Phil.

The couple were just teenagers nearly half a century ago when they paid $15 to marry with a Louisiana justice of the peace. They never had a proper wedding.

“I guess dreams really do come true,” says Kay, 66, when she sees her bearded sons decked out in rented tuxes and the pews that lead up to a grand arbor. “I feel like I’m living a fairy tale.”

“I thought she was already married,” Phil, 67, dryly teases his wife.

The sweet and silly family celebration is good, clean Robertson fun, and it’s just the kind of story line millions of fans have been tuning in for the last three seasons.

“I think there’s an aspiration to the family. They are a family that really loves each other,” says Elaine Frontain Bryant, the show’s executive producer. “You can kind of see yourself in one of these characters. It’s rare to find a show that still has the kind of hipness that three generations can watch at once.”

Turns out a lot of people see themselves in the Robertsons. The show about a tight-knit, backwoods Southern family that became millionaires selling duck calls has earned record-breaking numbers for its network, A&E. Their wholesome, Bible Belt appeal make them the anti-Kardashians, or maybe the antidote to the Southern California vulgarians whose appeal, as evidence by the performance of matriarch Kris Jenner’s talk show, is on the wane.

Nearly 10 million viewers watched the Season 3 “Duck Dynasty” finale, making it the highest-rated telecast in the network’s history. And the family has had two books on the New York Times best-seller list all summer — Phil’s memoir, “Happy, Happy, Happy: My Life and Legacy as the Duck Commander,” and “The Duck Commander Family,” by Phil’s son Willie (Duck Commander’s CEO), 41, and his wife, Korie, 39.

“I don’t want to sound jaded, but I’m not surprised anymore. It’s amazing how appealing these people are,” Bryant says.

The Robertsons, however, are surprised by their own success.

“It’s hard to understand how we get that kind of audience,” Phil tells The Post.

“When we started, everyone was like, ‘How do you think we’ll do’ and all this,” says Si, Phil’s younger brother. “And — this is coming from someone who sits at home at night and flips through the channels looking for something to watch — I said, ‘We will be refreshing if nothing else.’ ”

Si is a “Duck Dynasty” fan favorite because of his funny sayings and butchering of pop culture references. He has his own memoir coming out next month called “Si-cology 1: Tales and Wisdom from Duck Dynasty’s Favorite Uncle.”

When asked about why he decided to write a memoir, the 65-year-old answers candidly: “Because of what they said they’d pay me up front.”

And the side projects keep on coming. In October, the Robertsons are releasing “Dynasty Devotional,” about their Christian faith and Miss Kay has a cookbook coming out in November. The family is singing on a Christmas album, which Universal Music Group of Nashville will release Oct. 29. And next summer, the whole crew sets sail for a themed cruise with fans lucky enough to have already bought tickets — the trip sold out in three weeks.

The one family member who has stayed out of the spotlight so far is Phil’s oldest son, Alan.

The 47-year-old wasn’t involved in the family business and was able to steer clear of cameras while he continued his full-time pastor job at White’s Ferry Road Church in the small town of West Monroe, La.

But that all changes this season.

Alan, the only beardless brother, makes his debut officiating at his parents’ wedding in the premiere.

“Mom went to bat for me and said she wasn’t happy because she has four sons and she wants all four of them on the show,” Alan says. “When you got something that’s working well, you don’t want to upset the balance of it. So, they’ve been cautious about how to let us in. But I think the way they’re doing it is really good.”

And Alan, who has watched his family’s meteoric rise to fame from the sidelines, has an idea about why they’ve struck a chord.

“We’re not going to devour each other and I think that’s the biggest difference between our show and almost every other show in our genre,” he says. “I think it’s refreshing to have a show where people don’t do that. We still can kid and laugh and have fun and joke.”

Producer Bryant says the addition of Alan, his wife, Lisa, and their two daughters won’t be the only change this season.

“We are exploring more of the smaller characters, like Martin and Goodwin, who work in the [Duck Commander] shop. [Martin’s] going to go on a date, and when the ladies find out, they get involved and get him ready for it,” Bryant reveals. “Jace [Alan’s brother, and a prominent character on the show] is remodeling his house, they have to move out and they have to move in with their brother for awhile. It’s close quarters.”

The show, which has been churning out episodes since it premiered last March, faces the challenge all reality shows have: keeping it fresh.

But Bryant is confident they can teach an old “Duck” new tricks.

“It’s wonderful that this family that America feels like they know and are a part of at this point, that they can still learn something new about them,” she says. “This family finds a way to make everything fresh.”

DUCK DYNASTY

Wednesday, 10 p.m., A&E