| King of the Hill | |
|---|---|
Series logo |
|
| Genre | Comedy-drama |
| Created by | Mike Judge Greg Daniels |
| Voices of | Mike Judge Kathy Najimy Pamela Segall Adlon Brittany Murphy Johnny Hardwick Stephen Root Toby Huss |
| Opening theme | "Yahoos and Triangles" by The Refreshments |
| Composer(s) | Roger Neill Greg Edmonson John Frizzel |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 13 |
| No. of episodes | 259 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | approx. 22 min. per episode |
| Production company(s) | Film Roman 3 Arts Entertainment Deedle-Dee Productions Judgemental Films |
| Distributor | 20th Century Fox Television |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Fox |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV) (1997–2008) 720p (HDTV) (2009-2010) |
| Original run | January 12, 1997 – May 6, 2010 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
King of the Hill is an American animated dramedy series created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels that ran from January 12, 1997, to May 6, 2010, on Fox network. It centers on the Hills, a working-class Methodist family in the fictional small town of Arlen, Texas. It attempts to retain a naturalistic approach, seeking humor in the conventional and mundane aspects of everyday life while dealing with issues comically.
Judge and Daniels conceived the series after a run with Judge's Beavis and Butt-head on MTV, and the series debuted on FOX as a midseason replacement on January 12, 1997, quickly becoming a hit. The series's popularity led to syndication around the world, and episodes run every night on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. The show became one of Fox's longest-running series, and at the time of its cancellation the second longest-running American animated series. In 2007 it was named by Time magazine as one of the top 100 greatest television shows of all time.[1] The title theme was written and performed by The Refreshments. King of the Hill won two Emmy Awards and was nominated for seven. It is now the third longest running primetime animated series after South Park and The Simpsons.
Fox canceled King of the Hill and aired its series finale on September 13, 2009, with four episodes from season 13 unaired. The remaining last four episodes aired in syndication on local stations from May 3 to 6, 2010, and on Adult Swim from May 17 to 20, 2010.
Contents |
In early 1995, after the successful run of Beavis and Butt-head on MTV, Mike Judge co-created the show King of the Hill with former Simpsons writer Greg Daniels.[2] Judge was a former resident of Garland, Texas, upon which the fictional community of Arlen was loosely based; however, the show was based more specifically on Richardson, Texas, a Dallas suburb, as Judge stated in a later interview.[3][4] Mike Judge conceived the idea for the show, drew the main characters, and wrote a pilot script.
FOX teamed the cartoonist with Greg Daniels, an experienced prime-time TV writer.[3] Greg Daniels rewrote the pilot script and created several important characters that did not appear in Judge's first draft (including Luanne and Cotton), as well as some characterization ideas (e.g., making Dale Gribble a conspiracy theorist).[5] While Judge's writing tended to emphasize political humor, specifically the clash of Hank Hill's social conservatism and interlopers' liberalism, Daniels focused on character development to provide an emotional context for the series' numerous culture clashes. Judge was ultimately so pleased with Daniels' contributions that he chose to credit him as a co-creator, rather than give him the "developer" credit usually reserved for individuals brought on to a pilot written by someone else.[5]
After its debut, the series became a large success for Fox and was named one of the best television series by various publications, including Entertainment Weekly, Time, and TV Guide.[6] For the 1997–1998 season the series became one of Fox's highest-rated programs and even briefly outperformed The Simpsons in ratings.[7] During the fifth and sixth seasons, Mike Judge and Greg Daniels became less involved with the show.[5] They eventually focused on the show again, though Greg Daniels steadily became more involved with other projects.[5]
Judge and Daniels' lessening involvement with the show resulted in the series' format changing to become more episodic and formulaic.[5] Beginning in Season 7, the series was taken over by John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky, who had worked on the series since the second season, and who tended to emphasize Judge's concept of the series as being built around socio-political humor rather than character-driven humor.[5] Although FOX insisted that the series lack character development or story arcs (a demand made of the network's other animated series, so that they can be shown out of order in syndication),[5] Judge and Daniels had managed to develop several minor arcs and story elements throughout the early years of the series, such as Luanne's becoming more independent and educated after Buckley's death, and the aging of characters being acknowledged (a rare narrative occurrence for an animated series).[5] Lacking Judge and Daniels' supervision, the series ceased aging its characters and even began retconning character backstories; in the episode "A Rover Runs Through It", Peggy's mother was abruptly changed from a neurotic housewife with whom Peggy shared a competitive relationship to a bitter rancher from whom Peggy had been estranged for several years.
Because it was scheduled to lead off FOX's Sunday night animated programming lineup, portions of King of the Hill episodes were often preempted by sporting events that ran into overtime; this proved especially problematic during the series's ninth season, during which entire episodes were preempted. Ultimately, enough episodes were preempted that the majority of the series's 10th season was largely composed of unaired ninth-season episodes. Initially, that season was intended to be the final season.[8]
The thirteenth season episode "Lucky See, Monkey Do" became the first episode of the series to be produced in widescreen high-definition when it aired on February 8, 2009.[9]
Although the series' ratings remained consistent through the 10th, 11th, and 12th seasons, and began to rise in the overall Nielsen ratings (up to the 105th most watched series on television, up from 118 in the 8th season), Fox in 2008 abruptly announced that the series had been canceled. The cancellation coincided with the announcement that Seth MacFarlane, creator of Family Guy and American Dad!, would be creating a Family Guy spin-off called The Cleveland Show. The news came out about the same time that Fox cancelled a recent addition to its animated programming lineup, Sit Down, Shut Up. This was coupled with the revelation that Cleveland would be taking over King of the Hill's timeslot.[10]
Hopes to keep the show afloat surfaced as sources indicated that ABC (which was already airing Judge's new animated comedy, The Goode Family) was interested in securing the rights to the show,[11] but in January, 2009, ABC president Steve McPherson said he had "no plans to pick up the animated comedy."[12]
On April 30, 2009, it was announced that FOX ordered at least two more episodes to give the show a proper finale.[13] The show's fourteenth season was supposed to air sometime in the 2009–2010 season,[14] but Fox later announced that it would not air the episodes, opting instead for syndication.[15] On August 10, 2009, however, FOX released a statement that the network would air a one-hour series finale (which consisted of a regular thirty-minute episode followed by a thirty-minute finale) on September 13, 2009.[16]
The four remaining episodes of the series aired in syndication the week of May 3, 2010, and again on Adult Swim during the week of May 17, 2010.
During the panel discussion for the return of Beavis & Butt-head at Comic-Con 2011, Mike Judge said that there are no current plans to revive King of the Hill, although he wouldn't rule out the possibility of it returning.[17]
| Season | Season premiere | Season finale | TV season | Ranking | Estimated viewers in millions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | January 12, 1997 | May 11, 1997 | 1996–1997 | #43[18] | 8.6 |
| 2nd | September 21, 1997 | May 17, 1998 | 1997–1998 | #15[19] | 16.3[19] |
| 3rd | September 15, 1998 | May 18, 1999 | 1998–1999 | #104[20] | 7.9[20] |
| 4th | September 26, 1999 | May 21, 2000 | 1999–2000 | #77[21] | 8.69[21] |
| 5th | October 1, 2000 | May 13, 2001 | 2000–2001 | #68[22] | 9.5[22] |
| 6th | November 11, 2001 | May 12, 2002 | 2001–2002 | #90[23] | 7.7[23] |
| 7th | November 3, 2002 | May 12, 2003 | 2002–2003 | #68[24] | 9.5[24] |
| 8th | November 2, 2003 | May 23, 2004 | 2003–2004 | #118[25] | 6.42[25] |
| 9th | November 7, 2004 | May 15, 2005 | 2004–2005 | #110[26] | 4.8[26] |
| 10th | October 16, 2005 | May 14, 2006 | 2005–2006 | #111[27] | 5.2[27] |
| 11th | January 28, 2007 | May 20, 2007 | 2006–2007 | #109[28] | 5.5[28] |
| 12th | September 23, 2007 | May 18, 2008 | 2007–2008 | #105[29] | 6.62[29] |
| 13th | September 28, 2008 | September 13, 2009 | 2008–2009 | #95[30] | 5.95[30] |
King of the Hill is rated TV-PG-DL, although some other subratings will be used.
The show is rated PG for Parental Guidance in North America.
The show is rated PG for Parental Guidance in Australia and PG in New Zealand for sexual references, with the exception of the season four episode "High Anxiety," which was rated M for Mature due to the episode's references to marijuana smoking, murder, gun use, and suicide.
The opening theme is "Yahoos and Triangles" by the Arizona rock band The Refreshments. For season finales there is a slight variation for seasons 1-12. Season one's finale featured a opening guitar riff one octave higher. Season two’s finale added a yeehaw to the beginning and 3-12 had finales had the yeehaw accompanied by a dinner triangle. Season 13 and the series finale used the regular theme song. The intro is a montage of Hank, Bill, Dale and Boomhauer drinking starting at dawn. All around them other main characters are doing daily activities while the recycling bin fills with their beer cans. Although the opening was reanimated when the show began using high definition, the content never changes throughout the series even though Buckley, who died in season two, is shown picking up Luanne on his motorcycle.
King of the Hill is set in the fictional North Texas town of Arlen, Texas.[2] In a 1995 interview prior to the show's debut, Judge described the setting as "a town like Humble."[31] In a more recent interview, Judge has cited Richardson, Texas, a Dallas suburb, as the specific inspiration for Arlen.[32] Time magazine praised the authentic portrayal as the "most acutely observed, realistic sitcom about regional American life bar none".[1]
Arlen includes settings such as Rainey Street, where the Hills reside,[2] and Strickland Propane, Hank's employer. Also included are parodies of well-known businesses, such as Mega-Lo Mart (a parody of Walmart), Luly's (a parody of Luby's), and Bazooms (a parody of Hooters). Most of the children in the show attend Tom Landry Middle School (named after the former Dallas Cowboys coach). Not long before the series premiered, an Elementary School named after Tom Landry opened in Irving, Texas a suburb of Dallas and where the Dallas Cowboys have played. Likewise, the local elementary school is named after Roger Staubach. Early in the series, the school is referred to as being in the Heimlich County School District (according to markings on the school buses), though in later seasons this is changed to Arlen Independent School District. The school's mascot is a longhorn steer. The local country club is the Nine Rivers Country Club, though this club's membership is almost exclusively made up of Asian-Americans. The "Devil's Bowl", where Lucky races his truck, is actually a demolition derby located in the suburb of Mesquite, Texas. When Bobby tries to impress Connie's delinquent relative Tid Pao in episode 128 "Bad Girls, Bad Girls, Whatcha Gonna Do?", he takes her to The Pioneer Woman's Museum, a parody of the real-life Woman's Collection Archive permanently housed at Texas Woman's University whose flagship campus is Denton, Texas.
King of the Hill depicts an average middle-class family and their lives in a typical American town. It documents the Hills' day-to-day-lives in the small Texas town of Arlen, exploring modern themes such as parent-child relationships, friendship, loyalty, and justice.[2] As an animated sitcom, however, King of the Hill's scope is generally larger than that of a regular sitcom.
|
|
Hank Hill, the family patriarch, is the assistant manager of Strickland Propane, and salesman of "propane and propane accessories," who is obsessed with his lawn, propane (which he pronounces with the stress on the second syllable), the Texas Longhorns, and the Dallas Cowboys.[2] Embarrassed and ashamed of his narrow urethra,[33] he is uncomfortable with intimacy and sexuality, but has a healthy relationship with his wife and the rest of his family. Hank's trademark sigh in times of discomfort or exasperation, his scream of "Bwah!" when startled, his whispered "Ugh" when disgusted, the phrase "I tell you what!" are running gags on the series; additionally, when someone angers him, he tends to respond with, "I'm gonna kick your ass!" though, he rarely resorts to this. In contrast to his emotional distance from members of his family, he dotes unashamedly on his aging Bloodhound, Ladybird as well as his pickup truck[34] Hank is voiced by series co-creator Mike Judge. |
|
|
Margaret J. "Peggy" Platter Hill, a substitute Spanish teacher who has a poor grasp of the language (referring to it phonetically as "es-puh-nole"), has won the Tom Landry Substitute Teacher of the Year award for 3 consecutive years.[35] Peggy is also a freelance newspaper columnist, real estate agent, notary public, and Boggle champion.[3][36] She often displays her naiveté and arrogance with an inflated sense of her intelligence and appearance. She considers herself knowledgeable, clever, and very physically attractive, although she has on occasion noted her self-consciousness of her large feet (size 16.5). More often than not, Peggy's ego will preempt better judgment, leading to actions that, while initially "helping" her, ultimately lead her down a path of agonizing realization of what she has done. In the first season, Peggy's 'general costume' shirt was white. Starting with the second season, the shirt was changed from white to green. Peggy is voiced by Kathy Najimy. |
|
|
Robert Jeffrey Hill, the son of Hank and Peggy, is an overweight, prepubescent 13-year-old, who wants to be a famous prop comic when he is older.[37] Although he is not particularly attractive or intelligent, Bobby has an excellent sense of self-esteem; he is not ashamed of his body or his often sub-par performance in sports or other activities. Bobby lacks his father's athletic prowess and dislikes most sports, but has participated- often in a peripheral way- in wrestling, baseball, and track at Tom Landry Middle School. He has also attempted to play football and soccer. He is, however, an excellent shot with the rifle and has won 2nd place at the annual father–son shoot off. He has an offbeat sense of humor that clashes with Hank's more collected and conservative manner. Such sentiments are fueled by Bobby's liking of activities more often viewed as traditionally feminine, such as cooking, high fashion, and dolls. Hank's discomfort with Bobby's proclivities is a regular narrative element in the series, and is manifested with remarks like "That boy ain't right."[38] Pamela Adlon provides Bobby Hill's voice, a role for which she won an Emmy for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance in 2002. |
|
|
Luanne Platter (named after the Lu Ann Platter from Luby's) is Peggy's niece. Sensitive and a bit of an airhead, her conflicts most often stem from her inability to think for herself, and from her naiveté, which allows others to take advantage of her. She follows a very specific pattern in the men she dates, which are usually all the wrong kinds. She came to live with the Hills after her mother, Leanne, was sent to prison for stabbing Luanne's father (Peggy's brother) with a fork. Her full name is Luanne Leanne Platter, as heard on the episode "Edu-macating Lucky."[39] Late in the series run, she marries Elroy "Lucky" Kleinschmidt and has a daughter, Gracie, with him. Luanne's voice was performed by Brittany Murphy, who died on December 20, 2009 at the age of 32, roughly 3 months after King of the Hill's last episode aired on September 13 of that year. |
|
|
Dale A. Gribble is the next-door neighbor of Hank and Peggy Hill. He is an exterminator, bounty hunter, chain-smoker, gun fanatic, and paranoid believer of almost all conspiracy theories. Mike Judge and Greg Daniels named him in tribute to Dan "Gribble" Costello, a close friend of Judge. Some of his Dale-isms are "S'Go," which he says whenever he wants a person to go somewhere with him, "sh-sh-shaa" to mark a point of accomplishment (such as releasing a falcon to do tricks and catch a vole--"sh-shaaa!"--only to have the falcon attack Bill), "Wingo!" when excited, and "Gih!" when surprised. He frequently uses the alias "Rusty Shackleford". Johnny Hardwick is the voice of Dale. |
|
|
Bill Dauterive was Hank's best friend in high school and now lives across the alley from him. In his younger years, Bill was extremely fit, athletic and competent with a full head of hair, though he is currently overweight, balding, and emotionally needy. He holds the fictional MOS of barber in the U.S. Army and pines for his ex-wife Lenore, who left him. He remains lovelorn and melancholy, and is attracted to Peggy. He often uses pity as a device to garner attention from his friends and neighbors. He occasionally gets involved in crazy schemes, either with Dale and/or Boomhauer, or by himself, which often end with his getting physically injured, or in some sort of trouble. Bill is also a fluent Cajun-speaking native of Louisiana; one relative by marriage owns a successful chili-pepper plantation. He has only one surviving relative by blood, his cousin Gilbert. Bill is voiced by Stephen Root. |
|
|
Boomhauer (who is always addressed by his last name) was a high-school chum of Hank, Dale, and Bill. He has a deep, all-over suntan and speaks in a barely understandable mumble, though when he sings, his voice is clear. He speaks French fluently and it is clear when spoken. He is sometimes shown adding the words "I'll tell you what", "Dang 'ol" and "Dad gum" in sentences. He has a brother named Patch. He is a committed bachelor, sometimes depicted as promiscuous with his various girlfriends. According to the commentary on the "Pilot" episode DVD, Boomhauer's unique speaking style was based on a voicemail left on Mike Judge's answering machine. In Episode 13.20, "To Sirloin with Love," it is revealed that Boomhauer is a Texas Ranger. Prior to this, it was hinted that he was an electrician on workers' compensation. His driver's license is also shown in the series finale, confirming his name as Jeff Boomhauer (previously given in the episode "Uh-oh, Canada"). In addition to Hank, series co-creator Mike Judge provides the voice of Boomhauer, as well. |
|
|
Cotton Hill, Hank's father, is a deranged, politically incorrect misogynist with a hair-trigger temper. His shins were blown off in World War II by a "Japan man's machine gun" and his feet were reattached to his knees, resulting in a short height and stilted gait. Despite his disability, he eventually reaches the rank of Colonel in the State Militia, and is addressed as such by his friends and Dale Gribble. In episode #126, "Returning Japanese," it is revealed that Cotton became romantically involved with a Japanese nurse during his service in World War II resulting in the birth of his first son, Junichiro. After divorcing Hank's mother, he marries a much younger, soft-spoken, busty blonde candy striper named Didi, a high school classmate of Hank's, who gives birth to his third son "G.H.," or "Good Hank." He calls Peggy "Hank's wife" and makes frequent references to his (perhaps dubious) wartime heroism, including his killing of "fitty [fifty] men." Despite his less-than-amiable personality, Cotton seems to have a softer side for Bobby, frequently mentioning he is proud of the boy and even taking the blame when Bobby accidentally burns down a church. Cotton spends most of his free time playing checkers and hatching absurd schemes (such as rowing to Cuba to kill Fidel Castro) with his war buddies at the VFW. However, by the middle of the series, all of his war buddies are dead. Cotton himself dies, not once but twice, in episode #218, "Death Picks Cotton," after suffering severe burns and then an allergic reaction to shrimp during a tirade at a Japanese restaurant. In the episode "Chasing Bobby," Peggy states that Hank's greatest fear is not being able to tell his father how much he loves him before he dies, which is exactly what occurs. Cotton's dying wish, to destroy Hank's new shed, is carried out by Dale after Cotton's death. In the episode "Serves Me Right for Giving George S. Patton the Bathroom Key," Hank completes a list of embarrassing tasks that Cotton left him, as well as his personal belongings. Cotton's last request was to have his cremated remains flushed down a toilet that General George S. Patton once used, which Hank and his friends honored. Toby Huss voices Cotton Hill as well as The Hill's Laotian neighbor, Kahn Souphanousinphone. |
King of the Hill also featured numerous celebrity guests during its run, including Alan Rickman, George Strait, Andy Dick, Dale Earnhardt, John Force, Renée Zellweger, Owen Wilson, Topher Grace, Brad Pitt, Johnny Knoxville, Lindsay Lohan, Lucy Liu, Reese Witherspoon, Jeff Goldblum, Jerry Lambert, Lisa Kudrow, Laura Linney, Johnny Depp, Ben Stiller, Billy Bob Thornton, Dax Shepard, Meryl Streep, Debra Messing, Jennifer Aniston, Maura Tierney, Brendan Fraser, Kid Rock, Snoop Dogg, Chris Rock, Kathy Bates, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Bernie Mac, Kelly Clarkson, Paul Giamatti, John Goodman, Rue McClanahan, Drew Carey, Danny Trejo, Matthew McConaughey, Don Meredith, Green Day, No Doubt, Willie Nelson, Dennis Hopper, Chuck Mangione, Stephanie Hodge, Milla Jovovich, Danny Masterson, Laura Prepon, Alyson Hannigan, Jamie Kennedy, Pamela Anderson, Carmen Electra, George Foreman, Marg Helgenberger, Tone Lōc, the Dixie Chicks, Christopher Lloyd, Randy Savage, Dusty Hill (playing himself as Hank's cousin), and Jason Bateman. In the later seasons, Tom Petty joined the cast as Lucky, Luanne's boyfriend/husband.
Seasons 1 through 6 of the show have been released on DVD by Fox Home Entertainment. The seventh season was originally going to be released in late 2006 but due to low DVD sales, the release was cancelled. This has caused an outrage amongst fans of the show, many of them have sent letters to Fox and started online petitions to get the rest of the series out on DVD. However, the complete series is available for streaming on Netflix. Also in November 2011, seasons 1-13 became available for download on the iTunes store.
Throughout its thirteen year run, King of the Hill has sustained positive critical aclaim. Critics and fans praise the show for its fully developed characters, humor and realistic situations and environments. Nick Sylvian of DVD Verdict.com called the show: "Smart and funny, but never mean or outrageous, King of the Hill is a supremely well written animated series that appeals to adults and children alike." Tal Blevins of IGN said: "In many ways it's the most realistic sitcom on television. Most everybody could relate to the characters on King of the Hill, whether it be Hank's stoic set of patriotic values, Bobby's innocent eccentricity, Dale's rampant paranoia, Bill's lonely desperation, Boomhauer's unspoken (or at least poorly spoken) coolness or Kahn's discontent at living in the middle of a bunch of rednecks. With its quality writing, quirky sense of humor that laughs at life in America and realistic, deep characters, it's not hard to see why King of the Hill is still around". A critic at The Digital Fix said: "King of the Hill has perhaps the most three-dimensional cast ever to appear in a regular cartoon. In many ways the show is more akin to a proper sitcom, and it would be quite easy to film before a live studio audience: all you’d need are standing sets for the Hill residence, the alley behind it, Strickland Propane and the school, and it would be set." In January 2009, IGN listed King of the Hill as the 27th best in the Top 100 Best Animated TV Shows.
|
||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||