King of the Hill
King of the Hill is an American animated sitcom created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels that initially aired on Fox from January 12, 1997, to September 13, 2009, with four more episodes airing syndicated from May 3 to 6, 2010. The series centers on the Hills, an American family in the fictional city of Arlen, Texas, as well as their neighbors, co-workers, relatives, classmates, friends, and acquaintances. Series protagonist, patriarch, and everyman Hank Hill works as assistant manager at Strickland Propane. He lives in a ranch-style house with his wife Peggy, his son Bobby, his niece Luanne, and his pet bloodhound Ladybird. Hank's neighbors are his longtime friends Bill Dauterive, a divorced, bald, overweight military barber and former high school football star; Dale Gribble, a paranoid, pro-gun, anti-government pest exterminator; and Jeff Boomhauer, a charismatic, soft-spoken, often unintelligible bachelor whose occupation is revealed in the final episode of the series. The show's realistic approach seeks humor in the conventional and mundane aspects of everyday life, such as blue-collar workers, substitute teachers, and the trials of puberty.
For the unrelated 1993 film, see King of the Hill (1993 film). For other uses, see King of the Hill (disambiguation).King of the Hill
"Yahoos and Triangles"
"Yahoos and Triangles" (reprise)
United States
English
13
259 (list of episodes)
- Mike Judge
- Greg Daniels
- Richard Appel
- Jonathan Aibel
Glenn Berger - John Altschuler
- Dave Krinsky
- Jim Dauterive
- Garland Testa
- Howard Klein
- Michael Rotenberg
- Mark McJimsey
- David Zuckerman
- Lee Harting
- Kirk Benson
- Don Barrozo
- Mark Seymour
- Mark McJimsey
- Leo Papin
- Louis Russel
- Nick Gribble
20–22 minutes
- Deedle-Dee Productions (seasons 1–13)
- Judgemental Films (seasons 1–13)
- 3 Arts Entertainment
- Bandera Entertainment (season 14)
- 20th Century Fox Television (seasons 1–13)
- 20th Television Animation (season 14)
January 12, 1997 –
September 13, 2009
May 3 –
May 6, 2010
Judge began creating King of the Hill during his time making the MTV series Beavis and Butt-Head, which he also created and voiced in. After pitching the pilot to Fox, Judge was paired with Greg Daniels, an experienced writer who previously worked on The Simpsons. The series debuted on the Fox network as a mid-season replacement in 1997, quickly becoming a success. The series' popularity led to worldwide syndication, and cable reruns currently air on FXX and Adult Swim, having aired on FX and Comedy Central in the past. The show became one of Fox's longest-running series, with a total of 259 episodes over the course of its 13 seasons. Four episodes from the final season were planned to air on Fox, but later premiered in nightly syndication in May 2010.
King of the Hill received universal acclaim and has since garnered a strong cult following. It was named by Time magazine in its 2007 list of "The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time".[1] The series has won two Emmy Awards and has been nominated for seven. Its celebrity guest stars include Texas Governor Ann Richards (playing herself), Chuck Mangione (playing a fictionalized version of himself), Tom Petty (playing the recurring character Lucky), Alan Rickman (playing a king at a Renaissance fair), Michael Keaton (playing a crazy pork millionaire), and numerous country music artists. On January 18, 2022, Judge and Daniels announced the forming of a new company called Bandera Entertainment, with a revival of King of the Hill being one of several series in development. On January 31, 2023, it was announced that Hulu picked up the revival.
Setting and Opening Sequence[edit]
Opening sequence[edit]
In the opening sequence, Hank joins Dale, Bill, and Boomhauer in the alley behind his house. When he opens his can of beer, the playback speed increases greatly and depicts other main and secondary characters carrying out various daily activities around them in a time-lapse. Meanwhile, the four continue drinking beer and a nearby recycling bin fills with their empty cans. When Peggy brings a bag of garbage out to Hank, the other three leave and the playback returns to normal speed (which was sped up for the first half of the last few seconds of the intro from seasons 4-13) as he takes it to the trash can and gathers with Peggy and Bobby in a parody of American Gothic.
The opening theme, "Yahoos and Triangles", is performed by the Arizona rock band The Refreshments. Variations of the theme are used for special episodes, including season finales and Christmas episodes.
Reception[edit]
Critical response[edit]
King of the Hill received critical acclaim over its 13-year run.[37] Early reviews of the show were positive, and it was named as one of the best new shows of 1997 by Entertainment Weekly, Time and TV Guide.[38] Diane Holloway at the Chicago Tribune considered it the "most Texan television series since Dallas", and praised the show's "sly sense of humor and subversive sensibility."[39] At the Los Angeles Times, writer Howard Rosenberg suggested that the show "totes a few smiles, but [there's] little to bowl you over, and it takes a spell getting used to."[40] The show's first season received an approval rating of 83% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on eigthteen reviews, with an average rating of 7.3/10.[41] Its consensus reads, "King of the Hill's mild yet extremely funny depiction of small-town Texas life is refreshingly worlds away from conventional prime-time animation."[41] The fifth and thirteenth seasons received more critical praise, with a 100% approval rating.[42][43]
In 2007, James Poniewozik included it on Time's list of the 100 Greatest TV Shows, writing: "The most acutely observed, realistic sitcom about regional American life bar none, this animated series is a lot like its protagonist, Texas propane salesman Hank Hill: it isn't flashy, never gets a lot of attention, but does its job year in and year out... Mike Judge makes Hank Hill funny in his pained Boy Scout rectitude without making him a figure of fun for it, and with its canvas of mega-stores and Laotian yuppies, the show sees modern America's fine detail like an electron microscope."[1] At the show's conclusion, Poniewozik opined that it had "quietly been the best family comedy on TV", calling the show's ending "one of the most moving things I've seen on TV this year."[44] Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger described it as "sweeter and more human than the great majority of live-action sitcoms that overlapped its run."[45] Genevieve Koski of The A.V. Club described it as a "steadfast, down-to-earth series" and contrasted it with other contemporary cartoons: "King Of The Hill's characters aren't funny because they tell perfectly crafted jokes or make pop-culture references or constantly get themselves into ridiculous situations; they're funny because they have real hopes, flaws, and limitations that satirize the absurdity of everyday life while simultaneously celebrating it." She also noted that "the show saw its fair share of silly conceits and contrived setups—and got fairly repetitive in the final seasons."[46]
Writers have examined the show through a political lens. "It's not a political show", said Mike Judge in 1997. "It's more a populist, common sense point of view."[39] In 2005, Matt Bai of The New York Times Magazine called it "the most subtle and complex portrayal of small-town voters on television."[47] A 2016 reappraisal from The Atlantic dubbed it the "last bipartisan TV comedy", with writer Bert Clere noting the program "imbued all of its characters with a rich humanity that made their foibles deeply sympathetic. In this, King of the Hill was far ahead of its time, and the broader TV landscape has yet to catch up."[48]
As of 2014, King of the Hill was ranked No. 27 on IGN's "Top 100 Animated TV Series".[49] The publication also ranked it as No. 66 on their "The Top 100 Best TV Shows of All Time" list in 2023.[50] In 2013, TV Guide ranked King of the Hill as one of the top 60 Greatest TV Cartoons of All Time.[51]
Video game[edit]
A video game based on the series was released on November 13, 2000, for the PC.[85] The player goes on a hunting trip with Hank and the gang where the player must hunt for various animals. The game received mixed to negative reviews.[86] The characters also appeared in a crossover game, Animation Throwdown: The Quest for Cards, which features not only King of the Hill, but also Family Guy, American Dad!, Futurama, Bob's Burgers, and (as of September 2022) Archer.[87] They are also playable characters in a 2022 racing game, Warped Kart Racers, also featuring Family Guy and American Dad!, as well as Solar Opposites.[88]