"Nope, he's Laotian, aint ya Mr. Kahn?"
February 24, 2016 4:48 PM   Subscribe

"Liberals generally love quirky comedies like Community, Parks and Recreation, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and The Mindy Project; conservatives tend to prefer reality shows and crime dramas including NCIS, Duck Dynasty, The Bachelor, and Top Gear. But for 13 years there was a show that drew laughs from viewers of all political persuasions." King of the Hill: The Last Bipartisan TV Comedy (SLAtlantic)
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI (128 comments total) 49 users marked this as a favorite
 
Wait, what about Big Bang Theory?
posted by muddgirl at 4:53 PM on February 24, 2016 [2 favorites]


Although King of the Hill enjoyed solid ratings and critical acclaim through its 12th season, it was ultimately canceled by Fox to make room for Seth MacFarlane’s Family Guy spinoff, The Cleveland Show.

/sigh

Not even MacFarlane fans think that was a smart move.
posted by Drinky Die at 4:59 PM on February 24, 2016 [35 favorites]


The first season of The Cleveland Show was actually pretty decent. But it got all MacFarlaned up pretty quickly, and now it's not so good any more.

King of the Hill, on the other hand, was consistently goddamned brilliant.
posted by tobascodagama at 5:00 PM on February 24, 2016 [5 favorites]


(Keeping in mind that "decent", in my definition, means "not at all like a Seth MacFarlane show".)
posted by tobascodagama at 5:01 PM on February 24, 2016 [9 favorites]


I always thought that, during its run—when it wasn't being cut into by Howie and Biff and Porky and the other NFL post-game meatheads—KotH was the best sitcom on television.

"Mommm! We're out of capers!!"
posted by the sobsister at 5:01 PM on February 24, 2016 [6 favorites]


I like the show but there's this undercurrent in Hank, like, he's never truly happy. Mainly because Peggy doesn't stay in the kitchen and his kid is a weirdo. He loves them and takes care of them because "that's what you do" but he rarely takes joy in it. He's ubertraditional stuck with wildcards. The older I get the more I see Hank as the hapless conservative stuck in a liberal world. Got dangit, he's just trying to live the heteronormative dream.

On the other hand the way they ended the Cotton storyline because, yeah, that horrible man did a number on Hank so it explains a lot of his behavior which for a throwaway animated sitcom is really quite extraordinary.
posted by M Edward at 5:04 PM on February 24, 2016 [27 favorites]


In preparation for fatherhood, I have begun saying "ah tell you hwaaat" to my wife as often as possible. She generally responds by poking me. Understandable.
posted by duffell at 5:08 PM on February 24, 2016 [11 favorites]


I loved and miss KoTH, but the last season was a bit weak and maybe it went out at the right time. I find it kind of weird how it just seems to have totally dropped off the cultural radar. Nobody talks about it.

> I like the show but there's this undercurrent in Hank, like, he's never truly happy

It could be dark. The episode where Hank's father dies*, the one where Bill can't give up being Santa for the neighbourhood kids, the one where Bill has a psychotic break and shows up at a party dressed up and acting like his ex-wife...a lot of the Bill-centered episodes, really.

* seriously, that one barely even made an effort to be funny
posted by The Card Cheat at 5:10 PM on February 24, 2016 [10 favorites]


A truly brilliant show. Mike Judge's best work, for my money.
posted by Aizkolari at 5:11 PM on February 24, 2016 [32 favorites]


"Six AM and already the boy ain't right."
posted by SPrintF at 5:16 PM on February 24, 2016 [13 favorites]


Hank, like, he's never truly happy.

He's happy when he's on-schedule and people around him have filled out the proper forms.
posted by jpe at 5:17 PM on February 24, 2016 [37 favorites]


As a Southerner, I rarely hear a comic Southern accent in mass media that I can stand. Bad actors think it's as easy as dropping your r's and chewing the scenery. But Boomhauer? That shit's real. I hear it every time I visit home. Apparently, Mike Judge actually based him on an incomprehensible voicemail message from a fan.
posted by Countess Elena at 5:19 PM on February 24, 2016 [94 favorites]


I gave up on King of the Hill during the darkest days of W's administration. I did always think that the show was amusingly written, that the characters were compelling and the voice acting was good. But I got sick of seeing liberal buttinksky limp-wrist dweebs come to Arlen and fuck up everything up with their big city ways, only for Hank Hill to eventually set things straight with his good, old-fashioned, small town REAL American values. It sure didn't feel bipartisan to me. It gently satirized guys like Hank, and the satire was a LOT less gentle regarding the lefty do-gooder hypocrites who kept showing up.

But I don't know, things have only gotten more insanely polarized since then, and the Republicans are even more scary. Maybe just by being rather 1999 Republican, the show now seems centrist.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 5:20 PM on February 24, 2016 [34 favorites]


I find it kind of weird how it just seems to have totally dropped off the cultural radar. Nobody talks about it.

I dunno, I feel like I see a lot of KotH memes these days, and some of them are pretty dank; if that's not on the cultural radar, what is?

Also: The Cleveland Show, sadly, has been cancelled for some time. I maintain that it was the best of all the shows in the MacFarlaneverse, except for such episodes of American Dad! that completely dispense with the premise of American Dad! Or maybe I just really enjoy hearing Scott Grimes sing R&B is all.
posted by prize bull octorok at 5:21 PM on February 24, 2016 [7 favorites]


I think I might have come across as too critical, I really do enjoy the show. Even though Hank and I may differ on what is important to be happy I can admire how he is loyal and faithful. He certainly doesn't make the mistakes his father made and won't ever.

I think shows like Roseanne and The (early) Simpsons and KotH are so good because there's so little malevolence in them. Everyone, even most of the villains, are usually thoughtful and treat others with respect. Just a certain level of kindness runs through them. The jokes are jokes of circumstance rather than meanness or "punching down."
posted by M Edward at 5:22 PM on February 24, 2016 [17 favorites]


American Dad! is like a million times better than TCS. Family Guy several hundred times.
posted by Drinky Die at 5:23 PM on February 24, 2016 [4 favorites]


I gave up on King of the Hill during the darkest days of W's administration. I did always think that the show was amusingly written, that the characters were compelling and the voice acting was good. But I got sick of seeing liberal buttinksky limp-wrist dweebs come to Arlen and fuck up everything up with their big city ways

The only one I remember rubbing me the wrong way like that was about a know-it-all archeology (?) professor which ended with Hank repeatedly pushing him back into a pit as he attempted to climb out, like a sixth-grade bully. The flip side of the liberal dweebs were characters like Hank's boss, who was everything petty and greedy and lousy about conservatism rolled up into one person.
posted by The Card Cheat at 5:24 PM on February 24, 2016 [7 favorites]


When my son was a baby he did not sleep. So we ended up in this dysfunctional cycle where I would take him in the living room and try to nurse him to sleep while I watched tv. KotH was on in reruns every night and I figured it was relatively harmless background noise for our bedtime struggle. Until the one night when my son, who was only just walking, heard the theme music and started shouting "Bobby!" After that we played the music channel instead.
posted by Biblio at 5:31 PM on February 24, 2016 [26 favorites]


Similarly, perhaps, I went through a period of falling asleep while watching Adult Swim and KotH seemed to come on at just the right point in my sleep cycle that I ended up having a really disproportionate amount of vivid dreams about Hank Hill et al
posted by prize bull octorok at 5:34 PM on February 24, 2016 [6 favorites]


he's never truly happy

I feel like that's one of the strengths of the show. Hank has a sense of duty that's more important than individual happiness. It's the source if his decency.

It gently satirized guys like Hank, and the satire was a LOT less gentle regarding the lefty do-gooder hypocrites who kept showing up.


While that's true, I think there's value in seeing these characters as they appear to Hank. Because what Hank objects to isn't do-goodery or diversity as much as a show-offy expressive individualism that knows no restraint or humility.
posted by ducky l'orange at 5:34 PM on February 24, 2016 [53 favorites]


Not the biggest fan but there were moments. There was the episode when Hank not only found out that he wasn't a Native Texan but that he was born, in of all places, Yankee Stadium. And the resultant shame and existential crisis. I use that episode to explain to non-Texans what it's like being a Native Texan. For example, everyone for five generations back in my family is native. Except my mom. She was born in Arkansas and moved to Texas when she was an infant. You cannot imagine the shame I felt growing up.
posted by bfootdav at 5:36 PM on February 24, 2016 [7 favorites]


Until the one night when my son, who was only just walking, heard the theme music and started shouting "Bobby!" After that we played the music channel instead.


I can't help but think that there was a lesson lost, there.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 5:37 PM on February 24, 2016 [4 favorites]


it was so good for me to see men like hank loving his weirdo child even when he didn't understand him or wished he'd do something different. he's honestly a great role model for "i don't get it, but i love you" which, in my experience, becomes actual acceptance as time goes on.

also, king of the hill makes me homesick for dallas suburbs in a way i didn't think possible.
posted by nadawi at 5:37 PM on February 24, 2016 [49 favorites]


bfootdav, if you'd told me that ten years ago, when I still lived in my hometown of Seattle, I'd have been certain you were exaggerating for effect. Now that a sizable portion of my friends hail from Texas, I have seen what you're describing up close. I still don't really get it, but damn, King of the Hill played it straight way more than I'd ever realized.
posted by duffell at 5:43 PM on February 24, 2016 [2 favorites]


My friend Mike Murphy was a smart guy, but an unbelievable mumbler, which earned him the nickname Boomhauer for a while.
posted by jonmc at 5:43 PM on February 24, 2016 [2 favorites]


I could never figure out how King the Hill could persist so long on FOX even though it mostly occupied an even crappier timeslot than Futurama.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 5:44 PM on February 24, 2016 [1 favorite]


Yeah, I grew up in Texas. King of the Hill is a stone documentary.
posted by KathrynT at 5:45 PM on February 24, 2016 [35 favorites]


I think I only ever saw one episode of this show, once while I was travelling and staying in a hotel room. Anyway, it was about dancing with the dog, and I was expecting it to be mean-spirited but it turned out to be sweet in a way that totally blindsided me. That's all.
posted by Wolfdog at 5:45 PM on February 24, 2016 [1 favorite]


While that's true, I think there's value in seeing these characters as they appear to Hank. Because what Hank objects to isn't do-goodery or diversity as much as a show-offy expressive individualism that knows no restraint or humility.

I think there's even a valid critique in some of these stories for the way that coastal urbanite liberals (I am one, as a disclaimer) like to believe with absolutely certainty that they have the solution to everybody else's problems, despite never really taking the time to understand the lives and values or even, truly, the problems, of the people they're setting out to help.
posted by tobascodagama at 5:46 PM on February 24, 2016 [39 favorites]


Also, my dad was a home furnishings salesman, so Hank's "Propane and propane accessories," rings true in certain ways that remind me of my childhood.
posted by jonmc at 5:50 PM on February 24, 2016 [4 favorites]


. It sure didn't feel bipartisan to me. It gently satirized guys like Hank, and the satire was a LOT less gentle regarding the lefty do-gooder hypocrites who kept showing up.

I tend to agree, but I also tend to identify with Hank and so I thought the show was sublimely funny. I don't watch much television but I did love that program.

By the way, Mike Judge is not anywhere near a "lefty do-gooder" progressive. Idiocracy, after all, is about (according to Judge) what happens when "stupid people" take over the gene pool.
posted by My Dad at 5:50 PM on February 24, 2016 [2 favorites]


He's happy when he's on-schedule and people around him have filled out the proper forms.

This is all I want in life
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 5:58 PM on February 24, 2016 [5 favorites]


In preparation for fatherhood, I have begun saying "ah tell you hwaaat" to my wife as often as possible.

turn down for hwaaat?
posted by Itaxpica at 6:04 PM on February 24, 2016 [7 favorites]


The older I get the more I see Hank as the hapless conservative stuck in a liberal world.

That's kind of the premise of the show, no? Not in an Archie Bunker way - Hank's not a bigot, just conservative

I think King of the Hill is very good, one of the best animated sitcom. Mike Judge later tried to send up "big city liberals" more directly in the short-lived The Goode Family. Which could have worked if it was an character-driven mirror image of KOTH but as I recall it was more just a hat rack to hang political jokes on.
posted by atoxyl at 6:05 PM on February 24, 2016 [6 favorites]


By the way, Mike Judge is not anywhere near a "lefty do-gooder" progressive.

Oh, I definitely didn't think he was. Judging by his work I always got the feeling he was a right-of-center guy who was no fan of lefties but was perhaps equally horrified by the more racist redneck elements of Republicanism. I imagine he's almost as disgusted by the current crop of Republican candidates as I am, but he'd probably say they're bringing the party down and I feel like the whole party is rotten.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 6:06 PM on February 24, 2016 [1 favorite]


Portlandia can make fun of the leftish types Mike Judge was trying to make fun of because it's made by people who know and understand them better.
posted by atoxyl at 6:12 PM on February 24, 2016 [25 favorites]


"Psssst! Are you... you know... gay?"
"Whuuut? No! I sell propane!"
posted by entropone at 6:15 PM on February 24, 2016 [8 favorites]


My favorite episode of KotH is when a co-op comes into town, and Hank is totally just exasperated by how hippy-dippy they were, until one of them explained that their meat was local and free-range, and how they knew exactly where it came from, including being able to go to the farm to see the cows being raised. And Hank was so on board, because he understood that, because farm to table is something Hank Hill totally appreciates. And while the episode could have been about how silly the co-op workers were (and it was a little), it was also about Hank making friends with people through a common bond, and an examination of what Hank Hill values.

King of the Hill was a fantastic show.
posted by gc at 6:17 PM on February 24, 2016 [84 favorites]


I like the show but there's this undercurrent in Hank, like, he's never truly happy. Mainly because Peggy doesn't stay in the kitchen and his kid is a weirdo. He loves them and takes care of them because "that's what you do" but he rarely takes joy in it. He's ubertraditional stuck with wildcards. The older I get the more I see Hank as the hapless conservative stuck in a liberal world. Got dangit, he's just trying to live the heteronormative dream.

Fun thought experiment: Bob's Burgers except with Hank Hill instead of Bob.
posted by entropone at 6:17 PM on February 24, 2016 [10 favorites]


I also tend to identify with Hank
posted by My Dad


Hey man that's a got-dang 'ol ... eponysterical man cause 'n that bein' all ... Hank I mean he's big ol' I mean he's a dang ... paterfamilias I tell you what.
posted by saturday_morning at 6:19 PM on February 24, 2016 [111 favorites]


Wait, what about Big Bang Theory?


Bipartisan TV comedy.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 6:19 PM on February 24, 2016 [57 favorites]


I always thought that this episode would have been a suitable series finale, along with Hank inheriting his own Strickland Propane franchise.
posted by bitteroldman at 6:24 PM on February 24, 2016


American Dad! is like a million times better than TCS. Family Guy several hundred times.

Jeez, talk about damning with faint praise...
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 6:27 PM on February 24, 2016 [5 favorites]


We keep a lonely watch, staring over the Wall, awaiting in silence the Day That Was Promised. The day we devote ourselves to being ready for.

The day when Netflix gets King of the Hill back, got-dangit.
posted by Pope Guilty at 6:27 PM on February 24, 2016 [16 favorites]


I always thought that this episode would have been a suitable series finale, along with Hank inheriting his own Strickland Propane franchise.

"Bobby and Joseph play a minor role in this episode, during which they successfully manage to sit in every chair in the hotel. Then the episode plays "Cat's in a Cradle." by Harry Chapin. "

*satisfied sigh*
posted by Pope Guilty at 6:30 PM on February 24, 2016 [6 favorites]


"You're not making Christianity any better, you're just making rock 'n' roll worse!"
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:31 PM on February 24, 2016 [88 favorites]


Meanwhile, on my Tumblr dashboard
posted by gc at 6:36 PM on February 24, 2016 [8 favorites]



Fun thought experiment: Bob's Burgers except with Hank Hill instead of Bob.


Linda would never ever ever ever marry such a mr stuffypants. And if you think that Tina and Louise would be allowed to be weird girls in that house then I have a bridge to sell you. Hank may not believe the boy is right but if it was a girl I could see conversion therapy being considered.

I could see Bob and Peggy having a blast though. I could see Bob and Peggy having a blast with anyone really.
posted by M Edward at 6:52 PM on February 24, 2016 [9 favorites]


I ended up having a really disproportionate amount of vivid dreams about Hank Hill

Go on...
posted by The Tensor at 7:02 PM on February 24, 2016 [5 favorites]


Netflix losing KotH was a big blow to me. It was my "I'm tired and need something warm and pleasant to fall asleep to" show. I've tried others but nothing else matches up.
posted by downtohisturtles at 7:03 PM on February 24, 2016 [5 favorites]


I love King of the Hill. Even with its outlandish caricatures of liberals. There's more of Hank in me than I'd like to admit: like that episode where he doesn't have home owners insurance for a weekend and freaks out about everything that could go wrong.

Plus there's Dale: You know I like nine small meals throughout the day!

The episode where they become firefighters, despite (because?) it being more absurd than most episodes, is one of my favorites.
posted by audi alteram partem at 7:07 PM on February 24, 2016 [3 favorites]


When I saw the early episode where Peggy (the substitute Spanish teacher no less) gives a neighbor her recipe for guacamole, and it's crushed up Ritz crackers and lima beans... I knew I had found my animated sitcom home.
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 7:07 PM on February 24, 2016 [8 favorites]


Wait, what about Big Bang Theory?
Bipartisan TV comedy


Bazinga!!
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:07 PM on February 24, 2016 [5 favorites]


I remember feeling at the time it was on the air that it was really hard on Peggy, and that she tended to get squashed down in a not-very-sympathetic way any time she tried to do anything or be anything more than she already was. I ended up finding any episode that was Peggy-centric cringe-inducing, and so I stopped watching it.

Maybe I was missing something?
posted by jacquilynne at 7:10 PM on February 24, 2016 [3 favorites]


The Peggy sex-ed episode cracked me the hell up. Happiness. Happ-eeness. Ha-peenis. VAAAAAAAAGINA!

Still, all I hear whenever Hank speaks is Tom Anderson from Beavis and Butthead.
posted by Existential Dread at 7:14 PM on February 24, 2016 [10 favorites]


I drifted in and out of KotH, mostly because I didn't do a lot of TV-watching in those (20something) years, but also just weird weird feelings. Because I grew up in East Texas with a dad who hung out with a crew of other dads from the neighborhood, drinking beers and watching cars go by (also most of them were named Jerry but they all called each other Dave and were referred to collectively as The Daves), and my father sold poultry and poultry accessories and...well, basically he was Hank and I am pretty sure that I was Bobby except less cool.

Sometimes it was just too uncomfortable to watch.
posted by Lyn Never at 7:27 PM on February 24, 2016 [19 favorites]


Much about the show was uncomfortable. I never really did like how sort of winkingly Dale was cuckolded, for example.

Mind you, it was a really great show. But it hit some sore spots.
posted by RustyBrooks at 7:30 PM on February 24, 2016


I am as big a KotH fan as anyone. Ms. Intermod and I drop quotes constantly, we own the DVDs, etc.

But that Atlantic piece reads like high school term paper.
posted by intermod at 7:37 PM on February 24, 2016 [1 favorite]


I remember seeing an episode where Nancy and John Redcorn decided to stop their affair, and it must have been in the first few seasons. Did they get back together later on?
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 7:42 PM on February 24, 2016


It's so quotable!

But I couldn't keep watching it. Like Lyn Never, it was just way too much like real life. (Or more specifically, everything I moved away from.)
posted by wintersweet at 7:44 PM on February 24, 2016 [1 favorite]


That's my purse! I don't know you!
posted by downtohisturtles at 7:48 PM on February 24, 2016 [32 favorites]


Not even MacFarlane fans think that was a smart move.

I contend that Seth MacFarlane has some Faustian syndication bargain, one of my broadcast channels is wall to wall FG/AD/CS in a nightly three-hour block after the news ends and hasn't changed in forever, despite pretty much every other syndicated show getting bounced to a new slot every 6mos.

For the record, American Dad is by far the funniest of any of them.

As for KoTH, I agree with my brother, who says Bobby is one of the best TV characters of all time.
posted by rhizome at 7:51 PM on February 24, 2016 [2 favorites]


I just remembered though: my first household meme (4 employees of 2 different dial-up ISPs sharing a house, with free ISDN) was Boomhauer's "nekkid chicks...click click click click it's real easy man"
posted by Lyn Never at 7:55 PM on February 24, 2016 [4 favorites]


Mike Judge later tried to send up "big city liberals" more directly in the short-lived The Goode Family. Which could have worked if it was an character-driven mirror image of KOTH but as I recall it was more just a hat rack to hang political jokes on.

Yeah, pretty much. The comparison with Portlandia is spot-on.
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:56 PM on February 24, 2016


Re Texan Identity, just today I received an elegiac email from my grandfather to the family list about the 180th anniversary of William B. Travis' "Victory or Death" letter (this from a pacifist former-minister and life-long Democrat voter), incidentally mentioning the fact that Texas Independence Day (my birthday) is coming up and how even though I was born in New York, at least I was smart enough to be born then.

That shit runs deep. I agree with everybody saying that KotH is not particularly over-the-top in that arena.
posted by invitapriore at 7:58 PM on February 24, 2016 [4 favorites]


Which, actually, adds another layer to the humor if you're familiar as such. Pretty keen writing, that.
posted by invitapriore at 7:58 PM on February 24, 2016 [1 favorite]


Yeah I don't know, maybe it's the circles I travel in on Tumblr but I also see waaaaaay more King of the Hill memes than, say, the Simpsons.
posted by overeducated_alligator at 8:31 PM on February 24, 2016 [1 favorite]


KOTH is one of those things where I never got into it, and it may be brilliant but for some reason it's impossible for someone to describe it in a way that sounds good, or to tell you a joke or to link a clip. Like, it lives within its time and its jokes work within the context of the larger show, but unless you take the time to just dive all the way in, it seems impossible to tell someone about.

Other shows I have this experience with, from both sides, if you're interested:
Trailer Park Boys
Father Ted
Dr Who
Star Trek: The Next Generation
All Other Star Trek
Community
Arrested Development
posted by shmegegge at 8:40 PM on February 24, 2016 [3 favorites]


I just want to add that the writers of this show really researched a topic when they devoted an episode to it. The episode where Peggy becomes a household advice columnist for the small-town newspaper was devastatingly accurate. I was working for my own small-town paper at the time, and I had recently written a story showcasing our newspaper delivery drivers (presumably so that they'd get a nice Christmas tip from our readers).

When I saw the climax of that episode--in which the disgruntled crew of furloughed delivery drivers retrieves every single edition of a paper containing a recipe for mustard gas Peggy inadvertently ran in her column, all in return for the recycling value of the paper--my jaw dropped. These were the people I had just interviewed. These were the beat-up cars they drove. This was how they saw the world.


Also, "The Redneck on Rainey Street" is maybe the best episode of TV ever made about the cruel illusion of the American Dream. Kahn has a breakdown after learning his hard-driven, overachieving daughter won't get into a prestigious summer school program because they have too many overachieving Asians. He quits his job, stops paying the mortgage and grows a mullet. The entire episode walks the tightrope between real, essential social commentary and ridiculous redneck jokes. It's brilliant.
posted by DeWalt_Russ at 8:47 PM on February 24, 2016 [17 favorites]


Oh, I love King of the Hill so, so much. I just impulse-bought the first season DVD because it was $7 and I had gone way too long without the show. When you put it in the player, Hank rides by on his mower and warns parents that the DVD features, among other things, Luanne's midriff and his "uh, bare......... behind."
posted by teponaztli at 8:57 PM on February 24, 2016 [4 favorites]




gc: My favorite episode of KotH is when a co-op comes into town...

Speaking as someone who shops at a co-op in Montana, that episode was a downright documentary. Never a more diverse crowd, politically and otherwise, have I seen.
posted by traveler_ at 9:34 PM on February 24, 2016 [4 favorites]


As much as I want to see KotH return to Netflix, I have to admit that I love watching it on Adult Swim, just for the bumps. There's something very soothing about them, and I always grin at the one for Cover to Cover Books ("The only way to read books is Cover to Cover").
posted by bakerina at 9:38 PM on February 24, 2016 [3 favorites]


Dale: If you want I can show you how to make a bomb out of a roll of toilet paper and a stick of dynamite

Oh god, back in the early 2000's my friend and I would watch KotH all of the time and trade crappy recordings (in wav format!) of quotes from the show. Dale was my favorite, so for my birthday my friend got me his action figure (with smoking-arm action!) and I got her Bill on her birthday.

Good times I tell you hwhat.
posted by littlesq at 12:09 AM on February 25, 2016 [3 favorites]


Through a weird fluke, I know a shit-ton of people who worked on KotH, and every single one of them remembers it as one of the best workplaces ever—from writers to directors to post supes to runners. One of my friends even had a one-shot character named after him (and if you know that piece of trivia, then you have a better-than-even chance of knowing who I am IRL).

Every year the writers would take a week-long trip to suburban Texas to soak up the culture so that the show would never become a thoughtless parody of redneck tropes. The effort expended to keep the show rooted in real life is visible in every shot.
posted by infinitewindow at 12:14 AM on February 25, 2016 [18 favorites]


"I tell you what man these ol' president elections waste of time man when all they do is just sit down man and don't do a dang thing about that dog man."

-Boomhauer
posted by clavdivs at 12:47 AM on February 25, 2016 [4 favorites]


King of the Hill was the Achewood of animated sitcoms, with the exception of having both feet more or less firmly planted in reality.
posted by brecc at 1:34 AM on February 25, 2016 [7 favorites]


it was really hard on Peggy, and that she tended to get squashed down in a not-very-sympathetic way any time she tried to do anything or be anything more than she already was.

Oh, poor Peggy. I love KoTH, but every Peggy-based plot had her being woefully incompetent in yet another area, and too naive to realize it until she'd incompetent-ed herself (and maybe a busload of school kids) right to the brink of disaster. More cringey than funny.

Bill had more than his fair share of cringey moments, but it was obvious that the other characters (and the writers) pitied him and handled him rather gently. Kahn got knocked down a lot, but generally for jerky status-seeking neighbor-hating stuff, and the show provided enough insight and dimension to paint him as a sympathetic jerk rather than a flat one-note antagonist. Peggy got Flanderized into perpetually cluelessly sucking at things, without much development or insight or catching a break.

There's the added bonus of Peggy's overestimation of her abilities being the kind of thing that could easily happen to you, without you even knowing, and it's a little horrifying. It's the opposite of imposter syndrome, with everyone laughing behind your back instead of thinking highly of you. I can laugh at Hank or Bill or Bobby because I see a lot of their flaws in myself, but oh god, what if I'm actually Peggy?
posted by Metroid Baby at 4:00 AM on February 25, 2016 [9 favorites]


I can never flick a lighter anymore without feeling a pang of guilt and knowing in my heart of hearts that butane is a bastard gas.
posted by indubitable at 4:34 AM on February 25, 2016 [7 favorites]


My two favorite moments from KotH: first off, when it is revealed that, while he is singing, Boomhauer loses his stammer.

The second moment comes right at the tail end of the episode in which a group of Buddhist monks have traveled to Arlen, looking for the reincarnation of their lama, and for a while believe that Bobby might be the one. The episode as a whole sort of plays for laughs with the apparent ludicrousness of the juxtaposition, but after Bobby attempts to deliberately fail the test, there's a very short follow up scene, which I can't find online. The scene reveals that Bobby's deliberate botch was maybe not as clear cut of a failure as one would assume, and one of the monks confronts his leader about it. And the writers had the insight to make the conversation solidly down to earth...the leader's response even sounds like something Hank would say: "It was my call to make, and I made it."

I don't even know why, but that scene actually chokes me up every time I see it.
posted by Ipsifendus at 4:46 AM on February 25, 2016 [3 favorites]


Great thread, but after reading TFA: I was 11 years old . . . when the show premiered

yeah, okay, stop. Stop.

I see why the thread is more about the show. Remember when The Simpsons "cartoons for adults" was briefly a thing? In KotH it was never a question. How could you appreciate the warm, cheesy, crunchity goodness of Hank and Peggy's relationship at age 11? Not possible.

Yyyyyup.
posted by petebest at 5:37 AM on February 25, 2016


"Hank, your mower is... what's a nice way to say obsolete?"

"Collectible?"
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:24 AM on February 25, 2016 [6 favorites]


Apparently, Mike Judge actually based him on an incomprehensible voicemail message from a fan.

I just ran across this clip of Judge telling this story to Jimmy Kimmel, with Zach Galifianakis losing it.
posted by gorbichov at 6:27 AM on February 25, 2016 [14 favorites]


I loved KOTH! I'm not from Texas but have a lot of family there and agree that it is a lot truer to life than most non-Texans realize. I have a friend whose father was the spitting image of Hank; he was a Texan and an Aggie as well. KOTH was also where I first learned about gold-fringed flags and admiralty courts.
posted by TedW at 6:44 AM on February 25, 2016 [1 favorite]


Of course King of the Hill was a way better show than Big Bang Theory is. But when we're talking about shows with broad, cross-demographic appeal, Big Bang Theory has to be on the list. Personally I don't watch it, but that makes me rare among both my white-collar liberal friends and my rural conservative family back home.
posted by muddgirl at 6:48 AM on February 25, 2016 [1 favorite]


Mike Judge's best work, for my money.

Yeah, I liked Office Space a lot because at least it was on target, but I have such a hard time imagining the same creative mind behind something so thoughtful and finely drawn as King of the Hill AND something so shallow, so utterly lacking in nuance, and so the nose as Idiocracy.

Unless he'd had the Idiocracy script lying around in a trunk since he wrote it at like 14 or something.

Also, it's been said before but it bears repeating, THAT'S MY PURSE! I DON'T KNOW YOU!
posted by Naberius at 6:57 AM on February 25, 2016 [3 favorites]


Countess Elena: "But Boomhauer? That shit's real. I hear it every time I visit home. Apparently, Mike Judge actually based him on an incomprehensible voicemail message from a fan."

Yes, it's pretty funny hearing Mike Judge tell the story (at least Zach Galifianakis thinks it's funny).
posted by exogenous at 7:16 AM on February 25, 2016


I tell ya I'm gonna have fried filet of fried chicken, french fried side of fries, and some fried okra.
posted by Fleebnork at 7:31 AM on February 25, 2016


There's a wonderful moment between Peggy and Bobby at the end of the episode where Peggy somehow gets tricked into being a model for a foot fetish web site (she initially thought it was an inspirational site about large-foot acceptance). She's always been self-conscious about her big feet, so finding out the truth has her depressed. Bobby comes in to check on her after she's been holed up in her room a couple days, and they have this exchange -
Bobby Hill: I’m fat.

Peggy Hill: Oh, no! No, honey! You’re husky! It says so on your jeans!

Bobby Hill: Mom. I’m fat. But big deal. I don’t feel bad about it. You never made me feel bad about it. And just because there are some people in the world who want me to feel bad about it doesn’t mean I have to. So Bobby Hill’s fat. Eh. He's also funny, nice, he's got a lot of friends, and a girlfriend, and if you don't mind, I think I'll go outside and squirt her with this super-soaker. ....What are you gonna do?
And Peggy ponders this, and in the very last scene, she proudly marches into a shoestore and declares she wants to see something in size 16.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:39 AM on February 25, 2016 [36 favorites]


It's telling that this is the thread that's collected more favorites from me than any other on MetaFilter.
posted by echocollate at 7:40 AM on February 25, 2016 [6 favorites]


I worked for the Physical Plant at my college for a couple of summers. Mostly it was painting over student's drawings on the walls with the paint crew, but at other times I did other stuff and got to hang out with the actual regular workers instead of just the students working the summer like me. One of the crew was Laotian and so, during a break, I got to hear the following dialogue between him and one of the white guys on the crew doing to dialogue from this video (For those who can't watch it, it's the "Are you Chinese or Japanese?" clip.) Both then almost fell over laughing.

I really liked the show, but also, it gave my coworkers (if only for the summer), one of whom was from a country not many Americans knew of, something to share and acknowledge and celebrate their differences. I'm probably reading a little more into it than there was, but that's about the only moment from working on the crew that summer that really stuck with me.
posted by Hactar at 8:03 AM on February 25, 2016 [3 favorites]


Naberius: something so shallow, so utterly lacking in nuance, and so the nose as Idiocracy.

Idiocracy hinted at there being an elite just out of view, leaving the unwashed masses completely to their own devices. They had to be doing more than inventing erection drugs and baldness cures to keep the technology of that world going.

Now, I'm getting dangerously close to wondering how they eat and breathe and other science facts.
posted by dr_dank at 8:04 AM on February 25, 2016 [4 favorites]


Peggy was often a victim of her own cluelessness BUT ALSO:

-the voice of sanity when it came to sex ed in that town
-Had a trans friend (who helped her find shoes!)
-Saw through and rejected the devil's bargain of pretending to be mentally ill so her "pro-bots" could go from local kitsch to "folk art" that snooty awful rich people would buy (while pitying her)
-Accepted her weird-kid son
-Enacted revenge on her bosses when she became a Spanish-language call-center person for the local beer distributor and discovered they'd been sending bad/sick-making batches of beer to Mexico.

Peggy was awesome. Don't pity her.
posted by emjaybee at 8:30 AM on February 25, 2016 [22 favorites]


"That's my purse!"
posted by bq at 8:31 AM on February 25, 2016


We're going through a rewatch right now (slowly, we get about 10 episodes in a week) and we just watched the episode where the Olympics torch passed through Arlen. We got a kick out of Dale yelling "MY ORAL FIXATION" when Bobbie took his cigarette to relight the torch and now whenever the 11mo old goes for boob for food my wife says "MY ORAL FIXATION"
posted by Twain Device at 8:37 AM on February 25, 2016


I worked for the Physical Plant at my college for a couple of summers. Mostly it was painting over student's drawings on the walls with the paint crew, but at other times I did other stuff and got to hang out with the actual regular workers instead of just the students working the summer like me. One of the crew was Laotian and so, during a break, I got to hear the following dialogue between him and one of the white guys on the crew doing to dialogue from this video yt (For those who can't watch it, it's the "Are you Chinese or Japanese?" clip.) Both then almost fell over laughing.

The quote I used as the post title has always been my favorite from the show for a number of reasons. First, it shows that Cotton, while hateful, has some intelligence behind his hate. Second, the look on Khan's face when Cotton tells him this is priceless. But most of all, I like how the quote can be taken two different ways. On one hand, it's Cotton telling Hank and his friends, "You idiots. Don't you know the difference between Asian subgroups?", and on the other, it's Cotton telling Khan, "Ha! You think you can fool people by passing as Japanese, but I know your game. I got my eye on you!".
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 8:41 AM on February 25, 2016 [5 favorites]




But I don't know, things have only gotten more insanely polarized since then, and the Republicans are even more scary. Maybe just by being rather 1999 Republican, the show now seems centrist.

The spirit of the times back then was where suburban white collar people could have told themselves that "liberal or conservative, we are all mostly the same and the stuff going on in Washington is just fighting over nothing." That basically was definitively proven false roughly around mid 2002. The humor is still funny in isolation, but the stakes are much, much different. A lot of humor is viable only within a specific time and place, and I think that KotH isn't viable right now, though it may be later on.
posted by deanc at 8:50 AM on February 25, 2016 [1 favorite]


This isn't entirely related, but I hated, HATED Mike Judge's work previous to KotH, to the point where I got into a fight with my college boyfriend when he went to see the Beavis movie. (I thought--and still believe, to an extent--that it was sexist.) When Mike Judge went on Alex Jones a few years ago, I realized that had I known that he was a libertarian gun nut when I was in my "Mike Judge Sucks" phase, I would have been smug and insufferable.

I did love KotH when it came out, for a lot of the reasons people here are mentioning. Rookie ran a Hero Status column about how Bobby is one of the best teenagers on TV. No arguments here. (He kind of looks like Bob Mould before he got buff.)
posted by pxe2000 at 8:56 AM on February 25, 2016 [2 favorites]


I swear I can remember reading somewhere that Mike Judge didn't have editorial control of Idiocracy, and that it isn't really what he wanted it to be. I'm having trouble finding anything to confirm that.
posted by Fleebnork at 9:07 AM on February 25, 2016


"It always impressed me how kindly Bill was treated by the others. I think there's an episode that discusses why he's like that (pretty sure ptsd)."

Operation Infinite Walrus.

It was a different time. It was back when we didn't know the Russians were incompetent.
posted by tdismukes at 9:09 AM on February 25, 2016 [1 favorite]


Related: Idiocracy is a Cruel Movie and You Should be Ashamed for Liking It.

I thought Idiocracy was easily the weakest of Judge's works, so I clicked your link. That review is a giant exercise in trying to cram a square peg into a round hole. I am ashamed for reading it.
posted by echocollate at 9:32 AM on February 25, 2016 [4 favorites]


but I hated, HATED Mike Judge's work previous to KotH...I did love KotH when it came out

I remember reading an interview with Judge where somebody asked him what it was like working with Greg Daniels, as opposed to flying solo like on his previous show. Judge responded that Daniels had really saved him from the mistake of treating his characters with so much contempt that they wouldn't be viable for long-term storytelling. I found that interesting, given the rest of his work.
posted by Ipsifendus at 9:33 AM on February 25, 2016 [12 favorites]


Idiocracy is one of the most uneven movies I've ever seen, but all of its sins are redeemed by this scene.
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:36 AM on February 25, 2016


KotH is hard to pin down politically. Who remembers the episode featuring Christian zealots eager to ruin Halloween?
posted by werkzeuger at 10:00 AM on February 25, 2016 [4 favorites]


Judge responded that Daniels had really saved him from the mistake of treating his characters with so much contempt that they wouldn't be viable for long-term storytelling. I found that interesting, given the rest of his work.

Yeah, my earlier observation about how different KOTH is from Judge's other work makes a lot more sense if you think of (to pull in yet another thread) Greg Daniels as kind of the Mike Ditko to Judge's Stan Lee.

Wasn't really all that familiar with Daniels' work so I did some Googling. He wrote for the Simpsons, including -notably- the episode where Bart sells his soul to Milhouse for $5 and then begins to think maybe he really did have a soul that he's now lost, and sets out to get it back. And after KOTH Daniels went on to work on The Office and Parks and Recreation, both of which IMO are good largely because of their sympathy for their characters, even when at their most pathetic and ridiculous.
posted by Naberius at 10:41 AM on February 25, 2016 [6 favorites]


Who remembers the episode featuring Christian zealots eager to ruin Halloween?

I do! And I LOVED it (given that I have stepchildren with a mother exactly like that dreadful Christian woman, who scared them into believing that if they died wearing a costume they'd go straight to hell). Hank ROCKED in that episode. I think religion for him was what it should be--rules to follow, but governed overall by a good lick of common sense.
posted by dlugoczaj at 11:38 AM on February 25, 2016 [2 favorites]


Let us not forget that the recurring character of Luanne's boyfriend Lucky was voiced by Tom Petty. I mean, how cool is that?

"Cigarette math is full of surprises." - Lucky
posted by Robin Kestrel at 12:32 PM on February 25, 2016 [3 favorites]


"Son, what's the bad part of Memphis called?"

"Memphis!"

Oh, man, so many favorite episodes. Lu Ann and the pork-products guy, firemen, gentrification, Chris Rock, meat-judging, Japan... I love this show.
posted by box at 12:50 PM on February 25, 2016 [1 favorite]


I always thought they did a really interesting thing in how Hank was going to vote for the 2000 election. Because of course he would vote for George W. Bush - Republican, former Texas governor. But he got a chance to meet him, and because he had an extremely limp, weak handshake, Hank suddenly didn't know what to do. Not voting was unthinkable, not voting for the Republican from (or, well, 'from') Texas the same - but voting for a man with an untrustworthy handshake was equally impossible.

The show always landed on the ground of the power of common sense, and felt to me like a reflection of conservatives at their ideal, as Republicans see themselves rather than how they actually are. It was relentlessly good-natured about its main characters and how they dealt with the world, and I enjoyed it for that.

I've not seen all of the show, but my absolute favourite episode is of course Bobby's self-defence, followed by Peggy's trip to the Boggle championships - both of which make it very hard to feel bad for Peggy as her indomitable self-confidence is clearly justified in both episodes. The characters were so well-established that it didn't feel mean to show them failing, just realistic for some of the situations that they got into.
posted by gadge emeritus at 12:51 PM on February 25, 2016 [4 favorites]


Who remembers the episode featuring Christian zealots eager to ruin Halloween?

LUANNE: Did they make you drink blood?!

BOBBY: Well, they made me eat liver once.
posted by SPrintF at 1:34 PM on February 25, 2016 [3 favorites]


That reminds me of when Bobby got gout from developing a love for organ meats and had to use a scooter.

Whenever I or the husband have a cramp we shout "I GOT THE GOUT!" in our Bobby voices.
posted by emjaybee at 1:55 PM on February 25, 2016 [6 favorites]


I tried to like KotH, but its portrayal of the Kahns always bothered me. I never watched it consistently, so correct me if I'm wrong, but from the episodes I've seen that included the Kahns, it always felt like that while Hank and gang learn that they shouldn't stereotype Asians, the Kahns are always shown to live up to those stereotypes. And even when they resisted them, all other Asians in the show (the rare occasions that they do appear) are stereotyped too, like caricatures. Connie is perhaps the only saving grace, but lampooned that because she's a child growing up in America she isn't affected as much by their Asian ways.
posted by numaner at 2:18 PM on February 25, 2016 [1 favorite]


I always loved the episode where Bobby is hanging around his grandmother and her new boyfriend at their retirement village, fitting ever-so-naturally in and mirroring Carl Reiner's Gary.
posted by Pope Guilty at 2:49 PM on February 25, 2016


I feel like most of the gags about the Kahns was not about them fitting Asian stereotypes so much as them trying so very, very fucking hard to put on an ostentatious display of just being ordinary Americans. It's the model minority trap in a nutshell.
posted by tobascodagama at 3:44 PM on February 25, 2016 [1 favorite]


gadge emeritus: "the Republican from (or, well, 'from') Texas"

Thank you for that. From what I can gather, most of the U.S. seems to have bought into the narrative that GWB is actually from Texas, which, as any Texan will tell you, ain't true.

I never really got into King of the Hill as a comedy. It was fine, but it didn't really make me bust out laughing. However, I think it may be the most accurate depiction of real Texas I've seen on TV. Even the stuff that non-Texans may think as being the incongruous elements -- specifically, I'm thinking of Kahn. A non-Texan might see that and think "Ah, they've put him in there for contrast with the typical Texan stuff, creating a nexus for comedy". No, they put him in there because that's Texas. A sitcom about a Texas suburb without any Asian families would be weird. (Though I gotta say, in that vein, the "so, are you Chinese or Japanese" joke, though amusing, is slightly off. Maybe for Hank's dad, but for Hank and his crew it should be "So, are you Chinese or Vietnamese?")
posted by Bugbread at 4:17 PM on February 25, 2016 [4 favorites]


(Though I gotta say, in that vein, the "so, are you Chinese or Japanese" joke, though amusing, is slightly off. Maybe for Hank's dad, but for Hank and his crew it should be "So, are you Chinese or Vietnamese?")

True, but there are various levels of ignorance (which suddenly brought to mind what that whole exchange reminded me of when I first saw it).
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 4:51 PM on February 25, 2016 [1 favorite]


No, I get that, I just meant that for a person Hank's age, living in Texas, the assumption would be that Asia consists of only two countries, China and Vietnam. Same amount of ignorance.

(That could just be a Houston thing, though. Maybe up near Dallas Japan has a high profile and Vietnam has a low profile, I dunno)
posted by Bugbread at 5:10 PM on February 25, 2016


I can't believe no one has mentioned Rad Thi-bo-DAY-ux.
posted by werkzeuger at 6:22 PM on February 25, 2016 [1 favorite]


Nah, Dallas was fairly heavily Vietnamese and Chinese also. Although, the location of Arlen is sort of fluid. In some senses it's clearly modeled off Garland (Garland is Arlen!), but Garland is too close to Dallas, IMO, to really be the Arlen of the TV show, where Going to Dallas is a trip. It's like 15 miles from Garland to central Dallas. On a clear day you can probably see downtown from there.

I did a computer consulting contract job in Garland once. I was working for Garland Light and Power. The space they had for me was, I am not kidding, in the back of a boxing gym for firefighters and policemen.

On the way in I'd always pass this place that was a combination of
Pawn Shop
Recording studio
Deer processor

Garland is Arlen.

(The movie Zombiland starts in Garland TX and takes like 2 seconds to make a joke about it)
posted by RustyBrooks at 7:08 PM on February 25, 2016 [4 favorites]


I was pretty sure Arlen was modeled on Richardson. It always seemed to be to me, based on visiting my relatives who lived there.
posted by Pope Guilty at 7:24 PM on February 25, 2016


I think it's been confirmed that at the very least Garland was on his mind. But Garland and Richardson are even closer than Garland and Dallas. They're like 3 or 4 miles from center to center. Basically the same thing. (I went to the University of Texas at Dallas, which was in Richardson, from 1995 to 1999, and lived in Richardson, Plano, and Addison over the course of a decade)
posted by RustyBrooks at 7:39 PM on February 25, 2016 [1 favorite]


The best episode, Kahn-wise, is the country-club one. If Kahn and Minh are Asian-immigrant stereotypes, it's because they're trying desperately to perform an Asian-immigrant success story.

In Laos, Kahn was a lower-class charmer--his mother was a maid. Minh came from a powerful family--her father was a general. Kahn wants to be a success in America partly so he can satisfy him.
posted by box at 4:26 AM on February 26, 2016 [4 favorites]


I can't believe no one has mentioned Rad Thi-bo-DAY-ux.
SOOOORAD
posted by overeducated_alligator at 5:29 AM on February 26, 2016


Plus there's Dale

Pocket Sand!!
posted by jpdoane at 5:53 PM on February 26, 2016 [6 favorites]


Manger Babies!
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 8:23 AM on February 27, 2016 [3 favorites]


Like a lot of people in this thread who grew up in Texas, I loved King of the Hill but could only watch it sporadically because it was too much like a documentary.

When I was in high school I went on a school trip to Boston. It was a weeklong comedy of teenagers trying desperately to locate Dr Pepper for sale anywhere near the hotel, and of people with thick West Texas and Boston accents mutually failing to understand each other's English. At one point we all took one of those duck boat tours, directed by a local.

Boston Tour Guide: "Man, youse guys sound like that guy from that show, what's it called? King of the Hill?"
Texans: "YES! BOOMHAUER!"

One nation, indivisible!
posted by nicebookrack at 11:14 AM on February 27, 2016 [4 favorites]


Bob Dylan! Willie Nelson! Drew Carey! Some really solid voice work from Brad Pitt!
posted by box at 11:18 AM on February 27, 2016 [1 favorite]


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