King of the Hill

*For the canon series, see the page*

***King of the Hill*** is an American animated series created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, that ran from January 12, 1997 to September 20, 2009 on FOX and Syndication only on May 3 to 6, 2010 which only leave it to a finale for FOX part separately from since FOX ended in 2009. It centers on the Hills, a small-town Methodist family in Arlen, Texas. It attempts to retain a realistic approach, seeking humor in the conventional or mundane aspects of everyday life.

Judge and Daniels conceived the series after a run with Judge's *Beavis and Butt-head* on MTV, and the series debuted on the Fox Network on January 12, 1997, becoming a hit early on. The series' popularity has also led to syndication around the world, formerly running every night on Adult Swim from January 1, 2009 to July 23, 2018. On July 24, 2018, reruns airs on Comedy Central. The show has risen to become one of Fox's longest-running series, and is currently the third longest-running American animated series on Fox behind *The Simpsons* and *Family Guy*. In 2007, it was named by Time magazine as one of the top 100 greatest television shows of all time. The title theme was written and performed by The Refreshments. King of the Hill has won two Emmy Awards and has been nominated for seven since its inception.

Another animated series, *Bless the Harts*, takes place in the *King of the Hill* universe, and features Mega-Lo-Marts in the script. It was also created for Fox. Despite this, Mike Judge is not involved in the series. However, story editors Christy Stratton and Emily Spivey for *King of the Hill* are involved in the show. The show was renewed for a second season on October 18, 2019.

## History

### Conception

In early 1995, after the successful run of *Beavis and Butt-head* on MTV, Mike Judge co-created *King of the Hill* with former *Simpsons* writer Greg Daniels. Judge was a former resident of Garland, a suburb of Dallas, Texas considered the basis for the setting of the series, the fictional Arlen. Mike Judge conceived the idea for the show, drew the main characters, and wrote a pilot script.

Fox teamed the cartoonist with an experienced prime-time TV writer. 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).

### Initial success

After its debut, the series became a huge success for Fox and was named one of the best television series by various publications, including Entertainment Weekly, Time and TV Guide. For the 1997-1998 season, the series became one of Fox's highest rated programs and nearly outperformed *The Simpsons* in ratings. During the fifth and sixth seasons, Mike Judge and Greg Daniels became less involved with the show. They eventually focused on the show again, though Greg Daniels steadily became more involved with other projects.

### Facing cancellation

The series' tenth season was largely composed of episodes that did not air the previous season due to frequent sporting event preemptions. During the tenth season, in 2005, the show was scheduled to be canceled; however, it managed to attract high ratings and was renewed. Fox renewed the series for seasons eleven and twelve, making it the second longest-running animated television series after *The Simpsons*.

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 and replaced within Standard Mode only used on "Pilot" and ended "Straight as an Arrow" on January 12, 1997 to November 30, 2008.

## Settings, characters, and themes

### Setting

*King of the Hill* is set in the fictional town of Arlen, Texas. In a 1995 interview prior to the show's debut, Judge described the setting as "a town like Humble." In a more recent interview, Judge has cited Richardson, Texas, a Dallas suburb, as the specific inspiration for Arlen. Despite the fictitious locale, the show strives to portray the region accurately, going so far as to have annual research trips to Texas for the writing staff. Time magazine praised the authentic portrayal as the "most acutely observed, realistic sitcom about regional American life bar none".

Arlen includes settings such as Rainey Street, where the Hills reside, and Strickland Propane, the business where Hank works. Also included are parodies of well-known businesses, such as Mega-Lo Mart (a parody of big-box stores), 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). 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 (named after the University of Texas Longhorns). The local country club is the Nine Rivers Country Club, though this club exclusively admits Asian-Americans.

### Characters

*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. As an animated sitcom, however, *King of the Hill'*s scope is generally larger than that of a regular sitcom.

The series also featured numerous celebrity guests during its run including, Troy Aikman, Heather Locklear, Sally Field, Johnny Depp, Janeane Garofalo, Jason Bateman and Brad Pitt. In the later seasons, Tom Petty joined the cast as Lucky, Luanne's boyfriend/husband.

## Episodes

*Main article: Episode outlines*

Fox initially ordered 13 episodes with DABE*xx*, but decided to keep the show in production for four additional episodes (DABE14-DABE17) bringing the actual amount of remaining unaired episodes to four, however the network nevertheless has yet to license those extra episodes. Fox later announced that they will not air the episodes in primetime opting instead for syndication with the possibility that the episodes may air first on Adult Swim.

## Awards

* 1998 BMI TV Music Award by Roger Neill, John O'Connor and Lance Rubin.
* 1999 Emmy for Outstanding Animation lasting under an hour for episode "And They Call It Bobby Love".
* 2001 Annie Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Female Performer in an Animated Television Production by Kathy Najimy.
* 2002 Emmy for Outstanding Voice Over by Pamela Adlon for Bobby Hill.
* 2003 Environmental Media Award in television episodic-comedy category for "I Never Promised You an Organic Garden".
* 2003 Annie Writing in an Animated Television Production by Norm Hiscock for "Bobby Goes Nuts".
* 2005 Annie Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production by Brittany Murphy.
* 2005 Annie Writing in an Animated Television Production by Etan Cohen.

## Trivia

* The final episode of King of the Hill was aired on May 6, 2010 before the first movie called King of the Hill: The Movie releasing on July 16, 2010, and then the first fanon episode airing on September 26, 2010.