King of the hill appreciation thread - Yup.

[GentlemanFaggot]

One of the best things about KOTH is how rewatchable it is. I've watched the show so many times and it's still funny. I will say that more often than not, I skip episodes from the later seasons, though. What I dislike is how Bill was treated in the show. He'd meet a possible love interest and then his buffoonery would push them away. Or in the case of Kahn's mom, they just wrote her out of the show. I heard somewhere that she was planned to be a reoccurring character, but the new writers made the show less sequential and just forgot about her and her relationship with Bill.

The tarot episode which aired just after the Kahn's mom episode, is the only one that references Bill dating her and it had Bobby give Bill a tarot reading that said it was doomed to fail.

Then Bill was silently back to being single again and Kahn's mom was only ever mentioned in one late season episode when Minh talked to her on the phone.

In general I think they had no idea where to go with Bill dating someone permanently and chose to handwave it away.

 

[Jimjamflimflam]

Started rewatching it again, forgot how rough the first season was.

Shame how they dropped Connie and Joseph in the later seasons. They were fun characters for Bobby.

 

[Chin of Campbell]

Started rewatching it again, forgot how rough the first season was.

Shame how they dropped Connie and Joseph in the later seasons. They were fun characters for Bobby.

The season 1 episode where Bobby is caught smoking and everyone relapses into addiction is probably one of the worst of the show, since everyone is massively irresponsible and out of character for most of the thing. Hank flicks a cigarette toward a bunch of propane tanks to hide it from Peggy and that's probably the most OOC action anyone on the show could possibly perform.

 

[Jimjamflimflam]

The season 1 episode where Bobby is caught smoking and everyone relapses into addiction is probably one of the worst of the show, since everyone is massively irresponsible and out of character for most of the thing. Hank flicks a cigarette toward a bunch of propane tanks to hide it from Peggy and that's probably the most OOC action anyone on the show could possibly perform.

Just literally finished that episode. When he made Bobby smoke the carton, it looked like he threw the cellophane wrapper on the ground. Hank Hill littering his lawn is not the Hank Hill I know.

The lawn episode next when Bobby smells the pheromones of the ant queen was a bit of an odd storyline.

 

[A Grey Cat]

Just literally finished that episode. When he made Bobby smoke the carton, it looked like he threw the cellophane wrapper on the ground. Hank Hill littering his lawn is not the Hank Hill I know.

The lawn episode next when Bobby smells the pheromones of the ant queen was a bit of an odd storyline.

Probably one of the few times the show broke away from plausible reality

 

[MysticMisty]

The lawn episode next when Bobby smells the pheromones of the ant queen was a bit of an odd storyline.

It's bizarre as hell but the way Dale just destroys Hank's lawn is funny as fuck. Especially when Hank finds out Dale was behind everything.

 

[Duncan Hills Coffee]

Hank's especially interesting in the earlier episodes because he's got more of a hair-trigger temper. In fact, the pilot episode revolves around him trying to control his anger so CPS doesn't take Bobby away. He's more passive later on; sure he threatens to kick people's asses, but he's not nearly as aggressive or angry as he is in the first season.

 

[UnKillFill]

Wait, is Khan Chinese or Japanese?

 

[BrunoMattei]

Wait, is Khan Chinese or Japanese?

Laotian. They point that out in his debut episode.

Edit: oh, you were doing a thing.

 

[UnKillFill]

Laotian. They point that out in his debut episode.

The ocean? What ocean?

Spoiler

 

[BrunoMattei]

Yeah, I edited. I got the reference.

 

[Duncan Hills Coffee]

Wait, is Khan Chinese or Japanese?

One of my favorite jokes is that Cotton instantly figures out that Khan is Laotian and is the only one who knows that Laos is.

 

[Creep3r]

"Now you know the (chew) truth, Hank.
I (munch) love sand (choke)!"

 

[Never Scored]

One of my favourite shows of all time. I disagree that it never drops off though. I think it peaks right around season four and then just slowly declines before it bottoms out around season 9. When I say it bottoms out I don't mean it's bad, just you know, there's nothing on par with Dog Dale Afternoon or When Cotton Comes Marching Home later on.

 

[Jason Wynn]

"Gilbert! How long have you been sitting there?"

*Puffs cigarette* "Thirty-five years..."

 

[Miller]

 

[millais]

One of my favorite jokes is that Cotton instantly figures out that Khan is Laotian and is the only one who knows that Laos is.

Cotton does something similar in the episode where he meets Hank's mom's new Jewish partner. On first being introduced to the guy, Cotton looks him up and down without saying a word, then greets him with "Happy Hanukkah"

 

[Syaoran Li]

One of my favourite shows of all time. I disagree that it never drops off though. I think it peaks right around season four and then just slowly declines before it bottoms out around season 9. When I say it bottoms out I don't mean it's bad, just you know, there's nothing on par with Dog Dale Afternoon or When Cotton Comes Marching Home later on.

Agreed for the most part, although I think the peak is Season 6.

It bottoms out around Season 9 or 10 and even though the decline was very noticeable, even the weakest seasons of King of the Hill are way better than Zombie Simpsons or post-2005 Family Guy.

 

[The Last Stand]

It's bizarre as hell but the way Dale just destroys Hank's lawn is funny as fuck. Especially when Hank finds out Dale was behind everything.

I just love how Hank Hill just dryly points out he's going to "kick somebody's ass."

 

[Calandrino]

Life in North Texas really do be like KOTH.

But Arlen is South Texas.

Supposedly it's a pastiche of Garland, in North Texas, and some Austin suburbs where the various writers pulled their experiences from. In the context of the show though, the plots tend to take the characters to more north Texas locations like Dallas and its environs, or pastiches of north Texas events (the Texas State Fair, Scarborough Faire, Cotton Bowl). Excluding Mexico episodes, I think there's only one episode where they explicitly go to a South Texas type locale (a kind of pastiche of South Padre Island / Galveston), and it's always made to seem that going to south Texas or the Mexican border is a long drive from Arlen.

I'm just watching the show all the way through for the first time (up to season 6 now), and I was very surprised to realize that it is set in a specific part of Central Texas, and they stay pretty consistent with it even though it would make no difference to the audience. They even show it on a map:



Other stuff I noticed:

* Belton and Temple, middle school football rivals of Arlen, are real places, and they're right next to each other (McMaynerberry is fictional)
* Bill works on a nearby army base... this corresponds to Fort Hood
* When Kahn is fired from his army contract and starts a new job, he complains about having a 3-hour commute to Houston
* Austin is close enough that Hank can go there after finishing work (at 5:00, not 4:50!) and make it there before nightfall... it's about an hour from Belton/Temple
* Bill gives Ann Richards directions to I-35, which goes through Temple
* They wake up early to make it to the mower convention/boggle championship in Dallas, but Bill can make multiple trips back-and-forth in a single day in the Thanksgiving episode (it's about 2~3 hours from Belton/Temple)
* Mexico would be about five hours away... too far for a middle school field trip honestly, but the episode where Hank has to speed back from Mexico to vote works

Also, the "pastiche of South Padre Island / Galveston" in the spring break episode is Port Aransas, which is real.