Hank's reign ends in two months

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Two months from today, the final episode of King of the Hill will air on FOX. I will be among those counting down the days for when that mess gets taken off the air. Over the past TWELVE YEARS, that show has come on and interrupted an otherwise good Sunday night of television. Some 250 episodes will have aired, and I may never understand how the show has lasted that long. I've never met anyone who watches it regularly, and only a handful of people who don't change the channel immediately when the annoying character voices are heard.

The show takes place in Texas, and, as one might expect, was created by one of the guys who was also behind Beavis and Butthead. The family is pretty simple... Dad Hank works for a propane company, and is very traditional when it comes to male/female roles. Mom Peggy is a substitute teacher for Spanish, but she sucks. She also has huge feet and a bunch of other job-hobbies, like real estate and being a public notary. Son Bobby is a bigger kid, crappy at most sports, and not good in school or socially. Niece Luanne lives with the family since her mom is in jail... she spends a very long time at community college.

The other citizens of Arlen are in a lot of the shows, including Hank's buddies (like Bill and Dale), with whom he drinks beer during the theme song. And Bobby has some friends, Luanne dates some guys, and misogynist Grandpa Cotton Hill is around with his wife Didi and new son whom he names "Good Hank."

Why does the show annoy me? Well, for starters, I can't stand the "this town is all there is in life" mindset. That, and I don't appreciate a Christmas special that includes Grandma having sex on the kitchen table. And let's not forget that Joseph clearly has Native American features, but nobody wants to consider that Recorn might be his biological father. Oh, and Bobby living in the doghouse while the dog lives in the real house (and everyone in the Hill family is fine with that) is disturbing. It also bothers me that FOX and Cartoon Network often disagree about what the individual episodes should be rated (TV-G, TV-PG, TV-14, etc)... either language/sexual content/violence exists, or it doesn't... c'mon now.

I've given the show a chance, via Hulu. Some of the Luanne storylines intrigue me, since she's just so dumb that she's funny. I saw a decent episode from Season 10 where Peggy is trying to sell a house that belongs to some really weird people. And a few episodes later there's a plot about a murder-mystery train ride, but that's a flop. And a month or so after that aired, there's a poorly-written episode where Bobby gets transferred to a "special needs" class so that his scores do not bring down the school's average. And I saw the one where Luanne has her baby (apparently she was pregnant for like 3 seasons??), which was mildly amusing because of the tips Peggy has... yikes.

And I won't include a video clip, because I don't want to watch more than one in trying to find a good one, ha.

Next week will be the final segment in this series. To have a say on the new series, be sure to vote TODAY, as the polls close in ten hours!