King of the Hill

It may just be me and kj in this thread nattering on for all eternity and debating the merits of surreal delusional pork magnate kidnapper vs. Sunshine doing an interpretive dance and the glory of the return of Appleseed, and throwing Peggy quotes back and forth but there may be others!

A thread for the underrated, unappreciated, wonderful, complex, hilarious, deep, show brought to you by the folks who later brought you the American version of The Office (especially Toby Flenderson).

Peggy, the boy!

Because I challenge you with my intellectual. <--- my fave Luanne quote.

Cyia said:

I really wanted an episode where Dale (who was honestly the worst of the worst) saved Arlen from aliens, but being Dale, no one else ever saw them or believed they existed.

Whataburger for everyone, I tell you what.

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Heh that'd have been cool -- like Buckley's ghost.

Except Dale was not the worst of the worst! I have a sorta soft spot for Dale; naive, dopey Dale. He loved his family.

Nancy, on the other hand, was the worst.

I'm assuming we're talking about Raney St., and Cotton is accepted to be the worst of the worst by default in a grander sense.

Oh, I forgot the hipster/real estate episode, that one is hilarious (and yeah, pretty prescient) --

There's SALMON in the fish tacos, Hank! Salmon!

Is everyone a DJ?

I also like the dolphin one, for a lot of reasons. I like the Luanne/Hank dynamic in it, that she tries so to get him a gift and can't see the obvious, and that he tries so to be grateful about it; that that is a thing that has actually happened, with the dolphin; the slippers and the capers.

Also, "I never get brunch."

I remember reading some article about KotH a while ago and I think it was Greg Daniels who said that the line, 'the day before Thanksgiving is, in my opinion, one of the worst travel days of the year," was something they came up with early on (the ep was written early even if not shot til later), and that totally cemented Peggy as a character for them.

I dunno who my fave character is, maybe Luanne.

Really never liked Lucky at all.

I'm so excited other people watch(ed)!

Fave eps/worst eps?

My faves include --

Lucky Steaks (the one with the organic Co-op -- Cornuco-opia, )
Dream Weaver (the one where Dale and Hank go on a vo-cation to weave baskets)
Not in my Back Hoe (the one with Drew Carey as Hank's new friend Hal)
The one where Bill picks stocks, can't remember the name
The one where the guys stow away on the truck taking the furniture to Hank's mom at xmas and Luanne is back home with Peggy writing the xmas hit
The one where Hank takes his mom and her friends to look at the miniatures (I'm always there for Betty White, but that whole ep is good)


Ones I don't love --

The Pork producer who tries to brainwash/turn Luanne into the girl on the package
The one where they all get lice from Bill and Hank realizes he has the tattoo
The one with Dale's car in the quarry
The one where Bobby makes meth with Connie's cousin
Dale's dad is a gay rodeo star

Maggie Maxwell said:

KotH was definitely underappreciated. One of the few "family" cartoons that showed a healthy family dynamic in the main cast. Yes, they were flawed people, but they truly loved each other and themselves and did what was best for each other, ultimately propping each other up instead of tearing down like other shows that need not be named here.

Also Boomhauer.

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The Boomhauer reveal with his wallet at Lucky and Luanne's wedding was one of the true tv spit-take moments for me in like, life. I think that was so perfect and hilarious and subtle.

I also love how he sings perfectly clearly.

And yes -- they're characters and to a point caricatures but close ones, relatable ones, and for all their flaws they did love each other and try and have real relationships and fight and have to make up and stuff in very real ways and I loved it. The Hank/Bobby dynamic is very multilayered in such a true way.

mrsmig said:

Thinking about Lucky and Luanne made me remember who originally voiced them.

Now I has a sad.

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I often have a melancholy moment thinking about her. I saw some of her movies, loved her in Clueless, but I do love Luanne and I was very sad when she died.

It also, every time I'm like 'hey, revivals, what's Greg Daniels and Toby doing...' makes me think, 'but... Luanne, so no...'

I had no idea there were things based in reality! I mean the dolphin thing but that's a general thing not a like, local to Texas specific thing. I'm all gobsmacked now.

I think part of the attraction for me is that I don't know those characters at all; they're not like any people I know, thus there's extra fascination.

Kj is definitely correct -- that's a two-parter; Peggy and Hank go sky-diving in part because she's upset about Cotton and DeeDee having a baby when she wants another (and that's eventually why she decides to jump, when she hears DeeDee is in labour).

Cyia said:

I can tell you one episode I didn't like - that was the one with all the country music stars, where Peggy "poisoned" Brooks & Dunn, annoyed the entire campsite with her "Spagpeggi," and found out that Randy Travis stole her song.

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Oh I kind of love that one because the whole thing is so set up to show off Peggy's uhm, high self-esteem, and then it turns out Randy Travis is actually a song-stealing loony tune.

I'm not a fan of the Willy Nelson episode though; it's just boring.