Now I like King of the Hill very much, but I’ve had no less than 5 of my friends say things a long the lines of “You know, I never really liked that show”. It seems that no one around here but me watches it.
I don’t know anyone that likes it as much as me. (I would give it an 8.5/10 on the Jen-likey metre)
But it’s on its 8th season, and it’s being quickly released on DVD… so I think people must really like it somewhere…
But where is that? Because it’s not in Calgary!
Please excuse my babbling or poor grammar… I should be in bed by now.
I live in Texas and I like it. I would imagine that people with a rural background are more likely to enjoy the show. It is easier to relate to some of the humor if you are familiar with the setting. Not everyone appreciates the importance of a well maintained lawn.
Arkansas checking in.
My stepson LOVES it…he’s a twangy southern good ol’ boy, and ‘gets’ it a whole lot more than I do. He catches it on the local fox affiliate here- it’s on twice a day, in a 2 hour block alternating between the Simpsons and Home Improvement.
Of course, there are some funny eps…I just can’t bring myself to follow it regularly.
Personally, i love the show. I know my father, sister, and brothers like it (my mother not so much). If location is important, we all live in various parts of southern Ontario. The intersting thing is, none of us really relate to anyone in any way, shape, or form, on the show…except for maybe Bobby.
Native of Upstate New York here. I used to love close to the Texas border, on the New Mexico side, and I think KOTH does a great job at capturing the eccentricities of Texans, without degrading into redneck jokes. The conflicts of the state’s collective social conservatism and naievity versus the values of “outsiders” - Laotian immigrants, school psychiatrists, youth soccer enthusiasts and so on – is one of the show’s highlights.
As Brits would say, I think KOTH is brilliant. The humor is subtle, though … it doesn’t hit you over the head.
My wife comes from So. Illinois (borderline Kentucky) so I’m back there with the in-laws regularly, and we both love the show. Although a lot of the humor can be regional, many of the character types and dynamics are universal.
I was once a transplanted Texan living in Chicago and many people liked it there. I do not think you have to relate to the characters (many Texans do not) to enjoy it. You do have to enjoy and somewhat get the humor of the characters/enviroment.
Does anyone remember Hank Hill’s beginnings on Beavis and Butthead?
I like the show, too. As elmwood mentioned, the fact that the humor isn’t shocking, degrading, blaringly obvious, etc. is what I really like. Truthfully, I have very few “rolling on the floor laughing” moments with KOTH, but I usually have a grin on my face for the entire show. That’s much better (IMO) than some other shows where you just sit around and wait for the obvious punchlines to be delivered to you. It also tends to have a touching-yet-not-sappy family element that the best OLD Simpsons episodes used to have.
I liked it very much the first few shows when it was sorta realistic, but the characters quickly devolved into, well, cartoons. In the beginning, it was a gentle slice of life satirizing a couple ways of life that don’t get shown too much on television- working-class suburbs (with a realistic mix of ethnic groups and cultures), Baptists, Texans. That was refreshing, but instead of concentrating on that world, they began working up these ridiculous artificial conflicts. Hank goes to Hollywood! Peggy vs. Academia! The Hills meet Hippies! Eh, whatever.
And that’s just it. Anyone who’s not from the Midwest, South or Southwestern part of the U.S. probably wouldn’t appreciate King of the Hill let alone get it, as the humor is straight out the Cornbelt/Heartland of America.
As a Midwesterner who has lived in the Southwest, I just love this show to bits. Just watching King of the Hill brings back so many fond memories of friends, neighbors and co-workers that were more or less exactly like the main characters portrayed in the show.
I especially like the scenes when all the guys – Hank, Dale, Boomhauer and Bill – lare all standing around and talking about nothing in particular. The standing around in the backyards under cloudless skies, talking about anything and everything under the sun – usually with a beer can in hand – is so much a part of life in middle America that this show has really captured so hilariously and accurately, I might add. Even the over-the-top characters, like Hank’s grumbling DAMVET dad, Cotton , are too funny for words. I laugh only b/c I have known real-life characters exactly like these in the places I have lived.
The show also in a very wry and witty way, provides a bit of social commentary on how far removed life in the Heartland is from life on the Coasts and major metropolitan areas of the U.S.
I know a lot of snooty East Coasters and Beltway-types refer to *King of the * as “that cartoon about the trailer trash.” But for anyone who understands and appreciates living life at that pace, it really is quite entertaining.
In that respect, King of the Hill is almost like one big inside joke that usually sails right over the heads of anyone who is not familiar with the Heartland.
Many of my snobbish East Coast and New York friends either do not understand this show’s humor, or do not understand its appeal. In fact, a lot of my so-called ‘fast-lane’ friends think it’s just plain stupid. But au contraire I say; you’re just out of touch with middle America!
It’s consistently been one of my favorite shows since it premiered. I’m not exactly a good ol’ boy, either. Maybe I relate to Bobby, who’s a New Yorker at heart.
Wrong. That was Mister Anderson (make your own Matrix joke). Hank Hill didn’t appear on B&B; the voices were similar (but not identical), but the vocal mannerisms were different and the general level of intellect of Hank is way above that of Mister Anderson.
