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The Guardian
06-08-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
King of the Hill review – this charming comedy returns after 15 years … and it's more welcome than ever
It's been 15 years since we last enjoyed the company of Hank and Peggy Hill. Barack Obama had just entered the White House, Hank was a younger man with an exciting adventure ahead of him and all was, if not quite well with the world, certainly at least explicable. But now? Season 14 of this revived, beloved animated sitcom is upon us, feeling anachronistic yet also oddly timely. It's like reconnecting with a group of old friends and realising that, while they are much as they always were, the context in which you now see them has altered beyond all recognition. Playing slightly against cartoon convention, the Hills' lives have moved on. Unlike, for example, the ageless Simpsons, everyone is visibly older. In the intervening years, the propane industry has taken Hank and Peggy to Saudi Arabia. As we rejoin them, they are on the plane home. Hank has been in the toilet for hours because, as Peggy sees fit to inform the other passengers, 'he now has the urethra of a seven-year-old'. When they touch down in Texas, Hank kisses the ground. But will he recognise the place? As they drive around their neighbourhood, Hank has a realisation. Their gated community in Saudi Arabia was 'more Texan than Texas'. The US has exported an idealised version of its past especially for the ex-pats, even as the country itself has transformed beyond all recognition. King of the Hill always did subtle political messaging, wrapping pointed observations in the gentleness of the comedy. Hank is quickly back on familiar territory, standing by the fence outside his home, sharing a beer with his old pals. Bill has let himself go, badly. Boomhauer is still mumbly, but now has a similarly mumbly child. He greets Hank with a slightly surprising hug. As a man who still expresses his love for his son by offering to check the oil in his car, Hank finds this awkward. But as ever, the writing brings a remarkable amount of nuance to these simply but carefully constructed characters. Even in retirement, Hank is working through a few things. Dale, though, is a different keg of beer altogether. He hasn't learned anything; instead the world has come around to him. Back in the day, Dale's fondness for conspiracy theories made him the butt of the jokes. He doesn't seem like such a harmless eccentric any more, though. Needless to say, he references 'the pandumbic'. Hank, though, is old school and old media; he had access only to Fox News and CNN while in Saudi Arabia – although he feels he has to apologise for having watched CNN. Hank is a Republican – during the show's original run, his response to learning that he was driving through Bill Clinton's home town was to lock his car doors. But this adds real poignancy to the new iteration of the show. Much has changed in the US and not everything to Hank's satisfaction, with one of those things being public discourse. At one point, Hank, Peggy and Dale go on a museum tour themed around George W Bush during which they are offered the chance to role-play a cabinet meeting. However, it degenerates into wild fiction as participants start ranting about 'Obama's Kenyan handler'. Dale is no longer an outlier – he's now a thought-leader. Mike Judge's and Greg Daniels's writing perspective is evident here: Hank longs for an old, moderate America that couldn't always agree, but could at least accept shared terms of reference within which they could argue. There is, however, a kindness to King of the Hill, which finds equal expression alongside the show's occasional disquiet. There is charm and progress in its apparently changeless setting. The Hills' son, Bobby, was once a chubby, geeky misfit. Happily, he has been given an upgrade that feels at once generous, eccentric and earned. He is a chef at a Japanese restaurant and Hank's and Bobby's familial battles are now fought via the proxies of food and drink. Hank and Bobby enter a brewing contest. 'It's just a friendly contest between father and son,' says Hank. 'Where the father will kick his son's ass.' Father and son receive a necessary lesson in humility. There remains a lightness and ease to these exchanges. Fittingly, as is the case with most longstanding relationships, the old rhythms return almost immediately, for the Hills and for viewers. Often, King of the Hill drifts toward the neat and the saccharin. It's not a show that will ever hold back on the hugging and learning. But that feels entirely deliberate; at the moment, a show prioritising modesty, tolerance and gentle revelation feels more welcome than ever. King of the Hill is on Disney+
The Guardian
05-08-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
King of the Hill review – this charming comedy returns after 15 years … and it's more welcome than ever
It's been 15 years since we last enjoyed the company of Hank and Peggy Hill. Barack Obama had just entered the White House, Hank was a younger man with an exciting adventure ahead of him and all was, if not quite well with the world, certainly at least explicable. But now? Season 14 of this revived, beloved animated sitcom is upon us, feeling anachronistic yet also oddly timely. It's like reconnecting with a group of old friends and realising that, while they are much as they always were, the context in which you now see them has altered beyond all recognition. Playing slightly against cartoon convention, the Hills' lives have moved on. Unlike, for example, the ageless Simpsons, everyone is visibly older. In the intervening years, the propane industry has taken Hank and Peggy to Saudi Arabia. As we rejoin them, they are on the plane home. Hank has been in the toilet for hours because, as Peggy sees fit to inform the other passengers, 'he now has the urethra of a seven-year-old'. When they touch down in Texas, Hank kisses the ground. But will he recognise the place? As they drive around their neighbourhood, Hank has a realisation. Their gated community in Saudi Arabia was 'more Texan than Texas'. The US has exported an idealised version of its past especially for the ex-pats, even as the country itself has transformed beyond all recognition. King of the Hill always did subtle political messaging, wrapping pointed observations in the gentleness of the comedy. Hank is quickly back on familiar territory, standing by the fence outside his home, sharing a beer with his old pals. Bill has let himself go, badly. Boomhauer is still mumbly, but now has a similarly mumbly child. He greets Hank with a slightly surprising hug. As a man who still expresses his love for his son by offering to check the oil in his car, Hank finds this awkward. But as ever, the writing brings a remarkable amount of nuance to these simply but carefully constructed characters. Even in retirement, Hank is working through a few things. Dale, though, is a different keg of beer altogether. He hasn't learned anything; instead the world has come around to him. Back in the day, Dale's fondness for conspiracy theories made him the butt of the jokes. He doesn't seem like such a harmless eccentric any more, though. Needless to say, he references 'the pandumbic'. Hank, though, is old school and old media; he had access only to Fox News and CNN while in Saudi Arabia – although he feels he has to apologise for having watched CNN. Hank is a Republican – during the show's original run, his response to learning that he was driving through Bill Clinton's home town was to lock his car doors. But this adds real poignancy to the new iteration of the show. Much has changed in the US and not everything to Hank's satisfaction, with one of those things being public discourse. At one point, Hank, Peggy and Dale go on a museum tour themed around George W Bush during which they are offered the chance to role-play a cabinet meeting. However, it degenerates into wild fiction as participants start ranting about 'Obama's Kenyan handler'. Dale is no longer an outlier – he's now a thought-leader. Mike Judge's and Greg Daniels's writing perspective is evident here: Hank longs for an old, moderate America that couldn't always agree, but could at least accept shared terms of reference within which they could argue. There is, however, a kindness to King of the Hill, which finds equal expression alongside the show's occasional disquiet. There is charm and progress in its apparently changeless setting. The Hills' son, Bobby, was once a chubby, geeky misfit. Happily, he has been given an upgrade that feels at once generous, eccentric and earned. He is a chef at a Japanese restaurant and Hank's and Bobby's familial battles are now fought via the proxies of food and drink. Hank and Bobby enter a brewing contest. 'It's just a friendly contest between father and son,' says Hank. 'Where the father will kick his son's ass.' Father and son receive a necessary lesson in humility. There remains a lightness and ease to these exchanges. Fittingly, as is the case with most longstanding relationships, the old rhythms return almost immediately, for the Hills and for viewers. Often, King of the Hill drifts toward the neat and the saccharin. It's not a show that will ever hold back on the hugging and learning. But that feels entirely deliberate; at the moment, a show prioritising modesty, tolerance and gentle revelation feels more welcome than ever. King of the Hill is on Disney+
Telegraph
04-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
King of the Hill's revival gets to grips with a much-changed America
The beauty of King of the Hill was that nothing ever changed. The world may have constantly evolved around Hank Hill, the bluff Texan patriarch at the centre of this animated family sitcom, but he clung stubbornly to his conservative, traditional ideals. From 1997 to 2010, Hank and his buddies drank beer in the alley, little Bobby remained 11 years old, and modernity was something that happened to those big city folk in the north-east. In Hank's heart, Ronald Reagan is still president. Yet, as Disney and Hulu bring Mike Judge and Greg Daniels's show back for a long-delayed 14th season (it was previously on Fox), not even pigheaded Hank could deny things are very different now, both on-screen and off. Daniels, for instance, has become the hottest property in US television after he co-created Parks and Recreation and The US Office, while the show has been weighed down by tragedy – original cast members Jonathan Joss (Native American John Redcorn) and Johnny Hardwick (conspiracy theorist Dale Gribble) both died during production. Both characters feature in the current series, though there is no sign of Hank's niece Luanne, who was voiced by Brittany Murphy until her death aged 32 in 2009. In the world of Arlen, Texas, things are rather different too. The timeline has jumped 10 years, with little Bobby (voiced by Pamela Adlon, also a bigger star thanks to Better Things) now a stubbly 21-year-old chef at a Japanese-German restaurant in Dallas, and Hank (Judge) and Peggy (Kathy Najimy) having spent the past decade in Saudi Arabia. When they return to the Lone Star State to enjoy retirement, Hank struggles to adapt to taxi apps, gender-neutral toilets and electric cars. It's rather a blunt way to remind us that Hank is a man out of time, especially when he blithely drops things like 'cancelled' and 'nepo baby' into the conversation. After a lumpy start, the show – and the Hills – soon slots nicely into the groove, with the timeline bringing fresh perspective on familiar characters. Hank's sense of uselessness in retirement is handled beautifully, while watching Bobby carve out his own sense of what it is to be a man is an emotional experience for seasoned viewers (though Adlon's voice remains identical to how it was when Bobby was 11, which often proves unsettling). The current US president is never mentioned, but there's a piquancy in watching Hank, an essentially decent man but one who longs to live in the America of the 1950s, exist in a world that is now both aggressively for him and against him. Dale, who was a classic 1990s wingnut, now seems surreally mainstream – he is QAnon made flesh. Crucially the show is still funny, with new showrunner Saladin K Patterson embracing Judge's willingness to press all sorts of buttons ('You can't play two race cards!' Bobby tells a black Japanese man, before mulling over whether Speedy Gonzalez was a racist stereotype or a Mexican revolutionary hero). Some of the episode themes are a little neat – toxic masculinity and the manosphere, cultural appropriation – but Hank Hill has become a fascinating figure through which to view modern America. The man out of time may just have found his perfect moment.
New York Times
02-08-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘King of the Hill' Enters Its Golden Years
'It's amazing what sticks with you from the olden times,' a 'King of the Hill' character named Bill Dauterive says wistfully, in the first new episode of this animated sitcom in 15 years. It would almost be a perfectly nostalgic moment — if Bill weren't saying this from the darkened suburban bedroom he has barely left since 2020. In the meantime he has grown a long beard and let garbage pile up on his lawn. He congratulates himself for remembering the word 'window.' From its debut on Fox in 1997, 'King of the Hill' sought to balance a certain level of authenticity with its wry humor as it chronicled the lives of Hank and Peggy Hill, an average couple in the fictional town of Arlen, Texas. Some episodes spun comedy from the quotidian details of Hank's job, where he sells propane and propane accessories. Others took a more heightened approach — in one episode, Bill, his neighbor, becomes so depressed about the absence of his ex-wife, Lenore, that he begins to believe he is her — without fully breaking the rules of reality. Over 13 seasons and 259 episodes, 'King of the Hill' became a laboratory for the farcical but humane storytelling of its creators, Mike Judge (who also created 'Beavis and Butt-head' and wrote and directed films like 'Office Space' and 'Idiocracy') and Greg Daniels (who developed the American adaptation of 'The Office' and is helping to create a sequel, 'The Paper'). Now as the series returns with a new showrunner for a 10-episode revival on Hulu, its producers are trying to change and contemporize 'King of the Hill' while remaining faithful to its core values. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
26-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'King of the Hill' showrunner discusses diversifying reboot cast: 'The world has changed'
Reboot showrunner Saladin K. Patterson discussed the new cast with original series creators Mike Judge and Greg Daniels at San Diego Comic-Con 2025. The creative minds behind the King of the Hill reboot are excited to introduce fans to "some new people" that've joined the family. The whip-smart animated sitcom chronicling the suburban exploits of the Hill family and their friends and neighbors in the fictional small town of Arlen, Tex., is returning after 15 long years off the air. During a Friday panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2025, showrunner Saladin K. Patterson, original series creators Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, and returning stars Pamela Adlon, Lauren Tom, Toby Huss, and Kathy Najimy discussed their return to Arlen, including some of its brand new residents. "It was important in the show, the world has changed a little bit since Hank and Peggy have been gone," Patterson said. "Casting has changed a little bit too since Hank and Peggy have been gone, as far as, actors fit the characters that they're portraying." The King of the Hill panel began with a screening of the full second episode of the new season. While some things about the Hills, the alley gang, the residents of Rainey street, and the world around them are comfortingly familiar, there are plenty of fresh new additions. And tweaks too — King of the Hill season 14 not only introduces new characters, but recasts the voices behind several characters of color. The most exciting new addition to the King of the Hill cast is the legendary Keith David, who plays a character named Brian Robertson. Brian moved into the Hill house while Hank (Judge) and Peggy (Najimy) decamped for Saudi Arabia on an Aramco project during the show's hiatus. The Hills have not only moved back to Arlen, but into their old house, and Brian's happy to join Hank, Dale (Johnny Hardwick/Toby Huss), Boomhauer (Judge), and Bill Dauterive (Stephen Root) during the alley gang's alley hangs. Though it was always savvily written along cultural lines and already boasted a cast of characters from a diverse array of backgrounds, King of the Hill was criticized during its original run for casting several white actors to voice characters of color. The reboot recasts several of these characters, with Kenneth Choi taking over for Huss as the voice of Laotian-American businessman Ted Wassanasong, Ki Hong Lee replacing Adlon as his boastful son, Chane, Ronny Chieng relieving Huss of the role as Kohng Koy "Kahn" Souphanousinphone, the Hills' Laotian-American next door neighbor, and Native American actor Tai Leclaire taking over the role of Bobby's friend Joseph Gribble from Breckin Meyer, who himself took over for Brittany Murphy in 2000. Patterson enthused that the reboot's creative team "got very lucky in being able to have so many people who were big fans of the show, like Ronnie Chieng, who grew up watching the show. He was a fan of it and came and joined us.""Such a natural Kahn," Daniels added. Patterson said that the switch-ups have "been really fun. That's added to some of the excitement, the family feeling, just inviting some new people to the family." Check out more of . Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
