The King of the Hill "reboot" is pretty good

I watched the new season of King of the Hill. It was surprisingly good.

Among animated sitcoms, the aptly-named King of the Hill is the uncontested GOAT.

Shows like South Park, Family Guy, or The Simpsons have lasted longer (in The Simpsons’ case, way too long), but I don’t think any of them have aged with the same class and dignity that King of the Hill has. Despite the fact that it originally ended in 2010, most episodes of the show still hold up well today, mostly because it didn’t rely too heavily on topical humor like the other shows. KOTH certainly didn’t shy away from topical stuff on occasion, but it was never a central focus of the show. Political commentary was kept to a minimum, with most of the episodes revolving around the characters dealing with relatable everyday problems and no one character always being right about everything. It was a very grounded and nuanced comedy.

Fox decided they didn’t want any of that shit, and cancelled it in 2010 in favor of giving Seth MacFarlane his third slot on the Sunday night Animation Domination block, The Cleveland Show. I’ve squashed my beef with Seth since watching The Orville (which needs to come back ASAP), but his lowbrow slapstick style of “shock” humor doesn’t hold a candle to Mike Judge. Fox shot themselves in the foot by cancelling King of the Hill.

I was skeptical when I first heard whispers of the show returning. I think I first heard about it in 2022? I dismissed it as rumors, but then in 2023 it was officially confirmed. I’ll admit, I didn’t know what to think. It’s been almost 15 years, things could go either way. On one hand, cultural sensibilities have changed drastically during that time. But on the other hand, those same changes could be played on for humor, especially when someone like Hank Hill is involved. Culture shock has always been a staple of KOTH, and if I’d trust anyone to provide a fair and reasonably balanced take on the cultural shift we’ve seen over the last 15 years, it’s Mike Judge.

I see a lot of people referring to this as a “reboot”, and as a stickler for properly-labeled media I just want to say that they couldn’t be further from correct. It’s not a reboot, it’s not a new series, it’s the show’s 14th season. This is a continuation of season 13, picking up after a 15 year time skip.

King of the Hill‘s 14th season hits the mark for sure.

This is still very much the same show we all knew and loved. That same grounded and nuanced brand of humor that defines the series continues to deliver even 15 years later. KOTH is truly timeless, and season 14 stands as testament to that.

The premise is that, during a 15 year time skip, Hank accepted a propane job in Saudi Arabia (“Saud-eye Arab-eye-a”, as Peggy calls it) for Aramco, which led to him and Peggy moving overseas for several years. Bobby is now 21 years old (yes, there’s a few continuity errors with the timeframe they give) and runs a German-Japanese fusion restaurant in Dallas. The series picks up as a now-retired Hank and Peggy return to Arlen after their time in Saudi Arabia.

Let’s get this part out of the way now. Dale just didn’t sound right without Johnny Hardwick voicing him. Toby Huss is a veteran of the show, but his version of Dale was jarring to listen to. It’s particularly noticable in the third episode, which seems to have a mix of dialogue from both Huss and Hardwick (Hardwick recorded some lines before his passing). I’m not hating on Huss, his voice just doesn’t sound like the Dale I’m used to.

That said, while I miss Hardwick I’m happy they didn’t write Dale out, and I’m happy they even used another VA from the show to keep his legacy alive. I think given enough time, Huss could probably improve on his Dale voice and get closer to Hardwick. Alternatively, the show could acknowledge the voice change in some way by having Dale mention that his years of smoking messed up his voice (he’s currently vaping in the new season).

I’m also not thrilled about Khan’s voice being recast. Huss originally provided the voice of Hank’s cocky Laotian neighbor, but for the new season the show runners opted to replace him with an actual Asian VA, some comedian I’ve never heard of named Ronny Chieng. I guess they did this after the big stink that was made over Apu on The Simpsons? I don’t know, but Chieng’s performance as Khan was lacking. He sounded like an Asian guy trying to do an impression of a white guy doing an impression of an Asian guy. It sucked, it didn’t have any of the personality or bite that Huss’s Khan had. I begrudgingly accept that this guy will be the new voice of Khan because of bullshit racial politics, but he’s gotta do a better job.

Other than those two changes, the rest of the cast jumped right back into their roles like they never left. Everyone sounded great, and the natural dynamic between everyone was still there. None of the lines felt forced or ham-handed, it sounded just as good as always. I was pleased to see Keith David join the cast as Brian, the guy who rented Hank’s house while he was away in Saudi Arabia. I’m glad they didn’t try to shoehorn Brian in as some kind of fifth member of the alleyway crew, he’s more of a secondary character that sometimes shows up to join the guys. He did live in Hank’s house for several years, it’s only natural he’d still want to hang out with everyone from time to time. I’m looking forward to seeing more of his character in future seasons (I think it’s been confirmed for another season?). I also liked the new character Emilio, the sous chef at Bobby’s restaurant who’s always supportive of his boss and ready to give advice when Bobby needs it.

I also found it hilarious that after all this time Dale and Joseph are still completely oblivious to John Redcorn and Nancy’s affair (which, yes, is still going on), even to the point where Joseph claims he’s “the only white guy” on his construction crew. Joseph even picked up some of Dale’s more interesting traits, as we see in the beer competition episode where Dale and Joseph both show up at the judge’s house to threaten him.

It was also nice to see Hank’s half-brothers both make appearances again, and I liked that GH (Good Hank) even got his own episode. Watching Hank butt heads with an Andrew Tate parody was great. I can’t stand Tate, I think he’s an obnoxious piece of shit con artist who takes advantage of kids, and using Hank Hill to take him down a few pegs filled me with a cathartic joy.

The small callbacks to the original series were pretty funny too. I especially appreciated the callback to the “That’s my purse!” episode, with a doctor telling Peggy that she had damage to her uterus and implied it was from Bobby’s kick all those years ago. I also liked the scene where the Germans come into Bobby’s restaurant and one of them mentions that Bobby’s grandfather Cotton killed his grandfather in World War 2, and Bobby remarks “I guess he was one of those fifty men.” The show isn’t trying to rest on its laurels or exist as nostalgia bait, all the callbacks are brief one or two liners and just quick nods to the fans.

I could go into every episode and all the little details I appreciated, but we’d be here all day. Season 14 is a welcome addition to the series, and I think that fans of classic King of the Hill will definitely love this continuation of the show. It’s well worth watching.

Angry_Jerk

Adam “The Angry Jerk” Baker is the CEO of The AJnet Organization and Editor-in-Chief of AJnet Magazine. A grizzled internet veteran of over 20 years, he writes about politics, culture, and whatever else manages to annoy him that day.

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