The SmarK DVD Rant for King of the Hill Season One
“It’s okay Bobby, you can do it. Just choke up on it and try to swing less like a girl.”
Living in Alberta, which is kind of a bigger version of Texas but with snow, I can understand what the characters in King of the Hill are going through. Created by Mike Judge, who first made a name for himself with the brilliantly subversive Beavis & Butthead (including the criminally underrated movie of the same name), King of the Hill is one of those cartoons that’s drawn so realistically and filled with such smart writing that you could film it as a live-action sitcom and probably produce one of the best ones on the market. And unlike other Fox cartoons like the Simpsons and Family Guy, the characters have been constantly evolving (although not aging) since day one, resulting in one of the most overlooked but consistently hilarious shows on TV today. On the other hand, much like Hank himself, it’s not a show that hits you over the head with jokes, so it’s one that’s easy to forget about when it’s on. Which is why the DVD is such a great medium for it.
The Film
King of the Hill focuses on Hank Hill, a good old boy roughly based on the redneck neighbor in Beavis & Butthead, and his three slightly insane neighbors. Another interesting thing about the show is the way all the characters gained all their major traits within a few episodes of the pilot, showing how tight and effective the writing was. Anyway, many of the episodes get mileage out of Hank’s uptight nature and problems relating to his son Bobby, who is definitely growing up in a more pop-culture centered world than Hank did. “That boy ain’t right”, Hank often comments, and he’s got a point. His greatest pleasures in life are beer, football and propane, although not necessarily in that order, and he considers all the craziness around him to be merely detracting from his pursuit of that happiness. It’s a great character, and by surrounding him with characters who are much farther into left field than him (a deliberate strategy by the creators, as noted in the commentary tracks) it makes Hank more human and normal than he would otherwise seem.
Spanning 13 episodes, all of them strong, the first season introduces all the major characters who would be needed for the run of the series, as well as SEVERAL hilarious running gags that would continue all through the show.
Disc One:
– Pilot. Well, not the most inventive title, and the show itself is the weakest in terms of the animation and actors getting a grip on the characters. Hank looks more like a character out of B&B at this point, for example, and the Boomhauer/Dale/Bill trio are little more than generic rednecks. The plot sets the stage for Hank’s anger against the left wing right away, as a baseball hits slow-witted Bobby during a game of softball, leaving him with a black eye. While shopping for a can of WD-40 at the gigantic Mega-Lo-Mart, Hank blows up at future recurring character Buckley, triggering a series of gossip that leads Social Services to his door. Bobby takes advantage of his new power over Hank, who finds it increasingly frustrating to have to yell at Bobby about “respecting his fence’s right to be a fence.” A funny episode about the government getting too much power over individuals, although a lot of the characters weren’t even close to their classic form yet. Luanne in particular was voiced very differently in the beginning, and Dale was more of a generic moron than a true conspiracy nut at that point. But things would improve drastically soon. This one does, however, introduce the running gag about Hank’s narrow urethra, and introduces Cotton Hill in a brief flashback.
– Square Peg. Big jump in quality, as they ratchet up Hank’s discomfort with his own emotions and body for maximum laughs. In this case, the local school wants to teach a Sex Ed class, which leaves Hank freaked out to no end. Even worse, Dale makes a death threat to the teacher on behalf of those on the right wing, and that leaves Peggy (Substitute Teacher of the Year, 1996) to teach the class. This of course sends Hank past the uptight boiling point, but Bobby is so oblivious that he doesn’t even understand what all the fuss is about. He just assumes that it means he won’t need his toys anymore, since he’ll be having sex all the time and all. Another good one that starts to really capture Dale’s essence (his bungled death threat to Peggy being pure Dale Gribble) and introduces the running gag of Luanne’s trouble in beauty school. Probably also the first cartoon to feature a woman yelling “VAGINA!” in prime time that I know of.
– The Order of the Straight Arrow. The first bonafide classic of the series sees the guys trying desperately to make their sons into real men by reenacting the same mental torture that THEIR fathers put them through — the Order of the Straight Arrow. You know the drill — vow of silence, snipe hunting, sacred Indian vows, etc. Even the car ride to the park is hilarious, as they use Slim Jims for “silence sticks” and Bill gets hungry. But once there, the boys suspect that they’re just being toyed with until the snipe hunt begins and Bobby actually bags one. Sort of. Well, more like an endangered species, actually, but the thought was there. This one introduced the catchphrases for the 21st century: “Woo-loo-loo” and “Wemetanye.” There’s also the first mention of Peggy’s neurosis about her big feet AND her obsession with being Mexican, as she travels to Lubbock in secret, under an assumed name, to buy her size 16 shoes. Brilliant from start to finish.
– Luanne’s Saga. Buckley makes his formal entrance into the show’s canon as Luanne’s idiot, motorcycle-driving boyfriend, who promptly dumps her at the beginning of the show. This triggers a fit of crying that last for the entire day, leading Peggy to specifically warn Hank NOT to try to help (“Three words: You look pretty. No more”). Hank, of course, feeling that women are as easy to fix as cars, bonds with Luanne (in reality angling to get her out of his den as soon as possible) and decides to fix her up with a suitable football player at a local country bar. Somehow she ends up with Boomhauer (the first real mention of his powers with the ladies) and Hank finds himself feeling strangely paternal towards his niece (“She’s my wife’s brother’s daughter that’s as close as you can get!”) and it’s another sweet ending that sees Hank actually grow as a person again. Brittany Murphy really sinks her teeth into the role here, bringing Luanne’s voice closer to the more stilted southern ditz delivery that would define the character later. This one also introduces the all-time weirdest running gag in the show, as Chuck Mangione is associated with Mega-Lo-Mart in a commercial and would pop up as a recurring character over the years from then on.
– Hank’s Got The Willies. This one produces the quote that starts the review, as Bobby’s hero worship of prop comic CeleryHead leads Hank to explain to him the importance of picking the right hero and of NOT touching his guitar. Peggy is soon jealous of the guitar, while Hank takes Bobby golfing, resulting in Hank’s hero, Willie Nelson, getting bopped in the eye by an errant club. But soon, Bobby decides to make it up to his dad by bringing the guitar to Willie for an autograph, leading to a party on Willie’s lawn (well, what the IRS hasn’t confiscated, that is) where Hank discovers who Bobby’s real hero is. Too many cheesy celebrity cameos drag this one down a bit, although Bob Dylan conversing with Boomhauer is worth the price of admission.
Disc Two:
Four home run swings on this one, and only one of them is a near-miss, being caught at the warning track
– Westie Side Story. This would be the near-miss, but it’s close. The Hills get new neighbors, as the ever-lovable racist Laotian, Kahn, moves in with his family and immediately starts pissing off Hank. The regular gang is out of their league, diplomatically speaking, as they can’t negotiate the thought of anyone from Asia who isn’t Chinese or Japanese. And when the new neighbors host a barbeque and the dogs disappear well, Dale makes the obvious leap of logic and everyone gets all freaked out. The stuff with the dogs is a little TOO stereotypical redneck, even for this show, but it’s an important one because it establishes the future relationship with Bobby & Kahn Jr.
– Hank’s Unmentionable Problem. This is a Mark McGuire with a corked bat while taking steroids and facing Mitch Williams 750 foot out of the park shot. Three simple words: Hank is constipated. Keeping in mind that the more socially uncomfortable Hank gets, the funnier the show is, you can imagine how easily this one writes itself, as Hank’s little problem turns into neighborhood gossip and soon he’s eating tofu and Faux Fu (for the tofu intolerant) and having 2AM “bathroom time” to avoid getting his colon surgically removed, while Peggy has nightmares about C. Everett Coop and toilet-themed funerals for Hank. Every time someone more further removed from his inner circle brings up his constipation at the most inappropriate time possible, Hank gets more uncomfortable and the show gets funnier, and when he’s laying on the examining table, half-naked, with a probe stuck up his ass while an attractive nursing student watches, it’s like the defining moment for the entire series. Not THE defining moment for the whole series (that would come a couple of seasons later, when Hank launched an impressive legal campaign to clear his name over a missing porno tape), but a big one.
– Shins of the Father. One of the best recurring characters is formally introduced, as Cotton Hill storms into town for Bobby’s birthday party and immediately begins teaching the boy the proper way to treat a woman in the 19th century. Bobby, too clueless to realize exactly what he’s doing, is soon slapping the asses of waitresses and preaching about “woman’s work” to the cafeteria workers at school. And when things flash back to Hank’s post-game celebration in high school, when Cotton took the guys to a whorehouse, Hank’s total denial about how messed up his relationship with his father really is kicks in. Everything from Peggy’s slow-burn to Cotton’s bullshit flashback to World War II works perfectly in this one, setting up many future clashes between Hank’s dad and our main characters.
– Peggy the Boggle Champion. Everyone has to have something they’re good at, and in Peggy’s case, it’s Boggle. This one deals with three plots of ascending absurdity, and yet they all work within the way the characters are defined: Peggy makes the State Boggle Finals in Dallas, which has Hank worried about her safety. (“That place is full of crackheads and degenerates and many of them play for the Cowboys!”) However, on the same weekend, the Lawnmower Expo is in town, which is like Santa Claus visiting for the guys, so he decides to act as Peggy’s coach and sneak off to see the latest technological advances in lawn care while he’s there. This leaves Bobby & Luanne in charge of the house for the weekend, and with a dire warning of no partying hanging over their heads (although they’re so square that Luanne rents the “family friendly” version of Risky Business from Blockbuster) they freak out when Bobby puts a drink on the coffee table with using a coaster! Chaos of course ensues. Again, three terrific subplots (Hank’s consternation over being “Mr. Peggy Hill” to the hotel computer, Boomhauer riding the “virtual lawnmower”, the evil Boggle Queen of Dallas) make this another winner all around.
Disc Three:
– Keeping Up With Our Joneses. One of the more darkly comic episodes sees Joseph and Bobby sneaking into a bathroom to try their first cigarette, which unfortunately leads Hank to discover them there and assume that they’re going to be addicted for life. While Dale decides to let his son read some literature from the tobacco companies, Hank goes the tried-and-true route of making Bobby smoke an entire carton of cigarettes. However, it backfires when both Hank’s old smoking jones and Bobby’s new addiction to them crop up, leaving everyone except for Luanne puffing away. As the family disintegrates while trying to quit, they try a 12-step program and MAN does Hank sound like a monster from that vantage point. This is one instance where they can a storyline — Bobby chain-smoking — that a live-action sitcom wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole.
– Plastic White Female. Speaking of storylines other sitcoms wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole, one of the all-time bizarre Bobby episodes sees Luanne practicing for her final exam with a mannequin head, while Bobby has to prep for his first boy-girl makeout party at Joseph’s house. Uh oh. While Bobby starts using the head to practice (and using it entirely too much) Peggy has a midlife crisis over her growing little boy, while Hank is just worried that he might not like girls. When they find out the truth about his mystery girlfriend it gets very weird and uncomfortable for all concerned, and as always the only one who doesn’t see what the big deal is, is Bobby.
– The Company Man. Originally aired as the season premiere for year 2, but produced as #12 in season 1, this introduces Burt Reynolds as Hank’s propane-selling nemesis, Thatherton. Hank has to woo the business of a condo developer for Strickland Propane (this one marks the debut of Stephen Root as Bud Strickland as well), but he’s a Yankee doofus who thinks that all Texans wear cowboy boots and have the theme from Dallas in their jukeboxes. And as Hank stumbles through lie after lie in order to convince the guy that he’s authentic Texas cowboy material, Bobby is there taking notes for his school report on his hero the whole way. I actually liked the alternate ending to this one a little better, but they both work.
– King of the Ant Hill. The season finale sees Cinqo de Mayo approaching, which means party time on the block, and Hank and his prize-winning lawn are the captains. However, a man can tell when his lawn is struggling, and in this case it seems like Dale’s constant use of poisons (for a nominal $2 a week charge, of course) have weakened his lawn to the point where Kahn’s is obviously superior. Hank can’t abide this, so he breaks his personal code of ethics and BUYS A NEW LAWN? My god, what depths they had him sink to in the first season. However, Dale won’t give it up that easily, and plants fire ants to get revenge, which unfortunately results in the queen hypnotizing Bobby into doing her bidding. Bobby is of course the only person on earth who could be hypnotized by a fire ant. A funny idea, but it kind of loses momentum halfway in and never gets it back.
Overall, pretty much a can’t-miss proposition, as they came out of the gate running with this series and pumped out quality from day one, and they still are today. While not as anarchic as the Simpsons, it’s much more human and rings true to life in a lot of ways. Fox has had the strongest primetime cartoon lineup ever seen for years now, and this set is a prime example of why.
The Video
King of the Hill is a very earthy show, so it doesn’t feature a lot of high-contrast colors like Family Guy and the Simpsons do. Much like Hank, this is a workmanlike effort that gets the job done without being anything fancy. The picture is clean and free of defects, although it’s a bit fuzzy at times. It’s better than broadcast quality, however, and that’s all you can ask with these sets.
The Audio
Dolby Surround in either English or Espanol. It’s a dialogue-driven cartoon, so nothing exciting here.
The Extras
Tons of stuff compared to the other season sets as of late. You get
– Commentaries on 8 of the episodes, and this is the neat part — instead of the same people, you get two with co-creator Greg Daniels, two with director Klay Hall, two with Stephen Root & Johnny Hardwick in character as Bill Dauterive & Dale Gribble, and in the show-stealing pair of the set, two with Kathy Najimy & Pamela S. Adlon, TOTALLY immersed in character as Peggy & Bobby. The Peggy & Bobby ones are drop-dead hilarious, as Bobby acts like you’d expect him to when faced with doing a DVD commentary (like yelling “HI LUANNE!” when she appears on screen and complaining about being made to do commentary on the plastic head episode) and Peggy makes various catty remarks behind Cotton’s back during “Shins of the Father”. Hopefully season two will have more of these two together, and I was really hoping for a Mike Judge track, either as Hank & Boomhauer or just as himself. The Bill & Dale tracks are the weakest, as the characters don’t have much to say while trying to improv for 20 minutes, and the tracks with Hall are standard director’s stuff, while Daniels tends to talk about the production end. A really strong mix of stuff, but as always a track on EVERY episode like the Simpsons would have been the best.
– Tons of deleted scenes, both in completed and animatic form, and just about all of them are worth inclusion in the shows. The weirdest is a subplot from the smoking episode with Bobby going undercover with the Nico-Teens to catch a crooked store owner who sells to minors.
– A nice long featurette, produced in 1996 (back when Brittany Murphy was a brunette!) about the making and history of the show. Really interesting stuff.
– Photo galleries with rough sketches and character tables for the various members of the Hill family.
– “60 Do’s and Don’ts”, a gallery showing what the writers and animators have to base their work on, in the form of a bible from Mike Judge. Some of the stuff (like details on the eyes) is just crazy and things you’d never even notice watching the show. For instance, from the sixth season on, Dale can no longer be shown exhaling smoke or flipping up his glasses.
– A music video from the Barenaked Ladies.
– A million different promo spots from the first season, and the Super Bowl “Full Monty” commercial, complete with alternate gags.
– And finally, a special introduction by Hank, Dale and Bobby on each disc.
Quite the impressive list there, no? I don’t know if there’s much left for future seasons, but bring em on!
The Ratings:
The Film: ****1/2
The Video: ***
The Audio: **1/2
The Extras: ****
