Credit: Amazon.com
Creators:
Mike Judge
Greg Daniels
Cast:
Mike Judge ………. Hank Hill/Boomhauer/Stuart Dooley/Additional Voices (voice)
Kathy Najimy ………. Peggy Hill/Additional Voices (voice)
Pamela Segall Adlon………. Bobby Hill/Clark Peters/Additional Voices (voice)
Brittany Murphy ………. Luanne Platter (voice)
Johnny Hardwick ………. Dale Gribble/Additional Voices (voice)
Stephen Root ………. Bill Dauterive/Buck Strickland/Additional Voices (voice)
Ashley Gardner ………. Nancy Hicks Gribble/Didi Hill (voice)
Toby Huss ………. Cotton Hill/Kahn Souphanousinphone Sr./Joe Jack/Additional Voices (voice)
Jonathan Joss ………. John Redcorn (voice)
Breckin Meyer ………. Joseph Gribble (voice)
Lauren Tom ………. Minh Souphanousinphone/Kahn “Connie” Souphanousinphone, Jr. (voice)
The Show:
I tell you what man..you take the creator of ‘Beavis and Butt-Head’ and add in a veteran writer/producer for ‘The Simpsons’ and you get what? Well..you get ‘King of the Hill’. A show that some may say is better the two aforementioned shows, while others may hate it with a passion because it’s not like the other two shows.
The show centers around Hank Hill, a propane gas salesman in the fictional town Arlen, Texas. Hank is an old-fashioned, hardworking, beer drinking man who is trying to live in a modern Texas world. He finds some serenity in his home-life with his opinionated wife, substitute Spanish teacher Peggy, his awkward son Bobby, who is a disappointment to Hank, and his live-in niece-in-law Luanne Platter. Of course, Hank has crazy friends like the rest of us. They include divorcee military barber, Bill Dauterive, paranoid Dale Gribble with an obsession for Government conspiracy theories, and gibberish spouting Boomhauer. Hank’s father is along for the ride as well and he’s oppressive. Oh..and did I mention crazy neighbors too. Yeah..just like your life.
The show is not as outrageous as ‘Beavis and Butt-Head’ and it’s not as fast-paced as ‘The Simpsons’. It is its own show. It is more of an animated sitcom than anything else, since it deals with real people with five fingers and not animated characters with four fingers. The pace of the show is slow, but that’s Texas. I live in the South and everything is relatively slower here. Fact of life. This show does an excellent job of represented life in Texas, in my opinion.
Now the sixth season of ‘King of the Hill’ is considered a part of the peak of ‘King of the Hill’. This is when the show was at its best. This season had love triangles and gay rodeos. It had beer shortages and Vietnam War flashbacks. It went to Mexico and then to Japan. It had Renaissance Faires and cults. How about cooking burgers in the nude and Jimmy Carter? Yep..that too. Just crazy fun.
I have to admit that I had only seen a handful of episodes of this show before I got this DVD set. I knew of the show and watched it a few times, but animated shows are not my favorite kind of show as I have mentioned before. I enjoy them to a degree, but they are not my favorite. I can see people in the South enjoying it more than people living elsewhere, but really anyone can relate to this show. They may not get it at first, but it’s hard not to find at least one aspect from the show that you can relate to in your own life.
This show may forever be in the shadow of ‘Beavis and Butt-Head’ and ‘The Simpsons’, but don’t write it off as just another animated show or a show about life in Texas. It’s a smart and funny show about life that just happens to be animated and set in Texas. See how that all works? Check it out first and watch a few episodes. You’ll be surprised which character will make you laugh the hardest each episode, and it’s usually not the same one.
Episodes:
Disc One:
Side 1
Episode 1 – Bobby Goes Nuts
Bobby is empowered after taking a woman’s self-defense class where he learns, much to Hank’s horror, to kick his attackers below the belt. Ouch!
Episode 2 – Soldier of Misfortune
Dale humiliates himself by misfiring a gun at the Arlen Gun Club, and when Hank and the boys try to help him regain his confidence. Dale’s bungling nearly kills them all.
Episode 3 – Lupe’s Revenge
Peggy’s not as fluent in Spanish as she thinks she is, and when she takes Bobby’s class on a field trip to Mexico, she accidently kidnaps a Mexican girl. Meanwhile, a saucy policewoman has the hots for Hank.
Episode 4 – The Father, The Son, and J.C.
Peggy tries to help Hank mend his damaged relationship with Cotton in time for Christmas, but when the situation appears hopeless, they turn for help t the big J.C….Jimmy Carter.
Side 2
Episode 5 – Father of the Bribe
Kahn bribes Bobby to break up with Connie, but they use the money to continue seeing one another, only to discover that they don’t really have that much in common.
Episode 6 – I’m With Cupid
With Valentine’s Day approaching, Bobby is distraught over his breakup with Connie, so it’s Arlen’s resident ladies’ man, Boomhauer, to the rescue! Dang!
Episode 7 – Torch Song Hillogy
Peggy hopes Bobby will be selected to carry the Olympic torch through Arlen, but the honor goes to Hank, who accidently extinguishes the flame.
Episode 8 – Joust Like A Woman
Peggy leads a troupe of “wenches” to protest their unfair treatment at the Renaissance Faire, where Hank is trying to land a big-money propane account.
Disc Two:
Side 1
Episode 9 – The Bluegrass Is Always Greener
Hank and the boys recruit Connie for a bluegrass fiddle contest, but Kahn insists that she focus on classical musical.
Episode 10 – The Substitute Spanish Prisoner
After taking an online IQ test, Peggy is convinced she’s a genius, but when she’s scammed out of $1,000, she comes up with a scam of her own to retrieve the money.
Episode 11 – Unfortunate Son
Hank encourages several Vietnam vets to join Cotton’s financially-strapped V.F.W. group, but things go horribly awry when some of the vets experience flashbacks at the V.F.W. barbeque.
Episode 12 – Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret Hill
Peggy poses as a nun in order to land a full-time teaching job at a private Catholic school.
Side 2
Episode 13 – Tankin’s It To The Streets
Bill goes on a drinking binge and steals a tank when he learns that the army has used him as guinea pig for an experimental drug, which has made him fat, hairy, and lazy.
Episode 14 – Of Mice And Little Green Men
Dale is having trouble bonding with Joseph because he’s convinced he’s not the boy’s real father..an alien is!
Episode 15 – Man Without A Country Club
Kahn is flabbergasted when Hank is asked to become a member of an exclusive all-Asian country club, but Hank doesn’t realize that he’s only been asked because the club needs a token white member.
Episode 16 – Beer And Loathing
In the midst of a major crisis..a beer shortage in Texas..Peggy takes a job at Alamo Beer, where she signs a nondisclosure agreement, so she can’t tell Hank that the beer he’s been drinking is tainted, making him violently ill.
Disc Three:
Side 1
Episode 17 – Fun With Jane And Jane
Peggy encourages Luanne to join a sorority, which is actually a cult that brainwashes its members, while Hank is assigned to kill Mr. Strickland’s emus but can’t bring himself to do it.
Episode 18 – My Own Private Rodeo
Nancy wants to invite Bug, Dale’s estranged father, to the ceremony when she and Dale renew their wedding vows, but unbeknownst to his family, Bug works at a gay rodeo and is himself gay. Giddyap!
Episode 19 – Sug Night
Peggy feels threatened after Hank has a dream about him and Nancy grilling hamburgers in the nude. Sizzling hot!
Side 2
Episode 20 – Dang Ol’ Love
Bill is heartbroken when the beautiful jogger he’s pining for falls for Boomhauer, who is in turn heartbroken himself when the jogger dumps him.
Episode 21 – Returning Japanese (Parts 1 & 2)
The Hills are off to Japan so Cotton can apologize to the widow of a soldier he killed in WWII, but something about Cotton’s story doesn’t quite add up. Hank learns that he has a half-brother, Junichiro, and the two must put aside their differences to stop the embittered Cotton from sparking an international incident by spitting in the face of the Japanese emperor.
Score: 9/10
The Video:
The video is given in fullscreen color with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. Transfer is decent with minimal distortion. Colors look bright most of the time. This could be a little better, but it’s good enough.
The Audio:
The audio included comes in either English Dolby Digital 2.1 Surround sound or Spanish Dolby Digital 2.1. Surround song. There are also subtitles in English and Spanish. That’s great since the show is based in Texas and is close to Mexico. It makes sense really. No problems with the audio for me.
The Extras
Nothing at all! Unless you count the trivia match game on the back cover of disc three. But that is just matching four quotes to four characters of the show and that is nothing! Disappointed, but this is how it has gone with these sets since the third season. Why they couldn’t keep doing what they did on the first two season sets..I don’t know, but this is a major letdown.
Score: 0/10
