Why the return of King of the Hill in 2023 is the antidote to our political divisions
king of the hill premiered on Fox in 1997 and became an instant hit for the network, airing for over a decade. From creator Mike Judge, audiences who probably tuned in expected something similar to his previous series Beavis and Butthead. Still king of the hill was a notably different series that focused on the Hill family and their patriarch, Hank Hill, who sells propane and propane supplies. His wife Peggy is a Spanish substitute teacher who believes she is more talented than she really is. Bobby Hill, Hank and Peggy’s son aspires to be a prop comic, and Hank and Peggy’s niece, Luanne Platter, who is often very naïve about the world around her but has a big heart.
Update April 29, 2023: With the news that the king of the hill The revival is officially happening on Hulu. This article has been updated to reflect the series’ return and to learn more about what’s on king of the hill so topical today.
Despite the solid dressing king of the hill is a series about American conservatism and liberalism coming together to find common ground. The Hill family is a conservative household in a traditionally red state like Texas, which has led some people to revisit the series after the 2016 election, with many wondering who the various characters would have voted for during the election and how they would navigate through today’s world.
king of the hill will officially return to Hulu with a new season. The Hill family will once again speak about the political and social climate in which many Americans navigate. If similar to the original, the series focuses less on political ideology and more on how moral character defines a person. This is like king of the hill can be the antidote to political divisions.
Hank Hill’s policies are motivated by common sense
fans of king of the hill know that Hank Hill is very committed to what he believes. Hank identifies as a Republican, and he certainly has issues with hippies and the government bureaucracy. Above all, he believes in hard work. However, Hank doesn’t just conform to conservative ideology. He acknowledges issues like America’s mistreatment of indigenous peoples, acknowledges climate change as a real problem, and even continued to practice yoga despite thinking it was a hippie activity because it allowed him to continue working.
Many of Hank’s beliefs are not determined by politics, but by his own sense of morality and common sense. For example, in the Season 12 episode titled “Raising the Stakes,” Hank gets involved in the organic food business. Hank doesn’t embrace organic food practices for the traditional reasons most people associate with it, like moral or health issues, but because it simply results in better-tasting meat overall, which makes sense to him as the deputy manager of Strickland Propane.
Hank’s faith in 2000 Republican nominee George W. Bush is shaken, not by any political platform, but by the discovery that he has a limp handshake. This causes a crisis for Hank, who almost skips the vote. While Hank ends up voting, it is never revealed who he voted for, showing that Hank isn’t shaped by political ideology but by something more personal. This makes him a television character that viewers across the political spectrum can relate to.
Fight free
king of the hill is a multi-generational show where the stark contrast is between the adult cast and the various children. A constant tug of war on the show is the generation gap between Hank and his son Bobby, both of whom need to better understand each other.
Hank is often shocked by a changing world, but even throughout the series he either changes his own preconceived notions or finds a way to fit the changing world into his own established thought process. Meanwhile, Bobby may not inherit his father’s hard work attitude, but he looks up to Hank, and the lessons Hank and Peggy have about their son will help mold him and guide him through the world.
The generation gap is further highlighted by Hank’s relationship with his own father, Cotton Hill. Cotton is a WWII vet who likes to remind people that he lost his shins and killed 50 men, but he was also cruel and unloving to Hank and Hank’s mother. While Hank isn’t particularly affectionate with Bobby or Peggy, he still cares about them and shows his love in his own way. He wants to be a better person than his father and wants Bobby to have a better future than him. Rumors are circulating that the upcoming revival will see a time warp, possibly showcasing an adult Bobby. It will be fascinating to see what man Bobby has grown into and what his relationship with his father will be like.
Bobby Hill is the key to the king
Although Hank constantly says, “That boy is wrong” when it comes to Bobby, he is the ideal version of the man Hank envisions. Many of the qualities that Hank aspires to but doesn’t quite have are all present in Bobby. The series notes that Bobby is a great marksman with a gun, which Hank struggles with. Hank’s father, a World War II veteran, has more love and appreciation for Bobby than Hank.
Meanwhile, it is revealed that Bobby is mentally stronger than Cotton, having been in solitary confinement longer than his grandfather in military school. Bobby also seems to symbolize a more modern Texas, as in the world of king of the hill, He is heavily implied to be the reincarnated version of the Dalai Lama, which is a fusion of traditional American conservatism with spiritual Buddhist teachings.
In the final episode of the series, Hank and Bobby share a love of meat and barbecues. Bobby shows a natural talent for identifying cuts of meat. In a moment of father-son bonding, Hank installs a second grill alongside his own so he and Bobby can cook together. When the Hill Neighbors drop by for a meal together, Bobby comments that it will be the last (refers to a steak but also to the last episode), with Hank assuring Bobby that he will be doing this for years and is just the beginning , symbolizes that the father passed on the best to his son and this son will carry with him to improve himself for the next generation.
king of the hill shows the many different intricate facets of a person and how they often don’t fit into a simple box that can be ticked down to a simple political division. Dale Gribble, the conspiracy-minded member of Hank’s circle of friends, is an active rifle club member and the kind of person that traditional media would portray as a stereotypically narrow-minded conservative. However, when he finds out his father is gay and is helping Native American John Redcorn get his land back from the government, he’s open-minded.
Khan and Minh Souphanousinphone, the Hills’ Laotian neighbors, often refer to their neighbors as hillbilly and hillbilly, but they also show them a certain appreciation and care. Khan and Minh may not want to admit it, but it’s their closeness to their neighbors that has made them better people.
In many cases, king of the hill shows that the community is made up of different individuals with different political and ideological beliefs who have more in common than they realize. Much of the series is less about Hank and his friends imposing themselves on others and more about making sure they, and by extension the rest of Arlen, can live their best life as they see fit. Hank and his friends do not try to impose their political or religious beliefs on others.
What does King of the Hill mean in 2023?
king of the hill aired its final episode in May 2010, and a lot has changed since the series aired. Aside from the obvious ones like the fact that it’s being broadcast on a streaming platform rather than a network, or the sad deaths of Brittany Murphy and Tom Petty, the series enters a world of even more political division than before. While the original series was able to sidestep heavy political issues like 9/11 and the United States’ various political conflicts in the Middle East, the revival is expected to address some key issues.
While it remains unknown whether audiences will see the Hill family’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic or the Trump administration, there are still plenty of political issues that do king of the hill could address. With so much of the Republican Party now associated with Trump and the loudest fringe groups (with their racial prejudice and hate speech), king of the hill has a chance to highlight a conservative perspective that dispels some of the more negative stereotypes while challenging what it means to be conservative in 2023.
