“King of the Hill” was a cornerstone of Fox’s animated programming for well over a decade. It was a more down-to-earth show compared to other offerings on the Animation Domination block, like “The Simpsons” and “Family Guy,” and that made it incredibly special. Despite this, “King of the Hill” ended after 13 seasons in what felt like a pretty abrupt conclusion. The reasons behind “King of the Hill” getting canceled are many, though in short it reportedly came down to declining ratings and Fox wanting to make room for “The Cleveland Show.” Even though the show’s back with Season 14, the writers apparently haven’t forgotten the seemingly shabby treatment they got from their old network.
In “King of the Hill” Season 14, Episode 6 — “Peggy’s Fadeout” — Bobby Hill (Pamela Adlon), now a 21-year-old chef, is trying to get on a cooking competition series called “King of the Grill.” Bobby asks Chane Wassanasong (Ki Hong Lee) if he’s heard of it, to which Chane responds, “That Texas cooking show that Fox stupidly canceled 15 years ago?” Bobby excitedly tells him they’re bringing the show back, and it clearly functions as meta-commentary on how, in the real world, Fox stupidly canceled a different Texas-centric show 15 years ago.
Sadly, “King of the Hill” doesn’t capitalize any further on the joke, as the rest of the episode sees Bobby teaming up with Dale (Johnny Hardwick/Toby Huss) to get rid of a rat problem at the restaurant. But the writers made their point, and this was probably the classiest way to poke fun at Fox. It’s a quick joke, and then we move onto other matters. Chane’s short but pointed line will surely go down well with all the hardcore “King of the Hill” fans out there.
King of the Hill making fun of Fox follows a proud tradition
An untold truth of “King of the Hill” is that Fox tried to get rid of the show before its eventual cancellation. Season 11’s “Lucky’s Wedding Suit” was supposed to be the series finale in 2007, but Fox surprised the entire cast and crew by picking it back up, allowing it to run through Season 13. Fox can be pretty bad about how it treats animated shows, and when they return, it’s become something of a running gag for the cartoon to bite the hand that feeds.
Fox famously canceled “Family Guy” after Season 3 but brought it back due to its popularity on Adult Swim and high DVD sales. When “Family Guy” came back with Season 4, Peter Griffin (Seth MacFarlane) says Fox had to cancel them to make room for so many great shows, like “Dark Angel” and “Greg the Bunny.” Naturally, the joke is that every show Peter’s listing has already been canceled, and he concludes his speech by saying that if “all those shows go down the tubes” then they can come back.
“Futurama” also got a premature cancellation from Fox but came back with direct-to-DVD movies. The first one, “Bender’s Big Score,” opens with Professor Farnsworth (Billy West) telling the Planet Express crew they were canceled by the “brainless drones” at the Box Network (with flickering lights making “Box” look like “Fox,” just in case the joke went over anyone’s head). Comparatively, “King of the Hill” Season 14 has a pretty tame response to Fox cancelling the show, but at least they got to say their piece. At this point, the network should really anticipate it happening.
“King of the Hill” Season 14 is streaming now on Hulu
