This ‘King of the Hill’ Revival Ain’t Right, I Tell Ya H’what
February 1st, and already, the boy ain't right.
Yep. Yep. (*pops open a can*) Last night on Twitter I saw that King of the Hill was trending, and considering the other things that were trending were The Bachelor and Grimes (yet again), I couldn’t even begin to wonder what the Hill family had to do with anything.
As it turns out, KotH has become the latest renewal project, picked up by Hulu and featuring much of the same cast and crew:
And uh, look … as much as I’m a fan of the series, I don’t know how I feel about a revival. On the one hand, knowing it’ll largely be made by the same people (and that Mike Judge will still be holding the reins) gives me hope that this will actually be a pretty damn good reboot. There’s a lot you could probably do, like showing what’s up with the kids who’ve supposedly grown up by now, whether or not Bill and Boomhauer finally settled down, or if poor John Redcorn finally got himself together and moved on from “his sweet Nan-Nan.”
On the other hand … we’ve all seen how many reboots have been popping out of the woodwork lately, and more than half of them are just trash, uninspired and unnecessary beyond their monetary value. And even the ones that aren’t trash rarely elevate the source material in a way that matters. It’s largely agreed upon that producers and creators need to slow down on this reboot business and start making new things, daunting a task as that may be.
What makes King of the Hill such an odd choice for a revival is the fact that, while yes, it’s popular, it’s popular in a fairly niche way. It’s a show people love for its weird, offbeat, yet subtle portrayal of American life, and if you really wanted to reduce it to a singular label, it’s become something of a memey show. And none of that is bad in the slightest, and it all works to make KotH so memorable. I have a friend who regularly rewatches it—the same friend who co-hosted a viewing club in college where, every Friday, a bunch of dudes would rent a projector and binge KotH with a cooler of bud lights.
You couldn’t recreate that kind of vibe or atmosphere with just any show. So, if this revival ever sees the light of day, I pray to god it’s still got that certain something that inspires a bunch of crusty dudes to gather in a dingy basement and wordlessly watch episode after episode in complete buzzed-out bliss.
(featured image: Hulu)
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