{"id":24013,"date":"2025-07-26T16:56:06","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T16:56:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/24013\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T16:56:06","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T16:56:06","slug":"king-of-the-hill-slides-right-back-into-confidently-funny-rhythms-tv-streaming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/24013\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cKing of the Hill\u201d Slides Right Back into Confidently Funny Rhythms | TV\/Streaming"},"content":{"rendered":"

Other than a few major changes, including the age of one beloved character and the occasional reflection of the culture battles facing the country today, the reboot of \u201cKing of the Hill\u201d picks up not far at all from where the Fox hit left us in 2009. The Mike Judge<\/a> comedy was written off by some as being a parody of Southern archetypes, but anyone who watched more than a few episodes of the animated hit knew there was more under the surface of this sharp family sitcom than met the eye. The Hill family are like a lot of beloved sitcom clans in that they\u2019re, like so many people watching, just trying to do their best in a world that often makes that a struggle. Whether it\u2019s Hank\u2019s stubbornness, Peggy\u2019s overconfidence, or Bobby\u2019s awkwardness, it\u2019s easy to relate to the Hills, and that sense of connection has been lost a bit in an era of high-concept TV when the classic model of the family sitcom has gone away. After a slightly rocky premiere, the 2025 version of \u201cKing of the Hill\u201d quickly finds its footing again, and a couple of the episodes in the mid-section of this 10-episode season rank among the best half-hour comedy chapters of the year, anywhere. Long live the King.<\/p>\n

While \u201cKing of the Hill\u201d technically left the airwaves 16 years ago, not as much time as passed in the world of the show. It\u2019s been a few years since Hank (Judge) and Peggy Hill (Kathy Najimy<\/a>) moved to Saudi Arabia (which Peggy wonderfully pronounces \u201cSaw-die\u201d instead of \u201cSaw-dee\u201d) for a propane-related project, but Hank has now decided to retire, sending them back to Arlen, TX, and to a USA that\u2019s a bit different than when they left. The season premiere leans a little too hard on how much America has changed for the relatively conservative Hank Hill, and I worried that too much comedy this season would hinge on Tim Allen-esque grumbling about \u201cvegan kids these days\u201d and other \u201cwoke\u201d talking points, but the writers settle into something less topical and more organic pretty quickly, while never losing the sense that Hank is a bit of a dinosaur. To be honest, that was true two decades ago, but the charm of Hank is in how much he tries to evolve for the people he cares about, especially Patty and Bobby, and that\u2019s still the beating heart of the show. He may grumble and sigh, but he\u2019s willing to grow too.<\/p>\n

\"\"KING OF THE HILL \u2013 \u201cFirst Look\u201d \u2013 After years working a propane job in Saudi Arabia to earn their retirement nest egg, Hank and Peggy Hill return to a changed Arlen, Texas to reconnect with old friends Dale, Boomhauer and Bill. Meanwhile, Bobby is living his dream as a chef in Dallas and enjoying his 20s with his former classmates Connie, Joseph and Chane. (Courtesy of Hulu)<\/p>\n

Someone who has definitely grown is Bobby Hill (Pamela Adlon<\/a>), who is now a young adult, running his own restaurant, an Asian-German fusion place called Robota Chane, which he runs with Chane Wassonasong (Hong Lee). Young adult Bobby takes some getting used to, especially as he tries to woo Connie Souphanousinphone (Lauren Tom) in a more adult manner than he did back in school, discovering, for example, that Connie is an open relationship. A sexually active, business-owning Bobby will be a shock for \u201cKing of the Hill\u201d fans, but I came to love the change, in part because of how much of the original character one can still see in this one. We\u2019re so used to animated characters from Bart Simpson to Stewie Griffin never aging, that it\u2019s refreshing to see a risk like this that works. It helps, of course, to have a great comic talent in Adlon who updates Bobby in her own special way.<\/p>\n

The rest of the alley gang is back too, more or less. One of the season\u2019s funniest bits revolves around what Hank\u2019s departure did to the emotionally fragile and still hysterical Bill (Stephen Root), but Boomhauer (Judge) is basically the same character, and Dale (Johnny Hardwick for half the season and then Toby Huss because of Hardwick\u2019s passing) feels more paranoid than ever. Dale could have become a voice for the conspiracy nuts of the 2020s, and there is a sense that the Alex Jones era has only empowered his lunacy, but, again, the writers don\u2019t lean too much into generational or social humor, using it as seasoning instead of the whole meal.<\/p>\n

The richest veins of humor come from Judge\u2019s twists on family sitcom basics. The sixth episode centers Root\u2019s phenomenal Bill in an episode about a few significant lies that Mr. Dauterive told in Hank\u2019s absence and the eighth episode is a beauty about Connie\u2019s parents holding a huge secret. <\/p>\n

From Hank & Bobby getting into a home-brewing contest to Hank trying to hide from his guys that he\u2019s now a soccer fan, the plotting in this season of \u201cKing of the Hill\u201d is richly, consistently funny. Welcome back, Hill family. Don\u2019t go away anytime soon.<\/p>\n

Whole season screened for review. It drops in its entirety on August 4th, 2025 on Hulu.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Other than a few major changes, including the age of one beloved character and the occasional reflection of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":{"0":"post-24013","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}