King of the Hill

[Kiddington]

Ah, I guess I missed it the first time then.

But anyway, good list! I think for me on the Top 10 best my rankings would be pretty similar (if not a bit shuffled around), but I'd try to find a way to sneak "Ho Yeah!" and "Grand Theft Arlen" in there (probably pulling out "Death Picks Cotton" and "Bwah My Nose"). That's just on a personal level, as those are two of my absolute favorites. Good choices for both though, and I think it really speaks to the quality of the series that something like "I'm With Cupid" (which IMO is actually a pretty funny episode, even though everybody is horrendously out of character) is on the bad end of things.

I'd probably put  "Be True To Your Fool" higher on the worst list though. That...........is a bad one. Very hard to watch, just given how weird and generally unfunny it is.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I was considering putting it higher, but despite its issues (and it has them), they didn't grate on me nearly as much as the other nine did. Any episodes that has irritating characters without comeuppance, OOC moments pouring out of everywhere, and character beat-downs goes to the top of the list. "The Petriot Act" should probably be last on the list, but the whole episode just doesn't work for me on any level at any point.

The top 10 is a lot harder to put together due to the amount of classic episodes, so I just put the episodes with the highest re-watch factor. "Ho Yeah!" and "Grand Theft Arlen" would be in the top 20, for sure. Probably with "SerPUNt", "24 Hour Propane People", and "Doggone Crazy" not too far off. Then there's "Texas Skillsaw Massacre", "Soldier of Misfortune", "Pretty, Pretty Dresses", "Megalo Dale", "Returning Japanese"...

[gunswordfist]

Saw some of the firefighting episode a few weeks ago and meant to say I liked what I saw.

[Eddy]

I don't think I could sit down and come up with a top ten episodes list but I know Aisle 8A would be in there somewhere.

I lose it every time I see the scene where Hank escorts Connie out of the house, covered in a blanket.

[Spark Of Spirit]

My favorite part is when he hangs up on his mother. He's just so far out of his element.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I've never really gave it much thought before now, but right now I'd say my top ten would look like:

10. What Happens at the National Propane Gas Convention in Memphis, Stays at the National Propane Gas Convention in Memphis
9. Nine Pretty Darn Angry Men
8. De-Khanstructing Henry
7. A Beer Can Named Desire
6. Soldier of Misfortune
5. Serves Me Right for Giving General George S. Patton the Bathroom Key
4. A Fire-Fighting We Will Go
3. Returning Japanese parts 1 & 2
2. As Old As the Hills/Peggy Hill: The Decline and Fall
1. Death Picks Cotton

Hmm, looking at it, I really like a lot of Cotton episodes. Never realized that before now. 

[Spark Of Spirit]

Great list. I have to say all of those are some of the best episodes in the entire run of the show.

Cotton is one of the best characters in the show. Actually, all the elderly characters in this show are great now that I think about it (aside from Mrs. Wakefield) all of which are quite different from each other. One of my favorite parts of the show is the dynamic of Hank's parents and the obvious reason of why they didn't last, and how he harbors the best traits of both of them as well as their worst (His mother's passiveness and his father's temper) and ends up being the mediator for them so often.

[Speedy]

My personal favorites, in no particular order (sorry, can't limit to it just ten):
1.  Chasing Bobby
2.  Hanky Panky/High Anxiety
3.  Jon Vitti Presents: Return to La Grunta
4.  A Firefighting We Will Go
5.  Bobby Goes Nuts
6.  Husky Bobby
7.  Hank's Dirty Laundry
8.  Nine Pretty Darn Angry Men
9.  Hank's Bad Hair Day
10.  A Beer Can Named Desire
11.  Joust Like a Woman
12.  Sleight of Hank
13.  Life in the Fast Lane, Bobby's Saga
14.  To Spank With Love
15.  The Hank's Giving Episode

Runners up:
-How to Fire a Rifle Without Really Trying
-Hillennium
-Revenge of the Lutefisk
-Texas City Twister
-Hank's Unmentionable Problem
-Propane Boom/Death of a Propane Salesman
-Old Glory
-Peggy's Fan Fair
-Luanne Virgin 2.0
-Good Hill Hunting
-Beer and Loathing
-The Texas Skilsaw Massacre
-That's What She Said
-Death Picks Cotton
-Ho Yeah!

Least favorites, in no particular order:
1.  The Arrowhead (rather dull and not much to it)
2.  Pigmalion (I like it more than I used to, but I'm still not a big fan)
3.  Of Mice and Little Green Men (because Dale's idiocy really stretched it)
4.  The Petriot Act (mainly for how blatantly anti-cat the episode is, even though there are some good jokes)
5.  Dances With Dogs
6.  Transnational Amusements Presents: Peggy's Magic Sex Feet
...And much of the last couple seasons.  They weren't horrible but if you compare them to the show at its peak (seasons 2-6), they're definitely not up to that level.  The energy level is much lower, for one thing.

[Eddy]

Pigmalion isn't a bad episode, but it is surprisingly dark and creepy compared to most King of the Hill episodes.

[Avaitor]

Yeah, "Pigmalion" has an interesting concept to it, but the episode is way too dark to enjoy as more than just a unique diversion. "The Petriot Act" isn't meritless either, but as you said, the show's anti-cat bias is showing a bit too much, and this comes from a lifelong dog lover. On top of that, the episode just isn't that memorable.

I can't agree with the last few seasons being a step down, however. The energy did shift a little past the halfway point, but there are some fantastically written episodes in the last 3 seasons.

[Speedy]

Okay, I can't believe I forgot "Sleight of Hank".  Edited my list.

"I can't agree with the last few seasons being a step down, however. The energy did shift a little past the halfway point, but there are some fantastically written episodes in the last 3 seasons."

They were well-written, sure, but definitely didn't generate as many LOL moments as the show at its peak.  Maybe putting them in the "least favorite episodes" category was a bit much, though.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Personally, I thought the last three seasons were way better than season 7-10. They were too episodic and wacky for my tastes. I much preferred the slower burn of the last few seasons.

The Petriot Act's strange anti-cat bias was off. Usually when one of Hank's phobias is confronted either he learns it was wrong or he learns a new layer to it that makes him see it in a new way. For some reason this episode just played cats as jerks and did nothing with them then lead to a forced ending that was pointless.

The episode would have been much better if it was about Hank liking cats and the situations that would have sprung from that. But no, we got every anti-cat stereotype in the book instead. As someone who has taken care of quite a few sick cats in my neighborhood, I really didn't like how they were handled here.

[Kiddington]

I dunno guys, I like Pigmalion; yeah it is pretty dark, but I've always thought it was a funny episode. It (along with Texas Skillsaw Massacre and Megalo Dale) stand out amongst a crop of some pretty boring/bad eps, even if Pigmalion was a holdover.

Season 7 was weird though; while we got some really good episodes, this was also the season that gave us Racist Dawg and Be True To Your Fool (IMO the ladder really is one of my least favorites; everything about it is just so off, and it's a really hard one to watch). Actually, now that I think about it, 7 might honestly be the worst season for me, just given the extreme peaks and valleys between quality; whereas Seasons 9-10 were pretty dull throughout, 7 gave you glimpses of what could have been with a couple of gems, but it also had some real busts. Just me though.

..........and while we're on the subject, I need to watch Petriot Act again; for some reason I don't really remember it all that well, and it's been a while since I've seen it. I don't think I was too crazy about it though, if it's been this long between rewatches.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I like Pigmalion as an experiment and as dark comedy, but not as a KOTH episode. It was originally on my worst episode list until I remembered that I didn't actually hate it or even dislike it.

Season 7 or 10 might be the worst overall season. 7 had lows, but a bunch of classics, 10 was pretty bland, and only really had like two classics-- it was like a more boring season 9.

I like every other season a lot, but those three are harder to get through than the others just because so much of it blurs together.

[Kiddington]

Yeah that's the thing about 7 for me; it's highs (especially Megalo Dale, that'd be in my Top 15-20 for sure) are some of the series best, but its lows are pretty miserable. 9 and 10, for me, are just really boring; there aren't any real classics (not on the level of other seasons anyway, even 7-8) and other than Ms. Wakefield, we didn't get a ton of clunkers either; just a lot of unspectacular filler eps that don't really leave any kind of impression on you either way.

This is one era of the series I do think I should watch again though, since it's probably the portion of the series I've gone the longest without watching (along with Season 1, which is..........I dunno, not really characterized yet and, looking back on, just not all that interesting to me). Would you have any recommendations for 9 and 10, something I might've glossed over the first time? I know there's some decent stuff in there (I remember Mutual of Omabwah being a good one), any others?