King of the Hill

[Spark Of Spirit]

Highlights from season 9 and 10? This shouldn't be too difficult, let me see...


Season 9 (This is like, half the season)

Enrique-cilable Differences
Care-Takin' Care Of Business
Mutual Of Omabwah
Redcorn Gambles With His Future
Smoking & The Bandit
Gone With The Windstorm
Bobby On Track
It Ain't Over 'Til The Fat Neighbour Sings


Season 10 (Most episodes here are just bland, so the best ones easily stand out)

Hank's On Board
Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Clown
Business Is Picking Up
Hank Fixes Everything
24 Hour Propane People
Hank's Bully (Watershed episode so you should probably see this even though I don't know if you'll like it)
Edu-ma-cating Lucky


That's about 15 episodes, which is about one season worth of great episodes. Two bad they're spread over two seasons. All in all, "bad" KOTH is more boring than bad outside of the real stinkers.

[Avaitor]

Wow, I don't remember "Be True to Your Fool" at ALL. I kind of want to look it up, to see what it's like.

[Kiddington]

Aww man, I forgot 24 Hour Propane People was from that era! Yeah that's definitely a good one, hard to believe that's from a season as generally dull as 10; are we sure that wasn't meant as a holdover for 11?

A lot of these I've kinda forgotten about though, it's been a while. I definitely need to check some of them out again.

That's about 15 episodes, which is about one season worth of great episodes. Two bad they're spread over two seasons. All in all, "bad" KOTH is more boring than bad outside of the real stinkers.

Really, the series true clunkers are very few and far between. For me, I'd go:

1. Racist Dawg - goes without saying
2. Ms. Wakefield - goes without saying
3. Be True To Your Fool - I've gone at length about this one, it's just bad and one of my least favorites from top to bottom
4. A Rover Runs Through It - by far the worst "major" episode of the series, this is a hard one to forget
5. Bill's House - I caught this one recently, and the episodes that pile on Bill and victimize his loneliness are some of the worst for me; it's very similar to Nut Before Christmas, but I think the writing is just a bit better in that one, even if the end result is arguably worse

..........and that's about it. Granted there are a lot of eps I haven't seen in a while, but I tend to remember the stinkers (probably because the series has so few), and these are really the only five that truly stand out. Anything else I didn't like is just boring but not necessarily bad or unwatchable like these.

[Daxdiv]

Wow, I don't remember "Be True to Your Fool" at ALL. I kind of want to look it up, to see what it's like.

The one where Hank learns he has a tattoo on the back of his head that says "Bill" after Bill gave the crew lice.

[Spark Of Spirit]

And he ends up confessing to a crime so he can stay in jail in order to "matter" to the inmates...

It's REALLY weird.

5. Bill's House - I caught this one recently, and the episodes that pile on Bill and victimize his loneliness are some of the worst for me; it's very similar to Nut Before Christmas, but I think the writing is just a bit better in that one, even if the end result is arguably worse

The best one is the one where the doctor destroys his confidence and makes him a wreck.

Seeing Bill realize he was taken advantage of in a realistic way that ends with him better than before is refreshing. But what makes this episode truly better than Bill's House or Twas the Nut Before Christmas? It ends with Bill kicking the crap out of the jerk doctor who was a totally deplorable person. The ending of the other episodes are fairly lame in comparison.

As far as I'm concerned its the only episode of that type that's watchable without getting annoyed.

[Speedy]

"Twas the Nut Before Christmas" may not be a great episode but it has one of the best act breaks in the history of the show:  "Hey dad!  I like beer!"  "BWAH!!!!  YOU, YOU, YOU, GO HOME NOW!  I've had enough of this Christmas crap!  Bill!"

Let me ask you guys a question:  If you hate "Racist Dawg", do you also hate the Curb Your Enthusiasm episode where Larry wonders if his dog is racist?  Is your issue with premise, or execution?

[Dr. Insomniac]

Execution, since Larry's supposed to be the guy dumb enough to wonder if his dog would be racist. Hank's supposed to be the straight man, so doing that just leads to more awkwardness than anything.

[Spark Of Spirit]

The execution falls flat. Not to mention its one of those episodes that makes a bunch of characters out of character for it to work. It's also not a very funny episode all things considered as most character beat-down episodes aren't.

Hank trying to clear his name of renting the porn tape was a much better execution of this idea and had far better jokes to go with it.

[Nel_Annette]

And it's a complete waste of Bernie Mac as a guest voice. Racist Dawg is bar none my least favorite episode of the series. To the point that I will change the channel if it's on. To me, it's pretty much the equivalent to that Iggy episode of Hey Arnold. A lot of series I love have at least one episode like that, it seems.

[gunswordfist]

the bunny suit episode?

[Avaitor]

the bunny suit episode?

Yep.

You know, Foster's had at least 3 of those- the episode with Bendy, the one with that super fake looking imaginary friend that actually was one, and the Europe episode. No wonder I don't come back to that show anymore.

[gunswordfist]

i wish they would air the show again.

[Speedy]

Back to KOTH:  Added "Transnational Amusements Presents: Peggy's Magic Sex Feet" to the least favorites list.  Never really cared for that one.

Are there any episodes you appreciated more the second or third time around?

For me, I initially disliked "Pretty Pretty Dresses" because of how downbeat it was, but now I kinda like it, due to the psychological aspects to Bill coping with depression and how it affects everyone around him.  It's not really a LOL episode but it's not supposed to be.

"Peggy Hill: The Decline and Fall" is another one; it actually has more funny jokes than I initially gave it credit for.  I guess I was focusing too much on Peggy's condition (which was a downer, despite that it could've been much worse and she was staying positive about it) to see the humor that was there.

[Spark Of Spirit]

"Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Clown" was one I thought was average until I re-watched it and found I missed a lot of good jokes and moments. Though I think the episodes I eventually came around to were a lot of the early episodes from season 1 and 2 that were still a bit shaky. Judging them from what they are, most of them are pretty good.

I have a friend that came around to Peggy after watching "Lupe's Revenge" and "The Substitute Spanish Prisoner". While he still doesn't like her, he no longer longs to kick the screen in when she's talking.

[Daxdiv]

Even though I'm not a big Peggy Fan, Lupe's Revenge is one of my favorite episodes, if only for the moment she's defending herself in court and everyone realizes how much her Spanish sucks. I'll admit that Peggy did make some amateur mistakes like the word for years and anus in Spanish are close to one another. I though I still want to know what the hell she meant by "Cigar Factory" at the end of that speech. How can you confuse cigar factory for prison?