‘King of the Hill’ back in top form
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Mike Judge and Greg Daniels' "King of the Hill" returned for a 14th season on Aug. 4 on Hulu, and right from the title of episode one, you can tell without question that it is absolutely "The Return of the King."
It's been a long time coming. Judge and Daniels have worked for nearly eight years trying to bring the project to fruition, dating back to original pitches to FOX in 2017, to forming the company Bandera Entertainment in 2022 and the 2023 announcement that Hulu was picking up the show's revival.
Two years later, we have episodes to watch, and boy, they did not disappoint.
Hank and Peggy have returned to Arlen to begin their retirement after spending the past several years in Saudi Arabia (which Peggy hilariously mispronounces several times throughout the season), and the neighborhood has both not changed much at all while also both of the elder Hill family members struggle to readjust back to life in America in general -- the A plot of the first episode -- but also try to figure out what they're going to do with themselves in their retired years -- something that many of my older friends and relatives can relate to as they either are reaching or have reached retirement age in the past few years.
They reconnect with their friends from the alley and no one has really changed much from the old days.
Dale Gribble, voiced by deceased show staff writer Johnny Hardwick, was briefly elected mayor of Arlen during the Hills' absence. Jeff Boomhauer (Judge) became a stepfather but is mostly the same, not understandable person he was when the show went off the air. And poor Bill Dauterive (Stephen Root) ... Well, let's just say COVID-19 wasn't kind to Bill and I'll let you enjoy the scene.
While the elder Hills readjust to life in Texas, their son Bobby, now 21, works in Dallas as the head chef of a Japanese-German fusion restaurant for Chane Wassanasong and his father while living in an apartment with Joseph Gribble.
Bobby spends a majority of the season's B-plot in Dallas trying to figure out his situation after he runs into his old flame and neighbor, Connie Souphanousinphone, while also managing the restaurant and his reputation as a chef and reconnecting with his parents.
I really enjoyed Toby Huss, the former voice of Kahn Souphanousinphone and Hank's father Cotton Hill, who replaced Hardwick as the voice of Dale. Despite clearly noticing a difference between the voices, Huss does an excellent job in tribute to his friend. Ronny Chieng was cast to voice Kahn in the reboot, and his character work was also very well done.
We'll have to wait and see for now what the showrunners will do regarding the case of John Redcorn, the not-so-secret lover of Nancy Gribble.
His voice actor, Jonathan Joss, was tragically killed by his neighbor earlier this summer after recording for four of the season's 10 episodes. His voice was not recast for the remainder of the season. The show paid fitting tribute to both Hardwick and Joss at the end of episodes that revolved around their characters.
All and all, it was a solid season of television and excellent return for one of animation's cult classics. I'm very much looking forward to season 15.
Digital content coordinator and copy editor Dan Isenberg can be reached at disenberg@altoonamirror.com or on X @TheseDanTweets.