When did King of the Hill jump the shark?

[Delete Delete Delete]

For those that fancy watching King Of The hill on a week by week basis, its currently part of the weekly (spam) line up.

More details here https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,64337.msg3666791.html#msg3666791

We are currently in the middle of Season 2 and very enjoyable it is too.

[MuteBanana]

Did the numerous celebrities Hank kept bumping into take the show out of it's everyday realness at all? I mean when the celebrities played themselves.

Hank: Willie Nelson is my hero.
10 minutes later
Hank: Willie Nelson?! I'm your biggest fan.

Ehhhh, amirite?

[neveragain]

Generally though, celebs played characters in the show which was refreshing compared to The Simpsons.

[MuteBanana]

Generally though, celebs played characters in the show which was refreshing compared to The Simpsons.

I counted at least 30 actors, singers, celebs etc who played themselves throughout the show.

[Old Nehamkin]

I counted at least 30 actors, singers, celebs etc who played themselves throughout the show.

Looking at this list, that number seems about right, although it's worth noting that about half of those cameos are accounted for by only two episodes - Peggy's Fan Fair from season 4 (the one where they go to the country music festival) and Kidney Boy and Hamster Girl from season 6 (the one where Bobby competes to get No Doubt to perform at his school prom). I think in each case the show at least gave a vaguely plausible reason for the celebrity characters to appear rather than plonking them randomly into Arlen in the style of The Simpsons.

I suppose it did stretch credibility a bit in some of the later episodes when Hank was having chance encounters with people like George Foreman, Henry Winkler and Jimmy Carter, but over the course of the show's 259-episode run I'd still say those instances were very much outliers from the norm.

[MuteBanana]

Often wonder if Peggy should've died in the parachute accident. It would have left Hank open to the influence of his friends. I could imagine him being pulled in different directions. Bill trying to share his misery with Hank and drag him down into being a sad sack singleton. Boomhauer and Strickland encouraging Hank to go out and meet women. Maybe Khan and Dale constantly paranoid that a big manly guy like Hank is going to steal their wives from them. Having to deal with Bobby's sensitive side and play the Mum and Dad roles. Cotton coming through and helping Hank with his grief. Possibly. I mean the whole grief thing would've been a huge issue for someone like Hank. Fuck. It didn't even happen but I'm getting sad just thinking about a season long arc of Hank bottling up his emotions and then breaking down on Cotton's shoulder in the finale.

Fuckin love it.

Edit - haha for bit of comedy Hank picking Cotton up so Cotton can comfort him. Oh shit that would be funny.

[garbed_attic]

Often wonder if Peggy should've died in the parachute accident. It would have left Hank open to the influence of his friends. I could imagine him being pulled in different directions. Bill trying to share his misery with Hank and drag him down into being a sad sack singleton. Boomhauer and Strickland encouraging Hank to go out and meet women. Maybe Khan and Dale constantly paranoid that a big manly guy like Hank is going to steal their wives from them. Having to deal with Bobby's sensitive side and play the Mum and Dad roles. Cotton coming through and helping Hank with his grief. Possibly. I mean the whole grief thing would've been a huge issue for someone like Hank. Fuck. It didn't even happen but I'm getting sad just thinking about a season long arc of Hank bottling up his emotions and then breaking down on Cotton's shoulder in the finale.

Fuckin love it.

Edit - haha for bit of comedy Hank picking Cotton up so Cotton can comfort him. Oh shit that would be funny.

I'd much rather have on-screen Peggy than Cotton time tbh

[garbed_attic]

I really do wish they'd all kept on aging though.

[Rich Uncle Skeleton]

As far as specific shark-jumping episodes go, the one where Luanne starts going out with the guy who runs the pork processing plant always stuck out as a weird one. The ending in particular is a bizarre tonal misjudgement that I can't imagine ever being approved in the early years of the show.

That episode's utter bollocks. Probably way off the mark here but it always felt to me like the story was brought to the show fully formed, possibly after being rejected by another show, and had king of the hill characters shoehorned in with a few rewrites. Can't stand it.