Monsignor Martinez (Previously unaired King of the Hill spin-off pilot)

[Small Man Big Horse]

Back in 2000 a live action King of the Hill spin-off pilot was made based on the Monsignor Martinez show that the characters watched, but it was not picked up and never aired, and for a long time it seemed like we'd never get to see it. But now it's surfaced on youtube here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eyN5xzlLnY - I've not see it yet but plan to do so later on today.

Edit: Here's some more info on it that I stole from myspleen:

"Monsignor Martinez was a live-action pilot commissioned by Fox in 2000. It was based on the in-universe show of the same name from King of the Hill and starred Ivo Cutzarida in the titular role.

The pilot, titled "In the Beginning", was written by Mike Judge, Greg Daniels (co-creators of King of the Hill), and Jim Dauterive (who served as executive producer and writer for the aforementioned animation), though it was ultimately declined by Fox, who opted out of airing it. The reason they suddenly decided not to greenlight it isn't fully known, though actor David Herman, who voiced John Smith in the pilot and who is known for voicing a number of characters in King of the Hill, suggested that, while he thought it was a very good show, Fox didn't want it due to the fact that a priest was "going around shooting at people" in the pilot."

[Old Nehamkin]

Wow, thanks for sharing! I've always been very curious to see this. It seems quite strange and wonderful that such an esoteric spin-off idea even made it to the pilot stage. I know King of the Hill was quite solidly successful in its early years, but Monsignor Martinez was always a fairly minor and underplayed recurring joke that I doubt ever registered much with casual viewers.

vaya con dios

[Mister Six]

I'm revisiting King of the Hill now for the first time since it aired in the UK, so this is a very pleasant surprise! Cheers for this - intrigued to see how it is.

[Ignatius_S]

I think the episode was discovered last year - there were a few articles about it at the time, IIRC.

There's also been more discussion of the pilot of late due to the mooted revival of KOTH.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I've watched it now and really enjoyed it, it's very silly and I'm not sure how much mileage they could have got out of the idea, or if it would have got repetitive pretty quickly given that it was a network sitcom which would have aired 24 - 26 episodes a season at the time, but it's a definite shame they weren't given the chance and considering the talent involved if anyone could have pulled it off it would have been this lot.

[Johnny Yesno]

Thanks for headsup, SMBH. I really enjoyed it too and would have liked to see more.