King of the Hill: Understanding Through Absurdity

 

FOX has recently announced two cancellations. The first is the long time coming axe for MadTV, which, while occasionally brilliant, was still little more than SNL light and has never exactly brought in the ratings (although they do get kudos from me for being smart enough to hire a young Patton Oswalt, back before he was the well renowned actor and comedian he is today). The second cancellation, King of the Hill, while not entirely surprising, is far more upsetting.

The Hills are a genius creation – a cartoon family that in many ways could have worked just as easily in a live action setting, with interesting and unique personas. Peggy’s self-perceived genius often causes trouble for herself and the rest of her family, but she remains blissfully unaware of (or at least completely unwilling to acknowledge) her damaging hubris. Hank is hardworking and oldfashioned and seems completely befuddled with how exactly to deal with his son, whose dream of being a prop comic ala Carrot Top (or as he is parodied in the show, Celery Head) mortifies his former high school jock father. Luanne is a ditzy and occasionally promiscuous trailer trash gal who often displays poor judgement and bizarre mood swings.

It is the sheer absurdity of the show that also is a testament to how great it is. In one of the most touching episodes in the series, “Now Who’s the Dummy?“ Bobby begins toying with a ventriloquist dummy and soon begins to project qualities he thinks Hank would like in a son on him. It starts to bring them closer, but Hank becomes so obsessed with tinkering with the dummy in his work shop to make it capable of doing things like throwing a football that he stops spending time with Bobby. The episode ends revealing Hank, after a confrontation with his concerned wife, has instead made a dummy which is almost an exact replica of Bobby and then presents it to his son. The final scene shows Hank asking Bobby to watch football with him, and Bobby instead convincing his father to watch something else instead. Hank accepts with an air of acceptance and resignation. Here the normally unemotional Hank is doing his best to show his acceptance of his oddball son for who he is, and in any other show it might seem either too pretentious and weird of an approach to work or, on the other end of the spectrum, too silly to have any real emotional impact. Instead it is one of the better episodes in the whole series, revealing a subtle emotional core beneath what may appear to some as little more than an odd animated sitcom.

Rumors have it that the show may be picked up by ABC, and I’ve certainly got my fingers crossed.