King of the Hill "Fun With Jane and Jane" Talkback (Spoilers)

[DR. BELCH]

The "character joins a cult" plot has been around the block once or twice--I found myself thinking of the two-part Strangers With Candy ep on this subject--but it was interesting to see the main story tied together with Hank's experience in propane as well as the bankrupt emu farm subplot in getting the girls out of the clutches of the Janes. "Jams and jellies...jams and jellies..."
Mike Judge injects a moment of nostalgic metahumor a casual observer might miss --look at the girl who joins the first sorority Luann applies to: green jacket, black skirt, long brown hair...just add a pair of glasses, and.... :eek: :D
I never realized emus were that vicious...poor Buck.... :rolleyes:

[E. Penrose]

Um . . . some innuendo in the climatic scene. What are the guys doing to all those women? :-0

Interesting plot line. Buck imposes on the private sphere, keeping Hank and Peggy apart. The cult is ultra-female -- not feminist. Good episode.

[Scythemantis]

I`m not a big fan of king of the hill (most of the "redneck jokes" annoy me simply because I know real people who are that old fashioned. I know thats supposed to be WHY it`s funny but i`d rather not be reminded of those people) but liked when they tried to actually save the emus. I hate guns and hunting and it was just generally a sweet subplot. And the emus got their revenge!

[Jimmy Kustes]

I got a question for everyone. Do you believe King of the Hill is told from a southern perspective to relate or to insult?

[don Jaime]

To relate. Mike Judge is from Dallas, may still live there (I dunno), and the show has an authentic East Texas feel.

[Scythemantis]

I *hope* the show is to insult, because Hank is the kind of person i`d hate IRL. Drab, closed minded and uninterested in anything new or interesting.

[E. Penrose]

Sitcoms are stories about change. With less than thirty minutes to sell the manufacturer's product, they tell you a story, however distorted, about an American family in a changing world. Threatened by change, the hero uses new ways to survive it. Rob Petrie comes from the Midwest to sucess in New York City; the Beaver lives in the suburbs, with a father who hopes discipline will work better than taking the boy behind the woodshed; Mary Richards gathers her coworkers into a workplace family.

"King of the Hill" is one of the few classic sitcoms left. Or else it isn't.

Hank Hill is good. It's important for us to know he is good. He goes to church, is faithful to his wife, and works honestly. He accomodates his wife's feminism, a square peg of a son, and even his detestable father. The stories are about his goodness and success.

But many of these episodes qualify that success. In classic sitcoms, evil was punished as good flourished. Eddie Haskell *never* succeeded. But honest Hank's boss is a philandering, lying creep. (Last week's episode is one of the few where Buck was actually punished. He'll be back next week.)

Hank wins on city council -- a measure about a low-flow toilet. He works with one of his wife's failing students, giving him a course on what's really important -- "propane and propane accessories." He will work all his life on a small-potatoes job and see worse men become rich and happy.

I like "King of the Hill" because of its complexity and its good writing. Mike Judge has said he gets ideas in the supermarket and in the hardware store, but the well-wrought scripts echo Moliere and Ibsen. And even with its moral ambiguities, it is one of the few recent situation comedies which attempts to show a man attempting goodness in an evil world.