A Reboot That Could Work

Author’s Note: This is intended to be the second part of a two-part series on the future of King of the Hill. The first part focused on why I did now want to see the series rebooted and can be found here. This one will focus on how it could be rebooted.

I do not want to see King of the Hill rebooted and I stand by that. The show is fine just the way it is, and I have zero faith that if it were rebooted that it will not be liberal garbage. But, if I was in charge of the reboot, I have outlined some items that could make the show work. In this hypothetical exercise, I was given the greenlight to reboot the show, instead of someone like Jessica Valenti doing it. Keep in mind that the keyword is “outlined” – this is a rough draft, so I’m not going to get into an overall story arc or the plot of individual episodes.

1. Move the story forward only a few years

Most of the rumors as to what the reboot would look like move the story to the present day, meaning that Bobby, Joseph, and Connie are all adults and Hank, Dale, Bill, and Boomhauer are now old men. And, I hate that idea. However, moving the story ahead only a few years intrigues me. I think there’s some great possibilities for stories with Bobby and the other two in high school. Plus, it would keep things just similar enough to allow the show to bend without breaking it. You could do some new storylines, but also keep the classic ones as well, a sort of the best of both worlds situation that would appeal to fans of the original more. Additionally, that means the show can be set in the early to mid-2000s (up until the last few seasons, the original has a late 1990s feel to it), thus avoiding ClownWorld invading Arlen, Texas. That also means that more of the main cast can be around, this is a cartoon and the advantage is that the characters can age as much or as little as they need. There is no reason to age the characters when a better storyline can be found only a few years later.

2. Work on Character Development

I like the characters on King of the Hill a lot, but one problem the show had is that there was not a whole lot of character development. Each episode really does feel like its own entity. Now in fairness, this is not really the show’s fault; back when the show first started, television shows were meant to be watched one episode at a time and if you missed one episode there was no guarantee you would see it again. So, there was no reason have long storylines or really develop its characters. That is no longer the case today, television shows can be “binged watched” and you can always find a missed episode, so might as well use this opportunity to do some better character development and longer storylines. This is another reason why I only want to move the show forward a few years, that way the characters can start off closer to what they were like when the show ended and grow from there. If you move the show forward twenty years, then a lot of character development is lost to time or you have a bunch of people who are more or less the same people they were years earlier.

3. Build from the Last Season

I am not a fan of the last season of King of the Hill and as more and more times goes by, my opinion of it drops. It is really obvious they were running out of steam at that point. One thing I do like about the last few episodes is how they gave some closure to some of the characters. Bill accepts he will be alone the rest of his life. Boomhauer settles down. As it turns out, Kahn’s behavior is the result of medication. And most importantly, Hank and Bobby bond over something. I think much can be done here. Bill is now learning how to be happy after his wife left him. Boomhauer is now adjusting to married life. Kahn is learning how not to be as irritating. Hank and Bobby continue to bond and grow closer. This is another reason I want to move the series forward only a few years, that means all the characters are learning to deal with their new found perspective. If the show is moved forward decades later, then all that development will be lost – Bill will have fully accepted his situation, Boomhauer will have fully adjusted to his new life, Kahn will have worked out his personality problems, and Bobby will have moved out.

4. Lucky and Luanne    

I listed Lucky and Luanne as a reason why I didn’t want to see the show rebooted in the first article. They were both great characters and I don’t want to see the show without them. But, I really don’t want to see them recast. So, after thinking long and hard about what to do here, I decided the best thing to do is to kill them off. For one, it would absolutely prevent the show from bringing them back later with new voice actors. Secondly, since Britany Murphy and Tom Petty are both dead now, it would be the best course not to bring the characters back. How do they die? Killing off both characters in a car wreck sounds like the most likely way both of them would die. I would really hate to see Luanne overdose after all the work her, Hank, and Peggy put into pulling her out of the horrible environment she was raised in. Perhaps, their deaths could even be the first episode. This does, of course, mean that Hank and Peggy are now raising Lucky and Luanne’s daughter, and that could offer some interesting storylines – after years of thinking Bobby was their last child, they now have a new one to take care of.

5. Bobby

I have a feeling that should the show come back, Bobby will take more of a central role. Maybe not at first, with Hank being the main character, but as time goes on, I think this would be a natural development. One thing I like about Bobby in the last few seasons is the interest he takes in cooking. Bill teaches him his family’s barbecue recipe and, as already mentioned, Hank and Bobby finally learn how to bond over meat. I think you can do a lot with this. Drop the weird art kid stuff and, instead, Bobby develops into the fat funny guy who loves to cook. Thus, he has a high school job in a restaurant and plans to open up his own restaurant (or maybe go to culinary school) when he graduates. Him, Joseph, and Connie are still friends, but are growing apart at this point thanks to them being in completely different social groups. Oh, and as far as Joseph goes, he knows who his biological father is now (frankly, it’s unlikely he would make it through middle school without someone telling him) but like everyone else, he knows it’s best if Dale doesn’t find out.

Rebooting King of the Hill is a terrible idea and I am pretty sure they will go out of their way to make it more palatable to the forces of globohomo. The original was not only on the side of Heritage America, but it was specifically geared toward Texans and Southerners. There are ways a reboot could theoretically work, as I have outlined here. I just doubt we will ever see it.