Customer Reviews

King of the Hill - The Complete First Season

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is one of my favortie shows that are on TV today. It is hilarious watching every episode. This is probably one of the best shows ever.

EPISODES IN SEASON 1:

Pilot-10/10
Square Peg-10/10
The Order Of The Straight Arrow-10/10
Luanne's Saga-8/10
Hank's Got The Willies-9/10
Westie Side Story-8/10
Hank's Unmentionable Problem-10/10
Shins Of The Father-10/10
Peggy The Boggle Champ-9/10
Keeping Up With Our Joneses-10/10
Plastic White Female-9/10
The Company Man-8/10
King Of The Ant Hill-10/10

SPECIAL FEATURES:
-Over 50 deleted scenes
-Selected episode commentaries
-Barenaked Ladies Music Video
-Animatics,alternate,endings, and promo spots
-Behind the Scenes Featurette
-"Meet the Hills" gallery

This DVD set is the first I have ever purchased and I was pleasantly surprised at all the extra goodies that come with the very humorous and well done 13 episodes of the first season. Judging from other reviews I've read, I probably will not find as many extras on other DVD sets. Each disc is extremely easy to navigate, which is a big benefit to me because I had never operated a DVD player before. The extras include promos, deleted and extended scenes (some with just sketches and audio), the Making of King of the Hill with the creators, voices, and animators, a Barenaked Ladies music video starring Dale Gribble, and commentaries on selected episodes by co-creator Greg Daniels, director Klay Hall, and some of the characters. The commentaries I found to be a little boring and not well rehearsed. The best commentary was of the episode "Shins of the Father" by Peggy and Bobby Hill. The voice of Peggy does an excellent job bringing her character's personality into the commentary with very funny results. The commentary of "Westie Side Story" by Dale and Bill is also very good. The characters seem all too real. Another interesting extra is the "Do's and Don't's" list used by the animators for drawing the characters correctly. Every detail is scrutinized including the eye movements, finger placement, the proper color to use when liquid spills on clothing, what should be seen through windows, Dale's cigarette positioning, etc. Much time and care is taken into this program to make it as realistic as possible, and it definitely shows in this DVD set. And, of course, the episodes are great including my favorite "Hank's Unmentionable Problem." This series had it right from the beginning. Hank, himself, would be proud of this set, "I tell you what."

"King of the Hill" is one of those rare shows that comes into everyone's life and resonates with them for the rest of their life. I think it's an amazing show. I know it's animated, but so what, so is "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy", although I wouldn't put those two brain-dead shows in the same category as "King of the Hill."

"King of the Hill" is simply put...a realistic sitcom, but only it's animated. It could very well be with live people. The situations all of these characters get into are nothing out-of-the-norm. They have common problems just like everyone else. In my opinion, this is the ONLY show Fox has put on that is remotely enteraining. All of their other sitcoms, especially "Malcolm in the Middle" are a poor example of the station's need for airing the mundane.

Having said all of that, this first season is hysterical. I have the first three seasons and all are wildly entertaining. Check this show out! You will not be sorry!

King of the Hill is one of the greatest animated adults cartoons for a number of reasons

One, the show's been around for YEARS now, and guess what? The quality of the writing hasn't lost a step the entire time. How many shows can we say THAT about? Even South Park and the Simpsons, as much as I love those shows, hasn't been able to keep up the same kind of enjoyable consistency over the years.

Two, the storylines are so simple, and yet, THAT'S exactly what makes the show so appealing. Just a Texas family that well, lives like Texans. Nothing fancy, and there's a lot of realistic and accurate things in the show that gives King of the Hill a very family-oriented feel. So in a way, it's also a childrens show (except they mention sexual content sometimes).

Third, over 200 episodes! It's great when a good show gets to experience their full potential. Over 200 episodes (and counting) should please anyone who likes the quality of the writing.

The only problem with Season One is the same problem ALL animated shows have- the animation doesn't look as polished as it would soon appear just a couple years later. The writing is highly memorable anyway though, and that's the most important thing to remember.

Even though King of the HIll is not as prominent as such animated shows as THe Simpsons and Family Guy. King of the HIll is still a gem of of primetime cartoon shows and this season started it all. Created by Mike Judge, the creator of Beavis and Butthead, this shows goes for subtler humor than B&B. The show is about Hank Hill a normal man reacting to strange world including his family, neighpbors, and town. The animation of this season is not as good as later season but the comedy is still there and funny to anyone reacting to a world that doesn't apply to their standard paradigm.

Best:

1) A cartoon show about a normal family is refreshing for a change. People who find "The Simpsons" or "Futurama" (or ""The Family Guy") too wild should appreciate this leisure comedy.
2) Some of the episodes (mainly the first six) are extremely hilarious.
3) There are a few episode commentary tracks and behind-the scenes shows.

Worst:

1) This season is short - only 13 episodes (as compared to the usual 22).
2) The commentary tracks where the actor's use their character voices aren't very entertaining or informative.

Recommendation:

This series is a must-have for anybody with a sense of humor. The first few episodes should get you hooked.

I've been a fan of King of the Hill practically since it first aired on Fox. Quite apart from the voice acting, the stories are often hillariously funny, though unlike The Simpsons they don't resort to the same bizarre, out-of-this-world plots seen on Halloween shows.
The first season is rather scanty with a mere twelve or thirteen episodes, but they're all well worth watching. In the pilot, Hank Hill, voiced by Mike Judge (and who sounds, incidentally, almost exactly like Tom Anderson from Beavis and Butthead except with a more robust voice), comes off as quick-tempered, even managing to find himself on the radar of an overzealous social worker determined to put Bobby, Hank's hapless son, into a better home.
The adventures and misadventures don't stop at the pilot. Peggy's Sex Ed class, Peggy finds herself in the unlikely position of Sex Education teacher, much to Hank's chagrin. In Order of the Straight Arrow, the guys take the Boyscouts of Arlen on a disastrously ill-fated camping trip. Other highlights include Hank's got the Willies, in which Bobby inadvertently introduces the Hills to country great WIllie Nelson, Westy Side Story, which introduces us to Kahn and his wife Min and daughter, Kahn Junior, and let's not forget my personal favorite, Hank's Unmentionable Problem. And of course there are the classic moments of Hank catching Bobby smoking and deciding to punish him by making him smoke every cigarette in the carton and, in doing so, inadvertently addicting the entire family, all save Louanne and Ladybird, to Nicotine. Another classic is when Hank and Peggy catch Bobby practicing his kissing skills on a manequin head brought home from Louanne's beauty school.
All in all, King of the Hill's first season is well worth watching. The extras on the DVD's, the commentary done by both showrunners, directors and some of the characters themselves (though it's not available on all episodes), is well worth taking a listen to. It's truly unfortunate that only the first two seasons feature any extras, but I still plan on owning at least the first six seasons, which are apparently the only ones currently available on DVD.

We love this show. I got these for my mom for her birthday because she loves the "Hank's Got the Willies" episode, featuring Willie Nelson, Dennis Hopper, and our own hometown boy, Lyle "Rooster Boy" Lovett and his Large Hair. The bit with Boomhauer and Bob Dylan mumbling at one another is absolutely priceless!

'Mower Lessons for Charlie':
On Disc 1, select the 'Special Features' option. Then select 'Commentaries'. Highlight the 'Main Menu' option an press LEFT. Press ENTER to see a short black and white mower tips video entitled "Mower Lessions for Charlie."

Animated DVD Credits:
On Disc 3, highlight 'Special Features' and press LEFT. Press ENTER. Hank thanks all the people that were involved with Season One by letting us know that it takes "thousands of drawings for that beer to reach my mouth". Then, on the right, a listing of names scrolls by that includes all the people who helped pitch in to make Season One a reality.

The first season of "King of the Hill" is not the greatest season, but it was still very good in my opinion. I only consider one of the episodes in this DVD as one of the best "King of the Hill" episodes (The Pilot). Despite this, I found that most of the episodes found in this DVD were relatively entertaining and funny. The show itself is basically a satire the residents of Southern Texas, and one of the things that I found funny was that the characters are actually based on real people. I admit that some of the characters in this show are really annoying, specifically Peggy and Bobby, but disliking and disagreeing with a character is what makes a show fun to watch.

I also want to point out that people from foreign countries who aren't familiar with Texas can misunderstand this kind of humor. Another reason that some people don't like "King of the Hill" is because it uses smarter humor. This show does not rely on stupidity to be funny, like many other comedies do. For instance, "Family Guy," though a bit funny, is so mind-numbingly stupid that I can feel my brain shrinking every time I watch it. "King of the Hill" is not like that and is entertaining without being idiotic.

My episode ratings:

1. Pilot: 10/10, excellent way to begin a series

2. Square Peg: 6/10; a bi ridiculous, but still funny.

3. The Order of the Straight Arrow: 7/10; funny, but a bit annoying.

4. Luanne's Saga: 8/10

5. Hank's Got the Willies: 8/10; though this episode is extremely funny, a couple parts are pretty dumb

6.Keeping Up With Our Joneses: 9/10; very funny

7. Plastic White Female: 5/10; a bit boring

8. The Company Man: 7/10; relatively mediocre episode, though parts of it are pretty entertaining

9. King of the Ant Hill: 9/10; pretty funny

10. Westie Side Story: 10/10; very good

11. Hank's Unmentionable Problem: 5/10; I didn't like this episode very much and I found nothing funny about it.

12. Shins of The Father: 7/10; amusing to watch, a great introduction to Hank's father.

13. Peggy the Boggle Champ: 5/10; I found this episode a bit stupid and the Boggle Tournament kind of annoyed me.

Every episode was somewhat entertaining, even the dumb ones, and I would recommend this series/show to anyone. It was definitely worth the money I've spent on it and has provided me with a lot of entertainment.