Customer Reviews

King of the Hill - The Complete Third Season

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The third season of KING OF THE HILL is perhaps its best, with the writing at its peak and with as varied and well-defined a group of characters as you'll find on any sitcom. Here's a brief rundown of the 25 episodes in this set:

1. "Death of a Propane Salesman" -- The long-awaited conclusion to the cliffhanger that ended season two. A darkly funny opening to a great season, finding humor in the question of how we deal with death and fear of dying.

2. "And They Call It Bobby Love" -- Bobby (Pamela Segall) falls in love with a girl (Sarah Michelle Gellar) who's two years older than him. This episode won KotH the Emmy for outstanding animated series.

3. "Peggy's Headache" -- Peggy (Kathy Najimy) finally realizes that Dale's wife Nancy (Ashley Gardner) is having an affair with her Native American "healer," John Redcorn (Jonathan Joss). Another episode that takes a tough subject, adultery, and makes it funny.

4. "Pregnant Paws" -- Hank (Mike Judge) tries to find a breeding partner for his dog Ladybird, which makes Peggy jealous, as she's the one who really wants another baby.

5. "Next of Shin" -- To add to Hank's frustration over not being able to have another child, his father Cotton (Toby Huss) reveals that he's going to become a father again. As you can see, this season of King of the Hill is one of the few seasons of an animated series that incorporates some continuing story arcs; the story points introduced in this episode will continue in other episodes and come to a head in the season finale.

6. "Peggy's Pageant Fever" -- Peggy enters a beauty pageant and becomes insecure both about her looks and her accomplishments. Contains some of the show's best moments, especially a hilarious throwaway scene where Bill (Stephen Root) sings "Takin' Care of Business." Guest stars include Carol Alt and Kathy Ireland.

7. "Nine Pretty Darn Angry Men" -- Hank, his friends and his father sit on a focus group, and Hank is the only one who objects to the company's plans to redesign its product. Guest-stars, Billy Bob Thornton and Dwight Yoakam.

8. "Good Hill Hunting" -- Hank wants to take Bobby on his first hunting trip, but is unable to get a hunting license. Like the gun episode from the second season, this episode both satirizes Texas culture and takes it as a given; and it's not so much about guns as about a father-son relationship and the significance we attach to coming-of-age rituals.

9. "Pretty, Pretty Dresses" -- The strangest Christmas episode ever: Hank's lonely divorced friend Bill tries to kill himself, and then decides that if he can't get his wife back, he will become her by wearing her old clothes. It sounds depressing, but it's actually one of the funniest episodes of the season -- with a genuinely touching ending capped by a great closing gag. What makes King of the Hill so good is its ability to be realistic and bizarre and affecting all at once, and this is one of the best episodes.

10. "A Firefighting We Will Go" -- Hank and his friends become volunteer firefighters. An unabashed slapstick episode, full of Three Stooges references, crazy physical gags, and funny lines. One of the funniest episodes of the season demonstrates that KotH can do a "wacky" episode as well as anybody.

11. "To Spank With Love" -- Peggy gets in trouble for spanking a student, but then becomes a hero as "Paddlin' Peggy," and starts to use her reputation to scare her students.

12. "Three Coaches and a Bobby" -- When Hank gets his tough old coach to run Bobby's football team, Bobby decides he'd rather play on the more fun, less regimented soccer team. Includes Hank's infamous description of soccer: "Soccer was invented by European ladies to keep them busy while their husbands did the cooking." Guest star: Will Ferrell.

13. "De-Kahnstructing Henry" -- Hank's overachieving neighbor Kahn (Toby Huss) tries to make Hank jealous of his great new job -- but in the process, he gives away government secrets and gets fired.

14. "The Wedding of Bobby Hill" -- Bobby and his cousin Luanne (Brittany Murphy) compete for the attention of a concert promoter and self-proclaimed genius, Rad (Matthew McConaughey). When things get out of hand, Hank and Peggy teach Bobby a lesson by convincing him that he got Luanne pregnant and has to marry her.

15. "Sleight of Hank" -- After seeing a magic show, Bobby incorporates the tricks and patter into his Sunday School report on Jesus. Besides this hilarious scene ("I am The Amazing Jesus!") the episode is a character study of the differences between Hank and Peggy.

16. "Return to La Grunta" -- The story of Hank almost getting sexually assaulted by a dolphin is combined with a parallel subplot about Luanne getting sexually harassed at work. One of the show's most famous and unique episodes. Guest star: Billy West.

17. "Escape From Party Island" -- Hank takes his mother and her friends to a miniatures museum in Port Aransas, and winds up caught in the middle of MTV's Spring Break. Guest stars: Pauly Shore, Phyllis Diller, Uta Hagen, Betty White.

18. "Love Hurts and So Does Art" -- Nervous about the idea of going to a dance with Connie (Lauren Tom), Bobby starts overeating and develops gout.

19. "Hank's Cowboy Movie" -- Hank tries to get the Dallas Cowboys to move their training camp to Arlen by making a promotional video for the town. Everything goes farcically wrong, of course, but the episode has a surprisingly touching undercurrent about Hank's fear that Bobby will leave Arlen when he grows up.

20. "Dog Dale Afternoon" -- Dale (Johnny Hardwick) is driven round the bend when his friends steal his new lawn mower as a prank.

21. "Revenge of the Lutefisk" -- The new female minister (Mary Tyler Moore) serves a midwestern fish dish, which somehow indirectly leads to Bobby accidentally burning down the church.

22. "Death and Texas" -- Peggy goes to visit a death row convict, and unwittingly winds up smuggling cocaine in to him.

23. "Wings of the Dope" -- Luanne thinks that her boyfriend Buckley (David Herman) has come back as an angel. Contains the famous use of the song "Life in a Northern Town" by Dream Academy.

24. "Take Me Out of the Ball Game" -- Peggy becomes the star pitcher for Hank's softball team, but Hank's over-managing causes her to lose her touch.

25. "As Old as the Hills" -- In the season finale, Hank and Peggy mark their twentieth wedding anniversary by lamenting their lost dreams, and they decide to do something crazy. This episode ties up the themes that have run through the season (such as Peggy's frustration and Cotton's new baby) into another funny, touching and well-constructed story.

A brief explanation of why this set is bare-bones: seasons 1 and 2 of KING OF THE HILL did not sell well (in my opinion they were not marketed effectively), and season 3 had high music costs, making it expensive to release. Finally Fox agreed to release the season at a lower price than season 2, but without extras. If season 3 sells better, the other seasons will follow. And it does look like it is selling better, which gives reason to hope that the other seasons will follow more quickly.

It's a shame to lose out on the extras, but if it brings the rest of the series out, that's acceptable; with 25 episodes for under $30, that's little more than a buck an episode. And the good news is that all the songs in the episodes -- and a surprising number of scenes in this season make important use of music -- are intact: "Life in a Northern Town," "Takin' Care of Business," "Love Hurts," "Free Falling," and many others. So you can buy with confidence knowing that you're getting 25 great, unedited episodes at a low price.

I hope that if further seasons come out, Fox will at least put *something* on them, like the Museum of Television and Radio Panel, or the unaired "Monsignor Martinez" pilot. Or how about putting some KotH-related extras on the upcoming special edition of Mike Judge's "Office Space?" Come on, Fox, one bare-bones set we can live with, but do better next time.

I'm a big fan of Mike Judge and Greg Daniels' KING OF THE HILL -- I think it's by far the best of the post-SIMPSONS animated sitcoms -- but the third season, finally due for release on DVD, may be the best of the series; it was the season that won a well-deserved Emmy for best animated series. The writing was exceptionally strong in this season, with hardly a weak episode among the 25 episodes. And the writers came up with some unusual and offbeat stories to tell about Texas propane salesman Hank Hill and his friends and family. Some of the most memorable episodes include:

- Hank goes for a "swim with a dolphin" encounter at a fancy resort hotel, and the dolphin tries to sexually assault Hank.
- Hank and Peggy, to teach Bobby a lesson, convince him that he's gotten his cousin Luanne pregnant and that he has to marry her. This episode features a hilarious guest voice appearance from Matthew McConaughey as a pretentious concert promoter named "Rad."
- Hank and his friends become volunteer firefighters, and wind up destroying everything in sight. This episode, one of the funniest in the series' run, proved that KING OF THE HILL, though usually praised for "subtle" humor, could do a wacky slapstick episode as well as or better than any other show.
- In a Christmas episode, Bill Dauterive is so lonely that he becomes suicidal, and then starts to dress up as his ex-wife. Somehow the writers managed to make this episode, which could have been depressing, into an offbeat, funny, and finally even touching story.
- After seeing a magician's show, Bobby uses the tricks and patter to liven up his Sunday School report on Jesus, presenting himself as "The Amazing Jesus" and saying "Now, for my next miracle, I'll need a large wooden cross and a couple of volunteers."

There are many other memorable episodes, including Luanne's encounter with an Angel; the episode where Bobby falls in love with an older girl voiced by Sarah Michelle Gellar (this was the Emmy-winning episode); and the episode where Peggy enters a beauty pageant (featuring Stephen Root's hilarious rendition of "Takin' Care of Business"). Because the episodes are so well-structured -- with many of the stories organized around themes, and with A and B stories often intersecting -- and because the characters were at their most fully developed and interesting by this season, the episodes are just as enjoyable on repeat viewing as they are on a first viewing.

Writers for season 3 included Richard Appel and Jon Vitti (veterans of The Simpsons), David Zuckerman (developer and showrunner of Family Guy), Norm Hiscock (head writer for Kids in the Hall), and Joe Stillman (screenwriter of the Shrek movies). But ultimately the show is true to Mike Judge's style and sense of humor: instead of trying to be strange for its own sake, or make pointless pop-culture jokes, Judge's stuff takes everyday life and shows how strange it is. If you liked Judge's movie Office Space, you'll like King of the Hill.

No announcement yet of what extras there will be on the set, but it is worth picking up for the episodes alone, and the price is certainly right for a great season of 25 episodes.

How can Fox treat an Emmy-Award Winning season of a show that is entering it's 9th season so poorly? Season One and Two brought us deleted scenes, single-sided discs with clever artwork, and hysterical commentaries...

Season Three treats it's fans to absolutely nothing, and that's NOT an exageration. There is not one single extra. No disc art, because you have to flip them over to see all the episodes. Hello? Is this the 20th or 21st century? This is a cheap excuse for a boxed-set. I'd love to return this set, but the episodes are so dang good...they're brilliantly animated, acted and written...unlike this terrible boxed set.

It's very sad to see such a brilliant, classic show treated so disrespectfully.

Shame on you Fox. Shame shame shame.

ONE OF THE BEST SEASONS THIS IS. BUT NO EXTRAS. WHA. HOW. WHY. Well as lots of people know this season was supposed to come out early 2004. Well since it got pushed back to December 28th 2004 if they would have put extras on it would have come out till middle of 2005. Maybe it would have been worth the wait but I don't get this:
SEASON 1 - 13 EPISODES - 50 DELETED SCENES
SEASON 2 - 22 EPISODES - 197 DELETED SCENES
SEASON 3 - 25 EPISODES - 0 DELETED SCENES
CMON WHATS WITH THAT.

OVERALL this a great season of episodes and is really worth $30. It is really funny to watch over and over again and will be a good addition to your sets.


EPISODES IN SEASON 3:

Death Of A Propane Salesman (Propane Boom Part2)
They Call It Bobby Love
Peggy's Headache
Pregnant Paws
Next Of Shin
Peggy's Pageant Fever
Nine Pretty Darn Angry Men
Good Hill Hunting
Pretty, Pretty Dresses
A Fire Fighting We Will Go
To Spank With Love
Three Coaches & A Bobby
De-Kahnstructing Henry
The Wedding Of Bobby Hill
Sleight Of Hank
Return To La Grunta
Escape From Party Island
Love Hurts... And So Does Art
Hank's Cowboy Movie
Dog Dale Afternoon
Revenge Of The Lukefish
Death And Taxes
Wings Of The Dope
Take Me Out Of The Ball Game
As Old As The Hills

The packaging and features on Season 3 is not as impressive as seasons 1 and 2. The three discs are double-sided so you don't have the artwork on the discs. There are also no extras which, to me, is not that big of a deal although I know hardcore fans will be disappointed. I hardly look at the extras or listen to the commentaries on my Simpsons, Family Guy, King of the Hill, and South Park DVDs. To me, the extras slow down the release of episodes I want to watch although this set was advertised to be released last spring. Still, most of these episodes are great. It is nice to have a character on TV like Hank Hill who stands up for decency and for what is right. There ain't a lot of characters like him on television today, I tell you what. Anyway, here are the discs and their content:

Disc 1: Death of a Propane Salesman: The second part of the Mega-Lo Mart explosion cliff hanger from season 2.
And They Call it Bobby Love: Bobby falls in love with an older girl while the guys fall in love with an old couch left in their alley.
Peggy's Headache: One of my favorites. Peggy must be the last person in Arlen (well, besides Dale) to discover that John Redcorn is doing more than "healing" Nancy.
Pregnant Paws: Hank tries to get Lady Bird pregnant and Dale tries to become a bounty hunter.
Next of Shin: Hank's "narrow urethra" seems even more narrow when he finds out his dad's young wife is pregnant.
Peggy Pageant Fever: One of my least favorites because it makes me so mad at the overly conceited Peggy who thinks she's so smart and beautiful but has almost no chance to win "Mrs. Heimlich County."
Nine Pretty Darn Angry Men: One of my favorites. A take-off (in a way) of the classic film "12 Angry Men" only this time a lawnmower is on trial and Hank is its sole supporter. It also finally shows Hank sticking up for his mother amid Cotton's constant attacks.
Good Hill Hunting: Now that he is 12, Bobby needs to kill a deer to complete his first "rite of passage," but Hank was too late in buying the hunting permits.
Pretty, Pretty Dresses: This is a very disturbing (and hilarious) look at Bill and how he is coping (or not coping) with his divorce.

Disc 2: A Firefighting We Will Go: Hank joins a volunteer firefighting team with the incompetent and unreliable Dale, Bill, and Boomhauer.
To Spank With Love: Peggy unexpectedly earns the approval of Cotton as well as the nickname "Paddlin' Peggy"when she spanks a smart-alec student.
Three Coaches and a Bobby: When a tough coach takes over the football team, Bobby does the unthinkable...he "leaves sports and joins a soccer team."
De-Khanstructing Henry: Khan brags about his new job to Hank and reveals too much information.
The Wedding of Bobby Hill: This is a rather silly episode. To punish Bobby for sabotaging Luanne's BCPs, the Hills make Bobby think he has to marry Luanne.
Sleight of Hank: Hank clashes with a magician.
Jon Vitti Presents: `Return to La Grunta': Hank is violated by a Dolphin.
Escape from Party Island: Hank drives his mother and her friends to a miniatures museum only to find himself in the middle of an MTV party.

Disc 3: Love Hurts...And So Does Art: An x-ray of Hank's beef-filled colon is turned into high art.
Hank's Cowboy Movie: Hank and the gang hope to convince the Cowboys to move their training camp to Arlen.
Dog Dale Afternoon: Dale's paranoia goes a bit over the edge when he starts believing his riding mower was stolen by Lee Harvey Oswald.
Revenge of the Lutefisk: Bobby accidentally burns down the church.
Death and Texas: Peggy thinks she's helping a former student now on Death Row but is really helping him get cocaine.
Wings of the Dope: Includes one of my favorite Hank lines: "There is no Buckley's Angel, there was barely a Buckley."
Take Me Out of the Ball Game: Peggy becomes the star pitcher of the Strickland Propane softball team.
As Old As the Hills: The Hills celebrate their twentieth anniversary by sky diving...with terrible results for Peggy that will continue in season 4.

This set is definitely value for your dollar. I hope Season 4 comes out soon so I can have my second favorite episode (behind "Hank's Unmentionable Problem"); the one with the low flow toilets.

FOX really pulled one over on everyone this time. Not a single solitary extra in this boxset. None. Not one. They really cheaped out on this one. 3 double-sided DVDs. Thats it. As a collector, this one really dissapointed me. Why FOX continues to treat KOTH like an ugly stepchild is really a mystery to me. You dont see them skimping on the "Simpsons" box sets (Season 5 is brimming with bonus material.
The episodes are still great, but with reruns being played to death on FX, plus the show's time slot being victim to Fox's NFL schedule, this set offers fans nothing except owning the episodes themselves on DVD.

Buyer beware!

King Of The Hill has become one of those "like it or hate it" shows. I have found myself on both sides of the fence at one time or another but...upon reflection, this show ranks as one of the best comedies on television right now. It differs from The Simpsons and South Park in that it doesn't lampoon life so much as it presents it in animated form. The story lines are plausible for the most part (could a man walk around without shins, however, and father a child at the age of seventy whether or not he "killed fiddy men" in the war??).

This is a season that began with a boom (the explosion of the Mega-Lo-Mart) and ended with a thud (Peggy Hill falling to earth when her parachute wouldn't open).

In between, this stands up as the best season so far...as they say on the front of the box "Emmy Award Winning Season!"...and it doesn't take long to see why.

Whether dealing with loss (of life and hair)in "Death Of A Propane Salesman", infidelity (Peggy finally clues in on Dale's wife's affair in "Peggy's Headache"...the last to know as usual), young love ("And They Call It Bobby Love"), cross dressing ("Pretty,Pretty Dresses"), sports ("Three Coaches And A Bobby', "Hank's Cowboy Movie", "Take Me Out Of The Ball Game'), Hank is still insecure and indignant, Peggy is still vain and Bobby is still experiencing the growing pains of a child who seems a little...well...different.

We see Hank's attempt to breed his dog, his struggles to raise his sperm count only to find out his father is becoming a father again, a lawn mower focus group, Hank, Bill, Boomhauer and Dale as the worst volunteer fire fighters you'll ever meet, Paddlin Peggy Hill, Bobby "marrying" Luanne, Hank's colon on display at an art gallery and Bobby burning down the church. All this and so much more.

The episodes are fantastic and presented well here. The problem? Unlike the first two boxed sets which presented a huge plethora of extras, you get nothing here...nada...zilch...zip. They had always had a advantage in the DVD game on the other two aforementioned and now they've gone and ruined it. Yes, we get all 25 episodes...but people buy the DVDs for the extras too and for those who look for these, I couldn't recommend purchasing this set. If you love the show (as I do...at least right now), it's a great addition to the collection, probably the best 25 shows they'll do...but, guys, you have to give us something. You can't give us a banquet one time then nothing the next. Five stars for the shows and zip for the extras I'll tell you what!

It's here, I do not know how much longer FOX could have waited to put this season out. This is the greatest of the three released so far. I enjoyed the entire set, King of the Hill marathons for all. I have NO idea why people complain about less disks w/o pictures, I for one watch the episodes. Can't say anything bad about it other than it took forever to come out, I hope season four is released alot sooner than three.

I know I'm repeating myself here and I'm basically just echoing what I said in my own previous reviews of Seasons 1 and 2, but King of the Hill isn't the crazy world of The Simpsons or Family Guy, it's set in a much more realistic and subtle universe. Yes there is eccentric humor but it's pulled off in a convincing, un-contrived way, which makes it even more ingenius.

I love the animation. It's not the bright primary colors of regular animated shows, but more of a pencil sketch kinda appearance (sorry, that is the best description I can give as I am not up on animation lingo). And the characters and voices are perfect. How can you not feel sorry for Bill, or not fall in love with Louanne (who pretty much has the most gorgeous voice I've ever heard)?

Though KOTH is more willing to have characters grow and change the formula(very unusual for sitcoms) you can bet your bottom dollar that Hank is still a strict regular joe, Dale is a paranoid coward, Bill is still lonely, Boomhauer is incomprehensible (but he does get a brilliant moment in the episode 'A Fire Fighting We Will Go') and Hank's dad is still a highly, highly sexist old geezer with a pregnant girlfriend.

Much like Season 2, this Season ends with a great cliffhanger. Grandpa's girlfriend goes into labor and 12-year-old Bobby has to make the 2-hour drive to the hospital as Hank and Peggy go skydiving, only to end in a horrible accident (Peggy's chute doesn't open and she goes SPLAT!)

I want Season 4 NOW! There were no extras in this set, but there were plenty in the previous box sets so it's okay by me if they are sacrificed in order to get Season 4 out quicker.

The episodes are all presented in 1.33:1 full frame, as drawn with Dolby 2.0 surround.