Discuss King of the Hill

and because of that it was alittle underrated. Just a middle class Texas family with interesting neighbors(Dale is the only cartoonish element). I grew up watching this series.

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It really is humble sweet little show. Kind of feels like the whole entertainment industry has been going down a nihilistic/absurdist slant ever since the '90s, and even more so as of late. If King of the Hill was done today it wouldn't look anything like what it did. It would likely just highlight issues of southern culture and be political commentary on the demographic of the show.

Its kind of a special thing that a show like this existed, it managed to not only make characters with values and morals in a believable way, but also use those values and morals to push conflict in the plot without ever suggesting they abandon them. Values and morals are something that are hard to keep in every day life sometimes, and the show used that fact to make it incredibly relate-able, even if you're not a bible-belt conservative.

It'd be like if you had a strong conviction that the earth is sacred and we, as products of it, ought to take care of it. Say you are hiking in a secluded area and you find a campfire site littered with nasty old plastic bottles and beer cans. It might be gross, cumbersome, and uncomfortable, but you make damn well sure to clean up the mess because you value having a clean earth, and that's the price of being principled.

Shows as of late don't really have that. Rick Sanchez just goes around destroying things because he hates his life. Bojack Horseman severs every single real relationship he has with anyone because he can't control himself. Walter White killed many people and destroyed his family to stroke his ego. Dexter commit violent acts of murder because hes programmed to do it and justifies it with them being terrible people anyways. None of these characters really value anything, and if they do they abandon those values the second they have to prove they have them.

That's not to say that these shows are poorly written. In fact, sans post season 4 Dexter, quite the opposite is true. That's not even to say that these types of shows ought to not exist. But what the over-saturation of said content does show is a nihilistic bend in culture as of today. Maybe its a result of 9/11, columbine, newton, and all the other violent tragedies smeared over the airwaves 24/7. Maybe its a result of sheer boredom from the happily ever after tropes. Or maybe its just a fluke. Whatever it is, its a damn shame that the youth of today will only have their nihilism and depression reassured, rather than contrasted. Perhaps, the world needs Hank Hill these days more than ever.

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