Collection King of the Hill

King of the Hill is the most gentle show Mike Judge ever made and probably his best. It ran for thirteen seasons on a premise most networks would reject outright: a man in Texas sells propane, loves his lawn, and is trying his best.

The comedy is observational rather than absurd. Almost nothing improbable happens in Arlen. Instead the show finds humour in a narrow alley beer conversation, a school fundraiser, a disagreement about grilling technique. It respects its characters enough to let them be genuinely decent people who are sometimes wrong.

Hank's relationship with Bobby is the heart of it, and one of the more quietly moving father-son portrayals on television. Hank doesn't understand his son at all and never stops trying to, and the show declines to resolve that tension cheaply.

Dale Gribble is the great outlier - a conspiracy theorist who is wrong about everything except the one thing everyone in town knows and won't tell him.

This collection covers the Hills and their neighbours. Taste the meat, not the heat.