In a somewhat surprising move, the FOX network has decided to cancel one of the staples of its Sunday night line-up. On the eve of Halloween, the King of the Hill TV show has been cancelled after 13 seasons on the air.
King of the Hill follows the animated adventures of the Hill family from the small town of Arlen, Texas. The family’s patriarch, Hank (Mike Judge), is a propane salesman who’s obsessed with his lawn and the Dallas Cowboys. His well-meaning wife Peggy (Kathy Najimy) holds several part-time jobs and together, they raise their husky teenage son, Bobby (Pamela Adlon). Other characters include niece Luanne (Brittany Murphy), neighbor Bill (Stephen Root), and conspiracy-lover Dale (Johnny Hardwick).
The series debuted on January 12, 1997 on FOX and quickly became a staple of the network’s animation line-up. Having survived to produce over 240 episodes, King has become the second longest-running animated series, following The Simpsons. It’s become very popular in syndication, both in the US and internationally.
In recent years, King has been on the verge of cancellation several times. Earlier this month, Gary Newman, the co-chair of 20th Century Fox TV, hinted to TV Week that it may be time to pull the plug. He said, “I don’t know if the network will be ordering more seasons or not. That show has had its last rites read to it several times, and keeps rearing its head again.”
 Loading ... |
This season, King has been averaging seven million viewers and a 3.4/8 rating/share in the 18-49 demographic, a far cry from the series’ heyday. Simpsons and Family Guy, the shows that air before and after, both attract better numbers.
Back in early April, FOX ordered 13 episodes for the show’s 13th season. Production is nearly completed on those and the network has decided that they will be the series’ last. The episodes that are currently airing are actually from the show’s 12th season. FOX won’t begin showing King’s final batch of episodes until February 2009 which means that, though cancelled, the series could end up on the network’s 2009-10 schedule.
King isn’t scheduled to have any kind of series-closing finale. Executive producer John Altschuler says that this is by design. If there’d been a series finale when the show ceased production in the past, it would have been difficult to revive it.
If this is truly the end of King, Altschuler feels good about the run but ultimately isn’t totally convinced it’s over. He told Variety, We’ve been here before… When it’s time for King of the Hill to go, it will go. But I think with the ratings this good, and with quality that doesn’t seem to be diminishing, it would be very odd for King of the Hill not to keep going.”
Influencing the network’s decision to cancel King, aside from the declining ratings, is the fact that FOX is hot to introduce two new animated series in midseason; Sit Down, Shut Up, from Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz, and The Cleveland Show, a spin-off of Family Guy. Stay tuned! 
Image courtesy FOX.
If any show deserves to be canceled, it’s family guy. That show is complete bull ****, and the writing is lazy as hell.
i AGREE–KOTH IS AN AWESOME SHOW! i DO LOVE FAMILY GUY, BUT AMERICAN DAD STAYS WHEN KOTH IS KICKED OFF? HOW RIDICULOUS–KOTH IS A MILLION TIMES BETTER. MY 62 YEAR OLD MOTHER EVEN LIKES THAT SHOW.
i can’t believe they’re doing this. this is such a modest down to earth show, and not just a bunch of random vulgar stuff like family guy. american dad is horrible, cancel that instead. king is my favorite show. ever.
THEY NEED NEW EPISODES!
This really pisses me off. KOTH cancelled? WTF? Why are they cancelling the only show worth watching on Sundays? Well, that and a NEW Family Guy, which only has like 12 episodes a season now and KOTH has always been in the 20s since season 2. It’s complete bull ****. It’s my favorite animated show and it’s just so lame that it’s being canceled. I was there when it started. I have been there since. Mike Judge is a genius. Look at Office Space and how funny that was. FOX is becoming a dumber and dumber network. The only shows… Read more »
The show American dad was PUSHED upon fox when they dropped the family guy, and the people yelled and screamed. In a deal, the writers of the show said “we’ll come back if you pick up another of our shows” and that show was american dad. So that is the reason its on. Kinda like Punky brewster was picked up in similar ways (who really Liked that show?) Here is another thing…SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE cant POSSIBLY have the type of ratings that king of the hill does, and WHY ON GODS GREEN EARTH is that show still on? It is… Read more »
maybe cable will pick it up
I looked forward to 7:30 Sunday Night(providing there wasn’t a dang foot ball game on)! American Dad is the most stupid, mindless dribble I’ve ever not watched for more than 2 minutes. Please, please bring it back!
It’s a little late for this post but Adult Swim will be showing all of the old episodes at 10 and 10:30 starting January 1st. Plus, Family Guy got cancelled and then came back strong a few years later. If any other show will do that then KOTH will definitely be that show.
Its sad that stupid shows like american dad make it and because of it they get rid of king of the hill. please fox, keep it going, we already messed up the president nomination, so lets not keep it going in getting ride of king of the hill, please keep the show going
It seems like every good show on television is being cancelled. Sunday night was the best night in TV for a long time. To cancel ‘King of the Hill’ just to bring in another Seth MacFarlane show is crazy. Don’t get me wrong, I love ‘Family Guy’ and ‘American Dad’, but we need a show to counter out MacFarlane’s mostly on to get laugh type shows with a sensible good old animated comedy show. The only reason that ‘King of the Hill’ is losing viewers is because the plots lines have diverted so much form the original episodes. And since… Read more »
Well, there goes a perfect Sunday night of Animation.
Shame. I do think, out of all the Fox Sunday animation shows “KOTH” receives the least amount of promo.
It is still funny and consistently entertaining, which is much more than can be said for “American Dad” and “The Simpsons”, either of which could be pulled in it’s place.
“Dad” never did find a peak or heyday and “The Simpsons” jumped the shark several years ago.
I will await “KOTH”‘s return with interest.
Ah, yes. I will miss this show, it was truly unlike any other show on TV, an animated series that managed to take itself seriously. I think Peter Paltridge said it best that a show like this just cannot be greenlit today. On a side note, I will add that American Dad was renewed. Now Trevor, you mentioned the new animated sitcoms that FOX has picked up. I can’t say anything is set in stone, but I am quite sure that “The Cleveland Show” will walk right over “Sit Down, Shut Up”. So, in a few years, I’m positive that… Read more »
This isn’t too much of a surprise. Mike Judge had expressed an desire to do other projects.