Newsgroup on Life Support

This group is lucky to see one post a week, so far as I can tell. Is there another, more active group for this show? Even Family Guy, which is all but canceled, gets more posts.

On Mon, 26 Mar 2001 02:15:41 GMT Mark J. Finegold wrote:

[MJF] This group is lucky to see one post a week, so far as I can [MJF] tell. Is there another, more active group for this show? Even [MJF] Family Guy, which is all but canceled, gets more posts.

There was a movie on tonight instead, and last week was a repeat. Was there something you wanted to say about _King of the Hill_ and you maybe wondered if there was readership waiting with bated breath?

I was really just wondering if there was any readership at all, regardless of the state of their breath. King of the Hill generates very little usenet activity given the (apparent) popularity of the show. Repeats and pre-emptions have no effect on the ceaseless prattling in the newsgroups for all other Fox shows.

More prattling!

On Mon, 26 Mar 2001 05:12:26 -0000, R J Valentine wrote:

On Mon, 26 Mar 2001 22:51:11 GMT Mark J. Finegold wrote:

[MJF] I was really just wondering if there was any readership at all, [MJF] regardless of the state of their breath. King of the Hill generates [MJF] very little usenet activity given the (apparent) popularity of [MJF] the show. Repeats and pre-emptions have no effect on the [MJF] ceaseless prattling in the newsgroups for all other Fox shows. [MJF] [MJF] More prattling!

Of course there's readership -- thousands of people ready to weigh in when there's a decent controversy. But the show hits the nail on the head just about every time without being burdened with the factual errors that dog the other shows (or at least they are so enshrined in the show bible that they're beyond question (like how come it is that Hank has too narrow a urethra to pass live sperm, yet doesn't seem to have problems with other urethral functions)). We know that Bobby is aging, but very slowly. We know that Peggy heals up real fast (and Luanne's hair grows in almost as fast). We now know that there was no subtlety to hope for about the apparent affair between John Redcorn and Nancy Gribble.

So what's left? I'm guessing it's about time for them to kill off Cotton Hill (or Lady Bird). Bill Dauterive ought to be about ready to retire from the Army and go into business (charcoal and charcoal accessories?). Boomhauer could use a little character attention.

And how about videos? Are they going to put out a boxed set?

Big John, the founder of Virtual Arlen, stops in from time to time. I hear that Fox has some of the basic information on their own website to make up for the loss of some of the fan websites. I don't know what happened to the FAQ file.

Tell people to leave out the "the" when looking for the newsgroup (apparently because leaving it in would make it too long for the rules). If you've got questions or opinions, don't be shy about posting them.

I know what you mean. Other groups have threads like

X is a babe! X is a jerk! Are X and Y getting together? Will Y be killed? Random Thoughts on Episode Z Episode Z DYNs Xisms (Daleisms, Hankisms, Boomhauerisms, etc.) Gun Control :-) Who played X? Can someone send me a tape? Where's the episode guide? Where is city X?

Whereas on this group, I saw (not counting spam threads):

Hank should've mooned Dubya!

and that was pretty much it. :-) And -that- episode (which I taped over accidentally before I could watch, dang it) was at least a month ago.

All of the above threads could work for KotH. I don't know why they aren't here. Possible theories:

• KotH is watched only by people who don't talk much.
• KotH is watched only by people who don't use Usenet.
• KotH is watched only by people who have their act together, and feel no need to ask many inane questions. :-)
• KotH simply isn't that popular, due to a number of factors, and only stays on the air so that Fox can syndicate it.
• Nobody can find us because the group name is alt.tv.king-of-hill instead of alt.tv.king-of-the-hill.
• All the traffic is actually in alt.fan.bobby-hill.chubby.white.bullet and we here had no idea.

This group -used- to have a fair bit of traffic, actually. I remember R.J. being around at that time. We'd talk about stuff like where exactly Arlen would be located, why Tom Landry is such a big deal, and so forth. I have the sinking feeling that the fourth theory above is the truest, and that KotH is yet another victim of timeslotitis.

In article ,

On Wed, 28 Mar 2001 18:54:01 GMT Gamma  wrote:
...
[G] All of the above threads could work for KotH.  I don't know why they
[G] aren't here.  Possible theories:
...
[G] - All the traffic is actually in
[G]   alt.fan.bobby-hill.chubby.white.bullet
[G]   and we here had no idea.

I just looked, and SuperNews doesn't seem to carry it. Does Verio really have it or are you just funning us? Actually, I thought the reason might be that people were hanging out over at alt.conspiracy.black.helicopters (which everyone here would know was newgrouped _during_ the first episode of KOTH and a select few that it showed up on Clark.Net later that evening). But I just took a quick look in there, and all the thread subjects seem to have to do with black-helicopter conspiracies (and I didn't see anything about getting the chings out).

Seems like they could start releasing the series in full-season boxed sets any day now. Even _The Sopranos_ has their first season out in a boxed set and they're just starting the third.

APPARENT affair?!? Good gosh, RJ, I remember the fun we all used to have debating whether John and Nancy were, in fact, runnin' around behind Dale's back ( and in front of his face, for that matter ), but you havn't conceded the point YET? Whadda they have to _do_?

I'm havin' a flashback to a year ago.............kinda fun, actually!

May spend some more time around here.............

I (RJV) had previously written:

[RJV] Of course there's readership -- thousands of people ready to weigh in when [RJV] there's a decent controversy. But the show hits the nail on the head just [RJV] about every time without being burdened with the factual errors that dog [RJV] the other shows (or at least they are so enshrined in the show bible that [RJV] they're beyond question (like how come it is that Hank has too narrow a [RJV] urethra to pass live sperm, yet doesn't seem to have problems with other [RJV] urethral functions)). We know that Bobby is aging, but very slowly. We [RJV] know that Peggy heals up real fast (and Luanne's hair grows in almost as [RJV] fast). We now know that there was no subtlety to hope for about the [RJV] apparent affair between John Redcorn and Nancy Gribble.

On Thu, 29 Mar 2001 00:43:35 -0800 (PST) Mark Jones wrote:

[MJ] APPARENT affair?!? Good gosh, RJ, I remember the fun we all used to have [MJ] debating whether John and Nancy were, in fact, runnin' around behind [MJ] Dale's back ( and in front of his face, for that matter ), but you [MJ] havn't conceded the point YET? Whadda they have to _do_? [MJ] [MJ] I'm havin' a flashback to a year ago.............kinda fun, actually!

I guess I should've said "what was then only an apparent affair". No, I conceded the point the first time they showed them under the covers together. In the context I was laying down about all the improbable things they _did_ establish later as cartoon fact, not the least of which was Peggy surviving a jump from an airplane in flight without a functioning parachute, the one ambiguity that they did float since the very first episode was what was then only an apparent affair. It all started in the very first episode with the appearance of Joseph with apparently a different racial makeup than the parents he lived with. It happens that I know *several* families with children having a different racial makeup than the parents they live with. Some are adopted; some are children of a previous marriage of one of the parents; it happens. Alongside that we had John Redcorn, a certified practitioner of alternative medicine (including massage therapy, which was quite effective on Peggy Hill when she had a headache). And we had a loving trusting husband, arguably the most decent guy on the show.

For a long time there was absolutely nothing besides that to indicate that they had been having an affair. No kissing, though other characters were shown kissing. No sex, though other characters were shown in compromising positions. Nothing except that they were alone together from time to time, like nobody has ever been alone with a medical practitioner. On top of that they had a show about leaping to unwarranted conclusions (whose details elude me just now). On top of that they have had plenty of shows that stretch credulity a little more than assuming that a medical practitioner and a public figure might actually be doing what they said they were doing (Peggy's survival, Bobby's leadership of the fire-ants, Bobby's near leadership of a billion Buddhists, and so on).

But one by one they eliminated other possibilities. Joseph was indeed the birth son of Nancy while she was married to Dale. The age discrepancy was fixed up; so, where it appeared at first that Joseph was a few months older than Bobby and that Nancy had been seeing John Redcorn since about the time Bobby was born, we now know that Joseph is a few months younger than Bobby and that Nancy had been seeing John Redcorn long enough to allow for a pregnancy if the very first session caused it (which adds an interesting perspective to Peggy's first session with John Redcorn). And then (was it the episode where they thought Dale was a sniper?) they showed them under the covers together, so there was no longer any hope that they were setting up a season-finale come-uppance for the characters who had assumed an affair based only on observations that the husband had no problem with.

That was where I caved. I was wrong about that, and I was wrong about Peggy surviving the fall. The other side of both of them would have made for some good, serious television. But the loving, trusting husband who was willing to lay down his life to save Bobby was made a fool of, and the institution of marriage was made a mockery of, all for a cheap running joke based on the principle that people just can't be trusted. I think it's a shame.

There were so many alternatives they could have explored. They could have had a mix-up down at the sperm bank (and there was an episode of _Beavis and Butt-Head_ about just such a mix-up, and they had established early-on that at least Hank and Peggy had had fertility problems). John Redcorn could easily have taken an interest in the upbringing of the biological son he had either accidentally or as a planned donor, or as biological father of an adopted son, or as former husband of Nancy; or of the biological nephew he had as brother of a first husband tragically killed before Joseph was born. Are any of those harder to believe than Peggy surviving the fall or Bobby being leader of the fire-ants or the Buddhists? (And how _about_ that narrow urethra? Wouldn't Hank have exploded by now?)

They have dealt with other serious issues on the show, sometimes humorously and sometimes seriously, but here they went for the cheap laugh. Ah, well. Life goes on.

[MJ] May spend some more time around here.............

Excellent! The newsgroup could use a shot in the arm.

I agree, RJ, they have missed some opportunities to take some things in other, possibly more interesting directions......too, there've been times when it's seemed that they were actually considering some great revelations ( is Bobby Bills son? He looks a lot more like him than Hank, after all........we know Bill would've been willing, and there IS that darned urethra. It could explain so much....... ), then changed their minds ( nope, Cottons baby looks just like Bobby ). Sometimes it seems that the runaround FOX has given them has just taken the wind out of their sails. Maybe things will get better now that FOX has made Futurama its designated timeslot whipping boy...........sometimes it can be a morale boost knowin' some other poor sod is gettin' it even worse!

About that urethra.........given the volume of beer Hank subjects it to, that may explain his habitual "Grant Wood" expression. Well, that and being raised by Cotton..........

However, if the fourth theory were the reason, Futurama should be even worse off. It suffers even more pre-emptions and lost episodes, especially during football season. Yet to the contrary, Futurama generates huge threads about Fox conspiring to kill off Futurama because of its poor timeslot. Some go so far as to suggest that Futurama should be put in KOTH's timeslot. Which many hate because they have some sort of weird notion that KOTH is somehow competing for space with Futurama.

I also get alt.tv.king.of.the.hill and alt.king.of.the.hill. I'm sure having THREE newsgroups out there (not to mention the helicopter one) must confuse the hell out of people.

Good point. Look at all the endless posts for the Simpsons. Even Futurama gets its fair share. Yet of the three animated shows on Fox Sunday, I think KOTH is the cleverest.