The FLINTSTONES was a popular, prime-time, animated sitcom from 1960-'66. The success of the modern stone-age family prompted several other attempts, but none of them really took. (Though they were recycled on Saturday Mornings with better re…
The FLINTSTONES was a popular, prime-time, animated sitcom from 1960-'66. The success of the modern stone-age family prompted several other attempts, but none of them really took. (Though they were recycled on Saturday Mornings with better results.)
With 49 episodes, WAIT TILL YOUR FATHER GETS HOME (which we just concluded) was the only multi-season, 2D sitcom on TV until the SIMPSONS hit at the end of the '80s. That juggernaut initiated a veritable flood of adult-ish cartoon comedies, most of which quickly crumpled. (Even likable ones like MISSION HILL, which we covered last year.) The ones that survived tended to have one thing in common... Like Homer Simpson, the fathers were morons and/or nutcases. But there was one great exception.
Mike Judge had his big break with a short made for MTV's LIQUID TELEVISION, which actually featured characters based on what critics of MTV thought popular culture was making of the younger generation: Borderline illiterate, perverted sociopaths. The short spawned BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD, a long-running staple of the network.
One character from that show, Tom Anderson, was a retired war veteran who was often victimized by the dimwitted duo's behavior, but was just too decent a person to kill them and dump their corpses in the landfill. (Though nobody in the neighborhood would have minded.) Tom's voice (done by Judge) and much of his personality were recycled into the father/protagonist of Judge's next landmark project.
Hank Hill is just a good, old-fashioned American man. He lives in a working class neighborhood in a small Texas town. Works an honest job. Drives a pickup truck. Tinkers in his garage. Drinks beer with his neighbors. Obsesses a little over keeping his yard perfect. Is true to his wife. Loves his son, despite the boy's occasional weirdness. He's a bit uptight, but tries to be reasonably tolerant of others. And he is not a moron.
He'd never, ever strike a woman or child... But, sufficiently provoked, he will respond violently to idiots, including twig-boy, uppity civil servants from the Left Coast. As we see in this pilot of KING OF THE HILL from January 1997.
There were 259 episodes of this series. We'll see how far we can go with it...
.
