King of the Hill (The Simpsons)

Last updated

"King of the Hill"
The Simpsons episode
Episode no.Season 9
Episode 23
Directed by Steven Dean Moore
Written by John Swartzwelder
Production code5F16
Original air dateMay 3, 1998 (1998-05-03)
Guest appearances
Episode features
Couch gag The Simpsons sit on the couch as normal and the camera zooms out to reveal that they are inside a snow globe. Two hands then shake the globe. [1]
CommentaryMike Scully
Richard Appel
Steven Dean Moore
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Trash of the Titans"		Next →
"Lost Our Lisa"
The Simpsons season 9
List of episodes

"King of the Hill" is the twenty-third episode of the ninth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons . It originally aired on Fox in the United States on May 3, 1998. [2] It was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Steven Dean Moore, and guest stars Brendan Fraser and Steven Weber. [2] The episode sees Homer trying to climb a large mountain to impress Bart after he humiliates him at a church picnic with his lack of fitness.

Contents

Plot

After his obesity embarrasses Bart at a church picnic, Homer attempts to lose weight by going on midnight jogs around town. He soon discovers "Power Sauce", an energy bar made with apples which he starts to eat regularly.

At a gym, Homer meets Rainier Wolfcastle, who becomes his fitness coach. In two months, Homer is healthier and more muscular, and reveals his new exercise habits to his family. At the gym, two Power Sauce representatives, Brad and Neil, ask Wolfcastle to climb to the top of Springfield's tallest mountain, "The Murderhorn", as a publicity stunt. When Wolfcastle refuses, saying that climbing the mountain is suicide, Bart insists Homer volunteer to do it.

Grampa begs Homer not to climb the mountain, telling him how he "died" when he was betrayed by a friend, C. W. McAllister, during their climb on the Murderhorn in 1928, also as a corporate publicity stunt. Despite this, he accepts the challenge and is aided by two Sherpas, whom he fires after waking up one night to find them secretly dragging him up. Homer radios this to Brad and Neil, who fail to convince him to abandon the climb, even informing him that Power Sauce bars are actually junk food. After Homer continues the climb regardless, Brad and Neil falsely report that he had switched to a competing brand.

The mountain proves too treacherous and high for Homer, who takes shelter in a cave. In it, he finds McAllister's frozen body and evidence proving it was Grampa who betrayed him. Too tired and ashamed to continue, Homer sticks his flagpole on the plateau. An ensuing crack collapses the rest of the mountain, making the plateau he is on the peak. Proud, Homer uses McAllister's body to sled down the mountainside, where he is greeted by the crowd. [2]

Production

The episode was pitched and written by John Swartzwelder. The writing staff had to find a new angle for Homer's weight problems, as the idea had been used several times before. This was emphasized in this episode when Marge does not seem to care that Homer is going to try to lose weight again. [3]

In the scenes where the Sherpas were speaking, the show staff went to great lengths to find translations. Originally, the producers of the film adaption of the book Into Thin Air were contacted to help. The film producers were shocked at the trouble the Simpsons staff were going to, and replied that they had simply made up translations in the film. The staff then had to consult various experts by telephone. [3]

The idea of the upper part of the mountain collapsing so Homer would be at the peak came from Mike Scully's brother Brian, after the staff "desperately needed a way out". [3]

Reception

In its original broadcast, "King of the Hill" finished 23rd in ratings for the week of April 27–May 4, 1998, with a Nielsen rating of 9.4, equivalent to approximately 9.2 million viewing households. It was the fourth highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following The X-Files , King of the Hill , and Ally McBeal . [4]

The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, thought well of the episode, stating: "A quite charming little adventure in which, in an effort to impress Bart, Homer undertakes a dangerous adventure and comes through successfully. It's nice because just for once, to all intents and purposes, Homer actually succeeds in something." [1]

Related Research Articles

"Bart the General" is the fifth episode of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on February 4, 1990. In the episode, Bart Simpson enlists Grampa's help to battle local bully Nelson Muntz. Bart unites the neighborhood children against Nelson and defeats him. The episode was directed by David Silverman and was the first to be written by John Swartzwelder.

"Treehouse of Horror III" is the fifth episode of the fourth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on October 29, 1992. The third annual Treehouse of Horror episode, it features segments in which Homer buys Bart an evil talking doll, Homer is a giant ape which is captured by Mr. Burns in a parody of the 1933 version of King Kong, and Bart and Lisa inadvertently cause zombies to attack Springfield.

"Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie" is the sixth episode of the fourth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on November 3, 1992. The plot follows Bart continually getting in trouble, and how Homer is unable to give him any suitable punishment. Marge gets Homer to agree to make a punishment stick, and he forbids Bart to see the new Itchy & Scratchy movie for not watching Maggie.

"Simpsons Bible Stories" is the eighteenth episode of the tenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on Fox in the United States on Easter Sunday, April 4, 1999. It is the first of The Simpsons' now annual trilogy episodes, and consists of four self-contained segments. In the episode, the Simpson family falls asleep during a sermon in church. Marge dreams that she and Homer are Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, Lisa dreams that she and her fellow Springfield Elementary School students are Hebrew slaves in Ancient Egypt and guides Moses to lead them to freedom, Homer dreams that he is King Solomon called to resolve a dispute between Lenny and Carl over the ownership of a pie, and Bart dreams he is King David, who has to fight Goliath's son, Goliath II.

"Homer Simpson in: 'Kidney Trouble'", or simply "Kidney Trouble", is the eighth episode of the tenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on Fox in the United States on December 6, 1998. In the episode Grampa's kidneys explode, leaving him in urgent need of a donor. His son Homer initially agrees to donate one of his kidneys, but after hearing of side effects of only having one kidney, he begins to have second thoughts about the operation.

"Maximum Homerdrive" is the seventeenth episode of the tenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on Fox in the United States on March 28, 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Cartridge Family</span> 5th episode of the 9th season of The Simpsons

"The Cartridge Family" is the fifth episode of the ninth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on November 2, 1997. It was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Pete Michels. In the episode, Homer purchases a gun to protect his family, of which Marge disapproves. Homer begins to show extremely careless gun usage, which causes Marge to leave him when she catches Bart using the gun without their permission. The episode was intended to portray guns in an unbiased manner, and faced some problems with censors because of the subject matter. Critical reaction was mostly positive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Way We Was</span> 12th episode of the 2nd season of The Simpsons

"The Way We Was" is the twelfth episode of the second season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on January 31, 1991. In the episode, Marge tells the story of how she and Homer first met and fell in love. Flashing back to 1974, it is shown how Homer falls in love with Marge in high school and tries to get close to her by enlisting her as his French tutor. After several hours of verb conjugation, Marge falls for Homer too, only to become enraged when he admits he is not a French student, since the time she spent tutoring him meant she did't have time to prepare for an important debate. Marge rejects Homer's invitation to the prom and goes with Artie Ziff, who turns out to be a terrible date and Marge realizes that it is Homer she really wants.

"Natural Born Kissers" is the twenty-fifth and final episode of the ninth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on May 17, 1998. Homer and Marge discover that the fear of getting caught while making love is a turn on and start making love in public places. It was the first episode written by Matt Selman and was the only episode to be directed by Klay Hall. Some networks list the episode by the title, "Margie, May I Sleep with Danger?".

"This Little Wiggy" is the eighteenth episode of the ninth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on March 22, 1998. It was written by Dan Greaney and directed by Neil Affleck. The episode sees Ralph Wiggum becoming friends with Bart. Phil Hartman guest stars as recurring character Troy McClure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase</span> 24th episode of the 8th season of The Simpsons

"The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase" is the twenty-fourth and penultimate episode of the eighth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 11, 1997. The episode centers on fictional pilot episodes of non-existent television series derived from The Simpsons, and is a parody of the tendency of networks to spin off characters from a hit series. As such it includes references to many different television series. The first fictional spin-off is Chief Wiggum P.I., a cop-dramedy featuring Chief Wiggum and Seymour Skinner. The second is The Love-matic Grampa, a sitcom featuring Moe Szyslak who receives dating advice from Abraham Simpson, whose ghost is possessing a love testing machine. The final segment is The Simpson Family Smile-Time Variety Hour, a variety show featuring the Simpson family except for Lisa, who has been replaced.

"Radioactive Man" is the second episode of the seventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on September 24, 1995. In the episode, the film version of the comic book series Radioactive Man is shot in Springfield, with an open casting call put out for a local boy to play the hero's sidekick, Fallout Boy. Much to Bart's disappointment, the part goes to Milhouse. When he tires of the long hours required to shoot the film, Milhouse quits the role, forcing the filmmakers to cease production and return to Hollywood.

"Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in 'The Curse of the Flying Hellfish'", or simply "The Curse of the Flying Hellfish", is the twenty-second episode of the seventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 28, 1996.

"The Front" is the nineteenth episode of the fourth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired in the United States on Fox on April 15, 1993. In the episode, Bart and Lisa decide to write an episode of The Itchy & Scratchy Show; after their script is rejected, they resubmit it under the name of their grandfather Abraham Simpson, resulting in Grampa being hired as a staff writer. Meanwhile, Homer returns to high school to retake a failed science course.

The Boy Who Knew Too Much (<i>The Simpsons</i>) 20th episode of the 5th season of The Simpsons

"The Boy Who Knew Too Much" is the twentieth episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 5, 1994. In the episode, Mayor Quimby's nephew Freddy is wrongly accused of assaulting a waiter, with Bart being the sole witness to the true course of events. Since Bart cannot reveal what he knows without admitting that he skipped school, he faces the dilemma of either testifying on Freddy's behalf and facing punishment himself, or staying silent and allowing a miscarriage of justice.

"Mountain of Madness" is the twelfth episode of the eighth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 2, 1997. In the episode, Mr. Burns forces his employees of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant to go for a team-building hike in the mountains. Burns and Homer are paired together and trapped in a cabin that gets buried by several avalanches.

"The War of the Simpsons" is the twentieth episode of the second season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on May 2, 1991. In the episode, Homer gets drunk at a dinner party and embarrasses Marge, so she enrolls them in marriage counseling at a lakeside retreat with Reverend Lovejoy.

"Bart's Comet" is the fourteenth episode of the sixth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on February 5, 1995. In the episode, Bart Simpson accidentally discovers a comet, which is heading towards Springfield. The show's writing staff saw an issue of Time magazine that presented the threat of comets hitting Earth on its cover, and so decided to create an episode in a similar vein. "Bart's Comet" contains references to Where's Waldo? and The Twilight Zone, and received positive reviews.

"Bart Star" is the sixth episode of the ninth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on November 9, 1997. Written by Donick Cary and directed by Dominic Polcino, the episode guest starred Joe Namath, Roy Firestone, and Mike Judge. In the episode, Homer becomes the coach of a pee-wee football team and makes Bart the quarterback, to the displeasure of the rest of the team and Bart himself.

"Bart Carny" is the twelfth episode of the ninth season of the American animated television series, The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on January 11, 1998. Homer and Bart start working at a carnival and befriend a father and son duo named Cooder and Spud. It was written by John Swartzwelder, directed by Mark Kirkland and guest stars Jim Varney as Cooder the carny. The episode contains several cultural references and received a generally mixed critical reception.

References

  1. 1 2 Martyn, Warren; Wood, Adrian (2000). "This Little Wiggy". BBC.co.uk . Retrieved November 1, 2007.
  2. 1 2 3 Gimple, Scott (1999). The Simpsons Forever!: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family ...Continued . Harper Collins Publishers. p.  40. ISBN   0-06-098763-4.
  3. 1 2 3 Scully, Mike (2006). The Simpsons season 9 DVD commentary for the episode "King of the Hill" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  4. ↑ "'Merlin' magic works again for NBC". Sun-Sentinel . Associated Press. May 7, 1998. p. 4E.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.