The numbers are in and the new season of King of the Hill is a huge hit for Hulu. It’s become the streamer’s biggest animated show in five years. The first episode alone reached 4.4 million views in just the first seven days. It’s boosted the numbers for the existing library, where viewership for Seasons 1 through 13 are up 41%. And the series has remained in Hulu’s top five on the homepage since its relaunch.
When Futurama returned and performed half this well, its renewal was nearly instant. You would think in the press release, Hulu would have taken the opportunity to mention a fifteenth season for King of the Hill. They didn’t. The assumption among the fanbase is that another season has been in production from the beginning and will be mentioned eventually.
Thing is though…I can’t find any official statement, from Hulu or 20th Television or anywhere else, that mentions a multiple season revival. When I search, all I see is hearsay: “The order was for 20 episodes!” “Pamela said she recorded multiple seasons!” “My best friend’s uncle works for Nintendo and he said you can find Bobby Hill under the truck in Vermillion City!” Nothing concrete at all.
Despite the current season ending on a rather typical episode instead of anything suggesting a finale, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that this was it. To get into the reason why, we’ll have to discuss spoilers from the new season, so…duck and cover if you haven’t finished it yet.
I’m talking about the Bobby Hill part of the show, specifically his will-they-won’t-they with Connie, which was incredibly condensed and went through all the standard motions in just ten episodes. They meet, they flirt, they agree to stay friends, Connie dates someone else, Bobby dates someone else, they get dumped, they reunite. Don’t blink or you’ll miss Willow. It’s the kind of thing that normally plays out over 22 episodes of a traditional season, or multiple seasons if….more were planned.
This, I know, is not a smoking gun. I don’t have a statement in my hand that says the season IS stand-alone, so I know about as much as the rumormongers. If you found something we missed, tell us in the forums link that will appear below this article. We’ll update if the source is legitimate enough.
From what we can see Hulu refuses to say either way, which…is hopeful in itself. For now, King of the Hill both is and is not renewed…it’s Schrodinger’s Show, I tell ya what.
