King of the Hill Revival Takes Shot at Fox Over Its Cancellation

King of the Hill has returned with a brand new season of episodes fifteen years after the original show came to an end, and the new season took a shot at Fox over its first cancellation. King of the Hill Season 14 picks up nearly a decade from the events of the original series, and reunites fans with a much older version of Hank and the others as they deal with how much has changed in Arlen since that original show. But the new episodes hilariously point out that the original could have gone on for much longer with its broadcast network on Fox.

King of the Hill was brought to its end after 13 seasons with Fox, and the new season helps to reintroduce fans both to the franchise and reveal how much has changed for Bobby. Now that he’s become a professional chef working in Dallas, he’s been trying his best to get attention for his restaurant in any way he can. That includes trying out for a new reboot of an old cooking show, “King of the Grill,” which had been cancelled by Fox fifteen years ago much like King of the Hill was.

King of the Hill Revival Takes a Shot at Fox

In King of the Hill Season 14 Episode 6, “Peggy’s Fadeout,” Bobby is seen trying to record an audition tape for a cooking competition known as “King of the Grill.” Through a later conversation with his business partner Chane Wassanasong, it’s revealed that this cooking show is actually a revival of a much older show. When Bobby asks Chane if he’s heard about it, Chane responds, “The Texas cooking show that Fox stupidly cancelled fifteen years ago?” Which is a direct callout to the fact that King of the Hill was cancelled way back when with Fox.

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King of the Hill’s Revival Is Missing Two of Its Biggest Characters

King of the Hill’s cancellation was a weird one with Fox. The series ran with the network from 1997 to 2009, and “To Sirloin With Love” is considered the true series finale for the series. But if you happen to have watched the show on Hulu (to perhaps get ready for the new season), you might have noticed there are actually four more episodes listed for the series. It’s because they ended up premiering through the series’ syndicated runs starting a year later in 2010. So its end came at just a really weird time.

What Does This Mean for King of the Hill’s Future?

A small joke like this in King of the Hill’s new season is the revival’s way of poking fun at the fact that the series was cancelled in the first place, and now the creative team is comfortable looking back at all of that now that the series has come back with new episodes. As the new season premiered all at once with Hulu, it has been doing well with the streaming service thus far and even got a very rare perfect score with Rotten Tomatoes ahead of its full debut.

King of the Hill’s success with both fans of the classic series and new fans thus far has been great, so there’s a hope that the series can continue with new episodes. Season 15 has yet to be confirmed by Hulu as of the time of this writing, but those behind the series have teased they have already started work on an additional season. With the original running for as long as it did before cancellation, there’s a hope this revival can have the same longevity.