The sixth season of ''

King of the Hill ''King of the Hill'' is an American animated sitcom created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It aired its original non-syndicated run from January 12, 1997, to September 13, 2009, and centers on the Hills, an Am ...

,'' originally aired on Sundays at 7:30–8:00p.m. ( EST) on the

Fox Broadcasting Company The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations an ...

from November 11, 2001, to May 12, 2002. The Region 1 DVD was released on May 2, 2006.

Production

The

showrunner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also th ...

s for the season were

Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger Jonathan Robert Aibel (born August 6, 1969 in Demarest, New Jersey) and Glenn Todd Berger (born August 26, 1969 in Smithtown, New York) are American screenwriters and producers, who are best known for writing the ''Kung Fu Panda ''Kung Fu Pa ...

, who took over from

Richard Appel Richard James Appel (born May 21, 1963) is an American writer, producer and former Attorney at law, attorney. Since 2012, he has served as an executive producer and co-showrunner of ''Family Guy'' on Fox. He attended Harvard University and Harvar ...

, the showrunner of Season 5 and co-showrunner of Seasona 3-4 with

Greg Daniels Gregory Martin Daniels (born June 13, 1963) is an American screenwriter, television producer, and director. He has worked on several television series, including writing for ''Saturday Night Live'' and ''The Simpsons'', adapting ''The Office'' f ...

. Aibel and Berger departed in late 2001, as a result of unspecified tensions behind the scenes. Greg Daniels temporarily ran the show again following Aibel and Berger's departure, and the duo would eventually be replaced by

John Altschuler John Altschuler (born 1963) is an American television and film writer and producer known for his collaborative projects with Mike Judge and Dave Krinsky. Early life Altschuler grew up in a Jewish family in Carbondale, Illinois. His mother was ...

and Dave Krinsky for Season 7 and beyond.

Reception

In November 2001, Hal Boedeker of the ''

Orlando Sentinel The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company. The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by parent company, '' Tribune P ...

'' gave the season opener "Bobby Goes Nuts" a positive review, and described Fox's programming that night as "highly uneven: a clever ''King of the Hill'', a mediocre ''

Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, a ...

'', an amusing ''

Malcolm in the Middle ''Malcolm in the Middle'' is an American family television sitcom created by Linwood Boomer for Fox. The series premiered on January 9, 2000, and ended on May 14, 2006, after seven seasons and 151 episodes. The series follows a dysfunctional ...

'' and a pointless '' X-Files''." Boedeker went on to write, "the sixth-season opener of ''King of the Hill'' manages the considerable feat of being more diverting than ''The Simpsons'', and it does it with one of the hoariest bits of humor: the kick in the groin."https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-2001-11-10-0111090607-story.html The ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

s Austin Smith praised the season final "Returning Japanese" in May 2002, writing that, "the episode figures to be the best of the season finales the networks have in store this week – cleverer by far than this Thursday’s baby hijinks on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

’s ''

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa ...

'' and ''

Will & Grace ''Will & Grace'' is an American television sitcom created by Max Mutchnick and David Kohan. Set in New York City, the show focuses on the friendship between best friends Will Truman (Eric McCormack), a gay lawyer, and Grace Adler (Debra Messing), ...

''. Those plotlines sound as desperate as this Tuesday’s episode of ''

Frasier ''Frasier'' () is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for 11 seasons. It premiered on September 16, 1993, and ended on May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey (screenwriter), Peter Case ...

'', in which Frasier stumbles into bed with Roz."https://nypost.com/2002/05/12/turning-japanese/ Smith noted that ''King of the Hill'' "wasn’t always easy to love at first, uttoday – six seasons later – stands out as one of the most creative and best-written shows on TV." In his 2006 review for the DVD release, ''

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

s Tal Blevins labelled it "a great season with no real stinkers."https://www.ign.com/articles/2006/05/30/king-of-the-hill-the-complete-sixth-season Blevins praised the episode "Bobby Goes Nuts", commenting that it "includes one of the most memorable lines ever uttered on television." In his review of the Season 6 DVD, Jesse Hassenger of ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

'' described "Bobby Goes Nuts" as one of "the show’s finest episodes."https://www.popmatters.com/king-of-the-hill-season-6-dvd-2496226388.html Hassenger also observed that, "by season six, Peggy’s scales have tipped towards buffoonery; she essentially plays the bumbling, dim husband role. This role reversal is potentially clever, especially when Peggy’s decency, like Hank’s, is allowed to shine through."

Episodes

References

{{King of the Hill 2001 American television seasons 2002 American television seasons King of the Hill 06