King of the Hill is an American animated sitcom created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels for the Fox Broadcasting Company that aired its original non-syndicated run from January 12, 1997, to September 13, 2009. It centers on the Hills, an American family in the fictional city of Arlen, Texas, as well as their neighbors, co-workers, relatives, classmates, friends, and acquaintances. Series protagonist, patriarch, and everyman Hank Hill works as assistant manager at Strickland Propane. He lives in a ranch-style house with his wife Peggy, his son Bobby, his niece Luanne, and his pet bloodhound Lady Bird. Hank's neighbors are his longtime friends Bill Dauterive, a divorced, bald, overweight military barber and former high-school football star; Dale Gribble, a paranoid, pro-gun, anti-government pest exterminator; and Jeff Boomhauer, a charismatic, soft-spoken, often unintelligible bachelor. The show's realistic approach seeks humor in the conventional and mundane aspects of everyday life, such as blue-collar workers, substitute teachers, the trials of puberty, and political correctness.
Judge began creating King of the Hill during his time making the MTV series Beavis and Butt-Head, which he also created and voiced in. After pitching the pilot to Fox, Judge was paired with Greg Daniels, an experienced writer who previously worked on The Simpsons. The series debuted on the Fox network as a mid-season replacement in 1997, quickly becoming a success. The series' popularity led to worldwide syndication, and cable reruns currently air on FXX and Cartoon Network's late night programming block, Adult Swim, having aired on FX and Comedy Central in the past. The show became one of Fox's longest-running series. A total of 259 episodes aired over the course of its 13 seasons. The final episode aired on Fox on September 13, 2009. Four episodes from the final season were planned to air on Fox, but later premiered in nightly syndication from May 3 to 6, 2010.
In 2007, it was named by Time magazine as one of the top 100 greatest television shows of all time. King of the Hill won two Emmy Awards and was nominated for seven. The series' celebrity guest stars include Chuck Mangione (playing a fictionalized version of himself), Tom Petty (playing the recurring character Lucky), Alan Rickman (playing a king at a Renaissance fair), and numerous country music artists. On January 18, 2022, a revival of the series was announced to be in development.