| Season Number: | 2 |
| Bgcolour: |
|
| Num Episodes: | 23 |
| Network: | Fox |
| Prev Season: | Season 1 |
| Next Season: | Season 3 |
| Episode List: | List of King of the Hill episodes |
This is a list of episodes from the second season of King of the Hill, which aired on Fox from September 21, 1997 to May 17, 1998 for 23 episodes. Season 2 also saw the show net its highest ever Nielsen ranking at #15, and except for their broadcast of Super Bowl XXXI in 1997, it was the highest Nielsen rating for any Fox show up to that point, even beating The Simpsons at times.
The showrunners for the season was Mike Judge and Greg Daniels.[1] Wes Archer, the supervising director, did a redesign on most of the characters to make them appear more realistic than they did in the first season.[1] In his 2003 DVD commentary for the episode "How to Fire a Rifle Without Really Trying", Daniels reflected, "in season two, because of the way animation works, there was a big overlap. The episodes from season one were coming back and requiring producing and music and editing while we were writing season two. So, during the first season we had a very pure experience of just writing them without any distractions, and in the second season it suddenly got a lot harder because you'd be trying to write, and something would come in requiring attention."[2] Daniels added that, "this was part of the time I kept having a lot of car accidents, because we were so tired."[2] Early in the production of the season, Pamela Adlon couldn't come in for table reads due to the birth of her first daughter.[3]
A July 1997 article from USA Today revealed that the upcoming season would include guest appearances from Troy Aikman, Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Chris Rock, Green Day and Jennifer Jason Leigh. The article also mentioned that the Hill family would make a guest cameo as in-universe characters on an upcoming episode of The Simpsons (the episode, titled "Bart Star", aired on Fox in November 1997). The crossover featured the voice of Mike Judge, with Daniels (an ex-Simpsons writer) explaining to USA Today that, "In the world of King of the Hill, The Simpsons exists only in that Bobby has a Bart doll. They exist as a TV show."[4]
The Christmas episode "The Unbearable Blindness of Laying" originated from an idea that was jotted down on an index card, which sat alongside dozens of other story ideas on a conference-room wall, until executive story editor Paul Lieberstein decided to take the story further. It featured a sex scene between Hank's mother and her new boyfriend, which Daniels viewed as risque. On the night before the episode's table read, the writers spent until 5 a.m. reworking the script of this episode, changing both the sex scene and the personality of the boyfriend character, as Daniels deemed him as too plain. Regarding the sex scene, Daniels remarked at the time, "we [needed] to find a way to have adults know what's going on but have kids see something else."[3]
In the episode "Traffic Jam", the comedian character guest voiced by Chris Rock was originally called "Busta Nut" in the script. The Fox Standards & Practices department objected, claiming that "Bust a nut" was slang for masturbation. His name was then changed to "Booty Sack" and finally "Booda Sack."[5]
The episodes originally aired Sundays at 8:30–9:00 p.m. (EST) on the Fox Broadcasting Company.[6] [7]
In his September 1997 review of "How to Fire a Rifle Without Really Trying", Chris Vognar of the Orlando Sentinel wrote that. "King of the Hill continues to hit the funny bone because it's more real and touching than any non-animated comedy on the air." He went on to write, "the show looks to have more of an edge this year; one future episode finds Hank and Dale mistaking crack for fishing bait, and the humor in week one is already carrying a more subversive tone without losing its human touch."[8] In his 2004 review of the DVD release, IGNs Tal Blevins gave the season a positive review, writing, "while the characters were still coming into their own in season one, the second season is where the show really gelled, and the characters were molded into how we know them today."[9]
Mike Judge claimed in a 2006 interview with IGN that "Junkie Business" was one of his favorite episodes of the series.[10]
See also: List of King of the Hill episodes.
The season was released on DVD by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. "The Company Man" was released on the Season 1 DVD due to its production code. It is presented as a season two episode on Hulu, Disney+ internationally and most syndicated packages (barring Cartoon Network's Adult Swim).[11]