King of The hill season 3 (1 Viewer)

[Jaime_Weinman]

TVShowsonDVD reports (thanks, guys) that there's finally an official release date: December 28. Well, that's post-Christmas so that won't do any wonders for the sales, but hopefully it will sell well enough to justify the release of another season, which is what matters.

I really hope they include at least some extras with this, even if it's just the deleted scenes (and maybe the Museum of Television and Radio panel, which occurred during the third season). I know that with the less-than-huge sales plus the extra music costs, they probably don't have a lot in the budget to do extras, but I'm hoping for a little something.

Still, it'll be good to have the season, one way or the other; it's probably the best of the series.

 

[Justin Bauer]

Finally. I thought this one would never come.

Now, IF they could ever get NewsRadio out...

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Jaime, they're up to season 3, I think you can probably stop worring about sales just a bit. Fox has stated that shows tend to sell within the same range across all seasons, so if KOTH season 1 sold well enough for a season 2 release, and KOTH season 2 sold well enough for season 3...then it should be no surprise to see future releases.

I suspect that extras will be included, Fox doesn't release too many shows barebones accept MASH!

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Hmmm, now I am a bit concerned about whether there will be bonus material, and the only basis I have for my concern is a shacky memory.

Looking at the list price of this set, it is selling fo $39.95 which is roughly the same list price for the MASH and Garfield sets which contain no bonus materials. I also thought that season 2 sold for $49.95.

Perhaps it is not cost effective for them to put extras on this show given sales, but by removing the extra content and perhaps making it a 3 disc set they can make it a more profitable decision to release the show.

I could be worried over nothing that seems to happen a lot with this show, but we shall see because according to the story, details have yet to be finalized.

 

[Jaime_Weinman]

Arrested Development is three discs for $39.95 (with extras) and Lost in Space Season 2 Vol. 2 is four discs for $39.95 (with few or no extras). Season 3 of KotH was 25 episodes (whereas AD season 1 was only 22) so I guess we'll have to see whether Fox is reducing the price point on KotH by cramming it onto three discs, or putting it on four discs but without extras. (Worst-case scenario is three discs without extras.)

I'll feel disappointed if there is no bonus material, which would be kind of like blowing off a great show, but it wouldn't stop me from buying it.

 

[Jaime_Weinman]

Just wanted to revive this thread for a second to note that if you're not a fan of King of the Hill, this is a good season to check out to see if it changes your mind about the show -- not only is it probably the best season, but they got into some rather dark and unusual stories that are a far cry from the stereotype of King of the Hill as a stodgy show about "rednecks." Some of the episodes I'm thinking of from the third season include:

- Hank is sexually assaulted by a dolphin ("Family Guy" had only one throwaway joke about blowholes; KotH, going further with bad taste, had already built a whole story around this) and the "dolphin encounter" people bribe him to keep his mouth shut about the acquatic sexual abuse
- Hank's friend Bill misses his ex-wife so much that he goes insane, dresses up as his wife, and believes that he is his ex-wife. This is a Christmas episode, by the way.
- To teach their son Bobby a lesson, Hank and Peggy convince him that he's gotten his cousin Luanne pregnant and that he has to marry her.
- Hank and his friends become volunteer firefighters, which leads to them desecrating a corpse and burning down the fire station.
- Bobby has to do a Sunday School report on Jesus and wants to make it interesting. After going to a magic show, he comes up with his report, which he presents at the church:


What I'm saying is, King of the Hill, as befits a Mike Judge show, has a more twisted sense of humor than it's given credit for.

 

[Jaime_Weinman]

The list of recent additions posted at hometheaterinfo.com lists KotH season 3 as a "special edition," which suggests that there will be special features (the "special edition" listing is applied, in these listings, to TV shows that have special features, but not to something that doesn't have bonus features, like "Garfield and Friends").

 

[Ian_H]

Does anyone know if the syndicated episodes are cut ala Simpsons? What about when they start showing on FX?

-Ian

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Sindicated episodes of virtually every show are cut to put in more commercials.

 

[Jaime_Weinman]

The syndicated episodes (on American TV anyway) are about a minute shorter than broadcast versions. You can tell because the syndicated versions use a shortened title sequence (without the bit where Hank, Peggy and Bobby stand together and look at the camera). No idea what FX will do, but I think they usually make cuts.

 

[Dan Rudolph]

In the US, most first runs shows have about 44 min of show to the hour wheras syndication only has about 41:30. Older shows had even more show per hour. As much as 52 minutes in the earliest examples. Those shows get cut even more.

 

[Jaime_Weinman]

One thing to add is that I hope they worked out the music issues satisfactorily. Actually, a lot of the music used in the show is just "background noise" (like music playing in John Redcorn's car) that isn't really a major part of the scene one way or the other, but there are at least three episodes that have whole scenes built around songs: the famous use of "Life in a Northern Town" in the Angel episode, "Love Hurts" in the episode where Bobby gets gout, and an incredibly funny scene where Bill (Stephen Root, who is brilliant) sings along to "Talkin' Care of Business." I don't know if it was any of those three songs that held up the release, but hopefully all three will be intact; we're not talking about a Roswell-type pop-music-heavy show here.

 

[ClintS]

Well its FINALLY up for order on Amazon. I have preordered my copy! Too bad it wont be out for Xmas but I guess it will make a nice after Xmas present for myself.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Ah the joy of having a January birthday.

 

[Jaime_Weinman]

DVD File reports that the release date is December 7. I don't know if they've got it wrong or if the release date has been moved up. Hopefully the latter.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Its DVDFile, so I'd bet on them getting it wrong.

 

[Jaime_Weinman]

DVD Answers has the season 3 cover art. Still no word on extras (if any), though I'm still figuring there will be some.

Another episode from this season that might convert a KotH-hater is the one where Peggy spanks a student and winds up with a reputation as "Paddlin' Peggy." That one is a funny character study and a great satire of all sides in the spanking debate, with tons of great lines. (And it was written by a guy who went on to develop and run Family Guy.)

 

[Justin Bauer]

I cannot wait for this but I am not a fan of the cover art at all. In fact, I have been disappointed with the cover art of all the seasons.

 

[Jaime_Weinman]

It was mentioned in the Office Space thread (in the film section) that an Office Space special edition may be coming in December. If so, it'll be a great month for Mike Judge fans... not as great as it would be if Beavis and Butt-head finally got a proper DVD release, but great all the same.

 

[Jaime_Weinman]

So nothing yet about the contents of the set? Puzzling. Even if there were no special features (which seems unlikely), you'd think there would have been an announcement of the number of discs in the set.