King of The hill season 3 (1 Viewer)

Has there been any new news on this? I know the insert with season 2 said it was coming in the spring, and the spring is almost here and I have heard nothing at all.

If I had to venture a guess, and that's all it would be, I'd say your looking like a late May or early June release, but that's just 1 man's guess, and I'm just a fan so don't expect that I'm right.

I personally can't wait for season 3 as it contains 1 of my very favorite episodes.

The leaflet also said "subject to change." Casey, which episode is it that you're referring to?

I said this in another thread, but I'm a little nervous about the lack of an announcement for KotH -- I don't know how the two previous sets sold, but I know it wasn't on the level of Fox's other animated shows (proving once again that success in syndication -- and KotH still does very well in syndication -- doesn't always translate into huge DVD sales), and with Fox having canned other shows due to insufficient DVD sales (like NYPD Blue, according to yet another thread), it causes what I might call a modicum of trepidation.

I still think that Fox wouldn't have included that "coming soon" flyer with season 2 if the season 1 sales didn't justify it (since they got burned on the Mary Tyler Moore Show they don't usually include such flyers unless they're sure to follow up on them). So that decreases the between-release nervousness (tm) a little. Still, here's hoping we hear something sooner than later.

Oh, and the third season is probably tied with season 2 for the highest number of "classic" episodes: the guys become firemen, Bill tries to commit suicide at Christmas, Hank gets sexually assaulted by a dolphin, etc.

The guys becoming firemen is the episode to which I was referring, the only episode where Boomhauer speaks normally, and Hank sounds like Boomhauer makes me laugh everytime.

I'm not worried that nothing has been announced yet, once a show makes it to season 2 or 3 then its pretty much clear saling after that.

The firefighter episode is my second favorite episode after Junkie Business, with the great Barry Corbin providing the voice of the fire chief.

"Where do you want us?"
"In the grave with Chet Elderson."

Also Season 3 has the Arlen video, Paddlin' Peggy, the soccer game and Peggy's modeling career.

I hope this comes soon... these are some of my favorite episodes...the firemen one and the dolphin ones especially.

I have to note that this disc sold very, very poorly at the store I work in. While we've sold literally hundreds of each of the Family Guy and Simpsons sets, I don't believe we've ever sold a single copy of KoTH season 1 or season 2. I'm not sure how they have sold elsewhere. Regardless, I'm quite sure they will finish releasing this program.

Here in Toronto I believe the sets sold somewhat better, but they didn't set the world on fire or anything. It's a very popular show in syndication but it's not going to sell on a level with other animated shows because it's region-specific, low-key, leisurely, and generally the opposite of Family Guy (I think FG is not a good show, but I can't deny that it's huge on DVD). I've said this before, but KotH is a show with mainstream appeal but not much cult appeal, whereas the shows that are big on DVD are often shows like FG with no mainstream appeal but a loyal cult following. (Then there's The Simpsons, which has both kinds of appeal; that's the key to its success.)

I wish I were as sanguine about future seasons -- if Fox has really called off NYPD Blue, then there's no guarantee that a second season on DVD means the show is home free. I do think the third season will come; I'm just not certain of it.

Jaime there were other signs that pointed that NYPD Blue was in trouble as Gord Lacey mentioned in another thread. Fox first tried to cut down on the expenses of the set first, and I believe that this was mostly directed at the audio track on the DVD.

You've got to look at each show independantly, like for instance the types of bonus material put on the KOTH DVD is likely low cost, if anything I bet the only thing that they would possibly be paying for is the commentary tracks, but as has been mentioned before in other threads for the most part those are done for free.

The fact that the season 2 DVD was similar to the season 1 DVD in structure, and there was no visible signs that they were trying to cut costs with that release leads me to believe that season 3 will be coming.

Casey: I guess you're right about the content, though they did save some money on the menus of season 2 (which were built out of old animation instead of being newly-created as on the season 1 set). I do still think that season 3 will come, but it's a bit nerve-racking that the X-Files Season 9, which also had the "Spring 2004" flyer, now has its cover art available and not (yet) KotH.

Jaime, here's something to consider regarding the top sales list of 2003.

That list contained rankings based simply on revenue. As Randy Salas mentioned in another thread, the Osbournes sold enough units to be in the top 10 but because of its cheap price point it ranked in at number 23. So KOTH could've sold more units than some of those shows that made the list but the ones that were sold at a higher cost generated more revenue.

Now I don't know if that makes you feel better or worse about the prospects of season 3 on DVD. I'm sure it will come, spring is looking more unlikely but these things get delayed all of the time. In the flyer for M*A*S*H season 1 they told us to expect season 2 in May we got it in July.

I did a search of the Billboard top DVD sales charts, and found that the first season of KotH did make the chart the week after it was released, albeit fairly low on the list (like # 33). The second season didn't make the chart, probably because of the higher per-unit price (but given what we know about sales of subsequent seasons, I can't imagine that it sold that much worse). NYPD Blue, by contrast, never made the chart with either season 1 or 2. (Nor did "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" season 1.) So I feel a little less nervous about KotH; at least it doesn't seem to have bombed.

I just heard from an informed source that no supplemental material has as yet been prepared for the third season. My informant hadn't heard any news yet about whether the third season is in the works, but obviously a spring release date is looking very unlikely.

ADDENDUM: Just to clarify, I'm not saying that it won't be released (my source hadn't heard anything one way or the other), just that it presumably won't be released in the spring.

CORRECTION: What my source actually said was that no commentaries have yet been recorded for the third season. He/she didn't know about whether other supplemental material is being worked on.

^^
^Thanks for the info. I am still nervous about this possibly not getting released.

I'm really not all that nervous. Fact is that even if extras haven't been put in to production yet, with some of the extras that we've seen its not like a lot of production time is needed. It doesn't take all that long to record a commentary track. Most of the other stuff while having to be prepared for the DVD, would not have to be created for the DVD...I don't think outside of the commentary tracks that a lot of the extras had to be created from nothing, the deleted scenes weren't made especially for the DVD they were stuff that had already been cut at various points in the process.

I wouldn't be nervous either. I e-mailed someone at Fox's video department and eventually received a reply that the spring release date "has been pushed, and is no longer accurate," and that "we have not officially announced the release date for season 3." But that implies (to me anyway) that they do have a release planned, they just won't say what it is before it's official.

I think the most obvious reason for the delay is that they already have big comedy show releases coming out in April (Living Color), May (Bernie Mac), and June (Simpsons season 4). If I had to take a guess about KotH I'd say July, because the first season came out in July (similarly we got the third set of Futurama almost exactly a year after the first set). That's just a guess, though. But I wouldn't worry.

Jaime, I think that's a good guess. Typically Fox will highlight 1 show a month, although Simpsons S. 2 and Futurama Vol. 2 came out in the same month of August last year, but I think they've got this down to a bit of a science.

Those coming soon flyers inside the box change more often than not, the flyer in M*A*S*H season 1 said to expect season 2 in may and we didn't get it until July.

If anyone does get nervous, might I suggest digging up the thread that Jaime started that really took off in to a great discussion, it was a thread dealing with between release anxioty.

I got an email from someone else in Fox Home Entertainment who said "Right now we are in a holding pattern with King of the Hill Season 3. We hope to get it out soon, however. We will keep you posted as things progress."

The email didn't say "music clearances," but that sure sounds like what's going on. (At least, when a TV show gets into a holding pattern but they still hope to bring it out, it's usually because of music clearances.) Anyway, that's where things stand now. Hopefully they will clear things up and get it out, but at least it doesn't seem to have been shelved. (I'd hazard a guess that it can't be as big a problem as Malcolm in the Middle season 2 -- I don't think KotH ever used all that many popular songs.)

Edit: Good point, Casey. (One of the reasons why the Simpsons sets take so long to come out is probably that they used quite a few songs for which the rights are somewhat tricky to get) I still think it will come out eventually, and I'd rather it were a music-clearances problem than an NYPD Blue-type situation.