Continue Reading Belowīut even with the implication that King of The Hill may secretly be a pretentious French satire dunking on Texan culture, a Parisian suburb isn't the only international locale that may inform Arlen's location – or where Arlen should theoretically sit if the laws of space and time remain consistent in the HHCU (Hank Hill Cinematic Universe).
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Although this code generally serves Galveston and Beaumont in east Texas, this still makes some semblance of sense if you assume Strickland is a state-wide propane empire – which hey, at least Hank's talents are going to good use. As he drives by, we catch a glimpse of Strickland's phone number emblazoned on the side of the vehicle, beginning with the area code 409. In season eight's “That's What She Said,” we finally get to see Hank in his element, behind the wheel of a Strickland Propane truck presumably en route to sell his beloved propane and propane accessories.
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In real-world geography, Richardson sits just 15 miles away from the city.Īrlen's various zip and area codes also provide us with a few hints – and a series of increasingly unhinged implications – about the show's whereabouts … or amorphous lack thereof. In "It Aint Over ‘till The Fat Neighbor Sings" – the season nine installment that so boldly dared to ask “under what extenuating circumstances would Bill voluntarily wear a hippie costume in public," we see a sign denoting that Bill and his glee club, The Harmonaholics, are 96 miles away from Dallas, Texas while on a bus presumably leaving Arlen. There was always someone going, ‘Excuse me, boys.’”īut even with Judge's drawl-y promise that Arlen is most definitively Richardson, Texas (with a splash of New Mexico for good measure), several bizarre and contradictory clues have popped up throughout the series hinting that the fictional town's logistics are much, much more complicated than simply mirroring the real-life Dallas suburb. West Texas and eastern New Mexico blur a little bit, and I remember my brother and I just noticing that every adult authority figure used to have a Texas accent. "I actually grew up in Albuquerque, N.M., and had a paper route in a blue-collar neighborhood. “It’s Richardson, a suburb of Dallas,” Judge recalled.
The answer to this inquiry is fairly straightforward upon first glance, with creator Mike Judge directly naming his inspiration for the fictional town in a 2009 interview with the New York Times. But over the course of 13 seasons, 259 episodes, and even a 1998 promotional campaign aimed at tricking fans into believing the show was moving to Los Angeles, California one question remains – where the hell is Arlen, supposed to be anyways? A lively, grounded, and still decidedly southern, take on adult animation's Everytown, USA trope, Arlen has played an integral role in King of the Hill's enduring legacy over the two odd decades since it first hit the small screen, helping the show earn the superlative of being the “the most acutely observed, realistic sitcom about regional American life bar none,” as Time magazine put it back in 2007.
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Join the Cracked Movie ClubĮxpand your movie and TV brain-get the weekly Cracked Movie Club newsletter! SIGN ME UPīeyond Hank Hill's passion for propane and propane accessories, Boomhauer's mumbling, and Dale's endless supply of conspiracies (and pocket sand), it seems there is yet another factor that makes King of the Hill, well, King of the Hill – its setting of Arlen, Texas. For more ComedyNerd content, and ongoing coverage of the Iran/Contra Affair, please sign up for the ComedyNerd newsletter below. Welcome to ComedyNerd, Cracked's daily comedy vertical.
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