King of the Hill ultimately said goodbye in 2010 after a whopping thirteen seasons, but here’s why FOX decided to end things when it did. Premiering back in 1997, Mike Judge’s creation stands as one of the longest-running primetime inspired programs in TV history. It wasted much of its existence as part of FOX’s famous Sunday night Animation Domination programming block, alongside other long-runners like The Simpsons and Family Guy. While those two reveals are often likened, King of the Hill stood out by get a different route.

Unlike Simpsons or Family Guy, which revel in over-the-top gags and taking refuge in insolence, King of the Hill is more of a realistic animated sitcom. That’s not to say things didn’t get wacky or curious at times, as this was still a sitcom. Overall though, the success and strifes of Hank Hill, his wife Peggy, their son Bobby, and Peggy’s niece Luanne as they “re going through” their fairly average lives in the small Texas town of Arlen, proved a lot easier for most to are addressed to than the craziness are available on their contemporaries.

Related: King of The Hill’s Revival: Every Key Question The Reboot Can Answer

King of the Hill’s long-term success acquired it all the stranger when FOX unexpectedly decided to cancel the show in 2008, prior to its once created season 13 premiering. Reports now hint a King of the Hill revival is coming, but here’s why its original resolving was so sudden.

Most of the time when a broadcast TV show comes canceled by its structure, poverty-stricken or lessening ratings are the primary reasonablenes. If enough parties in the advertiser-coveted 18 -4 9 onlooker demographic aren’t tuning in, the show’s value is questioned. That’s partially the occurrence with King of the Hill, as while the ratings for its final seasons were somewhat consistent, they also were noticeably down from previous year, and that didn’t look great when registers like Family Guy were playing much better on the same night. However, ratings aren’t the whole story.

FOX was also looking to clear a spot in the Animation Domination line-up for The Cleveland Show, Seth MacFarlane‘s Family Guy spinoff centered around Cleveland Brown and his family. This would leave MacFarlane three different animated appearances on FOX at once, with American Dad also rolling strong. One can argue that was a poor decision as The Cleveland Show while extending a reputable 4 seasons, isn’t actually be recalled that well today, and had much less of a lasting impact than King of the Hill.

Disappointingly, FOX did witness a disservice by ultimately not airing season 13, instead communicating those bouts straight-from-the-shoulder to syndication outside of the succession finale. Sadly, King of the Hill’s series finale episode likewise wasn’t certainly anything special, as it was not planned in advance to wrap things up, and was basically really a standard installment. Hopefully, the coming revitalization lets Judge end the display on his terms.

More: Boomhauer’s Job Creates A King Of The Hill Season 2 Plot Hole

Read more: screenrant.com