As promised, here are the best bits and quotes from Sunday's episode of King of the Hill:
-In general, 'The Canadians' (often referred to as such, especially be Hank) were jackasses. They insulted Hank's lawn and preferred beer, called the cops on the Hill's party and were very un-neighbourly.
-Plenty of jokes about centimetres, Canadian football and a basket-load of ‘Eh’s. And the wife brought her own maple syrup to Texas.
-Am I the only Canadian who's never even heard someone refer to a couch as a chesterfield, except as a joke?
-The couple's kid wears a Proots shirt.
-'Jeff' Boomhauer's French Canadian lover (in Guelph, Ontario? Okay then) bringing him Coffee Crisp. Also, Boomhauer speaking garbled French.
-Hank:'A man only has so many summers. Why would he choose to spend one in a country that’s dismantling its navy?’
-Hank: 'They’re probably not used to dealing with neighbours. Canada is vast. You could go months without seeing another person.’
-Hank: 'That must be how they trash talk in Canada. With little chuckles.' (That one's my personal fave.)
-Bobby: 'Can I have a half-litre of OJ?'
-Kahn: 'If you ask me, America's buiding a wall on the wrong border!'
-Canadian Husband: ‘You Americans are so insulated. Tell me who our prime minister is!’ Hank: ‘Why?’
-Towards the end, Canadians are labeled as sanctimonious and bland. So, did Mike Judge have a bad experience or is he taking the mickey?
I also looked around for reviews of the episode and found some polite rage:
From Firefox News
The Hoskins were shallow, irritating caricatures of Canadian stereotypes, their roles unleavened for the most part by any sense of humanity or sympathy – they were snotty and unlikable, and unworthy of a happy ending. Because of this, the show’s message comes off as strident and needlessly reactionary.
From No Homers Club (love the name):
-While I'm sure they are way more offensive despiction [sic] of Canadian on television, being from Quebec I rolled my eyes hearing the girl who name and accent are way too France-French and when she ask him to make love to him the sentence is oblivously [sic] one written and spoke by one that never spoke french as the sentence all wrong (and her accent like a french trying to sound like a quebecer)
-As a Canadian, should I be offended by this episode? Objectively, I thought they painted an oddly cruel depiction of Canadians, while still adopting a bunch of tired stereotypes. [...] The ending, where the Canadian guy isn't even grateful was also a bit malicious. Was this all for the sake of making a point about Americans acting like good and grateful neighbors, despite their greatness? I'm... a bit confused. And as a Canadian, I will say that backyard bar setup looked extremely appealing.
So, what did you think of the show's portrayal of Canadians? Pure satire? Genuine criticism? A refreshing alternative to Michael Moore-style idolatry?
(and hello to all of you checking out the site since I linked to it from Facebook! Feel free to love, mock, or mock out of love!)
Was this the series finale?
ReplyDeleteKing of the hill is actually pretty good and smart but this episode felt weird. Mike Judge is too smart to just be a jerk!
ReplyDeleteWhat is canadian football? I am serious. I will look it up right now.
ReplyDeleteThere's a whole discussion about the episode on Hulu (whch ironically I dont think Canadians can access).
ReplyDeletehttp://www.hulu.com/watch/73399/king-of-the-hill-uh-oh-canada
I grew up (way back in the 1970s) calling a couch a chesterfield. But somewhere along the line, I switched to couch. I think it's a generational thing.
ReplyDeleteMan, I saw this episode and it's so freaking sad. I am sure Mike Judge is a smart man, but it seems like he met up with one or two Canadians who rubbed him the wrong way and decided every Canadian is bland and sanctimonious. I never had issues with Americans until I lived abroad and got to hear what they really thought about the rest of the world, including the countries that are their closest allies. Funny thing is, whether Canadian, French, Kiwi, Aussie, Limey, Korean or whoever, most of us only insult the US as a reaction to ignorant, condescending, dismissive attitudes we encounter in the yanks. And then the "good neighbor" Americans , who God has chosen to SAVE us all, get all hurt and offended when we aren't happy to see em.
ReplyDeleteThis just made themselves look bad in front of the rest of the world. They insulted themselves.
ReplyDeleteThey lied, changed around facts, insulted people who are innocent and who they know would not fight back. They tried to make themselves look good.
Why would someone want to hurt others by doing this and create tension? I have no idea.
I was looking a site to Download King of the Hill tv show and I got this post. Thanks for sharing this beautiful post....
ReplyDeleteI like this show because I am a big fan of all animated tv series.
This episode stands out, only because there are so very few references to Canada on popular US Tv,that when you finally get one, it's the "talk of Canada".
ReplyDeletecanadian one: "TV show mentions canada, eh"
canadian two: "take off!, eh"
canadian one: "you take off!, eh"
Nice blog this particular episode,since i watch king of the hill episodes,no episode frustrate me but this episode let me down.I don't know why it is so disgusting.Anyways besides that i love this show.
ReplyDeleteHello all,This blog is just too good.I'm a true fan of this show.I never misses even a single episode of this show.I download king of the hill episode from this link.
ReplyDeleteKing of the hill TV Show tops my list of favorite shows. All King of the hill seasons are worth watching. I usually watch King of the hill episodes online at kingofthehill.edogo.com
ReplyDeleteImagine if a show like this was made about americans....the reactions it would cause? It would cause a total uproar. This show was ignorant and ridiculous. When making jokes about Canada, usually, no one enjoys them more than us Canadians. This episode was not funny, not accurate and just rude. All it does is show how Americans fear anyone who is not American and how they believe they are superior to anyone else. I am usually the first to defend Americans when something bad is said about them....but this show just reinforces the stereotypes that they are rude and ethnocentric
ReplyDeleteThe episode was all too true. My fear is that my beloved country will become even more sanctimonious now. Americans don't need to know who the PM is just because we know who their president. Who is the President of Belgium? of Mexico? Think Americans don't know geography?...OK smart guy, next to the U.S., what other country is closest to Canada??? Greenland? Russia?, Iceland?. It shamed me that shortly after 9-11, Cdns visited the twin-towers site draped in a huge Cdn flag. I considered that they tried to show how important Cabnada was parading our flag around. Show a little respect, for God's sake. They did the same thing in St. Peter's Square when the last Pope died. I thought the whole idea of being there was to grieve for the Pope, not to advertise your country. During the winter olympics, the media kept talking about our reputation for being polite. Bull****. Tell that to the ignorant drunken louts in downtown Vancouver using foul language and harrassing U.S. tourists, including seniors and children. Jerks.
ReplyDeleteAnd will you all stop reinforcing this notion that we all say "eh" all of the time. Uneducated Cdns say it but the rest of us don't.
Bill Dautrive was also right that we should be embarrassed ....(not that we have a woman on our money.. I have no problem with that) but that she is a foreigner. We're one of the very few countries that has a foreigner as head of state. That is particularly embarrasing. I will say that Gord Hoskins was right about three-down football. I love it too but that is not to say that I don't enjoy watching Manning or Brady or many of those NFL teams.
I think you're all taking it too seriously. It's merely taking Canadian stereotypes, stretching them to a ridiculous degree for comedic effect, and having a laugh at the expense of Canadians and ignorant Americans alike. The biggest joke of the entire King of the Hill series is that the entire town of Arlen is egocentric, xenophobic and stereotypical American. They're not trying to be accurate in any way, with American or Canadian attributes.
ReplyDeleteDon't take the episode too seriously. King of the Hill itself is many times the parody of the beer-loving, loves-his-lawn-a-little-too-much, flag waving American. Seeing it in that context, Hanks comments aren't really eyebrow raising.
ReplyDeleteThe French spoken between Boomhauer and the québécoise is obviously google translated; it is so bad it's almost incomprehensible!
ReplyDeleteIt was clearly written by an anglophone who has never understood or passably spoken French.
How very sloppy!
I'm shocked nobody realized this egregious error. How could they have thought this was acceptable? Is there no quality check?
Director Tony Kluck and writer Jerry Collins should be ashamed of themselves.
Next time, hire a translator.
I think they nailed it perfectly. I am a very patriotic Canadian, and for any Canadian to comment on here and say that it is not like that in the Canadian Psyche and that many Canadians do not look down their noses at their best friend America is not being truthful.
ReplyDelete