Exactly. When Mike, Greg, and I talked about doing this revival and I came aboard to write the first episode with them, we were talking about things that we’re all experiencing in our real lives. We all have kids who are in their 20s, who are experiencing adulthood, whether it be kicking and screaming or they’re going into it excitedly. We’re experiencing what it’s like to be parents of kids, who are now adults, that we have to now see in a different way. They’re out of the house now and that kind of redefines who we are as parents. So it’s interesting to have Hank and Peggy explore some of those things as well. Specifically, like you said, the retirement angle – someone like Hank, who not only has always had a job, but whose whole identity was wrapped in that job. Once that’s gone, who is Hank to himself and can he be satisfied? And so that felt like interesting things to explore that the audience could relate to in different ways that they would want to see.
On that note, what this new season does with Bobby is so extremely satisfying and I think that he gets a lot of the best material. Was it challenging to figure out where he would be in his life, that he’d be working in food, rather than comedy, and finding the right tone for him?
It certainly was, because there’s so many things about Bobby that people really, really love. There are some people who would have loved to see him become a prop comic or a rodeo clown. However, speaking specifically to the choice of Bobby’s career, owning a restaurant has been a couple of things. Bobby is very much Hank Hill’s son, for one. He’s going into his own business. Hank Hill was a good businessman and Bobby’s doing something that he’s passionate about. Hank Hill was passionate about being a propane and propane accessory salesman. So, we thought that was a good way to show Bobby’s good, hard work ethic. Nothing’s harder than making a restaurant run and so we wanted to show that Bobby has the work ethic that Hank would have always hoped he had, right? Bobby and Hank don’t always see eye-to-eye though. Bobby’s cooking with charcoal.That’s sacrilege to Hank. But as a parent, Hank has to learn to respect Bobby as his own man. That’s growth for that character.
It was very tricky for us to realize what things we want to say are part of Bobby’s character now. What things should we hold on to? Like at his heart, he’s still going to feel like the same Bobby because Pam Adlon is magical. She is so great at doing Bobby and what she created is now just being applied to an older Bobby. Pam’s older, which is a natural thing. We wanted it to still be the same voice because we thought that’s something that the audience is going to really respond well to. We do feel that Bobby as a chef is also tapping into Bobby as a prop comic because he’s not on stage, but he’s certainly being funny. He’s certainly using props still with how he’s cooking and interacting with people. He’s being creative with his food, which is something that was a very important part of young Bobby – his love of food. So it does feel like we’re still tapping into all those things that made Bobby want to pursue those things as a kid, but we kind of wrapped them all in one.
It feels super authentic. You mentioned Pamela Adlon and what she brings to Bobby is so glorious and it’s always been one of my favorite performances. She’s gone on to become such an accomplished writer in her own right. Is there any chance that she’d be interested in joining the writers room and writing an episode?
I mean, Pam’s an amazing writer. I love Pam as a writer. I love Pam as a showrunner. You know, she – and I’m speaking for her here – but I think she would reiterate that she has compartmentalized her experience on King of the Hill from other experiences. She’s been one to say, on numerous occasions, that she learned how to be a writer from being on King of the Hill, playing Bobby, and watching how the staff handled and told stories. Now, I think Pam is an amazing writer. She’s probably given King of the Hill a little too much credit there, but I do think there’s some truth to that though in terms of how she sees this as an opportunity to grow and learn, which she then takes and applies to other projects. I’m not sure she’d want to write for an episode of King of the Hill, but she certainly has her writer cap on when she’s doing the show.
