Vanishing "Hill"

I spent a part of the day wandering among the empty cubicles at the King of the Hill sector of Film Roman, snuggled up against the Bob Hope Airport.

The are a few artists left, a couple of timers and animation checkers, but the office space is quiet.

"I'm gone Friday, everybody else is out in a couple of weeks" ... "All we know is the show hasn't been officially cancelled. But it hasn't been picked up for more episodes either." ... "People hope that if a show on Fox falls out, King of the Hill will come back. Again." ...

And so it goes. Goode Family, the KOTH spin off, doesn't roll out on ABC until Spring, and its first crop of episodes is done, the crew dispersed. As a director told me as he packed up his personal knick-knacks: "Goode may or may not have more half-hours done later. But it's going to be a while before any renewal happens, and I need a job now."

Up on The Simpsons, artists and directors are still working away on the twentieth season; most of them seemed to have heard about Harry Shearer saying on MSNBC the twenty-first had been picked up. But one cycnic related:

"Fine of Shearer to say that, but we haven't heard anything official. Producers say its looks good for another season, but an actor saying so doesn't make it for sure. Not as far as we're concerned."

I find this dour outlook sad. If you can't trust Harry Shearer, who can you trust?