Simpsons vs. King of the Hill

No, this is not going to be some kind of geek debate about which is better. You know, the kind of geek test where you go up to a suspected geek and ask, "In a battle, which would win, the Enterprise from Next Generation or the Enterprise from the original Star Trek series?" By the way you know someone is a true geek when they respond by saying, "It depends on who is the captain of the ships." That was the response of Ed, our I.T. guy. We almost passed out from laughing that time.

No, this is something I recently noticed. I watch reruns of the Simpsons followed by King of the Hill almost every night. While my wife reads to relax before bed, that's what I do. Last night I had an epiphany about these two shows.

The characters on The Simpsons seem to find meaning and solace in religion. The Simpson family is mostly protestant Christian, except for Lisa who is a Buddhist. Abu is a Hindu, Crusty the Clown, reconciled with his Rabbi father which eventually lead to his Bar Mitzvah. Of course Ned Flanders is a devout Evangelical, maybe even a Fundamentalist. Many times the problems they face have an element of faith as either the solution or part of the problem.


On the other hand, King of the Hill is mostly based on psychological issues. Hank has a disfunctional relationship with an abusive father. Peggy uses false bravado to hide her doubt and fear especially regarding her size 16 1/2 feet. Luanne is dealing with the death of her true love and Bobby has to deal with the vagaries of pubescence. All of these are deep-seeded psychological issues.

I guess it could be said that the shows represent two different world views. One that says a God exists and he, she or it is helpful in times of stress and other that says, we have problems to face and through science, family and friendships we can deal with them.

Just a thought. If you think I'm crazy let me know.