Fox Renews 'King Of The Hill' And 'The Simpsons'

Fox has officially announced that it will renew King of the Hill for an 11th season, even though the show halted production more than a year ago, says Variety. Also, The Simpsons has been given a greenlight for its 18th and 19th seasons -- keeping TV's longest-running entertainment series on the air through at least 2008.

With extra episodes already in the can, King of the Hill continued to run on Fox this year, even though the show had long ago closed up shop. With no new episodes ordered last year, the show's writers, vocal talents and production crew had all moved on, and 20th Century Fox TV let go of "King's" Century City offices.

"The network had made its peace with 'King of the Hill' wrapping up," said Gary Newman, 20th Century Fox TV president. "But lo and behold, it showed incredible resilience in terms of ratings. The network realized that the show could still work for them."

The long lead time for animation forces networks to decide whether to renew a show almost a year before the season starts.

Insiders said the key negotiation involved bringing back "King" co-creator Mike Judge, who also voices Hank Hill (the show's lead character). Judge agreed to do it as long as executive producers John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky also returned.

Altschuler and Krinsky, who were working on movie scripts but were still attached to 20th Century Fox TV, agreed to sign on. After that, and with "King's" other vocal stars back aboard, they brought back many of the show's former writers.

Because of its late start, King of the Hill won't be able to return next year until January at the earliest. That's fine by Fox, which mostly airs NFL overruns in the fall during the 7 p.m. hour anyway.

"King," which was created by Greg Daniels, is now in production on its 11th season. Altschuler, Krinsky, Judge and Daniels executive produce.

As for The Simpsons, the order takes the show into its 18th and 19th seasons, making it by far the longest-running comedy in the history of Fox.

The greenlight also means the 400th episode of The Simpsons will air in season 18; it's tentatively slated for May 20, 2007.

James L. Brooks and Matt Groening executive produce The Simpsons for Gracie Films and 20th Century Fox TV.