King of the Hill Wiki
Don't have an account?
Register
King of the Hill Wiki
Advertisement
Register
King of the Hill Wiki
King of the Hill Wiki
2,001
pages
in: Episodes, Season 8, Episodes involving Tom Landry Middle School, Episodes using Digital Animation

Stressed for Success

Sign in to edit

"Stressed for Success" is the 188th episode of King of the Hill. It was first aired on May 2, 2004. The episode was written by Tony Gama-Lobo and Rebecca May, and directed by Tricia Garcia. Kelly Clarkson and Ben Stein both guest-star.

The episode was dedicated to the memory of John Ritter, who voiced music teacher Eugene Grandy.

Summary[]

Bobby Hill joins the school's Quiz Bowl team because of his extensive knowledge of pop culture, but his cocky attitude causes pressure to build until he finally cracks.

Plot[]

At Tom Landry Middle School, Bobby's class is giving reports on U.S. presidents when Bobby volunteers to present his report. While his classmates are joyful at his presentation, the teacher points out how Bobby's report was over a fictional character rather than an actual president. Later at home, Bobby is so fixated on TV that he shows no interest when Hank tries to get him to see a hummingbird out the window. After making Bobby turn the TV off and learning from Peggy that his son thought a television actor played a real president, Hank tells Bobby that he will be joining an extracurricular group so that he is not at home watching TV all the time.

The next day, Connie learns that Bobby was kicked out of the chess club for thinking it was played the same way as checkers due to the boards being similar when she discovers that he is a wealth of pop culture knowledge. She quickly takes him to her debate club and suggests Bobby should join since the rest of them are not as familiar with pop culture. Bobby easily answers a question the others did not know and is made a member of the team. Later in the alley, Hank is enjoying the new silence brought on by Bobby not watching TV when Bobby appears and announces he is part of the Academic Team.

At the next Quiz Bowl, Bobby is overly eager about the event, but his teammates are trying to focus on their designated topics. Peggy locates Ted Wassanasong and Kahn in the crowd and reveals Bobby is part of the team. The two men right away mock Bobby being on the team as they are well aware of his school grades. The match soon begins, and Bobby aces his questions although he receives a warning before being acknowledge by the Quizmaster. Thanks to help from Bobby, the Tom Landry team wins by nearly double the points and causes Ted to suspect that the team can become the champion team. Bobby later informs Hank how the team won but his father shows little enthusiasm since he holds onto the thought that pop culture cannot lead anyone to success.

During their next practice, Bobby continues to be overly confident of his knowledge but becomes a little more serious when Dawn mentions how the team is counting on him to be as knowledgeable in his area as possible. At school, Connie expresses her relief of Bobby being on the team as it allows them to grasp victory better. Mr. Grandy soon begins to brag to Principal Moss about Bobby who then states his hope for the team to keep winning or else Quiz Bowl faces the possibility of being cut.

At the next team practice, Bobby's cockiness finally catches up to him when he gives a wrong answer and tries to make light of the situation. He quickly becomes the target of his teammates' anger for thinking everything is a joke and warn him to take things more seriously. This right away causes Bobby to start feeling pressured as he does not want to let the team down and he is later given expensive gifts by Kahn and Ted who claim the futures of their children are now in Bobby's hands.

At the next Quiz Bowl, the two teams are tied going into the lightning round, but Tom Landry comes out victorious after a hesitated answer from Bobby. When the family make their way to the Mega Lo Mart, Bobby hurries off for supplies but becomes distracted by a wall of TVs where he promptly passes out from a panic attack. Hank and Peggy hear of the panic attack and begin to do what they can to help Bobby relax.

Despite their attempts, Bobby continues to stress out over winning Quiz Bowl until he eventually announces he's quitting the team. Upon this proclamation, Bobby instantly starts feeling better. However, Hank says that Bobby should not quit because of the commitment he made to the team. Hank then helps Bobby understand that stress is not always a bad thing and that he should face it head on or else it could get worse. He then offers to help Bobby by watching TV together.

Characters[]

Stinger Quote[]

  • Dale: "Or the films of M. Night Shalamambalan."

Trivia[]

  • This episode title is a reference to the song "Dressed for Success" by Swedish pop rock duo Roxette.
  • This episode marks the final TV appearance of John Ritter (as Eugene Grandy) before his passing on September 11, 2003. The episode itself premiered over eight months after Ritter's death.
  • Bobby Hill had written an American history report not on a real president but on "Jed Bartlet", the fictional president from the television series The West Wing.
  • Bobby is seen watching MTV's Jackass on television, starring Johnny Knoxville.
  • The order is slightly changed but the Quizmaster's multilingual opening greeting "Welcome. Wilkommen. Bienvenue." is the same as the first line of the opening song in the musical Cabaret, "Wilkommen".
  • When Bobby is in his room watching MTV Total Request Live (TRL) after his first Quiz-Bowl competition, a 4Skore song from the Season 7 episode "Get Your Freak Off" can be heard.
    • Bobby refers to the show as TRL Pop Up, this may be a combination of VH1's Pop Up Video, which used pop-up bubbles to provide additional information about what is happening onscreen.
  • After Bobby's second competition, he is watching the film adaption of A Dinner of Onions (with audio-commentary). The novel was the book that the book-club were reading in the Season 7 episode "Full Metal Dust Jacket".
  • Kelly Clarkson was singing "Miss Independent" on TVs at Mega Lo Mart. She also listed many celebrities that tie to one another, mentioning the following people: Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, NSYNC, Jim Carrey, Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, John Cusack, Pamela Anderson, Scott Baio, Ron Howard, Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, and Steve Martin. A few more individuals like Mary Steenburgen, Ted Danson, Tom Selleck, and Courteney Cox are also pictured.

Goofs[]

  • The Quizmaster asks the name for Absolute zero with the question "Negative 273 degrees kelvin." Kelvin scale does not have a negative correlation, zero is the beginning of absolute zero.

Quotes[]

  • HANK: "Now go start that report."
  • BOBBY: "But which president should I... (Hank glares; Bobby sighs) ...Ronald Reagan."
Eugene3

Closing Credits

  • HANK: Since when is pop culture academic?"
  • DALE: "It's serious business, Hank. You can't be a respected university these days without offering a major in commercial jingles or the films of M. Night Shyamalamalan."
  • BOOMHAUER: "Yeah, man, talkin' about dang ol' Oberlin, man, they got a Phi Beta Kappa in them muppets, yo."
  • HANK: "Well, that's asinine. What kind of job can you get with a degree in pop culture?"
  • DALE: "You can be a professor of pop culture. Wow. Bobby the Professor."
  • HANK: You know, I wanted Bobby to become the kind of kid who did stuff after school, but the stuff after school is just becoming more like Bobby.

Gallery[]


Season 7 Season 8 Season 9

Patch Boomhauer · Reborn to Be Wild · New Cowboy on the Block · The Incredible Hank · Flirting With the Master · After the Mold Rush · Livin' on Reds, Vitamin C and Propane · Rich Hank, Poor Hank · Ceci N'est Pas Une King of the Hill · That's What She Said · My Hair Lady · Phish and Wildlife · Cheer Factor · Dale Be Not Proud · Après Hank, le Deluge · DaleTech · How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Alamo · Girl, You'll Be a Giant Soon · Stressed for Success · Hank's Back · The Redneck on Rainey Street · Talking Shop
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
Advertisement