I’ve honestly only caught very little of it but I do remember it being extremely popular. It was a must watch for many people I worked with at the time. I was wondering, did Brittany Murphy’s death have something to do with the cancellation or were there other reasons? Were the ratings still good after 13 years?
KING OF THE HILL was a consistently good show throughout its thirteen-season-run. Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, the former being the series creator, were driving forces behind the show for many years. Judge and Daniels infused the series with many story-arcs and character development. The Fox didn't want any strong story-arcs or development so the episodes could be aired out of order in syndication.
The early seasons of KING OF THE HILL drew really good ratings, especially for a Fox animated comedy. The series placed #15 overall in 1998 at the end of its second season. The viewership tapered off, but it was stable throughout the remainder of its run. By the time it ended in 2009, the show was still placing #95, which was decent considering the number of shows on television and the age of KING OF THE HILL itself.
As Judge and Daniels reduced their involvement over the years, KING OF THE HILL did tend to become more formulaic. There were several cases where story lines were introduced, then quickly dropped, and there was a lot of retconning that went on, especially when concerning the core characters and their relationships with their relatives. I remember one of the more obvious changes being Peggy Hill's relationship with her mother. In the earliest seasons, Peggy and her mother enjoyed a healthy mother-daughter rivalry in flashbacks, but by the ninth season, when Peggy and the family go to visit her mother in Montana, Mrs. Platter is a vindictive woman who has never appreciated or respected her daughter.
These types of things tend to happen to shows, despite the genre, when the personnel behind-the-scenes starts to shift. KING OF THE HILL was still a quality show and the change in tone was subtle, but evident, especially to avid fans. If you were a casual viewer, then you probably wouldn't notice anything that much different.
You asked whether or not Brittany Murphy's death had anything to do with Fox cancelling the show. Well, to the best of my knowledge, it didn't. Murphy's death was almost simultaneous with the network's decision to axe the show. Had the show continued, however, I'm not sure whether they would've written Murphy's character Luanne out of the story or if they might have brought in a sound-alike actress to fill her spot. With the rumors that KING OF THE HILL could possibly be revived, if Luanne were to return (as I'm assure she would), I'd assume the producers would get a sound-alike actress to takeover.
