ABC May Become ‘King of the Hill’
ABC could become King of the Hill, if they decide to pick up the show which Fox just said would be canceled after the current season. While they already have The Goode Family coming as an animated midseason replacement, also created by Mike Judge, they may choose to add the series according to The Hollywood Reporter.
A Fox TV spokesman would only confirm "another network is interested" in the show. ABC declined to comment but adding a second show to round out the hour makes programming sense given the success Fox has had with such pairings.
The biggest issue is that there’s a nine month gestation period for new King episodes which means new shows couldn’t hit any channel until fall 2009. The gamble for ABC would be to pick up King and hope Goode finds an audience. The Alphabet Network may hedge their bets and just orders scripts then wait and see how Goode performs.
Fox has said that the final 13 episodes they've ordered will probably air during the 2009-2010 season, so there's plenty of time for ABC to order more for air in 2010-2011.