The Hillverse
The long-running King of the Hill was Mike Judge’s take on a southern family in Texas. Spivey decided her North Carolinian Harts should be shared universe.This will be confirmed by a certain store at which they shop.“I talked to Mike Judge about using Mega Lo Mart,” Spivey said. “He was so sweet he said yes. I really feel Bless the Harts and King of the Hill exist in the same world.“With King of the Hill frequently in talks for revivals, the success of Bless the Harts could keep the Hills in the conversation too.The Harts are inspired by Spivey’s family and other families she observed in North Carolina. The fictional family includes parents Betty (Maya Rudolph) and Wayne Hart (Ike Barinholtz), daughter Violet (Jillian Bell) and son Randy (Drew Tarver).“This is my hometown and people I grew up with,” Spivey said. “Everybody on this panel knows that everything I write secretly takes place in North Carolina. This has been a passion for me forever.“One story in the pilot has Wayne Hart’s plan to raise ostriches go comically wrong.“I grew up with a guy who tried to have an ostrich farm,” Spivey said. “All the ostriches hated him. These are just all my people I grew up with in a mill town called High Point, NC.“Yet, the Harts aren’t the butts of all the jokes. “I really want to be laughing with the people, not at them,” Spivey said. “Wayne gets a little clowny but he redeems himself.”
The Animation Will Feel Hand Drawn
We didn’t get to see any animation from Bless the Harts yet. We saw a still of the Hart family, but asked the producers for more detail on the animation style.“I wanted to keep in the spirit of King of the Hill which is loose and naturalistic and folksy,” Spivey said.Here’s where animation mogul Phil Lord jumped in. “We didn’t want it to feel machined,” Lord said. “It’s almost like Violet could’ve drawn it in her notebook so you always feel the hand of the artist doing it. It feels like it’s outsider art.”
The Title Can Be Sincere or Critical
Anyone who’s met southerners has probably been told, “bless your heart” with either scorn or sincerity. The title of the show can go both ways too.“It’s such a wonderful catch-all phrase,” Spivey said. “It can be phony baloney if somebody comes in with a real ugly new hairdo or a dress that’s not working. Bless her heart, you know. It also can mean compassion so I like the double meaning.“Lord added, “People say that to Wayne a lot.“Violet is the sarcastic modern teenager in the family so she gets a lot of the funny lines.“Violet’s more like my best friend David, on the dry side,” Spivey said. “I felt like an outsider looking in, but with a lot of love as opposed to disdain.”
Lord And Miller-Produced ‘Bless The Harts’ Exists In The ‘King Of The Hill’ Universe [TCA 2019]
By Fred Topel/Feb. 7, 2019 12:30 pm EST
The Hillverse
The long-running King of the Hill was Mike Judge’s take on a southern family in Texas. Spivey decided her North Carolinian Harts should be shared universe.This will be confirmed by a certain store at which they shop.“I talked to Mike Judge about using Mega Lo Mart,” Spivey said. “He was so sweet he said yes. I really feel Bless the Harts and King of the Hill exist in the same world.“With King of the Hill frequently in talks for revivals, the success of Bless the Harts could keep the Hills in the conversation too.The Harts are inspired by Spivey’s family and other families she observed in North Carolina. The fictional family includes parents Betty (Maya Rudolph) and Wayne Hart (Ike Barinholtz), daughter Violet (Jillian Bell) and son Randy (Drew Tarver).“This is my hometown and people I grew up with,” Spivey said. “Everybody on this panel knows that everything I write secretly takes place in North Carolina. This has been a passion for me forever.“One story in the pilot has Wayne Hart’s plan to raise ostriches go comically wrong.“I grew up with a guy who tried to have an ostrich farm,” Spivey said. “All the ostriches hated him. These are just all my people I grew up with in a mill town called High Point, NC.“Yet, the Harts aren’t the butts of all the jokes. “I really want to be laughing with the people, not at them,” Spivey said. “Wayne gets a little clowny but he redeems himself.”
The Animation Will Feel Hand Drawn
We didn’t get to see any animation from Bless the Harts yet. We saw a still of the Hart family, but asked the producers for more detail on the animation style.“I wanted to keep in the spirit of King of the Hill which is loose and naturalistic and folksy,” Spivey said.Here’s where animation mogul Phil Lord jumped in. “We didn’t want it to feel machined,” Lord said. “It’s almost like Violet could’ve drawn it in her notebook so you always feel the hand of the artist doing it. It feels like it’s outsider art.”
The Title Can Be Sincere or Critical
Anyone who’s met southerners has probably been told, “bless your heart” with either scorn or sincerity. The title of the show can go both ways too.“It’s such a wonderful catch-all phrase,” Spivey said. “It can be phony baloney if somebody comes in with a real ugly new hairdo or a dress that’s not working. Bless her heart, you know. It also can mean compassion so I like the double meaning.“Lord added, “People say that to Wayne a lot.“Violet is the sarcastic modern teenager in the family so she gets a lot of the funny lines.“Violet’s more like my best friend David, on the dry side,” Spivey said. “I felt like an outsider looking in, but with a lot of love as opposed to disdain.”
