Could Dale Gribble Carry A Spinoff?

In season 5 of King of the Hill, there were two episodes that focused almost entirely on Dale Gribble and his family: "The Exterminator" (Dale gets a job at an Office Space-like company) and "The Trouble With Gribbles" (Dale sues Manitoba Cigarettes). There have been a lot of Dale episodes before and since, but these two episodes were unique in that they featured almost nothing of Hank Hill or his family. In "The Exterminator" Hank and Peggy don't appear in the third act, and Bobby doesn't have any lines. In "The Trouble With Gribbles," Hank and Peggy and Bobby get a few token lines each. These episodes, then, are basically the Dale Gribble Show -- and they make me wonder whether the writers were setting him up for a spinoff.

Now, I don't think they were, but who knows; there was some concern at the time that KotH might not last after season 5, and there might have been some idea of testing to see whether Dale could carry on by himself after that. (They also produced the live-action Monsignor Martinez spinoff pilot around this time, so they were clearly looking for spinoffs.) Or maybe they just happened to do two very Dale-heavy episodes. But based on those two episodes, I wonder, could Dale carry a spinoff, and what would it be like?

First of all, Dale is one of the few characters on any animated sitcom who could carry a spinoff, because he has the built-in elements of a lead sitcom character: a family, a unique job, and a penchant for wacky schemes. In a way he's more like the traditional sitcom lead than Hank Hill is, because Dale's a wacky husband who's always getting into trouble and has an improbably beautiful wife.

I think a Dale spinoff could work. Let's say Dale moves his family to the city -- Austin or Dallas or Houston. Dale could have more scope for his wacky schemes, meet new people as a result of his extermination job; Nancy could have plots centering around her attempt to make it in TV in the big city, and Joseph could try to make new friends and conquer his fear of girls. It could be like KotH, but with the kind of wild and crazy stories that you can't do with Hank, and an urban setting. Also, the main voice cast would be Johnny Hardwick, Ashley Gardner and Breckin Meyer, an excellent cast.

The downside is that a lot of Dale's characterization is based on obliviousness, and you can't really sustain that if he's the lead. (If he was the lead, you could never keep up the running gag of him and Joseph not knowing about Joseph's parentage.) Also, there are already too many sitcoms about idiot dads with beautiful wives, and now that Fox has American Dad, they probably don't want another show about a paranoid right-wing dad.

So I don't actually think there will ever be a Dale Gribble spinoff, nor that there should be, but it's one of the few spinoff concepts I could actually see working.

Case in point: There shall never be such a thing as a spinoff of a primetime animated show...I never want to EVER see it...

no

The idea of a KOTH spin-off has numerous possibilities, but the last thing I'd want is a show that focuses entirely on Dale Gribble (or the likes of).

He's the wacky neighbor. It would never work, and would fail.

I would watch it, and it would be funny, but the general public wouldn't care. You have a good point though, Dale would have the best chance to make his own show. Probably a better chance than any secondary character from the Simpsons for that matter.

I'd like to see it. America wouldn't...

Originally Posted by Necromancer

no

only acceptable answer

You make some good points, but I think "The Gribbles" may feel a little too similar to other sitcoms. In KotH, Hank is occasionally the target of some good-natured humor, but he's usually portrayed as a respectable, fairly intelligent guy, which sets KotH apart from a lot of other sitcoms (with the "idiot dads"). Dale, on the other hand, is wacky and not exactly sharp, and although he's a great supporting character, I think he may grate in large doses every week. Joseph is the same way, a bit too generic compared to other sitcom sons (unlike the erratic Bobby).

Regardless, I'd watch if the writing was as sharp as it is on KotH.

Besides, if they gave Dale a spin-off, that'd just be another excuse to keep that secret between John Redcorn and Nancy dragging on forever.

Could work. But shouldn't be done.

I think it would be great, he's the only funny character on King of the Hill.

I would watch it but i think it would fail. I would love to see a Stuart Dooley spinoff.

I got a few ideas for a spin-off myself.

Stay tuned...

I like that idea, but I have the same doubts as everyone else... and my spin-off is better

that's a gribble of an idea.

i'm always against spinoffs and i'm not crazy about this one since dale gets on my nerves as a supporting character.

I actually just thought of another reason why Dale probably couldn't be the star of his own show: he is usually drawn with dark glasses obscuring his eyes. That's fine for a supporting character, but you can't have a star character whose eyes can't be seen, because that effect severely limits the range of emotions you can give him. (If "The Exterminator" really was supposed to be a test for a Dale spinoff - and I'm not saying it was - maybe that would explain why they arranged to have Dale drawn without his shades for most of the episode.)

Originally Posted by Butters

Could work. But shouldn't be done.

Exactly. I'd watch it, of course, but I don't think it do terribly well, and it might cheapen the reputation of KotH that I respect so much.

Originally Posted by arlen_texas

I actually just thought of another reason why Dale probably couldn't be the star of his own show: he is usually drawn with dark glasses obscuring his eyes. That's fine for a supporting character, but you can't have a star character whose eyes can't be seen, because that effect severely limits the range of emotions you can give him. (If "The Exterminator" really was supposed to be a test for a Dale spinoff - and I'm not saying it was - maybe that would explain why they arranged to have Dale drawn without his shades for most of the episode.)

Ironically, Dale looks better WITH his glasses.

Originally Posted by homer5000

Case in point: There shall never be such a thing as a spinoff of a primetime animated show...I never want to EVER see it...

What about Daria? That was spun off from beavis and butthead.