Praise be, they’re back.

MTV has recently announced the triumphant return of Beavis and Butt-head. Original series creator Mike Judge is on board to produce new episodes which will air on the one-time music network later this year.

As John Altschuler, head writer for the new series, explained to Rolling Stone, “In the years since Mike quit doing ‘Beavis and Butt-head’ he realized that there was a lot to make fun of.”  The pair will reportedly be the same Metal-loving, nacho-chomping numskulls they were back in the day (the last episode of the original series aired in 1997), but with a twist: instead of sitting on the couch and watching and pillorying music videos, they will now be sitting on the couch and taking aim at clips from YouTube and reality shows like “Jersey Shore.”

No doubt that modern pop culture (culture! Imagine I wrote that with a straight face) will provide much fodder for the un-dynamic duo, but I wonder…

Beavis and Butt-head seemed so much a product of their times, those gay ’90’s, when the Cold War ended with a whimper and the nation could afford a President with nothing better to do than chase interns around the Oval Office. Beavis and Butt-head both rode and propelled this peculiar, peace-dividend zeitgeist; Americans loved hanging out with these horny, semi-retarded boys, because really, what else did we have to do? (more…)

The most annoying creature in the pantheon of Hollywood cliches is the “free spirit,” the heedless, hedonistic waif whose responsibility-free lifestyle shows us uptight squares just how empty and soulless our lives of meeting obligations and delaying gratification truly are.  But there’s nothing free about free spirits in real life – they flit along like eternal infants while other people get to pick up the figurative and literal bill – people like you, and me and TV’s most amusing everyman Hank Hill.

Tonight Fox will run the series finale of King of the Hill, the saga of Hank and his gang of associates living in their exurb paradise of Arlen, Texas.  King has a helluva a pedigree.  It was created by fellow UC San Diego grad Mike Judge, who also developed the criminally under-appreciated Beavis and Butt-Head.  The co-creator was Greg Daniels, who previously worked on The Simpsons  and wrote the classic Lisa’s Wedding episode.  Together, they made King the most subversive comedy on television. (more…)