Where is Arlen? (Houston, Dallas, Austin: home, neighborhood, living in)

[jtur88]

From clues you can get from "King of the Hill", just where in Texas do you think Arlen is?

[theloneranger]

It's fictional.

It's based on his experiences living in the towns of Richardson and Garland, back when those towns were a little less suburban than they are now. He's also said that it's a town like Humble.

It definitely is not in the area around Houston, as the people tend to be Cowboys fans and use Dallas for air travel.

I would suggest Temple as approximately the type of town it is. The people on the show don't have noticable west Texas or east Texas accents, but several clues suggest the town is near Austin, and they play Belton and Killeen in football. They support Dallas teams and use Dallas for major activities like air travel and shopping, which is similar to Temple. I also seem to remember reading that a weather map showing Arlen had the town in the location of Temple on the show, but I could be mistaken.

[Westerner92]

I've heard he based it off of Garland as well. I've watched a few episodes, and I remember one talking about it being on the Brazos River. It's also supposedly only a short drive to Dallas, Houston, and Austin which is not really possible. There are purposefully a lot of inconsistencies. To me, the geography and size of the town resemble Temple.

[lothartheterrible]

It's supposedly an amalgam of several locations. The Hills' neighborhood is allegedly based upon Mike Judge's childhood home in Garland and Richardson, but the city of Arlen (much like the Simpsons' Springfield) is more of an "everyplace"; a representation of many different cities that represent a broad stereotype of the Texas mentality. As insulting as some may find the portrayal of Texas as such conservative buffoons, we all have to admit that we know somebody who resembles every single character in the show.

[graterdaze]

South Central Texas, South of Dallas, I would say. three hour drive from Houston on the show.

[graterdaze]

I mean just central TEXAS.

[love roses]

It's more "Dallasy" so I'd go with Garland as well. Not much resemblence to Central Texas.

[jtur88]

However, in one episode, his Laotian neighbor was said to drive every day to his job in Houston.

[Cathy4017]

And....in another episode, it didn't seem to take them very long to go and return from Mexico!

[sxrckr]

I think it's Garland.