Cheer Factor

Infobox Television episode
Title = Cheer Factor
Series = King of the Hill


Caption =
Season = 8
Episode = 13
Airdate = March 7, 2004
Production = 8ABE07
Writer = Christy Stratton
Director = Kyounghee Lim and Boohwan Lim
Guests = Danica McKellar, Amy Adams, Mac Davis, and Peri Gilpin
Episode list = List of King of the Hill episodes
Prev = Phish and Wild Life
Next = Dale Be Not Proud

Cheer Factor is the one hundred and sixty-second episode in the FOX comedy "King of the Hill".

Plot

The Hills are at an Arlen Longhorns football game. To everyone's dismay, the team is losing badly. The cheerleaders come out and do their dance routine instead of cheering for the team, which makes the fans even more unhappy. Peggy is particularly displeased. The team loses and everyone takes it out on principal's car. Bobby is the mascot, but he can do little to enthuse the crowd.

The next day, Peggy volunteers as an assistant cheer coach, hoping to bring the cheerleading squad back on track. Jo Rita, the head cheer coach, is displeased by Peggy's assessment, bragging about all the awards she has won for the dance routines and pointing out that the cheerleaders do not win awards based on how well the football team does.

At another football game, the Longhorns are once again losing badly. The cheerleaders dance, but Peggy decides to get in the stands and chant "Arlen, Arlen, Fight Fight Fight, move that ball with all your might!" over and over again. The audience quickly joins her, and the players are whipped into action enough to win. The principal is pleased, and makes Peggy the new head coach, demoting Jo Rita. Peggy soon recruits Connie as a cheerleader, who is overjoyed that she is now "cool".

At the next pep rally, the cheerleaders are having trouble getting the crowd into a frenzy, even with their new focus on cheering, so Peggy decides that one of the girls needs to get into the other team's mascot costume. The costume doesn't fit, but Peggy tries to ram the mascot head on the girl anyway. The crowd mistakes the scene for Peggy "killing" the other team's mascot, and start to cheer again. Inspired, Peggy dresses Bobby as the other team's mascot in every game, having the cheerleaders maul him dramatically.

The football team makes it to the final game before playoffs. The principal gives Peggy the halftime show. The other team are McMaynerberry's Fighting Irish, and while Peggy is trying to think of violent ideas for the show, Jo Rita sees a way to sabotage her efforts. She coaxes the naive Peggy into doing a bit with an Irishman and all the stereotypes.

At the half time show, Bobby plays a drunken leprechaun, and the girls are cheering Irish stereotypes as they pretend to beat him. In the stands, Jo Rita has brought in people who are of Irish descent. They are very insulted, and the other team forfeits in protest of the cheerleaders' offensive display.

Although this counts as a victory for the Longhorns, there is controversy over whether they should be allowed to keep it. Peggy and Principal Moss are brought before the town council, who are arguing over the issue. The principal turns on Peggy and says the team is a victim of her racism. It is ruled that the team can keep the win, but only if Peggy is removed from the cheerleading squad. Upon hearing the news, Peggy believes the cheerleaders will quit as well, but they all turn her back on her, even Connie.

At the playoffs, Jo Rita has brought the cheerleaders back to their old ways, and the Longhorns are losing badly. Peggy is denied access to the game and must listen in her car. However, Connie is fed up, grabbing a megaphone and doing Peggy's original cheer, even though Jo Rita will surely kick her off the squad. Peggy watches the crowd goes crazy as the team starts to win again.

Trivia

*The title is a spoof of the reality series Fear Factor.