The Goode Family is the flipside of King of the Hill: "It's so hard to be good." All images © 2009 ABC.

John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky are a couple of busy guys. King of the Hill's show runners for the last seven seasons, they've joined forces with Mike Judge to create the new ABC series The Goode Family (premiering tonight at 9:00 p.m. and subsequently airing on Tuesdays). If Hill poked fun at an honest, God-fearing Texas Republican clan, Family travels to the other end of the political rainbow, examining the travails of Gerald and Helen Goode, an ultra-liberal husband and wife who tie themselves in knots (and drive their kids crazy), trying to be as politically correct and environmentally conscious as possible. (Their credo: WWAGD, or "what would Al Gore do?")

A friendly, fun-filled poke at people trying a little too hard to do the right thing, or a no-holds-barred send up of stereotypes that would have a committed FOX News viewer cheering? Perhaps it's a balancing act that will have both groups watching the show, not to mention the great middle ground of folks for whom politics isn't Issue Number One on their agenda.

I chatted on the phone with Altschuler briefly last week about how the series came about and its potential impact.

Joe Strike: What's happening?

John Altschuler: We're just busy. We're premiering the pilot in a week, we're producing Mike Judge's next movie [the workplace comedy Extract], we have to lock that -- there's a lot going on at once. My partner Dave and I, we had to split jobs -- he's in the editing room right now.

JS: OK, where did you get the idea for the show?

JA: I was talking to friend of mine a few years ago. Her husband had bought a hybrid and they discovered it didn't get as good gas mileage as they thought, they didn't know what to do with the batteries. She just looked crushed; she looked up and said, "It's so hard to be good." I just started thinking about that. I went and talked to Dave and then we talked to Mike Judge and we all had the same feeling: we're trying every day to do everything right, and it's never enough.

JS: This woman's distress was the catalyst for the idea.

JA: Yeah, we sort of realized we're all in the same boat, we're trying, but the criteria keeps changing and the one thing we know, you're never good enough.

JS: I know you're going to get a good deal of static for being politically incorrect top to bottom. Are you prepared for what people are going to shoot at you over this?

JA: You know, I, umm… I'd be somewhat, not really surprised over it, Dave and I have run King of the Hill for seven years; we've been on it for 12. I don't think anybody ever thought we were taking cheap shots at white Republican middle-Americans; in the same way I don't think people will think we're taking shots at the Goode family. We're not saying people shouldn't try to be good, we're saying that it's hard, and it's funny the predicaments we keep finding ourselves in. We're making more fun of ourselves in this show, and sometimes people find it easier to make fun of others and not look at themselves. You may be right, I don't know.

Right from the start, they wanted to get an underground comic look to it: bright colors mixed with a little R. Crumb.

JS: It's obviously deliberately taken to extremes. The family is trying waaay too hard.

JA: Yeah, it's interesting, though, that it's all based on stuff that we've done. I mean, we know somebody with a vegan dog. [In the show, the Goode's pet Che devours every cat and bird in sight in search of a square meal.] We're not making this stuff up.

JS: Do you know anybody who adopted an Afrikaner child? [In their quest to do good the couple adopted Ubuntu, an African infant who turned out to be white.]

JA: Actually not an Afrikaner, but we know somebody who was tied in knots about adopting: you know, "Oh, what race of child, is it wrong?" [You felt like yelling:] "No, it's a good thing, just adopt the kid!" So it's nothing that's alien. I hope this isn't the case. Somebody told me: "Be careful because liberals take themselves real seriously." Look at King of the Hill: Was that a conservative show or a liberal show? Is this a conservative show or a liberal show? It's not like "is it going to be good for us or is it going to be bad for us?" What we like to do is try to look from the middle at the extremes.

JS: So this is a counterbalance to King of the Hill?

JA: That's a good way to put it. It's the other side of the coin, like All in the Family and Maude. Maude was super-liberal, Archie was super-right wing. What are you making fun of? If you're doing a good job, you're making fun of everything.

JS: How did you wind up on ABC? They haven't had much luck with primetime animation since The Flintstones.

JA: To be honest, every network wanted it. We were in a good position but ABC had the clearest sense of what the show was, how they would market and support it. They've ordered 13 episodes. I have to admit the ads were fantastic, the promos are great. If people don't like the show, unfortunately, we can't blame the network.