South Park, (seasons 1-19, 21-22)

South Park Come on down to South Park and meet some friends o' mine! Genre: Animated Sitcom Running Time: 22 minutes Country: United States Release Date: August 13, 1997 - present Network(s): Comedy Central (US, International 1997-2015, 2017-present) Paramount Comedy Channel (UK, 1997-2009) Sky One (UK, 1997-2005) Channel 4 (UK, 1997-2005) VIVA (UK, formerly) 5Star (UK, 2017) MTV (re-runs and specials 1997-present) SBS (Australia, 1997-2020) The Comedy Channel (Australia 1997-present) Much (Canada 1997-present) SBS2/Viceland (Australia, 2009-2019) 10 Shake (Australia, 2020-present) Created by: Trey Parker and Matt Stone Distributed by: ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks (original broadcasts) CBS Television Distribution(syndication) Starring: Trey Parker Matt Stone Mary Kay Bergman† (1997-1999) Isaac Hayes† (1997-2006) Eliza Schneider (1999-2004) Mona Marshall April Stewart (2004-present) Jessica Makinson Jennifer Howell Seasons: 25 Episodes: 317

South Park is an American adult animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. It first aired on Comedy Central in 1997 and is currently ongoing. It is the third-longest running animated series to date.

Plot

The series focuses on 4 foul-mouthed children: Eric Cartman, Kyle Broflovski, Stan Marsh, and Kenny McCormick. They get into many weird and bizarre mishaps while learning a valuable lesson at the end.

Why It Will Make You Want to Meet Some Friends o' Theirs

1. Numerous clever and hilarious pop cultural references.
2. Many hilarious jokes and quotes, such as Kenny's hilarious death scenes in the earlier episodes, most notably the ones prior to the Season 5 episode "Kenny Dies".
3. The celebrity parodies are hysterical, especially Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise, and Kanye West.
4. Valuable lessons to be taught, for adults of course.
5. A great vanity logo that is memorable to fans at the end of each South Park episode from Season 1 to Season 10 Episode 2: "BRANIFF!! BELIEVE IT!"
6. The show has lots of continuity, with many seasons having continuous story threads.
7. Has countered numerous attacks on entertainment by moral guardians with episodes dealing with censorship and it even became one of the main focuses of South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.
8. Eric Cartman and his crazy schemes.
9. They ridicule everything and everyone on the planet, especially those that are widely disliked or who really deserve it.
10. They aren't willing to tackle a wide variety of controversial topics without pulling any punches.
11. The shows doesn't choose either side of the political spectrum, as both left and right wingers are ridiculously mocked.
12. Season 19 in particular attacked both SJW propaganda and outraged cultures with a season-long story arc. In fact, South Park is one of the few shows on TV that attacks and insults SJW culture and people who are too mentally outraged and overly offended (or the ones looking to be offended) by everything they see or claim "racist", "sexist", or "offensive" whatever so on, all willing to prove a good point.
    • This does not mean the show doesn't attack the right-wing; indeed, there are too many episodes to count where racism, homophobia and religious fundamentalism were mocked and ridiculed. This earns South Park the lofty honour of being one of the few shows centered around political humour to promote rationalism and healthy scepticism.
13. The voice acting is great considering that it is mostly done by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, a rotating cast of female voice actors and some members of the South Park team like storyboarder Adrien Beard (who voices Tolkien Black).
14. When people criticized the show for its poor animation and flatulence jokes, Matt Stone and Trey Parker responded by creating the characters of Terrance and Phillip with even poorer animation and with almost no humour besides flatulence jokes.
15. Though the animation isn't the best, it has a certain charm and parodies paper cutout animation very well.
    • The original pilot was done in cutout animation, keeping continuity in art style for over 25 years.
    • The animation is very easy to make, taking about 6-7 days, as a result some episodes are made quickly to catch up with modern topics and media, therefore making it more relevant.
    • The character designs are absolutely amazing too.
16. It's one of the first American shows that challenged the stereotype that animation is only for children.
17. The famous quote "Oh my God! They killed Kenny! You bastards!"
18. The animation quality has greatly improved in later seasons, with characters showing more movements.
19. Hilarious and unforgettable moments like Mr. Mackey's failed drug education class and Cartman singing "Kyle's Mom's a Bitch" in "Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo" and in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.
20. Tons of memorable and likable characters, such as:
    1. Stanley "Stan" Marsh
    2. Eric Cartman
    3. Kenny McCormick
    4. Kyle Broflovski
    5. Heidi Turner
    6. Wendy Testaburger
    7. Tuong Lu Kim
    8. Towelie
    9. Randy Marsh
    10. Leopold "Butters" Stotch (in Seasons 1-19 and 21-22 only)
    11. Bebe Stevens
    12. Jimmy Valmer (in Seasons 1-19 and 21-22 only)
    13. Craig Tucker (in Seasons 1-19 and 21-22 only)
    14. Tweek Tweak
    15. Ike Broflovski
    16. Shelly Marsh (in Seasons 8-present only)
    17. Chef
21. Many good morals that teenagers and adults can learn, such as:
    • "Free Speech is important" ("Cartoon Wars 1 & 2")
    • "Intolerance is ugly" ("Chef Goes Nanners")
    • "Perseverance pays off" ("Make Love Not Warcraft")
    • "Even your close friends have limits" ("SHOTS!")
    • "Parents will snap eventually" ("SHOTS!")
    • "Discussions about sex are healthy" ("Proper Condom Use")
    • "Life moves on" ("4th Grade")
    • "We can all change" ("Covid Special Part 1")
    • "Looks aren't everything" ("The List")
    • "Respect other religions" ("All About Mormons")
    • "Fire isn't as fun as you think" ("Butt Out" and "Preschool")
    • "It's OK to feel sad" ("Raisins")
    • "Forgiveness is important no matter what you have done" (Post Covid specials)
    • "Friends come first" ("Guitar Queer-O")
    • "Being independent for a while is good" ("Do The Handicapped Go To Hell?")
    • "Boastfulness can bite you back" ("Breast Cancer Show Ever")
    • "Swearing is meaningless" ("It Hits The Fan")
    • "Moderation is everything" (various episode)
    • "Psychos come from the least obvious place" ("Cripple Fight")
    • "Reward yourself when you have accomplished your goals" ("A Million Little Fibers")
    • "If your dream is to be famous, prepare to be ridiculed" ("Fishsticks")
    • "Patience is a virtue" ("Go God Go")
    • "Native people are not as welcoming as you think" ("Rainforest Shmainforest")
    • "Breakups aren’t the end of the world" ("Raisins")
    • "Parents are a vital part of life" ("The Wacky Molestation Adventure")
    • "Big business’s hurt small shops" ("Something Walmart This Way Comes" & "Bike Parade")
    • "Family Isn’t About Blood" ("Ike’s Wee Wee")
    • "Money can't buy you happiness" ("Cartmanland")
    • "Even your enemies can help you" ("You Have 0 Friends")
    • "Big brands aren't as innocent as you think" ("Chinpokomon")
    • "Sometimes, other people have come up with an idea you have thought of" ("Simpsons Already Did It")
    • "Don't treat people like objects" ("Butters Bottom Bitch")
    • "The grass isn't always greener on the other side" ("Cartman Joins NAMBLA")
    • "It's OK to be gay" ("Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride")
    • "How people can scam you" ("Cash for Gold")
    • "The ownership of content" ("Free Hat")
    • "Learn to love yourself" ("Do the Handicapped Go to Hell?")
    • "Voting is important" ("Douche And Turd")
    • "Some words are not as innocent as you might think" ("With Apologies to Jesse Jackson")
    • "Open your eyes to a new way of doing things" ("Helen Keller the Musical")
    • "Even the sweetest people can give bad advice" ("Not Funny")
    • "Even adults can't always be trusted" (Season 20)
    • "People shouldn't ignore school shootings" ("Dead Kids")
22. Clever writing that mocks other animated shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy.
23. Hilarious villains such as Mecha-Streisand, Saddam Hussein, the Woodland Critters and Mel Gibson.
24. This show does an amazing job at showcasing that animation isn't just for children - it also acts as a sort of ongoing and long-running experiment by Matt Stone and Trey Parker to see what they could get away with on TV.

Qualities That Killed Kenny

1. Although this may be a nitpick, there have been many times where the show has gone so far that it has become outright offensive as this show was basically made with the sole purpose of being the most offensive thing to ever air on television, especially in the later seasons. Some examples of the show's vulgarities going too far for some includes:
   1. Naked adults chasing young boys attempting to assault them in "Cartman Joins NAMBLA".
   2. Kenny McCormick being arrested for giving Howard Stern a "hummer" in "Fat Camp".
   3. An imposter of Kenny crawling up Ms. Crabtree's vagina... and then coming back out, covered in her bodily fluids and completely crushed in the same episode.
   4. The episode "The Wacky Molestation Adventure" features the children telling the police that their parents molested them and getting them arrested, despite the claim not actually being true.
   5. Mr. Slave shoving a rodent (Lemmiwinks) in "The Death Camp of Tolerance" and later on Paris Hilton up his rectum in "Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset".
   6. Cartman drinking a cup of semen.
   7. Cartman's hand puppet (Mitch Conner) giving Ben Affleck a handjob in "Fat Butt and Pancake Head".
   8. The multiple scenes of the Woodland critters performing satanic rituals and raping and killing people in "Woodland Critter Christmas".
   9. Chef being brainwashed into joining a Scientology-esque club of child molestors in "The Return of Chef". In the same episode, he is seen getting stabbed by a large stick and torn apart by a cougar and a large brown bear while being shot at multiple times... and then defecates in his pants before he dies.
      • Ironically, Chef's voice actor Isaac Hayes was a Scientologist in real life and was stated to have quit the show over disagreements over his organisation's portrayal in "Trapped in the Closet". However, it later turned out that Hayes did not make the statements himself.
   10. Steve Irwin being depicted with a stingray stuck in his chest in "Hell on Earth 2006", which comes off as distasteful and disrespectful to his memory.
   11. Randy unintentionally saying the n-word in "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson", despite being very funny.
   12. Cartman sticking Butters' penis in his mouth, taking a picture of it, showing it in class, and later attempting to trick Butters into performing oral sex on him in "Cartman Sucks". While he did this as a prank, the problem is that it was outright sexual assault.
   13. The majority of "Britney's New Look" literally being nothing but full-blown, infuriating Britney Spears torture.
   14. Randy Marsh masturbating to very disgusting forms of porn and eventually covering his entire body in semen in "Over Logging". This is, however, one of the funniest scenes in the show.
   15. Cartman "milking" a dog by using the red rocket technique.
   16. The scenes in "The China Probrem" where Steven Spielberg and George Lucas rape Indiana Jones multiple times, which are arguably the most disturbing scenes ever.
   17. Despite being fantastic episodes, "200" and "201" were considered extremely offensive to Muslims for its portrayal of the Prophet Mohammed to the point that series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone even received a death threat from the Revolution Muslim organization shortly before "201" aired. As a result, Comedy Central would remove the episodes from their servers and never release them again. In addition, the episodes were never released on streaming however you can still access them on the season 14 DVD.
   18. The episode "Crack Baby Athletic Association" revolves around crack-addicted babies fighting each other.
   19. Butters having the whole world drink his fluids (referred to as his "creamy goo") in "Sarcastaball" can be hard to watch.
   20. When the school gets shot up multiple times in "Dead Kids" is disturbing and the fact that no one seems to care (except for Sharon Marsh (Stan's mother); makes it even worse.
2. A somewhat excessive amount of toilet/gross-out humor at times, to the point most of the critics of the show point at the excessive cursing and gross-out scenes as the major flaw of the show. For example, Mr. Hankey (a sentient piece of fecal matter) can be a disgusting character to some people. Thankfully, later seasons dialed down the toilet humor to a reasonable amount.
3. Despite having some awesome seasons, this show has its share of either okay or mediocre seasons:
   1. The first three seasons, while really funny, aren't as good as the show was after Season 4 and how it is now, mostly due to the writing to be a little bit tamer in a few episodes with some of it having bad animation, tons of flatulence jokes (mostly in the first episode) and bad facial expressions.
   2. Season 12 is the show's second weakest season, as it features more bad and mediocre episodes than the seasons before and after it, such as "Britney's New Look", "Pandemic" and "Pandemic 2: The Starling" and "The China Probrem". However, there are still some great episodes to be found.
   3. Season 20 is by far the most controversial season of South Park and was not very well-received, mainly due to the unaired "The Very First Gentleman" having to be reworked into "Oh, Jeez" after Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election, forcing Matt and Trey to scrap their plans for the entire season.
   4. Season 23 is widely regarded by some fans as the weakest of all the seasons because of the fact that the first six episodes centered too much on Stan's father, Randy Marsh and his farm Tegridy Farms. Luckily, as mentioned above, the show is looking to get back on track, following "The Pandemic Special" and "The Vaccination Special", which are very enjoyable specials. However, Seasons 23 onwards are the most divisive seasons as starting with the Tegridy Weed, this is a sure sign that the show is now going in the same direction as Family Guy and The Simpsons.
4. Since Season 18, you have to watch episodes in order, as the episodic format was replaced by season-long story arcs, and the amount of episodes per season have been reduced from 14 to 10 (though this happened in Season 17). This problem only worsened in Season 19, and in Season 20 every episode (minus the finale) ended on a cliffhanger. The story arcs returned again in Season 23.
5. Some really mean-spirited characters:
   1. Stephen and Linda Stotch, Butters' parents, often punish their son over him doing things that are small accidents with physical abuse (such as beating him at the end of "Jared Has Aides" believing he cussed them out on the phone earlier when it was actually Cartman and chaining him in the basement at the end of "Marjorine" while feeding him a dead person).
   2. Shelly Marsh during Seasons 1-7 is unlikable for self-explanatory reasons, as she beats up her brother repeatedly and even dated a 22-year old despite being 13. Thankfully, since Season 8, she has been getting good character development and massively redeems herself as a reformed abusive older sister and a much more likable and relatable character who loves and cares for her brother very much, and is often willing to protect him when she needs to.
   3. Butters Stotch, Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Token Black, Jimmy Valmer, Craig Tucker and Clyde Donovan are all unlikeable in season 20 as they destroy Eric Cartman's electrics, feel no remorse for it (save Kyle) and face no punishments for it.
   4. Gerald and Sheila are even worse than Stephen and Linda as they are just vile to Kyle and Ike. It's really no wonder why Eric despises Sheila as she is a bitch.
   5. Some characters are horribly underutilized. The most notable example is Brimmy, who has only spoken once!
   6. Although his crazy schemes provide a lot of the series' humor and he has a few moments of likability here and there, depending on your view, Cartman can come across as a little too unlikable at times. Granted, this was most likely the intention but sometimes, he can be so mean and cruel, you just want him off the screen. For example, in the episode, Jared Has Aides, despite the fact that he got Butters in trouble with his parents by prank-calling them on the phone, he receives little-to-no comuppeance for his actions at all, making him a Karma Houdini.
6. Some bad and/or mediocre episodes even in these seasons, such as:
   1. "Cartman Gets An Anal Probe", while very good, was a pretty weak way to start the series, depending on your view.
   2. "Cartman's Mom Is Still a Dirty Slut" is an unfortunate conclusion to "Cartman's Mom Is a Dirty Slut".
   3. "Pip"
   4. "The Wacky Molestation Adventure" is a terrible episode due to the children getting away with falsely claiming that their parents sexually assaulted them and getting away with it.
   5. "Toilet Paper"
   6. "Douche and Turd" is a huge Stan torture fest due him not wanting to vote and getting exiled just because of it.
   7. "Raisins" is the third worst episode of the entire series as it shows how selfish Wendy can be and it's nothing but a Stan torture episode.
   8. "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina" is easily the absolute worst episode of the entire series as there is live action footage of a sex change and the subplot with Kyle wanting to become tall and black is extremely offensive.
   9. "Marjorine"
   10. "A Million Little Fibers" is also one of the worst episodes of the series and the lowest rated episode on IMDb.
   11. "Stanley's Cup" is an extremely mean-spirited episode, especially considering the ending.
   12. "Britney's New Look" is not really bad, but it's very depressing and infuriating and it'll make you hate the media even more for the way they treated Britney Spears.
   13. "The China Probrem"
   14. "Pandemic" and "Pandemic 2: The Starling"
   15. "Pinewood Derby"
   16. "HumancentiPad" it shows Cartman at his worst and most manipulative self and it's nothing but a Kyle torture episode. It also infamously mocked The Human Centipede.
   17. "Ginger Cow"
   18. "Splatty Tomato" is not really bad either, but it was a pretty weak way to end Season 21 and brings back a lot of bad memories from season 20.
   19. "Dead Kids"“
   20. "Board Girls" is the second worst episode of the entire series as it is extremely Transphobic (and not in a good way like Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride was) and it's nothing but a torture episode for PC Principal.
   21. "Credigree Weed St. Patrick's Day Special"
7. As mentioned in the 3rd problem area, ever since Tegridy Farms was introduced in Season 22, Cartman, Kenny and Kyle don’t seem to get as much focus as before, with more of it going to Stan, Randy and Tegridy Farms.
8. Despite being a fan-favorite character and one of the main members of the group, Kenny is very underused in several episodes.
9. Plenty of jokes in the series can be quite offensive to plenty of people, especially towards Jewish people.
10. The Latin dub, which is done in Miami, has been getting worse. The cast is very small, and all the voices (except for Patricia Azan, voice of Kyle and Cartman) are terrible. The translation is also bad, such as the Spanish version of "Do What You Wanna Do".
    • The Mexican Spanish dub, which covered seasons 1 and 2, was also badly received due to the use of Mexican idioms and to soften the rudeness.

Episodes with their own pages and other good episodes

1. "Weight Gain 4000"
2. "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride"
3. "Ike's Wee Wee"
4. "Sexual Harassment Panda"
5. "Chinpokomon"
6. "Hooked on Monkey Fonics"
7. "Cartman Joins NAMBLA"
8. "It Hits the Fan"
9. "Scott Tenorman Must Die"
10. "Kenny Dies"
11. "Asspen"
12. "Fun with Veal"
13. "Professor Chaos"
14. "The Simpsons Already Did It"
15. "Free Hat"
16. "The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers"
17. "Cancelled"
18. "Christian Rock Hard"
19. "Casa Bonita"
20. "It's Christmas In Canda"
21. "Good Times with Weapons"
22. "The Passion of the Jew"
23. "Awesom-O"
24. "Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes"
25. "Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset"
26. "Woodland Critter Christmas"
27. "Best Friends Forever"
28. "The Losing Edge"
29. "Die Hippie, Die"
30. "Ginger Kids"
31. "Trapped in the Closet"
32. "The Return of Chef"
33. "Smug Alert!"
34. "Cartoon Wars" (Parts 1 and 2)
35. "Tsst"
36. "Make Love, Not Warcraft"
37. "The Snuke"
38. "Imaginationland" (Parts 1, 2 and 3)
39. "Guitar Queer-O"
40. "The List"
41. "Canada on Strike"
42. "Breast Cancer Show Ever"
43. "The Ring"
44. "The Coon"
45. "Fishsticks"
46. "Dead Celebrities"
47. "You Have 0 Friends"
48. "200" and "201"
49. "It's a Jersey Thing"
50. "Crème Fraiche"
51. "Funnybot"
52. "T.M.I"
53. "You're Getting Old"
54. "Ass Burgers"
55. "Broadway Bro Down"
56. "The Poor Kid"
57. "Cash For Gold"
58. "I Should Have Never Gone Ziplining"
59. "Cartman Finds Love"
60. "Raising the Bar"
61. "A Nightmare on Face Time"
62. "Black Friday"
63. "A Song of Ass and Fire"
64. "Titties and Dragons"
65. "Freemium Isn't Free"
66. "Grounded Vindaloop"
67. "#HappyHolograms"
68. "Tweek X Craig"
69. "Mexican Joker"
70. "Basic Cable"
71. "The Pandemic Special"
72. "South ParQ Vaccination Special"
73. "Pajama Day"
74. "Back to the Cold War"

Reception

South Park has received critical acclaim from both the critics and the audience alike and has also been featured on many "Best Shows of All Time" lists by several publications. The show is well known globally and has received numerous accolades, including five primetime Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award, and is known as one of the most successful Comedy Central shows.

Trivia

• The episode "Band in China" mentions how the Chinese government banned Winnie-the-Pooh in 2018 due to unfavorable comparisons to Chinese President and General Secretary of the Communist Party Xi Jinping, which subsequently led to the film Christopher Robin not receiving a release there, as well as the country's severe censorship and authoritarianism. Said episode ended up getting the entire series banned... in China. Trey Parker and Matt Stone would respond with a fake apology which mocked the NBA's pandering to the Chinese Government.
• After "South ParQ Vaccination Special", the show went on a hiatus, as information on the rest of Season 24 has yet to be confirmed by Parker and Stone, though there is a post-COVID movie that just released on Paramount+. With the second part titled The Return of Covid that also just released on Paramount+ in December 2021, as the first two of fourteen South Park movies being made for the service.
  • The series returned on February 2, 2022, on Comedy Central for Season 25.
• The show is well known for being very controversial, one of the most controversial elements the show had to offer were the episodes 200 and 201, which showed the prophet Muhammad (which is forbidden in Islam). Parker and Stone were warned that they would get death threats, but still aired the episodes until Comedy Central banned the two episodes shortly thereafter. As such, they cannot be accessed anywhere, including the South Park studios website
• The song "Chocolate Salty Balls" from the episode/album "Chef Aid" hit number 1 on the UK Singles Charts.