Come on Down to South Park

[Beamer]

Wow... I can't believe there isn't a South Park thread here yet, especially since the show made quite a few Top Ten lists for people here at the end of 2005. Anyway, with the recent controversy of several episodes last year (Trapped in the Closet and Bloody Mary), and Season 10 on the way later this month, I figured it was as good a time as any to start one.

So, umm, to get the ball rolling... what's your favourite episode? Mine's gotta be The Biggest Douche in the Universe. Perfectly balanced storylines with every character, the return of some great sub-characters, the stupid humour of Cartman's plot mixed in with the intelligent points made in Stan's plot, and some well-deserved shots taken at John Edward (and Rob Schneider - "in The Stapler! rated PG-13!"). Pretty much everything you could possibly want in a South Park episode.

[CBA79]

My personal favorite is "Are you there God? It's me, Jesus" from season three. I can't explain why, but I find myself watching it more than any other.

Although, I am also partial to the episodes with Starvin' Marvin...

[Beamer]

Are you there God? It's me, Jesus is definitely one of the best early episodes of the show... you've gotta love that ending.

I'd say my favourite episode from that season is Rainforest, Schmainforest, though. It was just proof of how strong South Park's season premieres usually are - laugh-out-loud hilarious the entire way through. "Oh my god, I just saw Tony Danza!"

[TomJane]

I think it's hard to top watching the Scott Tenorman episode for the first time. I mean, you have Cartman at his most deliciously evil - it's like watching Wile E. Coyote finally catch the Roadrunner. I LOVED this one and have probably seen it the most, with the Towelie one a close second. I think that season of SP was def. the best, so many classic episodes, I thought.

And the best thing about SP is that, as long as they continue their topical satire, it has the potential to remain funny for a long time. The world and its shennanigans will always be a great target and SP always finds a great way to look at things from interesting perspectives.

Deyyyyy tuk urrrr jeeeerrrrrrrrrbs!

[vcalzone]

This kinda sucks, but he hadn't had a very big part as of late anyway.

Isaac Hayes has quit "South Park," where he voices Chef, saying he can no longer stomach its take on religion. Hayes, who has played the ladies' man/school cook in the animated Comedy Central satire since 1997, said in a statement Monday that he feels a line has been crossed.

"There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins," the 63-year-old soul singer and outspoken Scientologist said.

"Religious beliefs are sacred to people, and at all times should be respected and honored," he continued. "As a civil rights activist of the past 40 years, I cannot support a show that disrespects those beliefs and practices."

"South Park" co-creator Matt Stone responded sharply in an interview with The Associated Press Monday, saying, "This is 100 percent having to do with his faith of Scientology... He has no problem — and he's cashed plenty of checks — with our show making fun of Christians."

Last November, "South Park" targeted the Church of Scientology and its celebrity followers, including actors
Tom Cruise and John Travolta, in a top-rated episode called "Trapped in the Closet." In the episode, Stan, one of the show's four mischievous fourth graders, is hailed as a reluctant savior by Scientology leaders, while a cartoon Cruise locks himself in a closet and won't come out.

Stone told The AP he and co-creator Trey Parker "never heard a peep out of Isaac in any way until we did Scientology. He wants a different standard for religions other than his own, and to me, that is where intolerance and bigotry begin."

What's interesting to me is that in January of this year, he did an interview with The Onion AV Club and said this:

AVC: There's some pretty harsh satire on South Park. They don't really care who they offend.

IH: But that's their thing! They're success was built on that cutting-edge stuff. I've had to defend them a lot of times. One time on BET Tonight I defended them because Tavis Smiley, the host on that show, was coming at me. It was a call-in show, too, so people were calling in. I told them not to take this stuff seriously. If you do, you'll get in trouble. Just enjoy it. Remember your high-school yearbook? You look at those pictures now, you laugh, right? That's what South Park is. You got to laugh at it. Because we cursed, but we just didn't dare let the principals, the teachers, or the preachers hear it. And we didn't turn out bad, okay? Just look at it that way. Also, usually there's some kind of moral message at the end for the kids, by the Chef.

AVC: They did just do an episode that made fun of your religion, Scientology. Did that bother you?

IH: Well, I talked to Matt and Trey about that. They didn't let me know until it was done. I said, "Guys, you have it all wrong. We're not like that. I know that's your thing, but get your information correct, because somebody might believe that bleep, you know?" But I understand what they're doing. I told them to take a couple of Scientology courses, and understand what we do. [Laughs.]

I'm guessing someone sat him down and had a "talk" with him.

[novel idea]

Bahaha! I find that to be extremely funny.

[Dr. Fünke]

Well does this really make a difference to the show anyways? I've barely seen him in any of the recent episodes, and they haven't been that good as of late to begin with. I think they should end the show after this, the tenth season. The show has just turned into a political satire and they should try to go out as high as possible before they officially jump the shark. An end to the show after this year would be almost Seinfeldesque.

[Beamer]

Woah, I was just about to post all of that... including the contractive comments he'd made earlier. Sad news, though it's not as bad as some people are making it out to be. I believe Hayes was probably pressured into this by other Scientologists, since he certainly didn't seem to have too much of a problem with it... Oh well, Chef hadn't been a big part of the show for a while now, anyway... He was only in one episode in Season 9, remember. Could be a lot worse.

As for my predictions? They'll probably either:
1. They'll comment on Chef leaving or something, and that'll explain why it's not there anymore.
2. They simply won't have his character appear anymore, or at least won't give him lines.
Someone at SP Alliance suggested they'll either kill him or have someone else voice him, but they're just horrible ideas. Thank god nobody there writes for the show.

I think they should end the show after this, the tenth season.

That's not going to happen. Their contract with Comedy Central says that they have to do at least three more seasons of 14 episodes each, with the option of renewal at the end of Season 12 (though I think they'll probably choose to finish it then). Season 9 was definitely not up to the standards of Seasons 6 and 7, the best seasons, but it was certainly far from bad (with the exception of Ginger Kids and Bloody Mary). I think the show's still got plenty of life left in it, providing they find a new angle on the whole Cartman vs Kyle thing. That got old after Toilet Paper, which was at the start of Season 7. Just give it a rest, Trey.

[kilgore trout]

Man, Issac Hayes you're a major tool. I don't think it will hurt the show too much though cause like a lot of people have said already he's not in it that much anymore. I actually still think South Park is great and hope they don't end it anytime soon. Ginger kids was great just for the ron howard part and I loved Bloody Mary (that was the one about AA right?). I do agree about the Cartman vs. Kyle thing though. That does get pretty old.

[Beamer]

Ginger Kids was awful, it was basically just The Passion of the Jew, but with Jews replaced with gingers, followed by non-gingers (and on that subject, how could they leave Conan O'Brien out of that list of famous Gingers?). Bloody Mary was severely lacking in humour. I think the best episode of Season 9 was Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow.

Oh, and on an unrelated side note, just figured I'd prove my unhealthy obsession with South Park right now:


Suck. On. That.

[dr.dreidel]

No doubt they'll have Chef leave the town in some ridiculous manner, and I'll love every second of it.

Anyways, can't wait for the new season to start a week from Wednesday, the episodes seem to get better as time goes on.

[vcalzone]

I think my favorite episodes they do now are the ones that are just so silly that they make me giggle all the way through. Like Marjorine. Or The Death of Eric Cartman. Or (my favorite from this season), Free Willzyx. Oh my god. That episode makes me laugh every time I see it. If it's on, I'll stop to watch the ending now even still. You cannot top the image of that whale being lifted into oblivion.

[Dr. Fünke]

Oh, and on an unrelated side note, just figured I'd prove my unhealthy obsession with South Park right now:


Suck. On. That.

Well no one's going to top that.

[Beamer]

I think my favorite episodes they do now are the ones that are just so silly that they make me giggle all the way through. Like Marjorine. Or The Death of Eric Cartman. Or (my favorite from this season), Free Willzyx. Oh my god. That episode makes me laugh every time I see it. If it's on, I'll stop to watch the ending now even still. You cannot top the image of that whale being lifted into oblivion.

Those episodes are all good, but I wouldn't say any of them made me giggle all the way through. South Park isn't really that sort of show most of the time, they usually have less-frequent moments played out that give you bigger laughs, unlike other shows such as The Simpsons, that try to make every line a joke, which results in more laughs, but less big laughs.

However, South Park DOES have the occassional episode like this... Most notably Not Without My Anus, Rainforest Schmainforest, Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000, Towelie, The New Terrance & Phillip Movie Trailer, The Biggest Douche in the Universe, Fat Butt & Pancake Head, Raisins and The Jeffersons.

[vcalzone]

Eh, I think I'm thinking of something else. I'd agree with Towelie, The New Terrance and Phillip Movie Trailer and Fat Butt & Pancake Head, but mostly I like the episodes that are just blissfully silly without as much social commentary (which, while nobody does it better than South Park, doesn't necessarily lend itself as well to rewatchability).

Examples of what I mean (though not exclusively my favorite episodes, just illustrating the point):
Episodes like Awesom-O, Casa Bonita, South Park is Gay (once the crab people got involved), My Future Self 'N' Me, Child Abduction Is Not Funny (the Mongols storyline), Butters' Very Own Episode, Cartmanland, Scott Tenorman Must Die, etc.

Just THINKING about some of these episodes makes me start to smile.