Ustwo

Its the only show that can pull off Jesus taking a dump on President Bush and have a very valid and important political message by doing so.

If you haven't seen the 'Cartoon Wars' episode (2 parter) I highly recomend it.

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stevo

Such relevant social commentary. In the same episode they show jesus crapping on bush and censor an image of muhammed drinking tea. Oh the irony.

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braisler

I've come to really appreciate how South Park can remain very funny while addressing current issues in the media and pop-culture. They take on a lot of issues that other outlets won't touch.

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kutulu

It really was a great two-part episode. I also thought the shots they took at Family Guy were right on.

The episode about hybrids before this one was great as well

ClostGoth

While I've enjoyed the new season immensely I thought they actually have gone downhill a bit. It seems less about current issues than it _used_ to be and more about personal grudges... Chef left, so they spent a half an hour tearing him (and his religion) apart. (Yes, I laughed until my sides hurt, but still...) And their network told them not to show Muhammed... Still a big fan, though. And willing to admit that I'm not half clever enough to write my own episode.

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ratbastid

I thought the Cartoon Wars two-parter was freaking brilliant. Right down to the fishtailing chase scene at the end of the first episode.

I generally enjoy Family Guy. But it's true, it could just as well be written by Spoiler: anti-censorship manatees.

skier

Just to be clear, that episode was already well in the works (if not actually completed) by the time chef spoke out. He quit not because they were thinking about making a show but because they were going to release it. It was just another show bashing a random religion, like the mormon episode

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The_wall

Well I havn't browsed these boards in a while, but I come back and agree with Ustwo on something. I suppose theres a first time for everything.

South Park is one of the most clever shows on TV disguised as a bathroom humor cartoon.

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hunnychile

I love it too!! Few shows make me laugh as hard as it does!
This year has been a bit off (a few times) ...hey, but they'll recover.

Of course I still watch the Simpsons, even if only for the first minute or two for the opening scene(s). Always different and wonderfully creative, as you know.

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analog

Fox wouldn't show mohammed handing peter a fish helmet. After all the build-up, all the talking, Fox still wouldn't allow it... but, like a minute later, they allow various people to shit all over the president, the american flag, jesus, and each other. That's ok. Shitting on the flag and the president- and for the religious folk, jesus- is ok, but showing mohammed just standing there was still pulled.

Great bit of commentary they orchestrated there.

Gatorade Frost

I definitely enjoyed the two part episodes. It attacked both angles of Family Guy and Mohammad. Which, you know, I agree with both their takes. South Park>Family Guy and their take on censorship was spot on. Butter's dad's speech in the first episode about standing up for Free Speech because of how important it is is pretty much 100% dead on in my opinion.

Edit - I especially loved the scene with Bart and Cartman where they're talking about what they've done that was bad and Bart says "I cut the head off of a statue once" and Cartman reponds with "Wow that's pretty hard core. G eeze, that's like this one time when I didn't like this kid and I ground up his parents into chili and fed it to him."

Which leads me to my next point that Scott Tenorman Must Die in the one of the funniest South Park episodes out there.

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I got in a fight one time with a really big guy, and he said, "I'm going to mop the floor with your face." I said, "You'll be sorry." He said, "Oh, yeah? Why?" I said, "Well, you won't be able to get into the corners very well."
Emo Philips

BadNick

I also really like the show.

My two boys 10 & 11 yo often watch South Park as their before bedtime show while drinking their warm choco milk. I hope they learn something from it even though a lot goes over their heads.

abaya

Hey, I love South Park too (even though I don't have a TV gotta watch it at my bf's house)... but I gotta say, 10 and 11 year old boys watching SP as a bedtime story?? Whoa. Is this a common thing for anyone else's family? I remember falling asleep at 10 years old after reading mystery books under the cover with a flashlight... times have changed, I guess.

/feels old and grumpy.

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eribrav

The episodes with a meaning are great....but some of the totally senseless, off the wall episodes are actually my favorite. Particularly the Cartman anal probe episode, which is my all time favorite.

Mojo_PeiPei

Death Camp of Tolerance is a personal favorite of mine as far as social commentary goes; but on top of that, who here doesn't think Towlie is the funniest/least necessary character ever?

You guys wanna get high?

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Reese

They were making fun of Family Guy? I thought they were making fun of themselves? They were kinda right about family guy being random at times though.. that's why I like it

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Gatorade Frost

I think it was more that they were bashing Family Guy and bashing people who censor their writings for fear of reprisal.

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I got in a fight one time with a really big guy, and he said, "I'm going to mop the floor with your face." I said, "You'll be sorry." He said, "Oh, yeah? Why?" I said, "Well, you won't be able to get into the corners very well."
Emo Philips

maximusveritas

Shouldn't this be in "Tilted Entertainment"? Anyway, I have nothing good to say about this show. I just see it as an immature cartoon written by a couple people who are way too stupid and ignorant to be as arrogant as they are.

Ustwo

If it should be anyplace else it should be tilted politics. I'm sorry you don't like the show, perhaps you should work to have it pulled (since you didn't watch the show you won't get that either)

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Rodney

I just... don't understand what's so great about South Park. I watched an episode... two... three... it doesn't do anything for me.

Mind you, I _did_ like Orgazmo. Sorta.

maximusveritas

Thing is, I didn't watch the show and yet I'm pretty sure i do get it. And I don't think it's funny. Oh well, to each his own.

Lasereth

I seriously laughed out loud when South Park made fun of Family Guy. People are saying it's all about the censorship and politics, etc. but Matt and Trey have both shown their dislike of Family Guy, saying every episode is the same (someone say a sentence, then the sentence being taken out of context in a daydream). When they ripped on Family Guy that one episode I was amazed at how spot on the bashing was. I like Family Guy, but South Park sure as hell knows how to trivialize one of the most loved cartoons ever.

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ratbastid

Fortunately, you only have to get one episode pulled. That's the beginning. That's what happened to Mork and Mindy...

Gatorade Frost

See, they didn't really accomplish bashing Family Guy until the second part when they revealed the secret about the Family Guy writing staff. When they pulled together 5 random 'idea balls' and turned it into a scene that could've been from Family Guy, it actually make a very valid point about Family Guy. It was awesome.

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I got in a fight one time with a really big guy, and he said, "I'm going to mop the floor with your face." I said, "You'll be sorry." He said, "Oh, yeah? Why?" I said, "Well, you won't be able to get into the corners very well."
Emo Philips

analog

That's an almost insulting attempt at rebuttal. You didn't watch it, but you're taking time in this thread to bash it and pass judgment as though you had.

I'm not sure how it seemed reasonable in your thought process, but it doesn't work here in the real world.

As to the thread: I find South Park, in general, to be very hit-and-miss. It seems like entire seasons have gone by with almost no real "good" shows. Preaching is all well and good, but if all you do is say, "let's preach on _______" for this episide, and then do that for every episode, it gets a little tired after a while. Plus, unless we're talking about an exception, the "rule" is pretty mediocre writing.

Aside from that, and in all honesty, the "cut and paste" nature of some of Family Guy's jokes is a result of writing, not cop-out. Writers constantly write little scenes, or one-liners, or small sets of joke or regular dialog that seem good but just aren't for the narrative they're working on at the moment. Taking what you've written and incorporating it into a full piece of script, is very much part of the process. I, personally, can attest to that- I write a little scene for a script, and don't end up using it... do i throw it away? Hell no. It's saved, and it's used in some other piece. Just because jokes seem interchangeable doesn't mean there's any less work involved, or the talent is any less brilliant. In writing, there are often scraps left behind from what you wrote, to the finished product- only an idiot would throw those away, instead of saving them for something else.

Menoman

some people can't take a joke :\ lot of people like that... quick to judge, can't back it up, etc etc.

I find most southpark haters are like that.

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itch vaccine

Awh, crap, where I live, there are very little/no hybrids.

So, me and my avid friend both didn't get that episode. Was boring for us, the satire was way off mark and we didn't get it at all

Towelie is on with Oprah! :P

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BadNick

We read books too, but sometimes that's not as "educational" as SP Whether it's after SP or just bedtime, we also have other relaxing, unwind type "rituals" like I sing a couple of songs to them, or read ...last night we all looked at one of those "find the picture of ... in the picture" kinda books and I told them a couple jokes, they can actually repeat these in school, that made them roll off the bed laughing. "Bedtime rituals" actually sounds like a plausible theme for another good SP episode.

maximusveritas

Let me explain it to you then. I didn't watch the episode Ustwo was talking about, but I was able to figure out what he was probably talking about from what little has been said about the episode in this thread. And when I said I didn't think it was funny, I was referring to what Ustwo said, not to the epsiode.

Anomaly_

South Park jumped the shark a few seasons ago. While I almost always agree with the messages in their socio-political-oriented shows, Matt and Trey's execution is extremely heavy-handed and barely worth a grin. Ironically, I think the show's comedy is at its best when it is more in the vain of Family Guy. The episode "Free Willzyx" is a good example of this in recent seasons (and one of only a few): the boys unknowingly find themselves caught in a satirical political affair but the story remains driven by comedy, not by the Libertarian Party platform.

Personally, I'd rather watch the scheming of a maniacal Cartman with political commentary inserted where appropriate, than a churned-out episode of overdone political commentary.

Mojo_PeiPei

Yeah any episode that focuses on a scheming Cartman, mixed in with a little Butters for good measure, is comedy gold.

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Gatorade Frost

I swear to God, the Scott Tenorman is the best South Park episode. The episode where Kenny dies and Cartman's trying to get stem-cell medicine approved is amazing.

So is the AIDS is Finally Funny episode, though that's not necessarily Cartman.

__________________
I got in a fight one time with a really big guy, and he said, "I'm going to mop the floor with your face." I said, "You'll be sorry." He said, "Oh, yeah? Why?" I said, "Well, you won't be able to get into the corners very well."
Emo Philips

nezmot

I think Southpark is a lot over-rated. It's cheap - that much is for sure. The humour is especially cheap, low brow, and unchallenging. In other words, it's fine for adolescents and minors.

What I do find interesting is that the same level of non-bullshit is expressed in other shows all around the world, and yet this one, born in the censorship heaven of US TV, is held up to be something special. It's not - it's just that most other US TV shows are stuck in the primetime, mainstream, corporate control over script-writers paradigm that's been going on over there since the 50s. In that environment, anything can rise to the top, if it dares to be shocking enough.

There are other, better, cleverer shows out there - that make South Park look like children telling poo jokes to one another in the playground. I don't have any time for that these days.

Xazy

Personally I feel you have got to love Southpark. I can mention all the above content that makes it genius in my book... But to me the episode that was proof in the pudding was Bebe’s Boobs. I mean Cartman playing ‘lamb’ (as in silence of the lamb), who is warped enough to think of that!