South Park Discussion Thread

[deadpoolRKO]

So Season 15 started last night , and it was soo hilarious


I'll never agree to something without reading it again. That was such a perfect thing to tap into that almost everyone can relate to.

"mom.. could we go get some dinner? cuz i like to be whined and dined and after i've been F*CKED" ! lmao

[Revan]

I caught this episode. I thought it was pretty funny as I never read before clicking agree to updates.

And not to sound all noble since I am far from it, but there were parts of this episode that I could not believe were on television.
When the CENTiPAD $hits into each others mouths...:ohwell: Now I have seen it all

Anyway the point was received and I thought it was funny.

[deadpoolRKO]

lol yeah the metaphor behind it , how Steve Jobs " connects us all " was pretty funny.

definantly gross though

[Candy Kappa]

I wonder if anyone at South Park watches Cinema Snob, or likes the kind of movies he reviews

[deadpoolRKO]

i wonder if they'll do a charlie sheen episode this season

[BubblyShell22]

They better do a Charlie Sheen ep. As for this ep, I liked the Cartman story, but not the CentiPad thing. That was a bit gross.

[deadpoolRKO]

not the CentiPad thing. That was a bit gross.

it definantly was , like neutrino said i was kind of suprised they let them show it lol

[Revan]

Parker and Stone always seem to want to grab you attention with something strange like that. The episode itself had a comical angle, insinuating apple is in control of everything. They also were poking fun at the way apple seems to keep turning out products with more and more features. Like, "how did we survive before this product." :lol:

[BubblyShell22]

Yep, they sure do want to make a statement. I think they achieved that, especially about reading things before agreeing to them. That was actually a good message to instill.

I'm always going to love Cartman though. He was just so funny during the episode. And having him appear on Dr. Phil was equally hilarious.

[Candy Kappa]

but not the CentiPad thing. That was a bit gross.

Imagine it in live-action:P
http://www.horrorarchive.net/wp-content/gallery/recenze/human_centipede_xlg.jpg

Good times...

[BubblyShell22]

Yeah, that would be equally as gross.

[deadpoolRKO]

Imagine it in live-action:P
http://www.horrorarchive.net/wp-content/gallery/recenze/human_centipede_xlg.jpg

Good times...

lol , i wonder if they watched that movie & got the idea

[BubblyShell22]

That wouldn't surprise me. Still hoping for a Charlie Sheen episode.

[ssjup81]

Being over in Japan, I actually started watching South Park again last season. I hadn't watched regularly in a long time, an I found season 14 funny, so of course I'll be checking out this season too...but the ep that it debuted with, I'm not so sure. It sounds like it'd be too gross for me.

I'll keep my eye out for a Charlie Sheen ep instead.:trazz:

[Fugitoid Jones]

lol , i wonder if they watched that movie & got the idea

That is in fact where they got the idea. It's meant to be a parody of that movie. My favorite episodes are usually the ones that parody movies, like the one that parodied The Day After Tomorrow, and the "cat-pee" episode where they parodied Heavy Metal the movie.



I know that Matt & Trey usually like to keep the show up to date with current events, so I wonder how long it will be before we get an episode that deals with the death of Osama Bin Laden.

[Candy Kappa]

lol , i wonder if they watched that movie & got the idea

down to the point of having a Japanese man as the front part

[Revan]

If anyone caught the first annual comedy awards on Comedy Central and found themselves wondering, "What is this?" This week's South Park was probably pretty funny. It is an obvious reference to that awards show and many comics and actor who attended Comedy Central's show directly addressed the fact that the show seemed strange and that it would most likely be a one time thing.

Parker and Stone attended the comedy awards and even took the opportunity to comment on the fact that they were nominated for an award at Comedy Central's comedy awards and South Park just happens to air on Comedy Central. I get it, but honestly the only part of this episode I laughed at was Token giving all his money to Tyler Perry. :lol:

[deadpoolRKO]

If anyone caught the first annual comedy awards on Comedy Central and found themselves wondering, "What is this?" This week's South Park was probably pretty funny. It is an obvious reference to that awards show and many comics and actor who attended Comedy Central's show directly addressed the fact that the show seemed strange and that it would most likely be a one time thing.

Parker and Stone attended the comedy awards and even took the opportunity to comment on the fact that they were nominated for an award at Comedy Central's comedy awards and South Park just happens to air on Comedy Central. I get it, but honestly the only part of this episode I laughed at was Token giving all his money to Tyler Perry. :lol:

dude , awesome. I missed last nights episode , i taped it but haven't watched it yet. but i saw the comedy awards , so i know exactly what youre talking about. i can't wait to watch it

[BubblyShell22]

I liked Tyler Perry as Madea and how he and Jimmy were the only ones who showed up for their award. But other than that, this episode wasn't that funny. I hope next week's is better.

[Revan]

Ok episode. Ripped big time on the royal wedding adding a Canadian twist which I thought was funny. I thought the concept of the episode was funny because I feel the whole royal wedding thing was stupid. Giant waste of time and money. That's simply my personal opinion, if you were interested in the royal wedding, good for you.

The best part of the episode was the wedding commentator who kept repeating, "as tradition." And the Canadian version of the wedding had ridiculous traditions. I assume the royal wedding had some dated traditions which this episode poked fun at. Not sure wtf was up with tooth decay but whatever.

Funny episode for the most part. More Canadian fart and q**** jokes... Not exactly hilarious but it's a running gag so it's alright

[deadpoolRKO]

yeah I enjoyed the last episode more than the comedy awards one. Neither have come close to the first episode though. I mainly enjoyed this one because Ike is so funny to me. I love his character.


Not sure wtf was up with tooth decay but whatever.



yeah wtf was that? lmao. I didn't get it either but any time Mr. Mackey gets emotional about something it's always funny to me

[BubblyShell22]

I don't know what was up with the tooth decay thing either, but I kind of thought it was a nod to how the U.S. killed bin Laden or something. They just had the tooth decay kidnap the princess to make it more interesting. Loved it though.

[Revan]

The last episode, TMI, was the funniest of the season so far. I can't stand people who are so negative and angry all the time and this episode took a jab at those annoying people. South Park's ridiculousness running true to form.

Every time Randy tried to explain his equation I was laughing

[deadpoolRKO]

The last episode, TMI, was the funniest of the season so far. I can't stand people who are so negative and angry all the time and this episode took a jab at those annoying people. South Park's ridiculousness running true to form.

Every time Randy tried to explain his equation I was laughing

definantly lol.


I am a RESPECTABLE 1.4 inches !

[Jurassic]

"We've now changed the national average to 1.5". If you meet this national average you are now considered "above average"."

LMAO! :tgrin:

[BubblyShell22]

Yeah, I loved it, too, and how everyone was obsessed with the size of their wang. Can't wait for next week's ep.

[deadpoolRKO]

soo.. mcdonalds fried in KFC gravy.


I might have to try this.

[BubblyShell22]

Yeah, that does sound good. I really liked the jibe on Sarah McClachlan. "Hi, I'm Sarah McClachlan, and I was famous for two months."

[deadpoolRKO]

lol yeah. pretty good episode.


The slash thing was weird , but tied in okay at the end

[BubblyShell22]

Yeah, it did. I told my mom about the McDonald's fries dipped in KFC gravy, and she was confused about it. I'd love to try it though.

Still waiting patiently for a Charlie Sheen spoof.

[deadpoolRKO]

Still waiting patiently for a Charlie Sheen spoof.

me too.

I'm starting to wonder now if they're just not gonna do it because everyone thinks they're going to

[BubblyShell22]

That could be. It would be cool though.

And, if anyone was confused about the whole crack babies thing, it was a spoof off Sarah's ASPCA ads that are run on TV.

[Revan]

Asian turf war! :lol:

It's tough to get an actual discussion going about South Park considering the show is completely ridiculous and full of cheap laughs. Not much thought provoking development. This is not to say, however, that it takes away from my enjoyment. Quite the opposite. Butters was hilarious as usual and he carried the episode on his shoulders well.

I love Butters' parents.

"It's clear this isn't our parenting's fault... we're awesome." :lol:

and when they suggest the parents to ground Butters
"Oh we'll ground the **** out of him!" :lol:

The chinese and japanese accents were extremely offensive I would imagine. Of course not to me. I though they were funny as **** but those pronunciations...

[BubblyShell22]

Yeah, I love Butters so much. He's so cute.

Dad: Should we ground him?

Dr. Janus: No, he needs tender, loving, medication.

I love the City Wok guy and the Japanese guy. I didn't care about the accents. Remember, Trey and Matt sometimes love to push the envelope.

Overall, I thought it was a pretty good episode.

[deadpoolRKO]

I love butters innocent personality.

Its such a good dynamic between his personality and the language filled ridiculous dirty south park world.

[BubblyShell22]

Yeah, he's just so innocent.

[Revan]

I friggen loved last night's episode! It was something I have been wanting to say for years and South Park finally did it. I only wish I had my own show so I could have done it first. Stan immediately reminded me of several people I know IRL and here as well. Just shut up and enjoy the good things instead of being so cynical all the time.

:tthumbsu:

[AT-Man]

About the latest episode...
I hope the change is permanent, Stan's family moved away and Kyle and Cartman seem to be best friends now. But it also seems like they are about to end the series, which I wouldn't appreciate.

[BubblyShell22]

Stan's family didn't move from what I remember. I think Sharon and Randy are getting a divorce though.

[Revan]

I never thought Randy's shenanigans would ever have real repercussions. He has been a tool of comedic genius throughout the show but now the marriage is over... whatever, I wouldn't have it any other way. He has been dynamite so far

[ssjup81]

Wasn't there an early episode where Stan's parents divorced, but eventually got back together? Sharon even had a boyfriend and Stan didn't like him.

Anyway, I haven't seen this latest ep, but Cartman and Kyle as close friends just doesn't sit well with me, as I've always enjoyed Stan and Kyle hanging together and stuff. Guess I'll have to see the ep and stuff to give a fair opinion on it, though.

[BubblyShell22]

Actually, looking back on it, I now remember that Stan's family is moving. It will be interesting to see what else happens.

[plasticturtle]

It seems like they're going to be ending the show soon. It's a shame. It's still one of the best things on TV.

[BubblyShell22]

Yeah, I know. I'd hate for it to end since it's stayed fresh all these years, unlike The Simpsons which has just gone sour over the years. But if that's Trey's and Matt's decision, then that's it. We can always just keep watching DVDs.

[sdp]

So, how is South Park in 2020? I feel nostalgic to watch SP again, haven't really watched since the mid 00's. I did watch a few episodes in 2016 and they seemed to be doing the same sattire from the mid 00's.

I don't think I can watch all those seasons with dated jokes of the political climate at the time, I feel the early seasons which were mostly "shock" humor ironically have aged better in that regard. When did that "classic" style end? After th emovie?

[Galactus]

I recently watched the movie again and while it was enjoyable but it was weird to be reminded of the show before Butters was a thing or when Mr Garrison was just their teacher with a puppet and not sexually confused president etc.

I think the show slowly changed after the attempt to kill off Kenny for good. That's when they slowly started to experiment with new characters, boosting up previously secondary characters etc. By the 2010s it was a very different show.

I must admit I've dipped in and out in the last few years. Last I saw they'd renamed the show Tegridy Farm and it was reworked as the Marshes and Towelie running a farm growing you know what. I git the distinct impression Matt and Trey are desperate for it to end.

[ZariusTwo]

I must admit I've dipped in and out in the last few years. Last I saw they'd renamed the show Tegridy Farm and it was reworked as the Marshes and Towelie running a farm growing you know what. I git the distinct impression Matt and Trey are desperate for it to end.

With the banning of the Muhamed episodes on streaming platforms, I'm kind of surprised Matt and Trey have been so lax about their show getting treated like that.

[AquaParade]

So, how is South Park in 2020? I feel nostalgic to watch SP again, haven't really watched since the mid 00's. I did watch a few episodes in 2016 and they seemed to be doing the same sattire from the mid 00's.

I don't think I can watch all those seasons with dated jokes of the political climate at the time, I feel the early seasons which were mostly "shock" humor ironically have aged better in that regard. When did that "classic" style end? After th emovie?

Similar boat here. The show became so topical when I began to tune out, and while I respect that, I found myself missing the small town charm of the earlier seasons.

[newfan]

I don't know what season they are even on now, watched for a couple of years in the early 2000s, then trailed off and stopped altogether. Same with Simpsons and family guy, though I stuck with them a little longer.

I remember some yeas back seeing an advertisement for the new season of South Park at the time, it said 'be offended, be very offended', not sure how much they get away with now.

[Cure]

South Park is garbage now. Too much focus on Randy and characters besides the four kids.

[Leo656]

Yeah, you can tell they'd much rather just spoof current events than tell stories and it's been a big problem. They always DID spoof current events, or at least try and be topical, but it's become very overdone. And the entire Season being dedicated to One Joke every year for most of the last several was annoying. Miss an episode, lose the plot, BUT the jokes aren't funny enough to make up for it.

Like, the Cartman and Heidi stuff is just painful and depressing to watch and I don't know what it adds to a "comedy" show. It's obvious that the writers want Heidi to be sympathetic, because Cartman tricked her into a relationship under false pretense and manipulated her into becoming just as big of a scumbag as he is. And they beat you over the head with "But she was such a good person before they got involved" and devote many, many, MANY episodes worth of subplots to them. But I'm not invested, because of One Simple Thing: She saw anything GOOD in Eric Cartman, and that means that she was a f*cking idiot from the jump, and doesn't deserve any sympathy or empathy because she created that situation. She decided to give the benefit of the doubt to a guy who once made a kid eat his own dead parents... and she got burned. "Oops." :roll: Now the result is just one MORE unlikable character on a show that's overflowing with them.

Does it happen all the time? Is it "REAL"? Sure, but Jesus, it's South Park. Does anybody watch it to see 10-year olds navigate the very real cesspool of Toxic Relationships? "Aww, isn't that funny? That girl's gonna be in therapy the rest of her life, this show is so topical and relevant."

Part of it feels like their clumsy attempt at spoofing the "equality" movement since the Cartman/Heidi stuff started at the same time as the "PC Principal" stuff. Like Trey and Matt said "Fine, if women wanna be 'equal' so bad, we'll show that girls can be just as ignorant and toxic as boys are" and set about creating a Female Cartman. But one Cartman was bad enough even though he's necessary for the show. I know women who've been in abusive relationships who used to love South Park, and they can't even watch it now because the Heidi stuff hits too close to home for them. Does anybody really wanna watch SOUTH PARK to be depressed? Not even "offended", but just plain depressed? It was a bad move.

My wife still loves it, so I see it often, but it's definitely fallen off. Even when they tried - or said they were gonna try - not to make One Joke into a whole Season, it kinda felt like it was too late. They SAID that and then did "Tegridy Farms", so I kinda don't believe them. And so, SO much "We were really high when we wrote this" kinda stuff. Santa Claus doing cocaine, that's fun. That's really, really cute, You Guys. I GET it, you love drugs. Jesus, just be funny!

I do still laugh at some of it, but mostly because their spoofing of over-the-top "PC Culture" is so bang-on that it drives the nail right through the board. It's very on-the-nose but at least SOMEONE is saying it. PC Principal being all about not bullying people while being a huge bully who literally beats up anyone, even children, who don't agree with him, "PC Babies don't even know why they're crying", all the stuff about needing multiple consent forms just to have sex with a woman... ALL of that is spot-on and very funny... The first time. I don't know how many times they really needed to REPEAT those jokes over the last five years, though; I'm PRETTY sure that anyone who was gonna get the joke, got the joke the first time.

I'unno, there's not always much on at 3 in the morning. And the two RPG games were terrific. But I can't really say it's that good. I feel like Trey and Matt have mentally moved on, and that if it were up to them they'd just have a show that did nothing but spoof current events, like a Daily Show with a less-Liberal slant, and are just using South Park as a vehicle to do that while fulfilling contractual obligations to the network.

[ssjup81]

So, how is South Park in 2020? I feel nostalgic to watch SP again, haven't really watched since the mid 00's. I did watch a few episodes in 2016 and they seemed to be doing the same sattire from the mid 00's.For me personally, the episodes are hit and miss, but that's the case with most series, right? I felt that the most recent season was okay since they featured the kids a bit more.

The 2016 (that's when the election was, wasn't it?) season was probably the worst. They seemed to write themselves into a corner with that season since Trump won the election.

To date I have seen every episode of the series and surprisingly, I still prefer it to the Simpsons and Family Guy at this point, but I still do occasionally go back to older episodes of South Park. I miss the show focusing more so around Stan and his friends. Later seasons have too much focusing around Randy. The season where Gerald was acting like a troll and cyber bullying people into killing themselves while also not getting called out or punished for it and having Ike take the blame wasn't very rewatchable for me as far as recent eps go that come to mind for me.

Oh the Integridy Farms thing from last season kind of worked...because it didn't go on the entire season. The real-world explanation for it was the weather changing and how you don't grow weed in winter. lol

At this point, though, it does seem like Matt and Trey are tired. I think I liked the last season because it flowed more like a South Park season. It didn't feel like one ongoing joke...I suppose. The eps still aren't as memorable, I admit, compared the earlier seasons. In all honesty, aside from the episode with the town switching to streaming services and ditching cable because the cable workers were so slow to do their actual jobs and getting revenge in a window between 8 and 6 (lol...seriously, this was actually funny that all their plans revolved around that and they were still late) causing Scott Malkeson (sp?) to not show the new girl the Mandalorian, I don't remember much about last season. Oh yeah...Randy smoking bad weed and tripping out majorly...but there was a line at the end by Randy that really sounded like something Matt and Trey would feel...but can't remember the line. I don't think I can watch all those seasons with dated jokes of the political climate at the time, I feel the early seasons which were mostly "shock" humor ironically have aged better in that regard. When did that "classic" style end? After th emovie?One of my favorite episodes, was the Dances with Smurfs ep. Cartman was pretty much a Glenn Beck type attacking the President (Wendy) for somehow changing everything, but not doing anything like a lot of far right wingers were accusing Obama of at the time. Thought it was a really funny episode and still do.

[Leo656]

Eh, I still actually like Family Guy a lot better, because while both shows try and pull off the "We get away with low-brow humor by being topical and clever" gimmick, Family Guy at least isn't pretentious about it. When South Park had to do a whole big thing about how "We're Smart, Family Guy is Stupid" it just felt like they were whining about another show getting more attention in recent years despite doing the same basic gimmick that South Park invented and perfected. Just felt like sour grapes.

And knowing that Trey and Matt actually feel that way in real life to the point of getting genuinely upset when people compare the two shows, made me lose a little respect for them. One thing they've never been until that moment was whiny. I've read a few interviews with Seth McFarlane over the years, and while I don't agree with everything he says or thinks, he's like the opposite of pretentious, or at least that's how he comes off. He kinda comes off as having a sort of "I'm just a schmuck who got lucky telling fart jokes" attitude, whereas Trey and Matt have to be the smartest and most clever guys in the room or else they can't handle it and lash out. That's how that whole things came off, to me.

Plus, I just feel like Family Guy is more consistently funny. They both do lowbrow humor, but Family Guy isn't afraid to go super-dark or incredibly mean-spirited, and they don't pretend they're trying to spread a message, they're just trying to make you laugh at things you know you "shouldn't" laugh at but can't help it. Which is what South Park USED to be. At some point they started getting really preachy and it hurt the show. I mean, I definitely align more politically with Trey and Matt than I do with Seth - Seth is outspokenly very liberal, while Trey and Matt outspokenly hate liberals and call them hypocrites - but it's like, their finger-wagging and needing to have a "message" diluted the impact of the show.

I haven't had a good, sincere, "Almost-fell-over-because-I-can't-believe-they-Went-There" type of laugh from watching South Park in a while, whereas Family Guy still gets me there. Again, if the point is to make people laugh at "offensive" humor, one show goes whole-hog and the other dilutes it with trying to deliver A Message. Why not just be funny?

I know you CAN have it both ways, and I admire Trey and Matt for trying to do so and occasionally delivering on it. But it doesn't consistently work very well.

Whenever they replay those episodes about Black Friday and Xbox vs. PS4, I don't even laugh. It's just social commentary, there's no f*cking jokes. Like YES, man, vapid consumerism, blind loyalty to brand names, we get it, wakka wakka. It's not funny! They've just done way too much of that kinda thing in recent years. And obviously Trey and Matt think it's funny. It's just that they're booking the show for their own amusement, now, rather than that of the audience, and it's very transparent.

Like, if I wanna watch a cartoon show about black humor, full of "jokes" about rape and AIDS and pedophilia and crippled people, if that's what I'm in the mood to watch then JUST Do That. I don't need that stuff AND a giant neon sign telling me how this is a parallel to Real Life. It's never as "clever" as they think it is.

[ssjup81]

Eh, I still actually like Family Guy a lot better, because while both shows try and pull off the "We get away with low-brow humor by being topical and clever" gimmick, Family Guy at least isn't pretentious about it. When South Park had to do a whole big thing about how "We're Smart, Family Guy is Stupid" it just felt like they were whining about another show getting more attention in recent years despite doing the same basic gimmick that South Park invented and perfected. Just felt like sour grapes.

And knowing that Trey and Matt actually feel that way in real life to the point of getting genuinely upset when people compare the two shows, made me lose a little respect for them. One thing they've never been until that moment was whiny. I've read a few interviews with Seth McFarlane over the years, and while I don't agree with everything he says or thinks, he's like the opposite of pretentious, or at least that's how he comes off. He kinda comes off as having a sort of "I'm just a schmuck who got lucky telling fart jokes" attitude, whereas Trey and Matt have to be the smartest and most clever guys in the room or else they can't handle it and lash out. That's how that whole things came off, to me.

Plus, I just feel like Family Guy is more consistently funny. They both do lowbrow humor, but Family Guy isn't afraid to go super-dark or incredibly mean-spirited, and they don't pretend they're trying to spread a message, they're just trying to make you laugh at things you know you "shouldn't" laugh at but can't help it. Which is what South Park USED to be. At some point they started getting really preachy and it hurt the show. I mean, I definitely align more politically with Trey and Matt than I do with Seth - Seth is outspokenly very liberal, while Trey and Matt outspokenly hate liberals and call them hypocrites - but it's like, their finger-wagging and needing to have a "message" diluted the impact of the show.

I haven't had a good, sincere, "Almost-fell-over-because-I-can't-believe-they-Went-There" type of laugh from watching South Park in a while, whereas Family Guy still gets me there. Again, if the point is to make people laugh at "offensive" humor, one show goes whole-hog and the other dilutes it with trying to deliver A Message. Why not just be funny?

I know you CAN have it both ways, and I admire Trey and Matt for trying to do so and occasionally delivering on it. But it doesn't consistently work very well.

Whenever they replay those episodes about Black Friday and Xbox vs. PS4, I don't even laugh. It's just social commentary, there's no f*cking jokes. Like YES, man, vapid consumerism, blind loyalty to brand names, we get it, wakka wakka. It's not funny! They've just done way too much of that kinda thing in recent years. And obviously Trey and Matt think it's funny. It's just that they're booking the show for their own amusement, now, rather than that of the audience, and it's very transparent.

Like, if I wanna watch a cartoon show about black humor, full of "jokes" about rape and AIDS and pedophilia and crippled people, if that's what I'm in the mood to watch then JUST Do That. I don't need that stuff AND a giant neon sign telling me how this is a parallel to Real Life. It's never as "clever" as they think it is.Ironically, it isn't the humor of Family Guy that caused me to finally just grow a bit out of it, but the characters. I personally prefer the earlier episodes when the family seemed to actually like each other. Maybe they've gone back to that, but I would actually doubt it. I think I was starting to grow out of Family Guy round about the time they started to bash Meg a lot for no real reason. I hated that. I just didn't like the bullying of her character I guess because it seemed so unbalanced. Like earlier seasons, Lois was ready to take out those popular kids for humiliating Meg. Peter committed welfare fraud for his family, and to provide his little girl with that cosmetic surgery craziness that she always wanted. Think it was lip injections or something. You know...like they loved her. I heard the reason this was done, was due to the fact that they couldn't think of anything to write for a teenage girl.

I liked the gag of Stewie wanting to kill Lois, personally...but to be fair, like Kenny dying every episode in South Park, I'm sure it became tiresome coming up with ways to plot for Stewie to kill Lois. I know that's one of the reasons why they kill Kenny off sparingly now and is genuinely a surprise when it does happen.

I kind of liked Brian as the voice as reason, but he did become a bit pretentious and preachy.

I hated that whole thing with Quagmire suddenly hating Brian. It came from out of nowhere when comparing the twos' interactions from the previous seasons. If maybe it was always shown that Quagmire was distant or so-so with Brian and that episode just finally revealed why, that would've been fine. These two, up until that point, always acted pretty friendly with one another for the most part.

I guess my problem with Family Guy from the point I stopped regularly watching, was the fact that the show itself was becoming a bit too mean-spirited for my liking. With South Park, even with its blatant flaws, the dynamics for the most part, are relatively the same. Stan and Kyle are still best friends. Cartman still rips on Kyle and teases Kenny for being poor. He is still spoiled and bosses his mother around at times, even though she does get stern with him sometimes. Stan is still a selfish character that cares way too much about his self-image that expresses himself through artistic means (music). Kyle is still the voice of reason who does seem to get screwed over a lot. Kenny is still the perv with integrity and the heart of gold.

As for the Simpsons, which ironically, Matt and Trey do seem to like, I just grew bored, but for me that happened back in season 10 and I think it's because some more of the writers left. I'm not sure, but maybe around season 9 it wasn't as fun as the previous seasons to me. One thing I will say about the Simpsons, though...if I do watch a later episode, I'll never doubt Homer and Marge's love for each other or their family. That's been consistent throughout the run, unless used for a plot point of an episode....and I did see that one with the divorce or whatever...didn't care for it.

[AquaParade]

This thread sort of inspired me to go back and watch some older seasons. I'll check out the new ones if I'm ever curious, but I'm sticking to what I know for now and enjoying the crap out of episodes from seasons 6-11 right now.

[Leo656]

Well, like any long-running show, early seasons of shows like Family Guy aren't often going to mesh with what comes later. I point that out often, myself. "American Dad" might be a little worse with that problem, but in either case the characters are just more or less not even the same people as they were in the first two Seasons. Kind of an unavoidable problem, really, because Plots require Conflict and sometimes you run out of stuff to do, so you have to invent stuff out of thin air. So all of a sudden Meg is the punching bag, Stewie doesn't wanna kill Lois anymore at all, Bonnie hates Joe, Joe constantly wishes he were dead, etc. etc. None of those things are reconcilable at all with the early Seasons, but at some point it's like "Eh".

It's not just you, though, I point it out all the time. Like a few years ago, they did a whole episode about Lois convincing Bonnie not to cheat on Joe, and Joe trying to get her to love him again, and so then Bonnie decides not to do it and they reconcile. Then the other day they have Bonnie just casually cheating on Joe (and it's been kind of implied elsewhere it happens semi-often now), so it's like, "Well, that entire episode was kinda pointless now." But that's just the way these things go.

I mean, it's a show where characters frequently die or commit suicide on-screen only to be perfectly fine in the very next scene. So at some point you stop trying to reconcile the irreconcilable, and accept that the show is just a vehicle for Very Dark Jokes and not over-think it.

You'd most likely hate the newer seasons, as it's basically kind of like gone more into an "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" vibe, where it's just a show about terrible people doing terrible things and how that can be very funny sometimes. There's not really any characters to like or "root" for, and everyone's a real piece of sh*t compared to how they were originally presented. Quagmire went from being "a little date-rapey" to a full-blown necrophiliac/pedophile/zoophile (who's been noted as having sex with dead people, animals, and little kids, but somehow has a moral compass when it comes to not f*cking his own full-grown daughter :lol: Figure THAT out). Joe went from being a little depressed about his condition to constantly either trying to kill himself or saying he wants to. Bonnie openly wishes that Joe was dead and tells him at every opportunity how much being with him has ruined her life. Lois drinks constantly, does coke and meth when nobody's around, and either does or does not constantly cheat on Peter depending on which episode you're watching. Peter's literally barely-functioning, also cheats on Lois with both women and men because now he's a closeted homosexual or bisexual, and Lois and Peter are only together until the kids are done with school, they openly talk about wanting a divorce. Chris huffs glue and paint, Meg constantly cuts herself and is now ALSO either a lesbian or bisexual, depending on the episode. Stewie's given up on world domination and spends all his time trying to have over-the-top gay sex with as many partners as possible, that's his only function, although he does still kill people. Cleveland has an entirely different family thanks to the spin-off show. Chris and Brian are oddly enough the characters who are most like their early-Season counterparts, in that Chris was always generally pretty dumb and Brian was always pretty pretentious. So they haven't changed very much at all; Brian's only Big Change, is that in a Season One episode he warns Peter not to piss of God by making himself a false idol, and is totally convinced that the bad things happening to Peter are God's wrath... but pretty much since Season 2 he's been a hard-line Atheist who doesn't believe in God even though Jesus Christ is a recurring character on the show and they've hung out with him. So that one Season 1 episode probably shouldn't even count towards his character, since it's such an aberration. If you throw out that single Season 1 Episode, Brian's almost the exact same character, but that makes sense since Seth has said that Brian is more or less his avatar, or at least the character he has the most in common with.

These can all be taken as negatives, and are definitely a huge indicator of how much the show has changed in 20 years.

BUT... I kinda don't care. I don't watch it for the plot or consistency. It's JUST a show about Scumbags Being Scumbags, there's not a single redeemable or likeable character to be found, and it's all just a vehicle for Shock Value Humor. And you know what? I like that. I like how mean-spirited and unapologetically vile it is. For one thing, South Park doesn't even do "dark humor" or shock value anymore; they don't push the envelope, they just make very twisted social commentary. But the show still has a point of view that it wants you the viewer to agree with, and they spend a lot of time making its case. "Family Guy"? They're pretty open about just being Stupid Sh*t. They don't have a point of view or an agenda. They're not trying to make you think or persuade you towards any point of view. They JUST want to trick you into rooting for an outspoken child molester because he's fist-fighting a Nazi, and to get you to laugh at jokes about AIDS and necrophilia and rape because "You're not supposed to laugh at that stuff."

Y'know... the stuff South Park USED to do. :trazz:

I like that. I like that there's no point and no pretense to Family Guy. I watch it the same way I used to watch Aqua Teen: Just to laugh at something stupid that has no point and where everyone in it is just plain terrible. There's no point, and THAT's the point.

If I want plots and likeable characters, there's a million shows I can watch. But sometimes, I just want to placate my Inner Scumbag. And frankly, I think if that's the only criteria, Family Guy surpassed South Park at that about 10 years ago. Because regardless of things like character consistency or plot, Family Guy is just plain more consistently funny than South Park. At least in the last decade or so.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it! :trazz: I totally know and even understand why most people hate Family Guy anymore, I just think they're overthinking it.

[drgon78]

I still watch the show, I agree that I would like more episodes that focus on the main 4(well 5 because Butters). I would love more episodes like Coon and Friends, Major Boobage, Imagination Land, Make Love, Not Warcraft, etc. Basically episodes with the kids being kids and ones where there grand or at least wacky adventures. But there has still been good episodes in recent seasons especially their Halloween episodes.

Don't get me wrong I like it when they focus on a character who rarely gets attention like Pip, Wendy, Scott Malkinson, etc.

[ssjup81]

If I want plots and likeable characters, there's a million shows I can watch. But sometimes, I just want to placate my Inner Scumbag. And frankly, I think if that's the only criteria, Family Guy surpassed South Park at that about 10 years ago. Because regardless of things like character consistency or plot, Family Guy is just plain more consistently funny than South Park. At least in the last decade or so.I actually agree with everything you said in your initial post...but just for me, I know I'd probably still enjoy Family Guy if the characters still acted cordial with one another since that's how the series started and that's what was established. Like I said, I didn't have a problem with the humor...just hate that everyone is so mean to each other now. If it had started off that way, I'd probably be more cool with it.

In some ways, Family Guy also feels like the creators are tired. Didn't Seth originally want to end the series after like season 8?I still watch the show, I agree that I would like more episodes that focus on the main 4(well 5 because Butters). I would love more episodes like Coon and Friends, Major Boobage, Imagination Land, Make Love, Not Warcraft, etc. Basically episodes with the kids being kids and ones where there grand or at least wacky adventures. But there has still been good episodes in recent seasons especially their Halloween episodes.

Don't get me wrong I like it when they focus on a character who rarely gets attention like Pip, Wendy, Scott Malkinson, etc.That episode last season with the cable company I thought was funny and it did focus around Scott Malkinson. I really really liked it mainly because it focused around the kids and it was interesting to learn that Scott's father worked for the cable company and how deadset against streaming services he was for his family when Scott asked his father to get Disney+ since he wanted to impress the new girl who was also diabetic and watch the Mandalorian, which she was a big fan of. It was really cute, but I felt sorry for him too in regards to his crush. The extremes he took to try to get streaming at his house was crazy and using Nathan, I think it was, for Scott to buy accounts of of, or whatever, to get the service was so silly. lol Too bad I don't recall much from the rest of the season. That ep just stood out to me. Wait, was this also the episode where at the end of the ep the viewers could dial an actual phone number?

Oh another episode that was more recent that's popping into mind for me that I did find funny, was that one with Strong Woman. I LOVED the Macho Man Randy Savage references for it. :lol:
URz-RYEOaig
It was an interesting take on the whole Trans people in sporting competitions thing and how conflicted PC Principal and Strong Woman were because of their overly PC views. They couldn't discriminate because it wouldn't be PC, but they felt it was unfair, which led to more conflicting views on the topic. PC Principal wanted to defend Strong Woman, but felt he couldn't because it wouldn't be PC because she's a strong, independent female who doesn't need a man to fight her battles. I do feel that things are a bit overly PC now, though, and crap like this is just another problem with this whole PC culture.

Oh, that Halloween episode I think a couple of seasons ago was interesting since it was a Kenny episode and he was with Mr. Mackey. Not often you get that. They need to do more Kenny episodes in general. I loved the Coon & Friends stuff and wish they'd bring that back. I kinda wish they'd revisit the Kenny not being able to die thing again, actually. I wouldn't mind them doing another ep on Stan's Asperger's Syndrome stuff or one of his other issues...but...they pretty much already established that he has addictive tendencies like Randy and his Grandfather. I only liked the episode because we got to see Satan again and it was cool seeing him take over Stan's body, with permission, to fight the Canadian devil. lol

If they do another Coon & Friends thing, they should take some elements from the Fractured but Whole game. The final villain...so stupid. lol They could even bring back Mintberry Crunch. Bottom line, I want another ep 200/201...only with Coon & Friends. Maybe also bring back Scott Tenorman because he never fully got his revenge on Cartman.

Trying to think of another recent episode....wait, didn't they have a Christmas episode recently? I think Randy was selling really good coke or something with all the adults in town getting hooked and Santa and Jesus were in the episode...meh, the ep didn't really stand out for me.

I wonder how Matt and Trey will approach the whole COVID-19 stuff when the show returns for its usual 10-episode run.

[Leo656]

THAT was definitely one of the better episodes South Park has done recently, for sure. :lol: Literally saying "I'm a woman!" with his bushy beard and his testicles swinging around like speedbags. :lol: I mean when they want to, they can still knock out a really good one.

I pretty much see a couple episodes of both shows almost every day on account of my wife, so I've had a lot of time to really nail down what Does and Does Not work for me with either show over the last couple of years. Again, not much else on at 3am! :trazz:

Altogether though my BIGGEST problem with South Park in recent times is how Comedy Central only seems to replay the same 25 episodes on a loop lately. I've seen Stan cut his stupid bracelet off so many times I don't even care anymore. :lol: But that's the network's fault.

[ssjup81]

THAT was definitely one of the better episodes South Park has done recently, for sure. :lol: Literally saying "I'm a woman!" with his bushy beard and his testicles swinging around like speedbags. :lol: I mean when they want to, they can still knock out a really good one.

I pretty much see a couple episodes of both shows almost every day on account of my wife, so I've had a lot of time to really nail down what Does and Does Not work for me with either show over the last couple of years. Again, not much else on at 3am! :trazz:

Altogether though my BIGGEST problem with South Park in recent times is how Comedy Central only seems to replay the same 25 episodes on a loop lately. I've seen Stan cut his stupid bracelet off so many times I don't even care anymore. :lol: But that's the network's fault.Ah, we don't have cable, so I was streaming the show on Hulu, but they no longer have it. It's on HBO Max now and I'm not about to get that just to watch South Park. lol

Yeah, that ep with the trans athletes was hilarious. What was that bracelet thing with Stan? I kinda remember something about that, but I guess nothing particular stood out for me to remember anything specific.

[Leo656]

It was a Lance Armstrong/"Livestrong" spoof after he got caught doping. It turns out Jesus was on performance-enhancing drugs when he performed all of his miracles and so everyone was cutting off their rubber bracelets except Stan. Everybody made a big deal about Stan being a person of strong conviction who wouldn't cave in to public pressure and consensus, turning him into a celebrity with a bunch of Nike endorsements and "StanGround" commercials... until it turned out he did cut it off and then glued it back on once people started giving him so much attention, therefore his "convictions" were just a big play for attention and reverence, and he was just a big hypocrite like everyone else.

The "moral" was that people love to virtue signal so that everyone thinks they're Good People, but in truth just about everybody's a big phony and it's all for attention anyways.

Kinda funny. They replay it a LOT though.

[ssjup81]

It was a Lance Armstrong/"Livestrong" spoof after he got caught doping. It turns out Jesus was on performance-enhancing drugs when he performed all of his miracles and so everyone was cutting off their rubber bracelets except Stan. Everybody made a big deal about Stan being a person of strong conviction who wouldn't cave in to public pressure and consensus, turning him into a celebrity with a bunch of Nike endorsements and "StanGround" commercials... until it turned out he did cut it off and then glued it back on once people started giving him so much attention, therefore his "convictions" were just a big play for attention and reverence, and he was just a big hypocrite like everyone else.

The "moral" was that people love to virtue signal so that everyone thinks they're Good People, but in truth just about everybody's a big phony and it's all for attention anyways.

Kinda funny. They replay it a LOT though.Oh I remember that now...vaguely. That's so Stan, though. He cares about his image a lot. Interesting how Kyle is the opposite of that.

[Leo656]

It is my experience that Jewish people don't exactly put a lot of emphasis on image and what other people think of them.

Not trying to start a "thing", I am JUST explaining. :lol:

[LeotheLateBloomer]

South Park is garbage now. Too much focus on Randy and characters besides the four kids.

Yeah, what is this recent appeal of Stan's father Randy? The rare times I hear people bring up South Park, they usually mention him. Are they trying to make him the next Homer or Peter? I rarely watch the show, usually like once in a blue moon and the most recent one I saw involving him is that apparently Stan and his family moved and Randy takes up weed and tries to sell some or something.

[AquaParade]

Yeah, what is this recent appeal of Stan's father Randy? The rare times I hear people bring up South Park, they usually mention him. Are they trying to make him the next Homer or Peter? I rarely watch the show, usually like once in a blue moon and the most recent one I saw involving him is that apparently Stan and his family moved and Randy takes up weed and tries to sell some or something.

The creators always seem to realize right when a character is becoming popular. I remember first beginning to notice Butters and suddenly he was in nearly every episode and a fan favorite. Same with Randy a bit after.

The characters just became popular.

[Leo656]

Trey and Matt are also big drug enthusiasts, and Randy gives them an avenue to lean into drug humor without involving the kids.

A thing I've noticed about cocaine people, for example, is that even if you don't ask, they will let you know how much they love cocaine. Like ALL the time. And when you have a show run by people who love cocaine, eventually, the show itself becomes all about cocaine. Family Guy started leaning heavy into it after it got successful; at first the main characters were all very anti-drug, but then once the people writing it started doing tons of blow, so did Peter and Lois. "Archer" pretty much pissed away an entire Season on cocaine jokes. It's a common and noticeable pattern; when the writers start spending a lot of money on drugs, the characters in the show they're writing follow suit. Because coke people just can't seem to shut up about how much they love coke. It's like Kevin Smith with weed; you can tell how much weed he's smoking by how terrible his latest project is.

I mean, I'm sure there are other reasons they use Randy so much, but you'll notice that he wasn't a COMPLETE degenerate early on. His slide into "total alcoholic/drug addict who's barely functioning as an adult" went hand-in-hand with the show's success and how off-the-rails Trey and Matt seemingly are in their personal lives. And I mean, I get it; they "force" themselves into a 6-day turnaround time for each episode so they can stay "fresh". Therefore, I'm pretty sure their entire studio looks like something out of "Wolf of Wall Street". But it's not actually funny, is the thing.

[ABrown]

Looks like I'll be watching South Park's Pandemic Special (on 9/30) on Philo since apparently the show's deal with Hulu is finished.

[LeotheLateBloomer]

It's weird because I still find modern South Park legitimately funny from time to time but I hardly ever watch it. I might as well though since I laugh whenever I do. I guess Randy can be funny at times but I mainly watch it for the main four. I feel dirty sometimes whenever I laugh at Cartman's antics because I'm not suppose to like him as a character and I do legit think he needs his comeuppance like when Wendy beats the ever living f*** out of him. And I can see why that Matt and Trey have for the most part given up on killing Kenny off since even I thought it was getting old. I forgot what the explanation was for how he keeps coming back to life but I love his Mysterion reveal.

My favorite characters are Stan and Kyle because they're just two cool and normal dudes who do the right thing. It's hilarious when the straight men get into it with Cartman, usually Kyle for Cartman's jew jokes. I know Cartman was ALWAYS a brat but at what point did he evolve into a ruthless d*ck though? I don't remember him being completely mean-spirited in the first season at least.

[Leo656]

No, Cartman was always pretty much a worthless human being, right from the jump. If anything he's just gotten more devious.

I think Trey and Matt were trying to make a point about how some people are just born rotten and that you can tell from the beginning that they're awful and predict how their life is gonna go from there.

I mean, Cartman's mom is literally a crack whore, but he doesn't KNOW that and she goes out of her way to spoil him rotten so he has no angst in his life from that. He doesn't have a father figure, but again, his mother overcompensates and so it's not like his life is any worse off than it would be if he had two parents. He's given everything, the only strife he gets is when people pick on him for either being fat or being mean, two things he himself is 100% in control of and could change anytime he felt like. He chooses to be the way he is, because he thinks it's funny. He has a "perfect" life and everything he wants, and yet he still chooses to be an insufferable piece of sh*t for no reason outside of his own amusement.

People will tell you, "There are no Bad People, just people who turn out bad because life has given them a raw deal" or whatever, but that's horse sh*t. I knew kids in Kindergarten who just a few years later turned out to be drug dealers who were in and out of jail, and you could totally predict their entire life's track by the time they were 6. Some people are just Born Rotten and don't give a sh*t, they're bad people because they prefer to be that way.

I think ultimately, that's always been Trey and Matt's goal with Cartman, is to reinforce that. The idea that sometimes, people are just f*cking terrible and they don't need a reason. Makes perfect sense to me given their standard M.O.

[LeotheLateBloomer]

You're pretty spot on when it comes to Cartman. Which since you put it that way, that's likely the moral of the episode where he owned an amusement park just for him to enjoy only for it to be taken away from him and to prove to Kyle that God is real and will punish those type of people, even when all seems hopeless at first.:lol:

[Leo656]

:lol: Yeah, that was a good one. I'm not a fan of Cartman specifically, but a big fan of episodes that showcase how incurably rotten he is. Plenty of those to choose from.

[oldmanwinters]

Has their ever been a "Rugrats: All Growed Up" equivalent for South Park?

[neatoman]

Has their ever been a "Rugrats: All Growed Up" equivalent for South Park?

There has never been a spin-off that depict the characters as being older or a Simpsons style potential future episode.

[Voltron]

Technically there was that episode where the parents hired actors to pretend to be the boys from the future. Eric Cartman actually did come back from the future to congratulate himself on cleaning up his act.

[drgon78]

Classic episode.

[oldmanwinters]

Technically there was that episode where the parents hired actors to pretend to be the boys from the future. Eric Cartman actually did come back from the future to congratulate himself on cleaning up his act.

Classic episode.

Always curious about what kind of take the show would have on their main characters as adults. Let me know if you find out the episode name.

[ZariusTwo]

Sadly my ideal vision for how I'd like the show to end with the kids as adults was already done by Codename Kids Next Door

[neatoman]

Always curious about what kind of take the show would have on their main characters as adults. Let me know if you find out the episode name.

Here are my guesses:


Kenny, already being poor and... "Missing" wuite frequently would probably remain fairly low in society. He would make an ideal soldier though all things considered.
Cartman is a bit hard to tell, while the episode where his older self goes back in time at the end implies he'd either end up very successful or on the lower end of mediocre, depending on his decisions. Given his manipulative nature, I'd say the best case scenario is that he becomes a questionable businessman and at worst a drug dealer, in either case he wouldn't be a much better person.
Butters, being the obedient little sucker he is, would probably just be an office worker who pretends to be happy.
Token, being born rich and a talented singer/bassist, would likely be able to jumpstart a successful music career early on.
The Goth Kids, with the primary joke about them being what hypocrites they are, would likely grow up to not really be all that recognisable.


A lot of the other kid characters are hard to say anything about, either because they're inconsistant or because there isn't enough to work with. There are also characters like Stan, Wendy and Kyle where I have a rough idea but it's really boring because their relative lack of character flaws means they would just grow up to be upstanding citizens with few problems. Granted, Stan was shown to start drinking to get through the day, Kyle was on board with making crackbabies fight over a ball of crack and Wendy straight up murdered a teacher, but these moments don't really inform the characters in general and could be seen as out of character weirdness.

[ssjup81]

Looks like I'll be watching South Park's Pandemic Special (on 9/30) on Philo since apparently the show's deal with Hulu is finished.For Hulu + Live, isn't Comedy Central one of the stations you can watch through the service. In the case of South Park, it should show up if you have the live service, you'd just have to watch it live, I guess. I'm assuming anyway as that's what I'm going to do and hope that's the case. I also noticed, that for mine, South Park eps aren't there anymore, because of the HBO Max deal stuff, but I still have the option to record episodes.My favorite characters are Stan and Kyle because they're just two cool and normal dudes who do the right thing. It's hilarious when the straight men get into it with Cartman, usually Kyle for Cartman's jew jokes. I know Cartman was ALWAYS a brat but at what point did he evolve into a ruthless d*ck though? I don't remember him being completely mean-spirited in the first season at least.Sometimes I'm cool in regards to Cartman, other times, not so much. I always liked Stan and Kenny. One of my childhood friends was a Kyle fan. I don't think he watches the show so much anymore.

Outside of the main four, I like Wendy, Butters, and Mr. Slave.A lot of the other kid characters are hard to say anything about, either because they're inconsistant or because there isn't enough to work with. There are also characters like Stan, Wendy and Kyle where I have a rough idea but it's really boring because their relative lack of character flaws means they would just grow up to be upstanding citizens with few problems. Granted, Stan was shown to start drinking to get through the day, Kyle was on board with making crackbabies fight over a ball of crack and Wendy straight up murdered a teacher, but these moments don't really inform the characters in general and could be seen as out of character weirdness.Stan, Wendy, and Kyle are a bit flawed, imo.

Stan has a self-image issue and always trying to make himself look good at the expense of others. That bullying episode kind of showed that. He grew selfish and made it all about him as opposed to it actually being a way to raise awareness on bullying and as a way to help Butters. He's all about his own image.

Wendy and Kyle are flawed in the sense that they try to force their views on others, even if both are usually right. It's their approach to it that sometimes backfires on them.

[LeotheLateBloomer]

What are some of the worst punishments Cartman has ever faced? I ask because he never seems to get what's coming to him besides being insulted like Leo said. The only ones I can think of are:

1.) When he was tied to a cross and lost a lot of weight
2.) Lightning striking him after he used that iPad on a human centipede that included Kyle (seriously Kyle really did not deserve that).
3.) His amusement park being taken away from him
4.) Wendy putting waste to him. Arguably the best one!:D

[Leo656]

I think Wendy beating his ass was probably the best. Although in true Cartman fashion, he learned nothing and nothing changed. :lol:

That's the thing, though; if he ever learned anything or became a better person, he'd cease to be Eric Cartman.

[neatoman]

Not really so much a punishment but the implication that he's just going to freeze himself again, after being warned by his future self, is a pretty good example of his stubborness getting to him.

[Galactus]

No, Cartman was always pretty much a worthless human being, right from the jump. If anything he's just gotten more devious.

I think Trey and Matt were trying to make a point about how some people are just born rotten and that you can tell from the beginning that they're awful and predict how their life is gonna go from there.

I mean, Cartman's mom is literally a crack whore, but he doesn't KNOW that and she goes out of her way to spoil him rotten so he has no angst in his life from that. He doesn't have a father figure, but again, his mother overcompensates and so it's not like his life is any worse off than it would be if he had two parents. He's given everything, the only strife he gets is when people pick on him for either being fat or being mean, two things he himself is 100% in control of and could change anytime he felt like. He chooses to be the way he is, because he thinks it's funny. He has a "perfect" life and everything he wants, and yet he still chooses to be an insufferable piece of sh*t for no reason outside of his own amusement.

People will tell you, "There are no Bad People, just people who turn out bad because life has given them a raw deal" or whatever, but that's horse sh*t. I knew kids in Kindergarten who just a few years later turned out to be drug dealers who were in and out of jail, and you could totally predict their entire life's track by the time they were 6. Some people are just Born Rotten and don't give a sh*t, they're bad people because they prefer to be that way.

I think ultimately, that's always been Trey and Matt's goal with Cartman, is to reinforce that. The idea that sometimes, people are just f*cking terrible and they don't need a reason. Makes perfect sense to me given their standard M.O.

Baring in mind that I don't think Matt and Trey have a consistent philosophy on much (think their changing stance on gay and transgender people or even global warming over the years) my read of Cartman is that he partly such a ****** person because of all those things.

The more Liane spoils her son the more he realises he can do what he wants, the more she overcompensates for the lack of a father figure in his life the more he regresses into a cranky child he still plays with his dolls.

You can see this in the episode with Caesar Milan. When Cartman is actually disciplined he actually starts to legitimately change until Liane reverts to her old self and enables his bad behavior.

Also we saw Cartman sincerely fall for Wendy in a non-selfish way early on and as previously mentioned in this thread we saw a future version were he had turned his life around suggesting that Cartman isn't inherently evil it's as a result of his life he's leads.

[Leo656]

I was thinking about extrapolating on the Caesar Milan episode in an earlier post but in the end I didn't really go into it because in my experience with people in Real Life, any change would have been temporary. People generally don't change their behavior so drastically, and if they do it never lasts. People always revert to type. "Nobody ever quits heroin", etc. etc. I think the point was ultimately that like anyone else, he has the potential to be a better person, but that for one reason or other he's just always going to revert to type.

I do think his mom enabling him is a factor, but only in part. He would still be a rotten person because that's what's in his heart. I mean, who is it that teaches him to be a racist and a raging anti-Semite? Literally nobody, he's that way because he feels like it, no other reason. It's not something that can be blamed on "enabling' or bad role models, it's his own personal choice. You can see it in how he insists that he's not fat, for example, or lashes out at people for giving him a hard time about it. He gets mad when people pick on him for being fat, and uses their teasing as a justification for his vicious behavior in turn, but really, he can make it ll go away anytime he feels like by simply NOT being fat, which is very easy to do. But he likes being the victim because it in turn justifies his sh*tty behavior. People who choose to be sh*tty will always find a reason, and I think that's very much of what Trey and Matt have suggested not just with Cartman, but with many other characters like Randy and others. The entire show is full of characters that are really huge pieces of sh*t for no reason other than they feel like it. And to be honest, I appreciate that because that's Real Life.
--------

I confess that I'm a little confused by your comment about their "changing stance" on things like transgender people. All I've ever seen them do is make fun of that. I've never spoken to them about it personally but it seems pretty clear to me how they feel about it. Whether it was Garrison back in the day or the more recent Macho man parody episode, their personal feelings on that specific topic have always seemed very clear. Unless I missed something.

I agree that their stance on some things seems to be fluid, OR if nothing else they like to play both sides of the fence sometimes for the sake of comedy. But on some topics I think they've been very consistent.

[drgon78]

If you want to talk about sh*tty people look at Kyle's dad. Even before the internet troll thing, he was a crappy person but then again he is a lawyer.;)

[neatoman]

If you want to talk about sh*tty people look at Kyle's dad. Even before the internet troll thing, he was a crappy person but then again he is a lawyer.;)

qCziB4jb290

[cammy85]

Ah, that makes sense about Cartman's mom. That's been bugging me for years. Even in the early episodes, she's like "Don't be difficult, Eric!!" and no consequences stem from that. She even quickly dismisses the claims about Terrance and Philip. But I was happy when she grounded him in the movie and flipped out when he, as the Coon, flipped out and attacked his friends. About damned time!!

[Storm Eagle]

Ah, that makes sense about Cartman's mom. That's been bugging me for years. Even in the early episodes, she's like "Don't be difficult, Eric!!" and no consequences stem from that.

He did stop talking after that though. What else do you think should have happened?

[Leo656]

Any parent with any backbone would've taken the belt to him at the absolute least, for most of the stuff he's done or even said. You don't act out like that if you're well aware that there's consequences.

[Galactus]

I was thinking about extrapolating on the Caesar Milan episode in an earlier post but in the end I didn't really go into it because in my experience with people in Real Life, any change would have been temporary. People generally don't change their behavior so drastically, and if they do it never lasts. People always revert to type. "Nobody ever quits heroin", etc. etc. I think the point was ultimately that like anyone else, he has the potential to be a better person, but that for one reason or other he's just always going to revert to type.

I do think his mom enabling him is a factor, but only in part. He would still be a rotten person because that's what's in his heart. I mean, who is it that teaches him to be a racist and a raging anti-Semite? Literally nobody, he's that way because he feels like it, no other reason. It's not something that can be blamed on "enabling' or bad role models, it's his own personal choice. You can see it in how he insists that he's not fat, for example, or lashes out at people for giving him a hard time about it. He gets mad when people pick on him for being fat, and uses their teasing as a justification for his vicious behavior in turn, but really, he can make it ll go away anytime he feels like by simply NOT being fat, which is very easy to do. But he likes being the victim because it in turn justifies his sh*tty behavior. People who choose to be sh*tty will always find a reason, and I think that's very much of what Trey and Matt have suggested not just with Cartman, but with many other characters like Randy and others. The entire show is full of characters that are really huge pieces of sh*t for no reason other than they feel like it. And to be honest, I appreciate that because that's Real Life.

Cartman is a fictional character. His capacity for change is as much as Matt and Trey want it to be. While there are a few signs that Cartman is just born evil it's much more consistently shown that Cartman is capable of change but something always happens to prevent it or trigger him back to how he was.

He is also very aware that he's fat he just doesn't like to admit it. The end of the Fat Camp episode he once again seems sincerely willing to change in this case going on a diet and exercising but because he is rejected by the group he starts comfort eating. In the aforementioned episode were the kids are tricked by people pretending to be their future selves we see Cartman's actual future self who has changed. Of course because Cartman thinks he's being duped he rejects change and stays as he is.

I confess that I'm a little confused by your comment about their "changing stance" on things like transgender people. All I've ever seen them do is make fun of that. I've never spoken to them about it personally but it seems pretty clear to me how they feel about it. Whether it was Garrison back in the day or the more recent Macho man parody episode, their personal feelings on that specific topic have always seemed very clear. Unless I missed something.

I agree that their stance on some things seems to be fluid, OR if nothing else they like to play both sides of the fence sometimes for the sake of comedy. But on some topics I think they've been very consistent.

I'm thinking specifically of the episode were Herbert Garrison transitions into a woman. Granted my impression of this could be coloured somewhat due to the fact that views on trans people are somewhat different in the UK than the UK. It 's one of the few things you guys are (marginally) less trash than us but even though that episode stops short of saying that Mrs Garrison is actually a woman it absolutely defends her right to live as one.

Contrast this to the episode were she transitions back into being a man and the message seems to be that he was wrong for ever thinking he should be a woman.

[Leo656]

Garrison is generally portrayed as being entirely delusional no matter what his pursuits, so once again, I feel like it was pretty clear what Trey and Matt were trying to say with that storyline. Like, they didn't have one of the more "sane" or even-keeled characters transition, they purposely used the guy who's constantly out of his mind. Not only because it would be funny, but because they were trying to make a point about what kind of person, in their minds and opinion, does things like that.

It was all just a gag, even the "sincere" parts. I always felt that was pretty clear. Between that, the Caitlyn Jenner portayal, and having a person with a beard and visible testicles call themselves a woman just so they could beat other women in sporting events, I have never seen any inconsistency in what Trey and Matt think of trans people. Safe to say, they've never been big fans of it.

I doubt they'd ever admit to that at loud, especially not in the Here and Now. But I don't think their position on that topic has ever moved an inch. They've shifted on some things, but they've been very consistent on that one since the beginning.

[Storm Eagle]

Any parent with any backbone would've taken the belt to him at the absolute least, for most of the stuff he's done or even said. You don't act out like that if you're well aware that there's consequences.

I get that Cartman is a brat, but that time when he tried to argue with his mother and she says "don't be difficult, Eric". He clammed right up afterwards. That's one of the few times where he has ever been obedient. So I'm not sure any punishment is needed after that. Especially corporal punishment. Anyway, there were times where he has gotten hit. Still, Cartman gonna be Cartman.

[LeotheLateBloomer]

So Cartman's mom is named after Trey's ex-fiancee. That explains it.:lol:

[Galactus]

For a while there Mr Garrison was portrayed as relatively sane (in South Park terms) post coming out of the closet and all the weirdness like his hand puppets was because he was repressing the truth about his sexuality.

I kinda got the impression Matt and Trey struggled with what to do with Garrison post coming out because he just wasn't as funny. He had his moments like being down because he hadn't been molested as a child and being mad at straight men appropriating gay culture and trying to get fired but eventually after experimenting with him some more they went full circle and made him an abusive straight guy again.

I've always got the impression the message of the episode that the character transitions into a woman was that while Matt and Trey don't buy the science behind transgender people that they support peoples right to live how they feel just don't go nuts with it just like they largely support gay rights just don't shove a hamster up your ass. While Garrison was deliberately portrayed as still looking like a man after transitioning that was largely for the benefit of the audience all the characters saw and accepted her as a woman even the ones who knew her as Herbert.

It does seem their attitudes towards trans people changed over time. It's definitely clear what they think of them now and it certainly isn't positive thoughts.

[Leo656]

Interesting points, but I still don't think much has altogether changed. I think they still argue that people can live how they want, but that they're highly skeptical of both the science and sometimes the motives behind it all, depending on the situation. I don't think that's ever not been the case.

Like I don't think they hate trans people, although maybe they do. But it's obvious even if they don't that they look at situations like boys transitioning into girls, and then suddenly winning all the medals in Girls' Track or whatever, and they go "Hmm, yeah, that's maybe offsides." And to be frank, there's a lot of people who think that, which is why a lot of girls and their parents are suing the schools where such things have happened. I'm pretty sure most of them don't have any problem in theory with trans people's existence, but that they feel like a line has been crossed and they're not happy about it.

That's the message I took from the most recent episodes of South Park in which they've dealt with that particular subject. BUT, who knows, maybe they just flat-out hate trans people. I never asked 'em so I wouldn't know. I do feel like they're not unconditionally supportive but I don't know if that goes into outright hate.

[ABrown]

The entire covid pandemic is Randy Marsh's fault. Classic. :lol:

[neatoman]

So... Were the Bat and Pangolin better than Sharon?

[Leo656]

I'm over here wondering what nasty diseases Sharon has now, after her husband f*cked a bat and a pangolin.

Unless Randy just never has sex with his wife, which for some reason I could believe. :lol:

[neatoman]

Well there is an episode about her learning the value of giving him a handjob, and an episode about how he figured out that she would give him blowjobs everytime they went to musicals... And let's not forget about the episode about the One Porno To Rule Them All. So I would say they have a lot of sex based on previous episodes.

Then again... South Park isn't known for being perfectly consistant, this episode itself hinges on the idea that Randy can still produce semen, even though he was castred in the testicle cancer episode.

[cammy85]

Sheesh!! So, were the incidents with the bat referenced in the previous season at all? I know there's been a recent episode with Mickey in it.

[neatoman]

Sheesh!! So, were the incidents with the bat referenced in the previous season at all? I know there's been a recent episode with Mickey in it.

Did Randy go to China and smoke weed with Mickey Mouse previously? Yes.

Was he shown to **** a bat and a pangolin while high? No.

[cammy85]

Did Randy go to China and smoke weed with Mickey Mouse previously? Yes.

Was he shown to **** a bat and a pangolin while high? No.

OK!! I looked through the previous season, but not hard enough, I guess.

[LeotheLateBloomer]

Watching this special makes you realize how different Stan is from his father. If he found out what he did, he'd be so crushed.

LOL at Cartman loving social distancing (he would:lol:).

[ABrown]

The Vaccination Special was ok. I didn't like it as much as The Pandemic Special.

[drgon78]

I love this special a lot more then the last one.

[raph27]

Watching through this special really set in for me how much I'm growing tired of the modern South Park formula. Over the past five seasons or so, they've been leaning more and more into just putting what's in the news on screen and expecting a reaction from it. I know this was probably a special case given that these two specials are based directly on the pandemic, but they just don't appeal to me as much as the classic seasons.

These episodes are going to age terribly in 10-15 years when all this is behind us, compared to the first few seasons which are still relevant and great now aside from some 90s pop culture references that aren't too critical to overall enjoyment of the show.

[LeotheLateBloomer]

Some of my favorite moments in the recent seasons are the show's depiction of Mickey Mouse. This portrayal is more accurate to Disney as a company. Best version ever of the character ever!

l1hCRBwGAXE

UHBOp7AUkc0

[LeotheLateBloomer]

Warner Bros is suing Paramount for streaming rights.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/24/warner-bros-discovery-sues-paramount-over-south-park-streaming-rights.html

[drgon78]

Now Warner Bros cares about animation...well ones they don't have to pay for anyway.

[neatoman]

Did something happen to Trey? His voice sounds totally wrecked in the most recent episodes.

[ZariusTwo]

This week was a pretty wholesome Stan and Wendy episode...co-written with ChatGPT :lol:

[Cowabung-Gal]

gNBnO-0mpiE

“Joining The Panderverse”

Somebody had to say it, and as usual, South Park does
:lol::lol::lol:

[ZariusTwo]

The boys are taking the rest of 2024 off and won't be covering the election

https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/south-park-2025-return-skipping-presidential-election-1236131691/

[Coola Yagami]

The boys are taking the rest of 2024 off and won't be covering the election

https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/south-park-2025-return-skipping-presidential-election-1236131691/

Like the cowards they are.

[neatoman]

Like the cowards they are.

What's cowardly about it?

[neatoman]

Good news, Tegridy is gone!