South Park: Classic or Dud?

Between the jewelry channel huckster and this week's tour group members with their "Long story short..."-ing, I'm suddenly aware of how acute an observer and mimic of colloquial speech Trey Parker has become.

Mr. Garrison’s “history” lesson on Game Of Thrones early on is a hysterical throw-away gag, but it also helps illuminate the power plays going on throughout the episode. Sure, it’s a stretch to compare the happenings in Westeros with those in this quiet Colorado town. But Cartman’s Machiavellian techniques employ misdirection, lies, the spreading of rumors, and the use of the bully pulpit to stir the masses, maneuver his enemies, and protect his loved ones. (A Lannister always pays his debts, and a Cartman always ensures that he gets his way.)

Between the jewelry channel huckster and this week's tour group members with their "Long story short..."-ing, I'm suddenly aware of how acute an observer and mimic of colloquial speech Trey Parker has become.

I wanted to make a point about this but yeah this is basically OTM. My chief complaint about Family Guy now is how hard they fail at doing this.

This week's episode was amazing. I think trying to scale back the number of "laughs" each episode has is helping them quite a bit.

"the slump has ended, and the last 3 episodes have all be great!"
i haven't watched regularly for a while -- if you had to pick 5 to watch from the last 5 years which ones would they be (allowing that some episodes may have dated poorly)?

re: family guy -- how is it more offensive? south park seems more culpable in that kids are more likely to emulate it. (the commentary on the shitty beef episode had them guiltily cackling when they recounted how they heard some kid in a store doing "shitty beef" over and over)

I don't know if that's really a good measure of what's offensive. I would think kids are drawn to both shows.

The difference to me is that when Cartman says racist/sexist/anti-sementic shit, the other characters call him out on it, and it's shown to have some real consequences to it, where as when Peter off-handedly mentions "women and Mexicans suck" or whatever it just cuts away to the next scene.

"anti-sementic shit"

i think you mean anti-semantic shit.

i agree that kids probably like family guy, too, but it's less kid-oriented -- all the characters are the wrong age to embody. also, family guy doesn't engage in quite as much sermonizing, so it doesn't set itself up as a voice of moral authority like south park does. basically, family guy is gilbert gottfried, and south park is kevin smith, and it's easier to find kevin smith more offensive?

i can get behind that, though i don't think "shitty wok" is a good example, since that's a joke FG would have certainly beaten to the ground even faster, had they thought of it

i haven't watched regularly for a while -- if you had to pick 5 to watch from the last 5 years which ones would they be (allowing that some episodes may have dated poorly)?

cheating by picking multipart episodes

"You're Getting Old"/"Ass Burgers"
"Coon 2: Hindsight"/"Mysterion Rises"/"Coon vs Coon and Friends"
"Butters' Bottom Bitch"
"Major Boobage"
"Imaginationland I"/"Imaginationland II"/"Imaginationland III"

Can't disagree with any of that. You're Getting Old is one of the best ever.

yeah seriously, it's easily one of my top five favorites

oh man i forgot about Awesome Boobage

yeah "You're Getting Old" and "Ass Burgers" are really something, I don't think I've seen another episode of any show like it.

also want to add "The Last of the Meheecans", "Creme Fraiche", "200/201", and "The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerballs" as being really good recent ones. that aired yesterday was also pretty great.

ha I was just about to say something about Scrotie McBoogerballs, the ep was great

I'm disappointed in myself that it took me so long to remember what "Mantequilla" meant in the Meeheecans ep

last season was really good actually, now that I'm looking at the list of episodes (I didn't see "Funnybot" but everything else was good to fantastic)

Funnybot was the one I spent the most time debating whether it was actually funny or not

Funnybot has the whole Dalek thing that doesn't work, and the German thing that doesn't work.

We are all missing out Royal Pudding. "As is tradition..."

haha I was ambivalent on that one until the ending

Yeah, it's really a toss-up as to which of "Scott Tenorman Must Die" or "You're Getting Old"/"Ass Burgers" is my absolute favorite, but they are, collectively, the best episodes of the series and some of the best episodes of television ever.

"Butters' Bottom Bitch"

I'm not a huge fan but I thought this one was a scream.

I don't know the name, but I think the one where Cartman when proven wrong decides to try and change the results of the American Civil War is also a really funny and clever one that doesn't get by just on gross out humor.

Yeah, it's really a toss-up as to which of "Scott Tenorman Must Die" or "You're Getting Old"/"Ass Burgers" is my absolute favorite,

Love both of them but my fave of all time is the Wacky Molestation Adventure.

tbh Butters is one of my favorite characters of all time

TBF, earlnash, "___________ is also a really funny and clever one that doesn't get by just on gross out humor" is a pretty good description of at least a third of the South Park output. Not to say that it doesn't devolve into dumb potty humor a lot of the time, but it's often quite smart.

those five episodes recommended better not be smart. i hate those. bring forth the potty humor i say.

actually i'm trying to think of a smart south park episode and can't think of any -- by smart do you mean high concept twist? like the one with flashbacks to previous episodes that didn't happen?

When it's on, South Park is one of the smartest comedies on TV. It's, like, about stuff without being didactic about the stuff it's about. The poop jokes are just garnish, usually. Except for when they're the main course.

? I can think of few shows more didactic than South Park

i've watched a lot of episodes in the beginning and a sprinkled few in later seasons, but i really wouldn't call any of them smart. inspired, maybe? e.g. the al gore episode was mostly didactic anti-intellectualism, but "I'm cereal" is pretty great poop-level humor.

xpost

I guess I mean it's not leadingly didactic. Like, it's not usually so much about telling you what to think as it is about laying out several takes on a given topic. If it were pointedly a mouthpiece for Parker & Stone's politics, it'd be intolerable.

Yeah, Philip, you really owe it to yourself to watch more of the show. It was mostly goofy in the beginning, but it's grown a lot since. Although probably not in a way that you'd notice if you've only seen a smattering of recent eps.

"You're Getting Old" is a perfect example. That episode in particular is bluntly, brutally honest in a way that television hardly ever is.

that ep made me a little ;_;

funny that we're having this conversation. i actually came in here to say that cartman gently singing <i>"suck my balllls... suck em dry"</i> to himself was actually one of the most hilarious and honest things I've seen on tv in forever

Also,if you're reccomending Funnybot, the whole thing hinges on the Comedy Central Awards thing, which is a reference that practically dated itself by the time the show aired

Like, it's not usually so much about telling you what to think as it is about laying out several takes on a given topic

exactly - the "Butt Out" episode is a good example of that, you can't think Parker and Stone actually believe in what they're saying there, for them it's all about turning everything around

i think my fav episode is 'casa bonita' but i guess that's old now

also what's the ep where everyone starts ignoring cartman so he thinks he's dead?

Also,if you're reccomending Funnybot, the whole thing hinges on the Comedy Central Awards thing, which is a reference that practically dated itself by the time the show aired

if anything this is the problem with modern South Park - they do a lot of shows based on stuff like this, or shows like Whale Hunters or Intervention that I'd guess the majority of their audience hasn't seen. lately a lot of their satire has been oddly specific.

yeah, i actually cant beleieve those dudes watch that much tv, quite honestly

http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/388727/tween-wave

Haven't watched SP in years, but this episode made me laugh (the following one nearly made me cry, I'm ashamed to admit, but it was an emotional day overall).

oh yeah, "You're Getting Old" was being talked about just now. Yes, I had a little cry afterwards. Yes, I'm a wuss.

oh wait no, it was Ass Burgers.

I did like those eps for having a character named Steamy Nicks and also explicitly calling out her "Landslide" that they licensed later that ep. It's like they both thought the joke name was too good and also wanted to prove how big of fans of FM they are(Trey especially, I'd wager).

The president....is a DUCK!??!?

Oh wait, it was Cartman Gets an Anal Probe. Yes, I had a little cry afterwards.

the duck president signing off papers had me ROFLing everywhere though. it was the increased urgency of yacking up on the second paper that did it.

'CUZ
BLACKS
BELONG
TOGETHER

as long as we're talking about great recent episodes I want to point out that "Major Boobage" may be the best episode they've ever done

ok i watched "you're getting old" and half of "ass burgers" and enjoyed the poop humor and did not regret watching it, but this really isn't transcendent tv, like that episode of tng where picard gets tortured.

tbf "You're Getting Old" is probably a stronger statement if you've been watching the show regularly for the 14 years up before it was broadcast

also you probably want to see "Major Boobage" if you just want a standalone "holy shit that was fucking funny" episode