“They killed Kenny!” shouts Cartman from South Park. The phrase can be heard through numerous episodes in the Comedy Central Animation. South Park takes place in a fictional town known as South Park in the nonfictional state of Colorado. The four main characters Eric Cartman, Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and Kenny McCormick set off on boundless adventures full of profanity and dark, offensive humor. The numerous civilians located in the small town label it as an uneventful, quiet place to live. Viewers soon realize the events that take place in the twenty-one season show seem to portray the town as otherwise. The towns situations, and the boys comedic part in the conditions leave me in tears–from laughter– each episode. South Park has never failed to meet my expectations, even after two decades the shows’ content remains relevant and comedic. The show stays fresh and intriguing without repeated jokes and unbiased humor topping numerous other well known television shows over the years.
South Park first came out in 1997 when, in the first episode, Cartman acquired a probe in the butt. He is astonished and deems his uncomfortable problem as a nightmare of an alien abduction. Kyle and Stan attempt to convince him that the probing actually happened. Chef, the man in charge of lunch at school, ask the kids about the spaceship that had visited the town the night before, which confirms the reality of Cartman’s “nightmare.” Cartman continues to deny all thought of actually being probed in the butt until Kyle’s adopted Canadian baby brother, Ike, finds himself in the same situation.
That episode is only the start of the four boys’ foul mouthed adventures. Throughout each season Kyle, Cartman, Stan, and Kenny– all being in elementary school– face overexaggerated life situations that stem from real world problems. The boys all “attempt” to solve each of these problems by taking it upon themselves to stop the bad guys or to find the truth behind every action packed event. Episodes like “Pinkeye” give the boys these heroic moments when Kenny dies and is revived as a zombie; however, him being undead is just an overdramatized case of the pink eye, and Cartman takes it upon himself to attempt to stop the infection from spreading. This show portrays the acting out of how people over dramatize events, and add humor to help others realize the events are really not that serious.
The crude and insensitive humor with the overall setup and recurring characters positions South Park as a cut-out animation sitcom for mature audiences. The characters themselves appear as cut out figures even though in one episode the boys are shown as real-life people. In the theme song introduction portion of the show we see the drawing and putting together of some of the characters. The humor of this show sprouts from real life topics and covers celebrity rumors everywhere. South Park covers such topics along with many more; such as abortion, censorship, environmentalism, homosexuality and numerous other hot topics of the year. The creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, cover these episodes using the offensive humor to make light of the serious situations in the world. Throughout the seasons of South Park the humor stays consistent and has never failed to meet my expectations, meaning I have never achieved boredom or disappointment while watching these episodes.
Compared to other TV shows, movies and, even books, South Park has at least made itself seem as if the creators never run dry of of jokes and amazing ideas with their comedic gold. I, having the attention span of a squirrel, drop interest effortlessly; however with this show I remain attentive and enjoy the humor and overall story lines of each episode. Especially when compared to shows such as, “Orange is the New Black,” this glorious animation keeps up with the comedic and interesting aspect with each season.
That being said, “Orange is the New Black” tends to sell itself short especially after the 4th season when one of the main characters and one of the viewers’ favorites was killed off. Even though the Netflix Original is not a sitcom, Orange is the New Black is a comedy-drama type show. The creators have formed an amazing plot and at the end of season four worked up an intense cliffhanger when Dayanara holds a gun to a cop during what is the beginning of a prison riot, by time season five hits everything just becomes weird and irrelevant to the shows original plot. The riots start and the ladies are trying to get justice for their friend who got killed; however, the season just does not keep viewers attention.
South Park redeems itself every year with new episodes, even if one of them is a bit too much in the sense of cringe-worthy, or offensive. The show always bounces back with a much better episode right after. For instance, in season thirteen, the boys faced the japanese attacking all of the whales and dolphins in America. Stan then joins the show “Whale Wars” and learns quickly that the crew is doing absolutely nothing but throwing “stinky butter” at the Japanese.
When Stan starts actually attempting to help the whales by striking back in interesting ways such as going to Sea World and making a pretend godzilla. When he and the rest of the whale wars crew get put on television, Cartman and Kenny then feel jealous. The two boys try and join and learn quickly it was a mistake when they along with Stan are captured and taken to Japan. The boys then realize the real reason why the Japanese were angry at whales and dolphins.
Unlike Family Guy, another animated sitcom, South Park has no limits on humor. Family guy seems as if the creators try too hard to put humor in their show, and not to mention Family Guy has been canceled numerous times. There are various instances that show where Family Guy has ran out of ideas, for example we have the most unoriginal episode where James Woods steals Peter’s identity; therefore, Peter captures him with a piece of candy. The ending is lazy considering the creator, Seth McFarlane has actually made episodes with the same type of plot and ending behind them in earlier episodes.
On the other hand, South Park actually puts messages in the episodes. Unlike Family Guy South Park targets everything while still raising awareness. Episodes such as “Goobacks” in season 8 sends a message to take care of our future generations. In this episode, a man coming back from the future is seeking to find a job in the past due to the overpopulation and poverty in the future. The message does not get delivered directly, but you still think about yourself and society.
South Park also keeps the topics fresh and relevant, even after about two decades of being on air. South Park surpassed the show that started everything for animated sitcoms, The Simpsons. Since South Park only takes six days to produce, the creators can keep the content juicy and fresh. When watching the show the topics and situations in each episode are unexpected. The fact the show takes so minute time to construct and produce keeps the writers knowledgeable of what is new and controversial.
Even after two decades, South Park remains as an outstanding show, which of course is not for the light hearted. Taking only six days to make the show, South Park keeps up to meet the standards of animated sitcoms and makes sure what the viewers are watching is nothing but hot topics with interesting ideas all behind the characters, events, and even certain locations. South Park outdoes many other different shows like: “Orange is the New Black”– a show very infamous around the nation–, Family Guy and even one of the original shows that started it all for animated sitcoms, The Simpsons. Without the need to try hard and keeping viewers entertained and humored South Park’s creators do an outstanding job with each season and the comedic content. “Screw you guys, I am going home.” Cartman shouts exiting the room.