South Park

I don't know why this show is getting such negative reviews. A lot of people (adults mainly) keep assuming South Park is nothing more than wall to wall curse words and gross out jokes. Far from it. Sure, they swear and there is an occasional gross out jokes, but the show is also filled with quality and classic humor. The plots are genius. So what if it's offensive. Big deal! For some reason, people assume that cartoons are just for little babies, and some people appear to have difficulty accepting the fact that times have changed and animation is not just for kids anymore. Face it, we are living in an age of shows like South Park. Can't deal with it? Then that's just too bad.

South Park is one of the most misunderstood, and also the most intelligent shows on television.

South Park is a satirical look on most anything from Western society - politics, the media, today's youth, celebrities, violence in our society, and much much more. However, instead of presenting these issues as they are, they alternately project them through the exploits of four young boys in South Park, Colorado.

Unfortunately, many people take the show solely at face value, refusing to see the intelligence in it - South Park is admittedly filled with racist and sexist jokes, along with other offensive material. The problem lies within the fact that most people don't seem to understand the concept of satire and self parody.

I admit that I, myself, was one of these people - for years I refused to watch that "garbage," until finally a friend forced me to actually watch a whole episode, and I realized that the show was actually making a point.

So, if you haven't done so, go - watch an episode. You'll feel smarter when you're done.

I've been watching South Park since I was a teenager when it first came out and I can safely say it's been absolutely hilarious the whole time. It's one of the rare shows where I actually laugh out loud when watching by myself. Like any show some seasons are better than others but none are considered bad and lately it's been as funny as it's ever been. South Park is definitely not for children and written for adults. Stan, Kyle, Kenny, Cartman and the rest of these hilarious characters have been around for 25+ years and it doesn't seem like they're going anywhere anytime soon and I for one will be here watching and laughing as long as they're on.

Network: Comedy Central; Genre: Animated Comedy, Satire, Parody; Content Rating: TV-MA (for dark comic content and graphic language, sexual content, violence & animated gore); Available: DVD; Classification: Modern Classic (Star range expanded: 1 - 5);

Season Reviewed: 10+ seasons

Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflowfski, Eric Cartman and (sometimes) the ill-fated Kenny McCormick are 8-year-old boys growing up amid an adult world in the backward, frozen-over mountain town of South Park, Colorado. Their adventures, that make up creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone's animated comedy "South Park", include fending off everything from supernatural demons to the biggest names in the Hollywood intelligentsia. "South Park" is several things. It's rude, crude, shocking, smart, decidedly adult, completely original, and it is indulgent in the whims and imaginations of it's creators. It's also the very best political, pop culture and current event satire on television.

The show started as something of a fad - the new vulgar, don't-let-the-kids-watch show on the block. But as real world events changed, "Park" evolved along with them. Standing as the kings on top of a soap box they constructed out of swearing kids, talking poo, homosexual hand puppets and hermaphroditic parents; Parker and Stone where blessed with the freedom of a hit series, hip status and a network that gave them the freedom to do whatever they want. As the show aged, they matured in their storytelling abilities and the show went from shock value fad to a barbed satire of American culture.

"Park" is brought to life with oddly beautiful, vibrantly colored 2-dimensional cut-and-paste animation. The episodes are masterfully constructed. The writing a witty showcase of Parker and Stone's love for pop culture parody, graphic violence, pornography and a bold willingness to take on the hot button issues of the week. It is a free-for-all virtuoso where nothing and nobody is safe, every establishment media position gets flipped on it's head and every politically correct sacred cow gets eviscerated. Now that's comedy - if you can stomach a barrage of extreme scatological humor with your social satire. The vomit jokes and fat jokes on "Park" aren't there for the sake of it, but have substance behind them. And nobody does them better.

Eric Cartman, Mr. Garrison and more recently Randy Marsh (stepping up as a reliably hilarious scene-stealer) are classic characters, but Parker and Stone have gone further and developed an entire town of colorful caricatures. They aren't made to be as endearing as those in "The Simpsons", but aren't supposed to be. The characters aren't just vacuous idiots, and the laughs of the show come from a very socially conscious place.

Straight men Stan and Kyle are the show's most underdeveloped. They serve mostly as a mouthpiece for Parker and Stone's conservative libertarian philosophy, often literally giving a speech to a crowd in the show's finale. There is not a single other place on TV where you can see environmentalists, the anti-smoking lobby, illegal immigrants, trial lawyers, news media hysteria, elitist Hollywood liberals, abortion, sex ed in schools and every celebrity from Mel Gibson to Paris Hilton all get ripped to shreds. The show pulls it off because it has a unique ability to deconstruct and reconstruct current events better than anyone else (notably Comedy Central's overrated "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart"), giving them a hilarious or supernatural explanation without moralizing getting in the way of the laughs. They take their own messages to such loony extremes it's impossible to take seriously.The cherry on top is the seemingly endless quality of the original songs provided by the creator's cover band, DVDA.

With a skeleton crew that writes, directs, animates, voices and scores the show, this is independent television in it's purest form. This means it often labors on Parker and Stone's geeky indulgences - episodes center around a full-length "Star Wars" parody, the class gerbil making it's way up a human bowel or Timmy, a handicapped student who can only say his name. Occasionally, their shock value execution creates a gagging reaction that obscures an otherwise brilliant point ("Fat Camp"). But I'd rather have a show that challenges me than one shackled to clichés and network mandates. When "South Park" goes for the shocking ending, you better believe it actually will shock.

Still, "South Park" is almost impossible to recommend in a casual sense. The show is truly an acquired taste, but one I have to come to support whole-heartedly through the years despite (and because) I have absolutely no idea what to expect when sitting down for a new episode. How rare is that? Where so many other shows cower in the corner, begging for our approval "South Park" is constantly taking risks and re-inventing itself. We've got terrific stunt episodes, episodes built around one joke or building to a single knock-out punch line. They use the smash-cut ending better than anyone ("There Goes the Neighborhood"). Sometimes the experiments are to it's own detriment and the episode is a 22 minute bore, but even then it's almost unheard of to find a show in it's 10th season that is still water cooler television.

"South Park" grabs us by the collar, shakes us around and dares even it's biggest fans to come back next week for more. The show is a monument of creative freedom with a wicked imagination, a true (and hilariously funny) sense of comic timing, and an insightful, socially conscious ear that smartly reflects a point of view starving for attention in mainstream television. It is a hugely entertaining, fiercely visceral, fire-breathing, red-blooded American satire made by, for (and most appreciated by) the most jaded and discriminating TV viewers. We just don't have shows like this on TV today. Anywhere.

* * * * * / 5

South Park is and has been one of the funniest shows on television. It's my second favorite animated series to Family Guy and like Family Guy, this show is not afraid to say anything about anyone. Actually, I'd go as far as to say South Park goes even further than Family Guy. It's at its funniest when it's making fun of our political system right now because that's all we can do without going completely mad from it. This show shows equal opportunity when it comes to making fun of all political parties. Like any good show or movie about satire, the more you know what's going on in the world or in pop culture then the funnier this show will be to you.