South Park: The Streaming Wars

I'm getting the feeling that they don't really have the infinite freedom with these Paramount+ productions to select whatever music they want to insert anywhere. That would explain some of the choices, especially the now infamous 'rapper chic going on about her puss for minutes' bit.

Otherwise i don't get the unified negativeness towards this, i was fooled into the belief that i'm not gonna smile or laugh even once, and there i am, adequately entertained, even if it is more on the clever satire side than the laugh out loud side of things.

I have no idea if South Park Studios has returned to their regular ways, or if this was done in that from-home style, but either way, the art direction was way more consistent and simply South Park, than the virus movies, which were just all over the place, possibly from the hectic working conditions. Apart from strange 1:1 inserts of the diorama style series intro as establishing shots for the town which felt out of place, it was all done right.

You could say too much Randy, but i didn't see any Randy, but this new Karen guy looks promising. Jokes aside, the boys got a good amount of scenes, nothing to nag there.

Just overall it's kinda obvious that the guys REALLY got accustomed to the 20 minutes structure, and these specials are essentially 20 minutes worth of stuff stretched to 40. That might make some people uncomfortable a bit, but it is nothing to throw 1/10's at these, that's just rude.

I know that the last few seasons have been panned by audiences and critics, everyone loves South Park for their own reasons whether it be nostalgia, great jokes, toilet humor, whatever..

For me I have enjoyed the direction the show has gone and I'll try to help explain why it is better (with the exception of a few episodes). Although I was the first to be extremely upset in the constant reduction in episodes the quality of the content has gone up. They are able to connect the story over multiple episodes which has jokes references hitting twice. I suppose if you didn't like the first joke it won't hit hard a second time but it seems to me that half of the viewers do not understand the satire behind the jokes made. I understand the joke itself may not be a knock out with every viewer as people have become more sensitive about certain topics, do not care for toilet humor, or it went over their head, but believe me, the writing is still as solid as it ever was if not better. There are fundamentally multiple levels of storytelling here in streaming wars- first I appreciate the connections that go back to the last season that were comical for me and they worked here too. Second streaming wars is relevant with the entertainment industry's constant struggle with retaining and paying talent, becoming a monopoly, etc etc. Third, have you all not seen the actual "streaming wars" in the American west? Africa? General shortage of water? The reviews that I have been reading about how people aren't laughing anymore, I promise that half of you aren't laughing because you don't understand the joke references. The other half may be offended or just got tired of the story. Randy's Tegridy weed antics have about run it's course, but I appreciate that Towlie is now a recurring character, so win some lose some. The episodes that he is the prominent character I rewatch less of, but I still enjoy them. Don't give up on this series, if the jokes or the story isn't landing, try to see what they are referencing behind the reference. There is a reason Family Guy has never won an Emmy and South Park has a vault full. It's not for everyone but there is quality writing.

I just didn't love this. I'm not sure why it needed to be a special instead of just an episode.

Frankly, I'm sick of Tegridy Farms. I'm actually kind of sick of Randy being such a prominent character. I miss Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny being the main characters. That's what the whole show was. And I like Randy, but there's nothing new being presented to the viewer. Just more of the same old stuff.

This just didn't have many laughs at all.

I was so excited to see it, but was disappointed.

I know a lot of people found it dull, uncreative, repetitive, and too dependent on current trends in society and pop culture. But I disagree for the most part. They successfully found a fun way to bring elements from many previous episodes, and merge them together with a mockery of modern day streaming services as the glue. They make a lot of great critical points about streaming services in fun, hilarious ways. Like how anybody can "sell content" for streaming services, how quickly they get canceled, and how the content can be garbage and yet people will still pay for it. And don't forget how competitive the streaming business has become in such a short period of time.

On top of all that, you have the usual antics from Cartman, driven by his greedy, incessant need for attention and material gain. And the boys are the focal point of one of the three main story arcs of course that play a part in the mockery of streaming services. And the story of Tegridy Weed continues. And yes, I do agree, South Park should be all about the boys and not so much about Randy and his farm, but I don't feel like he really hogs the limelight.

And to those complaining about it being oversaturated with parodies and references to current news, where have you been the last 10 seasons? That's basically what they do now, and have been doing for some time.

Overall it's pretty funny, not the best, but when you take a step back to see what the creators are doing, it certainly becomes an episode worthy of watching. On a streaming service of course.

It was entertaining enough to see how the plot evolved, but there weren't a lot of laughs. It just felt very light on jokes. The creators continue to focus on Randy and Tegridy weed, as well as rehashing ManBearPig, both of which have gotten tiring. If you're a South Park fan, you'll probably still enjoy it, but don't expect nonstop laughter. The "streaming" play on words had a chance to be funny, but they didn't really utilize it well. All in all, I laughed exactly twice. A far cry from South Park's prime.