South Park - General Discussion

[Amarsir]

#cancelsouthpark has been part of their ads since Comedy Central announced the new season's start. Maybe it's building to something, but I suspect it's just a middle finger to social media critics. How are you supposed to build backlash against a show when "cancel this show" is what their fans say? (BTW they're already renewed for 2019. I guess it could end after that, but they could just stop if they wanted. No conspiracy required.)

[Galileo908]

So...Red Hot Catholic Love Part 2?

[Galileo908]

Stan's arm is in a cast! So Sharon was right, it really wasn't the end of the world.

I was wondering why Randy was so gung-ho about going to church...and it was so everyone could riff on the priest to feel better, then become sad and jaded when Maxie leaves. That's great.

Of course I figured this whole plot with Father Maxie would be a giant misunderstanding since he was so adamant AGAINST molestation back in Red Hot Catholic Love. Hell, he even told Butters about going to the Vatican in that episode! His friendship with Butters was so wholesome. He can only speak like he's holding a sermon at all times. It was only when they spelled it out that I realized it was a "why do you bring your girlfriend around?" plot, except with a priest.

That cleanup crew was hilarious, if dark. I loved the sound the Cumby made (and later the Cumboni). "It's an eight year old's birthday party, OF COURSE it's cum!" There's a sentence I never thought I'd type.

This was a good one!

Edited October 4, 2018 by Galileo908

[Spartan Girl]

So Stan only got shot in the arm. Good to know.

Once again the whole town doesn't really give a shit about serious problems anymore. They just use church as an excuse to make pervert priest jokes. And I'll admit it was pretty funny, especially the visual of Randy laughing his ass all the way out of the pew.

Poor sweet Butters, showing compassion. Of course he'd bond with Father Maxie as a father figure, given that Stephen is such a piece of shit. And hey, nice callback to the Vatican episode.

The priest cleanup crew was creepy, but their gross tool names made me laugh. Cumboni?! LMAO.

Edited October 4, 2018 by Spartan Girl

[Lantern7]

I can see how people would say the series is slipping. I don't really agree with it, but I think "molesting priests" registers as "dropping hand grenades in a barrel full of fish." But I should (heh) count my blessings. Nobody pooped out of their mouth, right?

Thankfully, Maxie was basically the straight man. No telling half-lies, no buggering women in a confessional (that would lead to Cartman being the moral center of South Park), and no killing people and blaming it on pirate ghosts (ghost pirates?) Nope . . . just a target of lame jokes that got befriended by the one person in the town that would always have a heart. Except when he's Professor Chaos. But Butters did break that out for Maxie, and Maxie didn't seem to mind. We end up with everyone in town up in arms because they lost their target of ridicule, and the kids hate Butters' new friendship because, c'mon, who has a priest for a friend? Orel Puppington comes to mind, but it's been ages since Moral Orel. And thanks to Butters having a heart, Craig and Stan get stripped and thrown into a van along with him, tied up, and forced to act as bait by the true evil of the Church. With their cleaning devices and Cumboni. Low-hanging fruit, but rather sweet regardless.

Edited October 5, 2018 by Lantern7

[Tachi Rocinante]

So if the Church ignores the kid raping, I guess it's not a stretch they would cover up the murder of three of their "cleaners".

[OnceSane]

I admit the title of the episode had me worried they'd change up Father Maxie's views on priests molesting children.  Instead, the callback to Red Hot Catholic Love was perfect.  And Butters remains sweet as pie.  I adored him bonding with Maxie and showing him Professor Chaos.

[crookedjackson44]

I am now officially onboard with cancelling this show.  I have watched it since its inception more than 20 years ago, but these days every episode is practicably unwatchable and not funny.  If our two libertarian millionaire geniuses would stop preaching and moralizing and get back to simple, funny stories, something might be changed, but I doubt it. Ever since at least PC Principal and Garrison as Trump, this show has disintegrated.  I never fastforwarded or simply stopped watching before; now it is a common practice.

[funky-rat]

15 hours ago, crookedjackson44 said:

I am now officially onboard with cancelling this show.  I have watched it since its inception more than 20 years ago, but these days every episode is practicably unwatchable and not funny.  If our two libertarian millionaire geniuses would stop preaching and moralizing and get back to simple, funny stories, something might be changed, but I doubt it. Ever since at least PC Principal and Garrison as Trump, this show has disintegrated.  I never fastforwarded or simply stopped watching before; now it is a common practice.

My husband said pretty much the same thing.  I was disheartened to see PC Principal back.  At least we haven't seen Garrison back.....yet.  They should harken back to the casino episode.  "Premise Running Thin".  

Edited October 5, 2018 by funky-rat

[Lantern7]

On 9/26/2018 at 10:49 PM, Galileo908 said:

That would be perfect, but I don't know if bringing them back will work out so well. If so, I hope it's finally going somewhere this time.

Cartman has gotten the crap kicked out of him and STILL wouldn't learn a lesson, Token's realized it'd be moot at this point.

1. I’m at New York Comic Con now, and they got an escape room. Your prize for winning? A basketball-sized Member Berry. I’ll have to show the pic of the Stan/Kyle cosplayers who had those.

2. Cartman learning a lesson would be secondary to how good it would feel to beat the snot out of him. Even if that feeling only lasts a minute, that would probably still be awesome.

[Spartan Girl]

"The Problem With A Poo" Press Release

I knew it was only a matter of time before they spoofed Kavanaugh...but et tu, Mr. Hankey?!

[OnceSane]

Quote

Mr. Hankey must defend his character or lose everything that is important to him. Mr. Hankey’s offensive behavior puts him in jeopardy of being fired as the Director of the Annual Christmas Pageant. Meanwhile, at South Park Elementary, Strong Woman and PC Principal face a whole new set of challenges in their relationship.

Airs October 10, 2018.

[Amarsir]

A little early for a Christmas episode but it sounds like they're going in a different (if slightly late actually) direction. 

Unless I'm mistaken, we haven't seen Mr. Hankey since season 3 way back in 1999. I wonder if they'll play him straight or have a lot of self-mockery about it.

[Galileo908]

On 10/8/2018 at 6:03 PM, Amarsir said:

A little early for a Christmas episode but it sounds like they're going in a different (if slightly late actually) direction. 

Unless I'm mistaken, we haven't seen Mr. Hankey since season 3 way back in 1999. I wonder if they'll play him straight or have a lot of self-mockery about it.

I believe the last time we saw him was the zip lining episode?

Yeah, Mr. Hankey was the last character I expected to see this week (aside from all the promos I saw over the weekend). So they're taking on Roseanne, Brett Kavanaugh (and in the last minute, Apu) by way of Mr. Hankey. Because he's literally a piece of shit. I honestly expected Mr. Hankey to join President Garrison's cabinet.

And wow, some resolution on PC Principal & VP Strong Woman. Loved how they tried so hard to tiptoe around gender roles when it came to having PC babies. Wow, Quintuplets. And they have their father's eyes. Or at least their Oakleys. I really liked how the two plots ended up dovetailing.

[Spartan Girl]

First off, nice dig at Thr Simpsons with the title.

I knew that they'd do Roseanne/Kavanaugh but I wasn't expecting them to use Mr. Hankey to do it (though the comparison was appropriate). And wasn't expecting him to be banished to Springfield!! LOL.

of course Kyle would be his last defender, he covered for his stupid dad. Had to laugh during the hearing when he slammed his head on the desk when they read his tweets.

The saga of PC Principal and Strong Woman continues...with PC quints! "Sometimes PC babies don't even know what they're crying about." Ha! So true.

[Lantern7]

Show: Okay, and now Vice Principal Strong Woman is giving birth, and-

Me: Ray Bans. Oakleys.

Show: Beg pardon?

Me: The kid comes out wearing Ray Bans, Oakleys, right?

Show: No. No, it does not.

Me: Guys, it's me. I've watched from the beginning. We need a gag, it's a baby wearing Ray Bans.

[later]

Me: BABIES?!?

Show: You're a dumbass. You can't even distinguish Oakleys from Ray Bans!

No, seriously, I didn't realize that until reading the comments.

This week: Mr. Hankey is full of shit. And Ambien. When Cartman's all, "Yeah, try that in 2018," you know Kyle is fucked for defending poop. Also: PCP and VPSW have babies. Really PC babies. PC babies that will go off on political incorrectness. Actually, though, isn't the cringe involved using "Oriental" for people, as opposed to things and places?

Nice swerve at the end. Funny to see one long-running cartoon some think is past its prime take a shot at another long-running cartoon some think is past its prime. I don't think the venom will be as everlasting as Matt and Trey's mad-on for Family Guy.

[Galileo908]

34 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

PC babies that will go off on political incorrectness. Actually, though, isn't the cringe involved using "Oriental" for people, as opposed to things and places?

They're PC Babies, they'll cry regardless.

[AnimeMania]

Celebrating Christmas already starts before Thanksgiving, so it is not surprising that now it starts before Halloween.

[crookedjackson44]

Wait, wait, wait … didn't this show have an episode a long time ago which banned "shit" altogether?  Of course, back then the show made episodes which were funny.  Today all the creators do is riff on pop culture, badly.

[Lantern7]

Forgot that the school appears to be getting shot up on a regular basis. Seriously, why is that? Once Garrison left, I future the only reason to go there with a gun would be to teach Cartman a lesson. And then Butters would take the bullet.

[Amarsir]

So I saw a pretty clear distinction between the two plot lines.

• PC Principal and Strong Woman developed as characters and their relationship evolved as well. Each reappearance had new jokes, moving from just the two characters to the appearance of the babies to everyone's reaction.
• Mr. Hankey offended everyone and blamed Ambien. Then did it again and again. Maybe we got a little Kyle development out of it but I doubt there will be repercussions. Neither the hearing nor the pageant really added anything new.

Unfortunately too much of the season has been like that second plot line - starting with a decent joke but not going anywhere. This was at least redeemed a bit with the end stinger, and #cancelsimpsons is a clever way to re-twist the #cancelsouthpark advertising campaign they've been running.

[Amarsir]

11 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

I believe the last time we saw him was the zip lining episode?

Oh good call. I barely remember that episode at all and should probably rewatch.

[nickp1991]

It would‘ve been more funny if Mr. Hankey went to the Family Guy universe!

[Galileo908]

19 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

They're PC Babies, they'll cry regardless.

Also funny noting the irony that they had different Oakleys based on gender.

[Amarsir]

13 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

Also funny noting the irony that they had different Oakleys based on gender.

Did you notice that outside Strong Woman's office were two groups of "What is Gender" pamphlets, one set for boys and one for girls?

[Amarsir]

13 hours ago, nickp1991 said:

It would‘ve been more funny if Mr. Hankey went to the Family Guy universe!

That's what I initially thought they would do. But this was funnier I think. Family Guy wants desperately to be offensive, sometimes trying and failing. Sending Mr. Hankey there would arguably be a compliment. But The Simpsons wants very much to be respected and has come under fire for Hank Azaria playing Apu. So going to Springfield was a way of knocking them off their high horse AND undermining the complaint. (As in "We're the most offensive show on TV, but sure you go criticize The Simpsons.")

[funky-rat]

On ‎10‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 4:19 AM, crookedjackson44 said:

Wait, wait, wait … didn't this show have an episode a long time ago which banned "shit" altogether?  Of course, back then the show made episodes which were funny.  Today all the creators do is riff on pop culture, badly.

Yep - pretty much what they accused Family Guy of doing in the episode where they said manatees wrote their jokes.  I can't stand Family Guy either, so I've REALLY not been enjoying the last few seasons where they're just running one long drawn-out story line.

[Miles]

On 11.10.2018 at 12:33 PM, Lantern7 said:

Forgot that the school appears to be getting shot up on a regular basis. Seriously, why is that?

Because that's the reality in america now. School shootings happen all the time and nobody cares. It's called satire.

[Miles]

On 5.10.2018 at 1:39 AM, crookedjackson44 said:

I am now officially onboard with cancelling this show.  I have watched it since its inception more than 20 years ago, but these days every episode is practicably unwatchable and not funny.  If our two libertarian millionaire geniuses would stop preaching and moralizing and get back to simple, funny stories, something might be changed, but I doubt it. Ever since at least PC Principal and Garrison as Trump, this show has disintegrated.  I never fastforwarded or simply stopped watching before; now it is a common practice.

I don't really get all the complaints. South Park has always been very political. Who could forget the snuke up Hilldogs snatch as one of the earlier iterations?

There is a bit of a problem in that they didn't think Trump would win, so their storyline fell apart two seasons ago, from which they took a while to recover, and now they can't really use Garrison anymore.

But still, I don't see it being that much different now than it has ever been? what exactly is the problem?

[Spartan Girl]

"Tegridy Farms" Press Release

Yup, they're doing vaping.

[OnceSane]

Quote

Butters is selling vape pens and all kinds of fruity-flavored vape accessories at school. Meanwhile, Randy decides he should move the family to the country and take up farming.

Airs October 17, 2018.

[funky-rat]

On ‎10‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 9:08 PM, Miles said:

I don't really get all the complaints. South Park has always been very political. Who could forget the snuke up Hilldogs snatch as one of the earlier iterations?

There is a bit of a problem in that they didn't think Trump would win, so their storyline fell apart two seasons ago, from which they took a while to recover, and now they can't really use Garrison anymore.

But still, I don't see it being that much different now than it has ever been? what exactly is the problem?

For me, it's that it has gone from being a new different show every week, which rarely harkened back to prior episodes to this long drawn-out continuously not very funny storyline that left a lot of things hanging (memberberries, the weird stuff about ads) and just doesn't have the same vibe it used to.  I don't necessarily think it needs to be cancelled, but re-tooled, perhaps.  It's not necessarily the politics itself that gets me, but when pretty much every show out there nowadays has some sort of political bend to it, I'd just rather see some randomly funny stuff (Plane'arium, Mexican Staring Frog, etc).

[Amarsir]

I believe the social satire episodes are the best South Park has done, and they have been there since early on. However, in recent years the show has moved from episodic to serial and I think that's a mistake. Especially the way it's been done - without an end in mind. I believe I recall a NYT interview from a year or so ago where they said they were just creating things they thought were interesting to see where it leads them. (Which certainly fits the create-from-scratch-in-a-week production.) And that means if they do something bad, they're stuck with it until there's a good excuse to get out.

(Interestingly I just made a very similar version of this argument regarding The Good Place.)

I don't think this season is as bad as the last 2 for that. Everyone is basically true to their character and ends the episode more or less as they started. However I do get a sense that it's missing something more. I've described it previously as stretching out 1-2 jokes for the whole 30 minutes, but another way to put it is that it feels like they're building to an ultimate punchline but there isn't one. 

[Galileo908]

And we open with yet another school shooting.

Don't know what's funnier: That Randy's dream was to start a weed farm, or that EVERYONE had a weed farm. And man, you couldn't have a weed plot without Towelie. Seeing him was a great surprise. He's getting paid to test out weed, it's his dream come true. Gotta love a beat down set to Two Princes.

Man, Butters of all people was the vape pusher. And of course Cartman was behind all of this. Selling vape pens to kindergartners...is it above or below Crack Baby Basketball? Oh man, the Vaping Man was hysterical.

[Spartan Girl]

"How much worse could things get?!" Wow, so vaping was the last straw that drove Randy to move the family to a farm -- and of course it's a hemp farm.

LMAO the return of Towelie! Anything to get high, eh?

Of course Cartman would sell vapes to the kids, with a Kool-Aide mascot to boot. I don't even want to know where he got the dead hooker...

Randy and Towelie teaming up to kick ass was awesome.

I wonder if Ronan Farrow getting called by Cartman to look at Kyle will come into play in the next episodes. It would be the perfect way to expose Gerald's past...

Edited October 18, 2018 by Spartan Girl

[Lantern7]

Wow, Towelie came off better than Mr. Hankey. I never would have thought that possible.

I think this episode was a classic. Randy gets to drag his family through a dumbass fantasy, and he gets to beat up some pussy pen-using assholes. Kyle tries to stop a vape-pushing business, but Cartman and Butters suck him deeper and deeper into it. Violence ensues, and it's hilarious.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Love that Towelie is now getting paid to get high. Perfect job for him!

I totally cracked up every time that Spin Doctors song started playing again because of the hat.

[Spartan Girl]

Forgot to add how much I loved Kyle's "You're such penises!" ???????????

[heisenberg]

Here in Canada for the last months weed is covering the news 24/24 7/7.  Yesterday was the first day of a new era and tv/radio/internet was just about weed.  I was saying to myself "Southpark will be good for a change, I am fed-up of weed news"... 

 

Well...  :-)

 

It was still a good episode.

[Amarsir]

Marijuana has been in the news an awful lot lately, but still this was the best episode of the season. Lots of layers with many characters involved in different ways. 

I assume they're going to keep the school shooting theme going until it becomes a self-fulfilling gag where we don't even notice it anymore.

[lynxfx]

On 10/18/2018 at 5:29 PM, Amarsir said:

I assume they're going to keep the school shooting theme going until it becomes a self-fulfilling gag where we don't even notice it anymore.

Already working, I didn't notice that there was a school shooting in this episode. My attention wasn't 100% on the show though.

[ganesh]

20 hours ago, lynxfx said:

Already working, I didn't notice that there was a school shooting in this episode. My attention wasn't 100% on the show though.

Me too. Until I came here. 

People who vape are douche bags. 

On 10/18/2018 at 2:35 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I totally cracked up every time that Spin Doctors song started playing again because of the hat.

I felt like this joke was for me because I can't stand them, and they were popular when I was in undergrad, and my friends from then still troll me on it. 

[Lantern7]

No new episode this week. Next one airs on Halloween, and maybe it’ll be extra messed-up. In a good way.

[Peace 47]

Kyle defended his friend (Mr. Hankey) because Mr. Hankey has once been a good guy, and Kyle got blowback for it because Mr. Hankey had changed and become a figurative piece of crap and not just a literal one.

There were the obvious parallels in the show to the Roseanne situation and the Kavanaugh hearings, but the above made me also wonder if the South Park guys got any blowback from defending someone recently embroiled in controversy who had been good to them in the past but was behaving poorly now.  Maybe even this being the explanation for why they took that shot at The Simpsons at the end—i.e., whether they think that the way The Simpsons handled the Apu controversy is, well, crappy, despite the past good of that show.

Maybe that is reading too much into it, though, and it was just limited to an allegory for the Roseanne situation where she was trying to point to her past work on the original show and appeals to nostalgia (Mr. Hankey reminding everyone of how wonderful Christmas is, even if October is not the time or place it), versus being a vile person on social media and blaming it on Ambien.

Anyway, I thought that this episode was really enjoyable.  Liked Cartman saying something like, “Let us know how that works out for you in 2018.”  

[Spartan Girl]

5 hours ago, Peace 47 said:

Kyle defended his friend (Mr. Hankey) because Mr. Hankey has once been a good guy, and Kyle got blowback for it because Mr. Hankey had changed and become a figurative piece of crap and not just a literal one.

There were the obvious parallels in the show to the Roseanne situation and the Kavanaugh hearings, but the above made me also wonder if the South Park guys got any blowback from defending someone recently embroiled in controversy who had been good to them in the past but was behaving poorly now.  Maybe even this being the explanation for why they took that shot at The Simpsons at the end—i.e., whether they think that the way The Simpsons handled the Apu controversy is, well, crappy, despite the past good of that show.

Maybe that is reading too much into it, though, and it was just limited to an allegory for the Roseanne situation where she was trying to point to her past work on the original show and appeals to nostalgia (Mr. Hankey reminding everyone of how wonderful Christmas is, even if October is not the time or place it), versus being a vile person on social media and blaming it on Ambien.

Anyway, I thought that this episode was really enjoyable.  Liked Cartman saying something like, “Let us know how that works out for you in 2018.”  

I thought Mr Hankey constantly bringing up Christmas when it had nothing to do with anything was an allegory to Roseanne's bullshit excuse that she was trying to make a point about Israel, but that's just how I saw it.

I did feel bad for Kyle for the reasons you stated, especially when Mr Hankey wound up literally getting shit all over him. And he didn't even apologize, he just used the Ambien excuse. The whole "We can all be shitty sometimes" was a valid point, but it was too little too late. Given their history, the moment when Kyle finally turned his back on him was heartbreaking. 

Edited October 28, 2018 by Spartan Girl

[Lantern7]

This Wednesday: “The Scoots.” I don’t recognize Cartman and Kyle’s costumes. Also, has a new South Park episode ever premiere on October 31?

[OnceSane]

Quote

This year, a revolution in mobility is changing Halloween for everyone. Chaos erupts as every kid is out to get more candy than they have ever gotten before. Mr. Mackey and the rest of the adults ate hording emergency supplies and hoping to survive until morning.

Airs October 31, 2018.

[Lantern7]

Checked Wikipedia. Turns out that two episodes of South Park have aired on Halloween . . . but neither of them were really about Halloween: "Imaginationland Episode III" (2007) and "A Scause for Applause" (2012).

[Galileo908]

A Halloween episode actually airing on Halloween?! Madness. But I really liked this one.

A horror story involving scooters was an interesting choice, as was making Mr. Mackey and Kenny the stars. I have a feeling it'd be Mr. Garrison in Mackey's place if he wasn't currently running the country. I love how Mackey prances instead of runs. Weird how we never found out anything about the scooters, or if they'll come back. They probably will. I also called that Kenny was the narrator all along.

I love how the Stotches thought they could hide out at Tegridy Farms, but there's no hiding there. And then Mr. Stotch was trick or treating himself to get candy for his house.

"You don't even have a costume!"
"Yes I do, I'm Megyn Kelly!" 

Interesting that there were so many kids dressed as Fortnite characters.

Edited November 1, 2018 by Galileo908

[Spartan Girl]

South Park takes on escooters a la The Purge! Love it! Those damn scooters are all over my downtown area, and they drive me nuts. 

Kenny teaming up with Mackey to take out the scooters was brilliant. I'd love another episode of those two working together. 

Of course Cartman has his mom's credit card number. And of course Butters' dad would trick or treat to mooch off others' candy. To be fair, he's so terrible he can pass for Megyn Kelly without a costume, ha.

Who was the voice of adult Kenny? He sounded so familiar. 

Edited November 1, 2018 by Spartan Girl