On South Park...

South Park- It's been my favorite comedy show for the past few years, and I was getting ready to write this as an ode to its many joys. Then season ten was broadcast, and it occurred to me how much South Park has matured, and not always for the better. Outside of the two-parter 'family guy' episodes and the 'dog-whisperer' one, so far season ten's been its most uneven. Let me run down a brief history of its development as a series.

The first few seasons of South Park were crude, (in both writing and execution) and relied on fart humor and non-sequitur jokes to fill space. (Robert Smith of the Cure? Why?) In the course of the series, they grew in skill and depth. Cartman's character stood out for me as an embodiment of all that was evil. And of course, hilarious. There were no depths that to which he would not sink. (faking his hand as a younger, sassier version of Jennifer Lopez, tricking an older kid into eating his parents, organizing fans of that fuckin' Mel Gibson S-and-M Jesus movie into Neo-Nazis, obtaining fetuses so he could have his own Shakey's pizza restaurant, the list goes on...) Trey Parker and Matt Stone learned to strip off the jokes that didn't work (killing Kenny got old real quick) and their comedic timing became impeccable. One aspect of their production became invaluable to them. Owing to the quick turnaround time(a week) of producing their show, they could comment on current events almost immediately, an impossibility in more traditional animated shows like the Simpsons.

It turns out that Parker and Stone's need to comment on current events is starting to become a liability as much as an asset these days. Consider the episode where Cartman merges, Tetuso-from-the-anime-Akira-like into his Trapper Keeper. The subplot was over a row in kindergarten regarding the election of a class president. This was run at about the time of the first presidential election of the Usurper, and was meant as a commentary of the colossal fuckup at the poll booths in Florida. (The undecided vote in the classroom is a little girl named Flora.) The thing is, unless you have a vested interest in the politics of 2000, the subplot slows down the show. In five years, anyone who watches the episode where Kenny's body is in a coma while Cartman fights the other boys to turn off Kenny's life support so Kenny won't be in an undead limbo,(actually, it's to get his PSP-this is Cartman, remember) won't instantly make the connection to the Terri Schalvo case. And even more recently, in series 10, the story of the hapless Towelie's attempt to break into the publishing world mirrors the scandal of James Frey's misleading drug rehab memoirs. Remember? No? The ground is practically disappearing under Parker and Stone's feet...

Which brings me to another beef I have with the show. Parker and Stone's politics could be described as 'Libertarian-lite' That is, they're fundamentally conservative with a liberal outlook on social issues. Their point of view in these post-liberal times is that if we can all agree to split the difference, we'd all get along much better. The problem is, liberals and conservatives these days consider each other's side as an outright betrayal of America itself. Right now, it seems like Parker and Stone are more into pushing buttons, especially liberal ones, than having anything relevant to say. They've got a bug up their ass especially with global warming. (They don't believe it exists.) You can argue that the media is blowing the concern for global warming out of proportion. You can't argue that global warming doesn't exist. In five years, I'll be sure to head down to the flooded Los Angeles basin on my jet-ski. When I find Parker and Stone floating on their raft over what used to be Santa Monica Boulevard and drinking their urine, I'll tell 'em, "TOOOLLLLD YOOOOOU SOOOOO!" When you start using your cartoon show as a format to grind your various axes, you wind up alienating your audience, especially since they came in expecting to be entertained.

Nonetheless, It's contained some of the funniest moments that I've ever seen in my life on television, and because this seems like the fan-boy thing to do, here's a list of my personal top-ten favorites: (in no particular order...)

"A Woodland Critter Christmas"- In the ultimate piss-take of every generic, sentimental, cloying, Rankin-Bass Christmas special, Stan discovers a gaggle of adorable woodland creatures straight out of Central Casting preparing for the birth of the savior of all woodland critters. Stan gets reluctantly charged with the task of slaying an 'evil' mountain lion trying to kill the porcupine mother. After completing his mission, he discovers the critters are devil-worshipers, and the mountain lion was good. When he tries to stop the Anti-Christ from coming into being, he finds the critters have taken Kyle as a host for the spawn of Satan. They defeat the critters, with some help from Santa Claus, and it turns out the whole story was a tale told by Cartman during their school class' storytime period. It was also yet another excuse for Cartman to rip on Kyle for being Jewish. "And everyone lived happily ever after! -except for Kyle, who died of AIDS, two weeks later!" "Goddamm you, Cartman!!"

"Trapped in the Closet"-It's easy to see why Scientologists hate this episode.(Stan takes an e-reading and is discovered to be the reincarnation of L. Ron Hubbard.) If you got the full news up front, you'd get your money back, A.S.A.P. Also, I've never been too fond of Tom Cruise as an actor, myself. He's essentially played one stock character his entire career (smug asshole getting his comeuppance) and his recent firing of his publicist in favor of his Scientologist sister was a bad move. The best form of satire, it seems, is to just let the facts speak for themselves.

"Casa Bonita"-Cartman goes to psychopathic lengths to prevent Butters from attending Kyle's birthday party at a popular family restaurant in Denver. It seems Kyle has finally wised up to Cartman's behavior and attempted to disassociate himself from Cartman. Eventually, Kyle relents and gives Cartman the caveat that if Butters can't attend, Cartman can take his place in the party. Naturally, this sets off the chain of events involving Cartman trying to remove Butters from the picture. You can imagine Parker and Stone setting up the scenario; "Well, so he can't actually KILL Butters, but anything else is fair game!"

"Scott Tenorman must Die!"-The first episode that illustrated the true depths to which the depraved Cartman would sink. After teenager Scott Tenorman sells Cartman his pubic hair,(since Cartman is too naive to understand one grows ones own 'pubes', Cartman feels that owning pubic hair, even someone else's, is a sign of maturity) Cartman spends the entire episode trying to exact a cartoon-cat-and-mouse revenge on the older boy. Things take a twist into the Grand Guiginol when Cartman feeds Scott his own dead parents in a chili cook-off.

"Butter's very own Episode" -If Cartman is my favorite character, then Butters is my second favorite. He's the yin to Cartman's yang, as it were. Naive, good-hearted, considerate, obedient. In the world of South Park, he hasn't got a chance. It seems everyone knew a kid like this in school. He's the kid who gets sent to the principal's office simply because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. This episode has poor Butters trying to return home after his mom fails a murder attempt on his life. Seem's Butter's dad was experimenting with homosexuality, and mom went all Andrea Yates on Butters. This is kind of sadistic, but I loved the end of the "Jared has Aides" episode, where both of Butter's parents hurry home to beat on him after the foul-mouthed Cartman fools them into thinking he's Butters. "Aw, man! If I were a little older, right now, I'd be soo jackin' it!" exclaims Cartman, seated in front of the Butters household with snacks.

"Cartoon Wars"-The best one of season ten so far. It rips on the recent Danish cartoon controversy, as well as the slack-assed 'writing' of the 'Family Guy' cartoon. Cartman heads to L.A. to convince the Fox network to not show the latest 'Family guy' episode, which is alleged to depict the Muslim prophet Mohammed. Cartman's rationale is that this will set off a wave of violence throughout the Muslim world, while he really just wants 'Family Guy' off the air 'cause he hates it. Kyle also heads to L.A. to stop Cartman, since Kyle is a fan of 'Family Guy'. Look for Bart Simpson as a special guest. Turns out that the 'Family Guy' writers are a bunch of manatees who grab random pop-culture references from one side of a water tank, then put them in a slot on the other side of the tank.

"AWESOME-O"-Another Cartman-vs.-Butters episode. Cartman dresses up as a personal robot for Butters, in order to trick Butters into spilling his personal embarrassing secrets to Cartman. The whole thing backfires when Butters reveals to 'AWESOME-O'/Cartman that Butters has a video of Cartman dressing up like Britney Spears. In a turn of events, Butters and Cartman find themselves in L.A., working for a movie studio cranking out story ideas for Adam Sandler vehicles. A good premise that goes off into orbit. Cartman gets busted, and the final scene is everyone laughing at Cartman while the Britney video is played...

"The Passion of the Jew"- With Mr. Gibson's recent arrest in the spotlight,(with his drunken anti-Semitic ravings) this episode manages to retain its relevance. After viewing Gibson's 'Passion of the Christ' movie, Cartman is moved, of course, to dress up like Adolf Hitler and begin a movement to exterminate the Jews. Meanwhile, Kyle, having seen the same movie, is moved to doubt his people's beliefs. And finally, Stan and Kenny do the right thing and head to Mel's place in Malibu and rightfully demand their ticket money back. (If you could do this in the real world, the Wachowski brothers would be currently cleaning my kitchen... Anyway...)

"Stupid Spoiled Whore"-If, like me, you've never understood the interest that's surrounded Paris Hilton, this is the perfect episode. She's a non-celebrity celebrity in the ultimate sense. Unlike previous hanger-ons, like Bianca Jagger and Kevin Federline, the only real talent that Paris Hilton has ever displayed in her life was to slither out of the vagina of a member of the wealthy Hilton clan. Her 'fame' came about in a reality show called 'The simple life' in which she and another giggling, mean-spirited piece of useless dog shit (who's only talent was that half of her squirted out of the nutsack of Lionel Ritchie), traveled the country working menial jobs in the service industry. The humor in that series, of course, was that while for most Americans, working these jobs fed their families and gave purpose to their lives, for Hilton and Ritchie, it was a fate worse than death. Actually, I'm lying when I say I don't get Paris' appeal. Most people regard her with the contempt I do. And some people regard her with the same contempt, but also because they feel that life's greatest injustice is that they themselves do not have Paris' selfish, cruel, greedy lifestyle. If America is to become a religious fundamentalist state, the upside is that people like this will either be shot, or sent to work for 18 hours a day in Revolutionary China-style 'reeducation camps'. I can only dream...

"All About the Mormons"-It's the inverse of the 'Scientology' episode, really. Parker and Stone just let the facts speak for themselves again, this time regarding the creation of the Mormon faith. In this case, since the majority of Mormons don't follow the goofier aspects of their faith, and focus on the positive, character-building values, they come out on top in this episode. The Mormon kid, Gary, seemed like such a good character. Why didn't they use him again?

So there you are. Whether season ten is a turning point for the show remains to be seen. Its high points remain Cartman, and especially his interactions with the hapless Butters. If South Park wants to remain topical, it would do well to realize that satire is a precision instrument, and not a sledgehammer.