If you don't have a rose get the FUDGE OUT of the South Park Thread

[Reply #640 on:]

An interesting observation made in the A.V. Club discussion thread: Towards the end, we're all expecting the kindergarteners to summon Mr. Hankey, but we instead get PewDiePie. Perhaps Matt & Trey's subtle way of calling him a piece of shit? Even the way he says "PewDiePie" is highly reminiscent of Mr. Hankey's "howdy ho."

[Reply #641 on:]

Also pewdiepie would be a good nickname for shit

[Reply #642 on:]

Towards the end, we're all expecting the kindergarteners to summon Mr. Hankey

Am I the only person who was expecting Santa Claus? Mr. Hankey breifly crossed my mind, but they kind-of used him recently in season 16, so I was expecting the regular Santa.

[Reply #643 on:]

I think it's pretty obvious that they were setting it up to be either Mr. Hankey, Santa or Jesus as a misdirect for fans.

I was expecting something else entirely. PewDiePie crossed my mind, but I thought it would probably be something similar but something else that I hadn't thought of.

[Reply #644 on:]

Yeah, all those three came to my mind and I was totally expecting it to be Mr. Hankey.

Perhaps Matt & Trey's subtle way of calling him a piece of shit?

Well, South Park calling someone a piece of shit has been far from subtle in the past.

[Reply #645 on:]

I was expecting Santa, though Jesus crossed my mind too. For some reason I didn't think of Mr. Hankey at the time.

[Reply #646 on:]

Am I the only person who was expecting Santa Claus? Mr. Hankey breifly crossed my mind, but they kind-of used him recently in season 16, so I was expecting the regular Santa.

They actually used Santa more recently, albeit in a rather pointless way.

[Reply #647 on:]

http://www.avclub.com/article/south-park-gets-5-more-years-comedy-central-record-221943

Matt and Trey have signed a deal guaranteeing another five seasons of the show, and have sold exclusive streaming rights to Hulu for a record-breaking $192 million (Hulu's most expensive purchase to date).

I'm very happy about the first half of that news, at least. Though, I dunno, I think there's a lot more integrity in having the show stream on South Park Studios for free.

[Reply #648 on:]

Not sure what to think about it this time around. I've been pretty disappointed in the last few seasons and I'm guessing they'll be continuing with the one 10 episode streak season like they did the last two years. Also, it is too bad that they took away south park studios

[Reply #649 on:]

So, this will take us up to season 23. Almost on-level with current Simpsons (though by September 2019, The Simpsons will be up to season 31 (if it's still on air)).

I wonder if the quality will stay the same or decline? I'm always excited to see new South Park, anyway.

I saw someone say recently that The Stick of Truth shows that Matt & Trey still have the ability to make really top-tier stuff, but the newer episodes just show that they're lazy/don't care about the show as much anymore. 

[Reply #650 on:]

I'm sure they care about the show as much as they always have, but I'm sure it's a lot harder to get the fans to still care. I just don't see a point in shows like this, the Simpsons, and Family guy just barreling through seasons instead of working on an exit strategy for a quality sendoff

[Reply #651 on:]

Eh, renewal is okay I guess. Despite the last few Seasons having their shit moments, they can still pull out a few great episodes a Season. Even Season 17, as horrible as it was, had some entertainment value for half of its episodes.

Would hope they have a good end plan for the show, but I don't really mind seeing it on for a few more years either (unlike several other long running animated shows).

[Reply #652 on:]

Ugh. Why?

This show was witty and clever in the early years; now it's just shock value. (Disclaimer: it's been a few years since I've watched a full episode. See below.) However, I suppose that statement also holds true for Family Guy and, to an extent, The Simpsons.

In which season was The Human CentiPad? That was the last new episode I watched. My interest had already been waning and that episode convinced me the show was no longer for me.

[Reply #653 on:]

So, this will take us up to season 23. Almost on-level with current Simpsons (though by September 2019, The Simpsons will be up to season 31 (if it's still on air)).

Though, by episode count, they'll only have produced about half of the episodes that The Simpsons have.

I wonder if the quality will stay the same or decline? I'm always excited to see new South Park, anyway.

I expect it'll be all over the place on a year-by-year basis as has been the case since about season 10. Season 12 sucked, 13 was mediocre, 14 and 15 were great, 16 and 17 sucked, 18 was great... there's no clear pattern any more.

I saw someone say recently that The Stick of Truth shows that Matt & Trey still have the ability to make really top-tier stuff, but the newer episodes just show that they're lazy/don't care about the show as much anymore.

The Book of Mormon is another recent example. Yeah, they've still got it, but I kind of feel like their days of being able to "wing it" are past them. The Stick of Truth and Book of Mormon are both things that obviously had a great deal of time and effort put into them. Maybe they should revert to a more traditional way of producing a TV show and write the episodes in advance, just to see if the quality improves.

In which season was The Human CentiPad? That was the last new episode I watched. My interest had already been waning and that episode convinced me the show was no longer for me.

That was season 15 and I completely disagree about the show just being shock value. That was far more true of the earlier seasons than it is now. I can't really think of a joke that even comes close since the bit where Mr. Mackey was propelled along the floor by his diarrhea, which was also back in season 15. And prior to that it was the "Mom, bathroom" bit from "Make Love, Not Warcraft" 5 years earlier.

[Reply #654 on:]

Oh, yes, the show definitely had shock value in the early seasons. I hope I didn't accidentally indicate that I thought otherwise.

I just feel that, for me personally, the earlier seasons gave me more reasons to watch than just shock value alone. I loved how they went on absurd adventures, the subversive humor of third/fourth graders not fully understanding the context of the joke for the audience, and the relative originality of the stories.

By the time I stopped watching, all of the other qualities that made me enjoy the show seemed to largely dissipate, with few exceptions. Now, it's just a mesh of last week's pop culture in the South Park universe with a side of shock value in varying portions. Whatever else the show has doesn't interest me, personally.

[Reply #655 on:]

it's been a few years since I've watched a full episode.

Doesn't that statement pretty much render your entire argument invalid?

In which season was The Human CentiPad? That was the last new episode I watched. My interest had already been waning and that episode convinced me the show was no longer for me.

HumancentiPad was in season 15, (they're now approaching their 19th season) and is easily one of the weakest episodes of the series - many would even consider it to be the all-time worst episode (it'd definitely be in my bottom 3). And I'd also disagree on the shock value front - unlike Family Guy and the like, South Park usually has a point to make these days, whereas the first 4-5 seasons of the show were pretty much just pure "offensive for the sake of being offensive." Sure, they do the occasional joke every now and then that has no purpose beyond being shocking, but . Perhaps you've just been very unfortunate in terms of which recent(ish) episodes you've caught?

Anyway, I personally thought season 18 was one of the best seasons they've had in years. The increased serialisation really rejuvenated the show, in my opinion, and episodes like The Cissy and Grounded Vindaloop easily rank among South Park's all-time greats. Granted, seasons 6-8 will always be show's strongest run of episodes, but Matt and Trey put out more than enough gems a year to warrant the show's continuation (and the fact that it's still them in charge after 18 years and the quality is still this good is fucking astounding - hell, just compare the most recent season to the 18th season of The Simpsons, which had already gone down the tubes by that point).

[Reply #656 on:]

Yeah, season 18 was a huge step up from what they've been doing lately. I'd say it's my favourite season since 14 and arguably the best one since season 10 or 11.

It felt like they were approaching the show with renewed energy - perhaps it was a result of it being a reduced episode order and them not juggling the show with a video game like they were during season 17.

[Reply #657 on:]

I wish I knew somebody who made south park videogames.  Fan games are really enjoyable, attempting to jump over various chasms and what not.

[Reply #658 on:]

it's been a few years since I've watched a full episode.

Doesn't that statement pretty much render your entire argument invalid?

No, not really. I posted that as a fair disclaimer; I can't offer much criticism to the show beyond season 15. Howerver, I lost interest in the show for a reason.

HumancentiPad was in season 15, (they're now approaching their 19th season) and is easily one of the weakest episodes of the series - many would even consider it to be the all-time worst episode (it'd definitely be in my bottom 3).

Well, it offers me some level of contentment to see that the general critical response to the episode was on par with mine.

Yeah, season 18 was a huge step up from what they've been doing lately. I'd say it's my favourite season since 14 and arguably the best one since season 10 or 11.

It felt like they were approaching the show with renewed energy - perhaps it was a result of it being a reduced episode order and them not juggling the show with a video game like they were during season 17.

Hmm... This is good to know. Maybe I should check out the newer episodes... At some point... I have no interest in subscribing to Hulu Plus and I'm not gonna pay $10/month (or whatever) to occassionally watch Seinfeld and possibly South Park.

[Reply #659 on:]

it's been a few years since I've watched a full episode.

Doesn't that statement pretty much render your entire argument invalid?

No, not really. I posted that as a fair disclaimer; I can't offer much criticism to the show beyond season 15. Howerver, I lost interest in the show for a reason.

That's fair, but South Park is a show that's pretty much always been going through waves of differing quality. It's consistently inconsistent, so to speak. It makes it a little bit difficult to justify watching the entire series to someone, but it also makes the show practically immune to the concept of "jumping the shark." It's virtually impossible for a show's quality to decline drastically and permanently when it's constantly re-inventing itself.

Having said that, if you get the opportunity to check out the 18th season, I'd definitely recommend it. They only do 10 episodes a year now, too, so it's not like it'll take up a particularly long amount of your time.

[Reply #660 on:]

Bump!

It has been announced that season 19 will be premiering on September 16 (the linked article also contains premiere dates for several other Comedy Central shows, including their best series right now, Nathan for You). Like the last few seasons, it will consist of 10 episodes in total (and I imagine there'll be a couple of week-long breaks in between again, too).

[Reply #661 on:]

Definitely way more excited about Nathan for you at this point

[Reply #662 on:]

Premiere ep of season 19!

Stunning and Brave

Show spoiler

There is a new principal at the helm of South Park Elementary. He forces the boys to confront the damage they’ve done through their history of racism and unconscious bias. It is the most stunning and brave South Park ever.

Press images:

Show spoiler

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Short preview:

[youtube]KPmn1sy4kGI[/youtube]

It's also confirmed this ep (or at least part of it) will be about Caitlyn Jenner.

[Reply #663 on:]

Looks pretty intriguing. I really hope they continue the serialisation from last season.

[Reply #664 on:]

It'll be interesting to see if they do that. I don't think they will and, if they do, I imagine they'll "reset" the continuity and start building it up again from the start of season 19. Honestly, I kind of felt a bit underwhelmed with the lack of continuity pay-off at the end of season 18. At times, it felt like a sort of season 18 edition of "200"/"201", but it also felt like the finale should have been like that all the way through rather than a handful of throwaway moments.
I imagine that it's largely down to how they produce the show so quickly. Maintaining complex continuity and lore requires a bit more planning.

Anyway, nothing about the premiere sounds that interesting. It's a fairly obvious, standard bit of current affairs for South Park to riff on. I'll look forward to it as much as I typically look forward to new South Park but I'm not getting extra excited about this one like I do sometimes.

[Reply #665 on:]

It'll be interesting to see if they do that. I don't think they will and, if they do, I imagine they'll "reset" the continuity and start building it up again from the start of season 19.

That's actually all I meant... Though now that you've mentioned it, I also wouldn't be surprised if there were at least a couple of quick callbacks to season 18 (most likely in the form of a Lorde reference).

[Reply #666 on:]

Looks like the new episode is getting some rather lukewarm reception online, which is strange, as I thought it was an excellent way to start the season - and pretty much the best topic of satire they could've picked when one considers all of the cultural changes over the past 9-10 months, and how much this one actually pertains to the show. The meta humour was fantastic, particularly in the opening scene, which was really clever and hilarious. The episode lost a little bit of steam as it went (I don't follow sports, so the Tom Brady stuff went over my head completely), but overall, it looks like the show has retained the jump in quality it underwent last year - particularly when one considers how hit-and-miss season premieres are for Souith Park. And the fact that PC Principal is staying on leads me to believe they're sticking with the seralisation, too.

Overall: Welcome back, South Park. I missed you.

[Reply #667 on:]

Yeah, I thought it was good. I liked the self-referential parody, but maybe it was too fast paced with character development or something. Still, it was a pretty great start. A great start for a dialogue.

Best part: Kyle not believing even for a second that Cartman would be nice to him.

[Reply #668 on:]

Hm. I've been thinking about this episode all last night and this morning, and finally decided to read a review. For once, I think the AV Club actually got my thoughts spot on.

Overall I liked the episode, but the moral posturing was too broad and it felt like Matt and Trey never really said what they wanted to say, which ended up making the point of their mockery sort of uncomfortably murky territory. Again though, the central premise was funny and it definitely got a few laughs out of me. It just could have been better.

[Reply #669 on:]

Definitely the strongest season premiere the show has had in a long time.

I enjoyed all the callbacks at the start, too. I'm interested to see where they go with the serialisation this time, that is if they do it again. It went nowhere last season, really.

[Reply #670 on:]

My opinion on this episode entirely rests on the rest of this season.

It kind of felt like part 1 of another heavily serialised season and if they continue to build on what they started here, it could turn out that this was an amazing opening to an amazing season.

However, if next week's episode has nothing (or almost nothing) to do with this one, then the opening was a waste of a good concept. Not bad, but riddled with problems such as Cartman's characterisation being atrocious (he completely goes against character without any real justification to do so) and the ending being really unsatisfying and messy.

[Reply #671 on:]

Overall I liked the episode, but the moral posturing was too broad and it felt like Matt and Trey never really said what they wanted to say, which ended up making the point of their mockery sort of uncomfortably murky territory.

See, this is actually why I liked the episode. I'm a big defender of the later seasons of the show, but a big issue has undeniably been the change in Matt & Trey's approach to satire - the show's been a lot more one-sided these past few years. This felt a lot more like the golden age, in that they were making fun of every side of the issue, including themselves. Because, ultimately, while those spearheading the "PC movement" may sometimes take things out of context and target those who don't always deserve it, it's not as if they don't have some very valid points.

I ultimately saw the episode as M&T just trying to remind everyone that it's entirely possible to make offensive jokes from time and still ultimately be in favour of social progression.

[Reply #672 on:]

S19E2:

Where My Country Gone?

Show spoiler

Garrison wants to build a wall to keep out all of the undocumented immigrants.

Press images:

Show spoiler

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[Reply #673 on:]

Oh man, it's been ages since we've had a Garrison episode. I'm really excited about this.

[Reply #674 on:]

Like last week, there were a few good laughs in this (most of which from the Canadians themselves appearing, who still get major laughs even in later eps) and it seemed like all the plot points were there to make a fairly good episode, but....man was this a messy episode.

 First off, nearly every continuity joke in here felt forced in and unfunny. I could handle PC Principal appearing again, but reusing jokes like "hot Cosby" was just painful, even added stuff like Caitlyn Jenner appearing and running over people was a really weak payoff for last week (and I'm assuming her and Garrison running for president is going to come into the Season Finale, which I'm fucking dreading now). Garrison himself wasn't very funny either, even the image of him raping Canadian Donald Trump to death while doing poppers couldn't get a shock laugh from me.

 Ugh...wasn't expecting the continuity to be this desperate till the finale. Hopefully there's a few good stand alone episodes in here like 18, cause from where this Season appears to be going right now, I'm pretty damn frightened.

 1/5.

[Reply #675 on:]

With the exception of the "hot Cosby" joke, I completely disagree. I felt this episode really kept the momentum going from the premiere, and I was ecstatic to see that the serialisation is continuing this season (hopefully they've learned a little from season 18 and can avoid the structural issues that made for an underwhelming season finale). I think "Garrison runs for president" is a really, really funny idea for a story arc, too.

Overall, maybe a 3.5 or a 4 out of 5 for me, depending on how well it all ultimately pays off this time.

[Reply #676 on:]

Am I the only one who really liked this episode?

I mean it wasn't perfect by any means, but I thought it felt very much like an episode from it's 10th or 11th season. Most jokes hit for me, while some, not so much. I did find it disturbing that Garrison molested the new Canadian Trump president to death, but that aside, I found it to be a really good episode. There's much more good than bad to be found in this ep. That's what I thought, anyways.

[Reply #677 on:]

Am I the only one who really liked this episode?

I liked it a lot, and it got a pretty glowing review over at The A.V. Club. I dare say Box Inc. is in the minority here.

Show spoiler

Nobody tell Donald Trump, he hates minorities.

[Reply #678 on:]

I felt it was similiar to first one in quality. Some good satirical jokes and seems like episodes are building up to something interesting and hopefully great.

I'm assuming her and Garrison running for president is going to come into the Season Finale, which I'm fucking dreading now.

Only if we keep the joke going on for too long.

[Reply #679 on:]

Honestly, I think that might have been the best episode since season 14.

Not only did it follow through and retroactively make last week's episode way better for me (see my thoughts on that episode as to why), but it told a great story and was really funny in typical South Park fashion.

My only real complaints are that:
1. In ways, it felt like something of a remix of classic episodes. The Canada stuff bordered on the plot of Bigger, Longer & Uncut, whilst the scenes with Butters were like Kyle's plot in "Hooked on Monkey Phonics", for example.
2. The plot felt like it changed gears a bit too often. I kind of wish that they'd dedicated an entire episode to Garrison's crusade against Canada only for next week to be an entire episode dedicated to him exploring the desolate wasteland that Canada had become.

But they're minor. Basically, I loved it and, like I said, it retroactively made last week's episode jump up from a 7/10 to an 8/10 for me.