South Park 

Follows the misadventures of four irreverent grade-schoolers in the quiet, dysfunctional town of South Park, Colorado.

Creators:

Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Brian Graden

Stars:

Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Isaac Hayes

Top Rated TV #68 | Won 5 Primetime Emmys. Another 12 wins & 81 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Trey Parker	...	Stan Marsh / ... 297 episodes, 1997-2018
Matt Stone	...	Kyle Broflovski / ... 297 episodes, 1997-2018
Mona Marshall	...	Sheila Broflovski / ... 200 episodes, 2000-2018
April Stewart	...	Sharon Marsh / ... 178 episodes, 2004-2018
Isaac Hayes	...	Chef 136 episodes, 1997-2006

Storyline

The curious, adventure-seeking, fourth grade group of 10 year old boys, Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny, all join in in buffoonish adventures that sometimes evolve nothing. Sometimes something that was simple at the start, turns out to get out of control. Everything is odd in the small mountain town, South Park, and the boys always find something to do with it.

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Plot Keywords:

elementary school | colorado | religious humor | social satire | censorship | 

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Taglines:

Four boys. One f**ked up town.

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Genres:

Animation | Comedy

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Certificate:

TV-MA

Details

Official Sites:

Official South Park Webpage Official South Park Webpage

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 August 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

South Park

Company Credits

Production Co:

Comedy Central, Braniff, Comedy Partners

Technical Specs

Runtime:

22 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital (season 12-) Dolby Stereo (seasons 1-11)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

16 : 9

Did You Know?

Trivia

Kyle and Ike's names are most likely derived from "kike", which is a vulgar slang term for Jewish people.

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Goofs

In early seasons, whenever the children enter the cafeteria and Chef greets them with the "Hello there children!" line, notice his name on his apron is spelled in lowercase 'chef', but the next scene when he is speaking with the children, and the focus is on him behind the servery, notice his name is spelled in uppercase 'CHEF'.

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Quotes

[repeated line]
Stephen Stotch: Butters... You are GROUNDED!

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Crazy Credits

The tune used for the Braniff logo at the end of the credits is the opening song from Trey Parker and Matt Stone's first film, "Alfred Packer: The Musical" (aka Cannibal: The Musical). Titled "Shpadoinkle Day". "The Sky is blue, and all the leaves are green. The Suns as warm as a baked potato. I think I know exactly what I mean, when I say its a Shpadoinkle day!"

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Alternate Versions

In the later showings of the episode where the boys enter Afganistan, cartoonish sound effects were added when cartman pulled out signs that read "s**t head" and "c**k sucker" and when the magnifying glasses are magnified a few times to see Osama Bin Laden's genitals, also the music in the end credits changed to "The Star Spangled Banner" while the first showing played the theme song.

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Connections

Spin-off South Park Rally (2000)

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Soundtracks

South Park (theme song)
Music by Primus
Lyrics by Trey Parker and Matt Stone
Performed by Les Claypool, Trey Parker and Matt Stone

User Reviews

An Excellent Program All Too Frequently Dismissed

Both cartoons and sci-fi have long been the only place where thought-provoking social commentary can take place, unmolested by censorship, and both are all too frequently dismissed because of their least important characteristics. South Park is an intelligent, humorous and thought-provoking show that is often ignored or decried by people who judge it only by the very things it deliberately throws in their face, such as profanity, simple animation, and graphic violence, because the creators know that people like this are easily offended by these things, and will always miss the point. The simplicity of the animation, for example, has been criticised by people who miss the point that it's deliberately meant to be simple, in the face of those high-budget major studio cartoons that are more concerned with using cgi and selling toys than having anything to say. Nope, this isn't a show for those who don't appreciate irony. The episodes tackle a wide range of issues, from 9/11 to violence on television to celebrity obsession to religion, through the use of comedy, which is usually the best way to handle such matters.

The main characters are four children who are basically mouthpieces for their creator's opinions, expressing views that would sound arrogant coming from adults. Stan represents the liberal viewpoint, as does his friend Kyle, who as a practising Jew, allows opportunity for religious comment. Is the show anti-religious? No, but fundamentalists like to think it is. It has the essential message of 'believe what you like, but leave me alone'. And of course there's Eric Cartman, the ignorant foul-mouthed selfish redneck, and funny as hell. Sometimes I think he's there to remind us not to take anyone like him seriously. That and to provide a lot of the show's humour. Easily my favourite character. Other characters on the show usually represent majority/opposing views as the plot requires.

Like any long-running show, some episodes are better than others, not all have something to say, and not all are funny. But creators Stone and Parker 'retool' the show periodically with new characters, and try to keep up with current events, and I enjoyed the latest series (8th) for these very reasons. I've watched since the beginning, but they're making an effort not to let South Park go stale.

No doubt South Park will continue to be derided by those who think the most important social problem today is swearing, yet have probably never sat down to watch an episode. And beside them will be the offended parent brigade who still haven't learned that not all cartoons are for children. But the rest of us will still be here to enjoy it, hopefully exchanging righteous indignation for a few laughs and maybe a thought or two about the world we live in. If you've never seen South Park, don't listen to the hype. Watch it and decide for yourself. Hopefully you'll be glad you did.