this feels totally super good

Last nght kind of sucked. I hate episodes where we don't really see Stan/Kyle/Cartman/Kenny. Mr(s). Garrison is ok for a throw-away line on occasion, but (s)he is pretty fucking annoying for an entire 30 minutes...and the 300/Persian jokes got old really fast.

Other than that it's been a great season so far.

i thought last night's episode started off really really strong and ended pretty strongly. the middle sort of dragged, but had some good lines mixed in there.

Butters last night may have had the funniest line of the season in the "you have to be careful with scissors" or some variation of that. It re-affirmed that he is easily the best character on the show.

One of the biggest SP laughs I've had in a while.

The 300 episode was pretty good, probably on a par with the Da Vinci Code one. I do prefer 'it was a double cross!' to 'scissor me timbers' though.

As long as we don't get any more headlice episodes I'll be happy.

So was tonight's episode supposed to be a parody of "King of Kong?" It seems like it was a pretty obvious parody, but why parody that flick, which is still pretty obscure and benign?

Maybe it was supposed to be more of a tribute, or maybe it was just coincidence...but the similarities seemed way too close for coincidence.

Have no clue what you are referring to. I thought it was pretty timely though, seeing as though there was a huge discussion on a mailing list I get about Bono and whether he's an asshole with a God complex or really the world's savior.

I thought last week's episode was much better (Cartman faking tourette's syndrome), but this one was solid.

It was a combo parody of King of Kong and The DaVinci code.

The basic plot of "King of Kong":

[spoiler]1. Billy Mitchell is an arrogant asshole who is the current high score record holder for Donkey Kong
2. Steve Weibe, a middle class father who's always finished second in life, decides to take a shot at the Donkey Kong title.
3. "Twin Galaxies" is the organization that oversees and certifies high scores for old school arcade games
4. Steve Weibe obtains Donkey Kong record, and sends it to Twin Galaxies on videotape.
5. Twin Galaxies refuses to certify high score because it wasn't in person (among other things), even though they normally allow videotaped high scores.
6. Steve Weibe obtains Donkey Kong high score in person in front of Twin Galaxy officials.
7. Right as Steve Weibe is being crowned the new champion, Billy Mitchell sends in a videotape of an even higher score, and the tape appears to be doctored.
8. Despite the hypocrisy and the seemingly doctored tape, Twin Galaxies crowns Billy Mitchell the champion.[/spoiler]

Huh. I'm glad I was able to enjoy that ep on another level, then!

and they stole from Little Britain<br>
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/l8orUaCJ0GY" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="319" height="263"></embed></object>

The "trilogy" is one of the best things SP has done in years. Bringing back the Woodland creatures is fantastic. I love this show. I'm really wondering how the "Kyle has to suck Cartman's balls" thing plays out.

Bitty.

Excellent year so far, and they've been getting pretty obscure with the pop culture references. The Stan's dad's poop episode was a parody of "King of Kong," and the scene in this weeks episode where Cartman gives CPR to Kyle is from the Abyss. Great stuff.

McLean?

But yeah, these episodes are the best of the season by some way. I never cease to be shocked when horrible things happen to cartoon characters.

The scenes of the terrorist attack in the first ep, with Ronald McDonald picking up his blown-off arm and the Care Bear being shot in the head, were great, in a sick way. It was just surreal to see them in that situation. Perfect ep to bring back the Woodland creatures, since that ep was one of the most fantastically great/disturbing eps they've ever done.

Also interesting and edgy(?) to put Jesus in Imaginationland.

This week's episode:


Guitar Queer-o

Stan and Kyle are hooked on Guitar Hero. But Stan's superior skills on the video game damage his friendship with Kyle.

i did not like this episode one bit.
offensive, unfunny and i usually like the pushing of the envelope.

the only thing i liked was the transition music which was really happy.

As much as I dig the show, I really despise what they've done to Mr. - I mean Ms. - Garrison's character.
Definitely lowered the bar on that one.

Tonight's South Park was OK I guess, I laughed a couple of times- but they've become as much of a parody of themselves as Family Guy and the Simpsons. It seems very formulaic the past couple of years. They do it far better than the Simpsons and Family Guy IMO, but there's really not as many original funny stories within the show anymore.

It's a knock on the show, but I do still really enjoy many of the newer episodes. At least they aren't laughably unfunny like the Simpsons now.

AIDSburger in Paradise was wroth me watching it

I enjoyed it. What was offensive about it?

Cartman's "HIV positive" bit was hilarious. Not their best but a solid SP.

The seasons where Mr. Garrison became Mrs. Garrison, and they parodied Hurricane Katrina within days of its occorrence, was comedy gold. Now, meh.

"Cartman, stop laughing! There is nothing funny about this!"

Show = Done.

I really don't like being That Asshole, but it's the way I feel, and have felt for a long time now, this ep just confirmed it in pretty much every way.

Nothing sad, really. Had a great run, as good as could really be asked. But it's over.

But yeah, I agree.

I know, right? Terrible, boring point to make. But it feels disturbingly inarguable.

I'm glad I don't see it that way.

South Park reached its zenith when it introduced Butters into the storylines; however, the show's gotten progressively worse with each passing season, with a few exceptions. Part of the show's problem is that Trey Parker & Matt Stone have made the characters less sympathetic in their attempt to be as controversial as possible. For example, the storyline where Cartman wants Kylie to suck his balls is unconscionable. Bring back both Timmy & Jimmy into the storylines and ease up on Cartman.

i could watch a whole series based on Butters

Wait, don't you guys remember the strong run of episodes at the end of last season? I didn't think this episode was that great either, but it wasn't any worse than Hillary Clinton's vagina having a bomb in it last season or the James Frey parody from a few years back.


And yes, I too would watch The Butters Show all day long.

I don't think it's done. It's always been a pretty hit-or-miss show.

I dunno. Admittedly I missed a lot of last season, including the "Imagination Land" eps that people actually seemed to like, but I feel like it's been a long-ass time since I've ever been completely satisfied by an episode. All the ones I saw from last season (the Guitar Hero one, the homeless Dawn of the Dead one, the Bono one, the gay Butters one) just felt like weak ideas thrown in with some tired film parody and a lot of character caricature. The last I remember being seriously impressed by was the Cartoon Wars, and even that was pretty flawed. Very dispiritng.

They seem to be at their best the last few years when they're rushing something from that week's news into that week's episode. I'm not surprised that the first episode back from the strike season is neither topical nor particularly inspired. I'll stick with it through the end of the season at least, in any case.

And, um, funny? I don't get this at all? What kind of criticism of this show is "unconscionable" when a few years back they had a Christmas episode about blood-lusting, satantic cute furry creatures with an abortion side plotline? Isn't this the point?

Parody of the Wicker Man? What the fuck?

Every episode now streaming online in great quality:

http://www.southparkstudios.com/

How awesome is that? (Monty scooped me...)

www.variety.com
'South Park' site offers every episode
Parker, Stone give fans a free look at series
By SAM THIELMAN
'South Park' episodes will now be online at SouthParkStudios.com.

After years of encouraging their fans to share "South Park," creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have set up a viable alternative to the mass YouTube-based distribution of popular clips from the hit show: They're just going to give the whole thing away on SouthParkStudios.com.
"We got really sick of having to download our own show illegally all the time, so we gave ourselves a legal alternative," the duo quipped in a statement.

The site offers every "South Park" episode including the current one, which stays live for a week after its airdate and then goes dark for the rest of the month, at which point it is added to the site's back catalog.

The streaming episodes run without ad breaks, but a spokeswoman for Comedy Central said the full episodes would eventually include advertising. SouthParkStudios.com also hosts embeddable clips. Launch sponsors for the venture are Toyota and Virgin.

It's a good time for Parker and Stone to distance themselves from the YouTube community given Comedy Central parent Viacom's protracted lawsuit against the Web-based video distrib, which features clips from the show.

Comedy Central said the site has already generated more than 3 million page visitors and more than 1 million streams of full episodes since it debuted with no fanfare last week.

No talk of the britney episode? It may have been the most uncomfortable 20 minutes of television i've ever sat through, but i love them for it.

eh, the Britney episode did nothing for me except irk me

i mean, when she took the shotgun to her head at the beginning, there was nothing but silence in my apartment. i know that's what they were going for, and they definitely succeeded by getting their audience to just basically shuttup for a few minutes. it was awkward/funny/awkward again

overall, though, eh. i felt it dragged after the first commercial break. the continuous BRITNEY WATCH updates were funny, but also predictable. the episode sort of reminded me that the show is capable of so much more.

this season was going strong, i liked the guitar hero episode, but the last two seem like a totally different show.
it is not funny but more 'topical' and i mean that in quotes since spears has been outta the news, and aids is so 1990's.

I loved the Guitar Hero one, very funny w/ lots of great riffs on the music biz

the aids one as so so, i thought the britney episode was excellent though.

wasn't that kind of the point?

Tonight's Heavy Metal tribute was the best thing I've ever seen, besides the original Heavy Metal of course.

Shit, i'm clueless. I totally didn't (don't) get the reference.

Seriously. Heavy Metal (the cartoon) had such a huge impact on my adolescence. I was eating up last night's episode, but it was tough (and still is tough) to tell if it was because of nostalgia or because the episode was great (I think it was a little of both).

They really nailed the animation, especially the way it's a little choppy. And I loved that they replaced the corvette with a trans am (at least I think it was a corvette in the original). Great stuff.

Great episode. Any show that can still turn out a few classics a season is not "done". The Heavy Metal and Anne Frank bits were great.