# Is it just me...



## Nik (Nov 16, 2006)

...or has South Park really gone down the crapper lately?

I don't know if anyone caught the new episode last night, but was extremely tasteless.  

They had Steve Irwin make an appearance with a stingray sticking out of his chest on the previous episode, and that was somewhat tasteless (some report that Terri was 'devastated' when she heard about the cartoon), but last night's episode really pushed it.

I respect Matt and Trey's "Either everything's funny, or nothing's funny" approach, and maybe if there was genuine humor behind the Croc Hunters apearance in the previous episode it would've been OK. But it wasn't funny--it was just in there for the shock-factor. 

Last night's episode was neither funny and it seemed to me shocking just for the sake of being shocking (if you missed it, they 'poked fun' at leukemia)... I respect their anti-censorship pushing-the-edge philosophy, but sometimes you have to draw the line for the sake of common decency, and not say something 'just because you can.'

Also, Trey is known to want to end the show, but Comedy Central isn't letting him. Sometimes I wonder if he's simply trying to generate a big enough push against the show to get it cancelled. Maybe I'm a conspiracy theorist, but this being the last new episode of the season, it seems like it was snuck in for that reason.

Discuss.


----------



## NegaTiveXero (Nov 16, 2006)

I became disinterested in South Park when I turned 15. it's not that entertaining to me anymore. I watched some of the "funny" stuff this season at the request of friends who love the show. It's not good. I prefer Futurama and Family Guy any day.

The thing is, I still love Trey and Matt, they are fucking hilarious, I just don't like South Park.


----------



## Rick (Nov 16, 2006)

I still watch it. A few years ago, I thought they were losing their edge but lately, the episodes are getting better IMO.


----------



## Adam (Nov 16, 2006)

The WoW epi. was one of the funniest to date, but that Steve Irwin epi was pretty tasteless, but in that epi. they even mention it was too early to make jokes about his death, but technically they were doing it anyway, wierd. I just saw the new hockey epi sode, they just keep poking at the Irwin thing, and BTW, wtf was with that ending anyway?


----------



## ohio_eric (Nov 16, 2006)

I thought the first three episoides this season were pretty funny. After that they have tanked it. I agree on the Steve Irwin jokes. Also the jokes about a kid with cancer did nothing for me.


----------



## Shannon (Nov 17, 2006)

SP has sucked for quite a few years now. In fact, it's sucked since Kenny went away.


----------



## Scott (Nov 17, 2006)

I stopped watching south park a while ago. Started watching this season after the WoW episode, and I have only one thought....


When the fuck did Mr Garrison become a woman!?!?


----------



## Shannon (Nov 17, 2006)

Family Guy > SP 

This is true.


----------



## Naren (Nov 17, 2006)

Shannon said:


> Family Guy > SP
> 
> This is true.



 I really don't like South Park, but I love Family Guy. It's just a hilarious show. South Park doesn't really get any reaction from me.


----------



## Metal Ken (Nov 17, 2006)

Not even family guy is that funny anymore. The only good purveyor of cartoon humor anymore is adult swim.


----------



## zimbloth (Nov 17, 2006)

I think you guys are WAY off. South Park just gets better year after year. Their "World of Warcraft" episode was one of the best in history. The one where Ike dated his teacher was epic too. 

Trey Parker > *


----------



## XEN (Nov 17, 2006)

Show quality aside, I actually think that there is a legitimate place for line crossing. Someone has to do it so that we actually know where the line is. Personally I watch the show (when I can) _BECAUSE_ it crosses the line. American television, even the supposedly racy stuff on cable, is created for a white puritan audience that wears its pansy feelings on its sleeves. Most Americans are so easy to offend. Where else in the world do people sue over pastied-over nipple shots on TV during the Superbowl halftime show? 

I saw a Nike ad get pulled from a channel in California because it depicted a Michael Myers (of Halloween fame) style monster going after a woman who, because she donned her Nikes, was able to outrun him and get away. They pulled the ad because they claimed that it was insensitive to anyone who was incapable of donning Nikes and running away from monsters! Fucking central Californian pansies! 

I guarantee that several people reading this are already formulating witty politically correct pseudo-patriotic rebuttals in their heads about the responsibilities that go hand in hand with the freedom of speech our saintly forefathers fought so hard to obtain for us.  Who the fuck are we responsible to? Society? Society isn't paying _my_ bills. Your tax dollars are! So I guess it is after all!!!! God? Which one(s)? Yours or mine? Our children? Are we to shelter them from reality so that when they eventually discover it on their own by accident they can hate us for lying to them just like our parents did to us? Fuck that. What the hell are we preparing them for? A cosmic sensitivity test? 

In America, and really anywhere in the "civilized" world, we are free to say whatever we want as long as it doesn't offend anyone or hurt anyone's feelings. Since when is insensitivity a capital sin? Besides, insn't this hypersensitivity just another way to single people out? 

This political correcntess bullshit has gone so far that the golden rule no longer applies. "Do unto others as you would have them do to you." (Just a reminder in case anyone was thinking that the golden rule was the standard of measurement used for determining if you would qualify to be an effective male porn star.) If I'm being a complete ignorant fool, endangering my life and that of my wife and child, by invading the habitats of wild animals and poking and prodding them to get them to look cool on camera; if I dangle my infant over a hungry crocodile; if I grab deadly venomous snakes by the tail; if I teach my wife how to wrestle crocs 'cause it's my definition of sexy; if I do any of that shit, would someone please care about me, or at least my wife and kid, enough to call me a dumbass and slap the shit out of me before I decide to go play with sting rays? Please respect me enough before I die to tell me the truth no matter how much it may hurt my feelings. Something like, "Hey dude, if you keep this up, your wife will eventually get over your loss and start fucking other dudes, or dudettes for that matter, and your kid, whom you treat as nothing more than a prop for your show, will call some other guy or gal, 'Dad', so please, dumbfuck, put the rabid mongoose down and back away slowly before everyone has to think of something nice to say at your funeral." I'm not going to give a shit about your respect for me after I'm dead.

If South Park sucks, don't watch it. If it offends you, grow a pair.


----------



## distressed_romeo (Nov 17, 2006)

Hmmm...I would have said South Park has been getting progressively better recently, whereas Family Guy and the Simpsons are both heading down hill.

The Steve Irwin thing strikes me as a little childish and obvious (they only put jokes like that in because they know it will get a knee-jerk reaction from a lot of people), but not the kind of thing to get particularly offended by.

I agree with most of what Urkvlt said, so I won't both reitterating his points.


----------



## ohio_eric (Nov 17, 2006)

I'm with urklvt, so much of American culture is watered down PG-13 nonsense. Shows like South Park are almost refreshing to watch even if they occasionally do cross the line.

That being said I think Family Guy sucks balls. It's a bunch of unconnected jokes that aren't even funny and I avoid it for that reason.


----------



## zimbloth (Nov 17, 2006)

In regards to the above posts, well said. I also agree South Park progressively gets funnier, whereas the Simpsons is about as funny as cancer, and Family Guy is alright but definitely losing steam. South Park has been on for 10 years and its never been better.


----------



## Nik (Nov 17, 2006)

I agree with urklvt to some extent.

I love South Park more than any other cartoon show, and this season seemed to be going strong for a while. I believe in freedom of speech and all that.

What set South Park apart was the fact that it was often shocking _and_ funny. At the end of day, it's a comedy show, so I was simply disappointed at the last episode that it really was not _funny_, but merely shocking just to be shocking.

My initial reaction may have been exaggarated--I can see what Trey was going for--the idea being to make fun of those feel-good Hollywood sports movies, and to show that in life, you don't always have a happy ending. But things like the crocodile-hunter references really seem to be there to shock and not be funny. At all.

My 2 cents.


----------



## distressed_romeo (Nov 17, 2006)

^Which probably, truth told, was probably exactly the reaction they were aiming for...


----------



## Leon (Nov 17, 2006)

eh, South Park just doesn't do it for me either, anymore.

Futurama FTW!


----------



## Vince (Nov 18, 2006)

I'm a big fan of South Park and Family Guy. I haven't seen all the new SP & FG episodes, though. Everytime I do though, they seem to be pretty good.

I have yet to see the WoW episode, but SP has always been a show that really pushes. I saw the Steve Erwin thing a few weeks ago, and thought it was ok. I mean, a few days later Bill Maher showed a pic of him on HBO from a halloween party where he dressed as the crocodile hunter. Erwin made a living out of doing some really crazy stupid things. Yes it's sad he died. Yes, it's appropriate to make light of what happened.

That's how I feel anyway.

South Park is the only show that I've seriously been shocked by though. The first Mr. Slave episode, with the glass tube. Holy shit. Or the Jennifer Lopez episode. Those were absolutely fucking insane, shocking, and some of the downright funniest damn things I've ever seen on TV.


----------



## Metal Ken (Nov 18, 2006)

desertdweller said:


> I have yet to see the WoW episode, but SP has always been a show that really pushes.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8YpHtFS-GI


----------



## RondoAllaTurca (Nov 18, 2006)

Naren said:


> I really don't like South Park, but I love Family Guy. It's just a hilarious show. South Park doesn't really get any reaction from me.



I have to say that IMO Family Guy is not better than the OLD South Park episodes. 

I just don't like the fact that Familynever has jokes that stay on topic, they always have to have a flashback or cutaway just to make them work. Seasons 1-7 MAYBE 8 are almost all great episodes. Come on, you know "Woodland Critter Christmas" was funny in a weird kinda way. But IMHO 

Futurama>Old South Park>Simpsons>Drawn Together>Family Guy>New SouthPark


----------



## skinhead (Nov 18, 2006)

South Park it's really a dumbass cartoon.

Stupid things like "eat with the ass and shit with the mouth"

And now it's really really fucked up!


----------



## Nik (Nov 18, 2006)

skinhead said:


> South Park it's really a dumbass cartoon.
> 
> Stupid things like "eat with the ass and shit with the mouth"
> 
> And now it's really really fucked up!



 

I must be the only person on this board who doesn't like Family Guy


----------



## RondoAllaTurca (Nov 18, 2006)

Nik said:


> I must be the only person on this board who doesn't like Family Guy



You're not alone


----------



## ohio_eric (Nov 18, 2006)

Nik said:


> I must be the only person on this board who doesn't like Family Guy



 I think Family Guy is pretty lame.


----------



## Mastodon (Nov 18, 2006)

I thought the season finale was drop dead hillarious.

I think Family Guy was always freakin stupid, it's only made me laugh a couple of times.

American Dad hasn't made me laugh at all.

Futurama is great, and Simpsons still gives me some laughs.

Almost everything orignal on [AS] has me laughin till I can't breathe.

All of Comedy Centrals other shows aren't funny, with the except of Chapelle's show and Reno 911.


----------



## Nik (Nov 18, 2006)

Mastodon said:


> All of Comedy Centrals other shows aren't funny, with the except of Chapelle's show and Reno 911.




And The Daily Show and The Colbert Report


----------



## RondoAllaTurca (Nov 19, 2006)

Nik said:


> And The Daily Show and The Colbert Report



+1


----------



## Scott (Nov 19, 2006)

Reno 911 is by far, the dumbest piece of crap on television.

IMO of course, which is all that should matter


----------

