South Park Fall 2009

Let me start of by saying that I love South Park. I have been watching the show since the very beginning in 97, and have been an enormous fan ever since. I say all this in the beginning because I don't want to give the impression that I hate the show in any way. The peak of South Park was in Seasons 5 and 6. These were the seasons where every episode was hilarious as well as topical. Like The Simpsons, South Park hit a stride early and has been trudging along since. These days South Park delves more into the topical without focusing in on the funny. The same could be said for the most recent lineup of episodes during the fall.

This season went deep into topics of this year: Kanye West, the dead celebrities, Whale Wars, the Somali Pirates, the Jonas Brothers and Glenn Beck. The show spent so much time trying to imitate and point out the flaws in each of these issues that they almost forget to be funny. The perfect example of this is Dances with Smurfs. This episode tried too much to show how crazy Glenn Beck is (and I appreciate that), and in the process really didn't make the episode enjoyable at all. Plus, the whole thing with the Smurfs was unnecessary and really brought down the episode even further. Don't get me wrong, the show has the ability to be funny and topical. The Fishsticks episode is perfect example of this. Also, the John Edwards episode is a great example, and it happens to be my favorite SP episode of all time.

The two funniest parts of the fall half of season 13, Butters' Bottom Bitch(best episode of the season) and Japanese guys in Whale Whores, had nothing to do with any topical subjects at all. THAT'S what they should focus on, just doing their own thing. Some of South Park's most famous episodes really weren't topical and all. They just focused on their jokes and that's all that mattered. Episodes like Major Boobage, Towelie, Scott Tenorman Must Die, and How to Eat With Your Butt were not really topical in any way. That's why South Park became one of the most recognized cartoons in the world.

The show has the same formula for every season: 1 or 2 great episodes, 1 or 2 more decent episodes, and the rest are mediocre. Look it up, if you think I'm wrong. It is this formula that has made South Park somewhat stagnant ever since season 8. All that being said, I still and always will love South Park and will continue to watch every episode. Besides, as stagnant as the show is, it's better than anything the Simpsons or Family Guy have been putting out these days. Also, is the Cleveland Show still on? If yes, then WHY is it still on?

Here is my grade breakdown for the fall half of season 13 of South Park:

Dead Celebrities: 8.2

Butters' Bottom Bitch: 9.0

W.T.F.: 6.5

Whale Whores: 8.6

The F Word: 8.2

Dances With Smurfs: 6.0

Pee: 7.0

South Park season 13 as a whole gets an 8.0. It's a big improvement over season 12, where the only good episode was Major Boobage.

South Park: W.T.F.

South Park had a good couple of episodes to start their Fall run, but their third episode, titled W.T.F., really lacked the quality the first 2 had. I knew it was a matter of time before South Park took a jab at the WWE, and since I used to watch wrestling, I was excited to see what they would do. I know wrestling has a lot of acting involved, so I figured they'd make that their focus.

So the episode focused on how the boys, after seeing a WWE show, decide to put on their own wrestling show. This attracts the attention of all the stereotypical rednecks that the WWE does. Say what you want about the WWE, but they sell out shows every week. I love that they brought back the "Took our jobs!" line that I loved so much. Other than that line, the episode wasn't that good. Their wrestling event became more of a Broadway play by the end. I thought the fact that the event had intermissions and the audience were drinking wine during it was a funny little addition. The making fun of real wrestling was also an interesting commentary.

Other than those few points, this episode really lacked the comedy that made previous episodes so great. They tried so hard to make fun of wrestling that they forgot to make it really funny in the process. There really isn't much else to say beyond that.

This episode gets a 6.5

And yes real wrestling is totally gay.

South Park: Butters' Bottom Bitch

On to the next South Park episode, called Butters' Bottom Bitch. This episode was great as far as I'm concerned. This was classic Butters and that is all you really need to make for a solid episode of South Park. You don't even need Cartman or any of the other characters if Butters is in his top form. The premise for this episode was Butters finally gets to kiss a girl because she charges 5 dollars for one behind the school. This gives Butters the idea of starting a Kissing Company, where he basically becomes a pimp and gets some of the money when boys at school pay for kisses. At the same time, one police officer goes to extreme measures to try and get rid of prostitution in South Park.

This episode becomes great when Butters actually turns into and starts acting like a pimp. His interactions with the other pimps at the Pimp Convention was great, especially when the pimps give him advice. When Butters starts talking and has the mannerisms of a pimp is comedy gold. Especially when he justifies his business to Kyle, like saying that "all boys pay for kisses eventually" by "listening to their mother fucking problems." I laugh just thinking about it. Also, the making fun of Acorn was a funny cultural reference that SP does so well.

As for the whole undercover cop thing, it was a little much, even for me. The whole doing the sex acts before he arrests the people was funny at first, but then it goes out of control. Him crapping out the "evidence" was nasty, but I'm not surprised at the lengths this show will go. Aside from how far the show went with the undercover cop, this episode was excellent. This was the classic Butters we have come to love.

This episode gets a 9.0

I'm gonna try calling my girlfriend my bottom bitch and see how far that gets me. Probably a breakup and a punch in the balls.

South Park: Dead Celebrities

I'm gonna try to get the first 2 new South Park episode reviews of this month done today, and do the third one tomorrow. The first one is titled Dead Celebrities. As far as the standard for South Park episodes has been these past few years, I thought this was a very solid episode. I had figured Trey Parker and Matt Stone were going to do something about the 137(exaggeration) celebrities that have died in the last few months. There were pros and cons about this episode, so I'll go through both.

The episode starts off with Kyle's parents doing it, which I really didn't need to see, being interrupted by Ike. The first thing I noticed was that Ike can actually talk and form sentences. The old Ike could only say a few words at a time, so it was interesting to hear him actually talk. Ike claims that he sees a ghost, and is told to go back to his room, where we first see the ghost. I love the integration of seeing the stereotypical ghost figure turn into Billy Mays. I though Billy Mays was great when he was alive, and I loved South Park's interpretation of him. He was viewed as this annoying loud guy that would never stop advertising products, even in the afterlife. I laughed at pretty much everything he said in this episode, especially the Chipotlaway infomercial and the "With 2 easy steps, I can climb over these chairs and kick you right in the fucking balls" comment. The scene where Kyle is trying to tell Ike there's no ghosts and Billy Mays is right next to him selling the Big City SIider station was great. Ike's face was priceless. Speaking of Chipoltaway, I though the parts in this episode where Kyle is more concerned about the fact that people will still eat Chipotle even though it makes them bleed in their underpants was a nice touch. It took me away from the story a little bit but made me laugh in the process.

I thought the metaphor for purgatory was brilliant. It really is the perfect comparison, because you wouldn't want to be stuck in purgatory just as much as you wouldn't want to be stuck in an airplane that isn't taking off and you can't do anything. It was a very amusing visual to see all the dead celebrities stuck in airplane seats and getting more and more pissed off. Plus, it fit the South Park style that after everything was over, they all ended up going to Hell and they had to be stuck on the plane for even more time.

I knew it wasn't long before they brought up Michael Jackson. This was the part of the episode where it kind of died down a little. The whole Ike acting like Michael thing was amusing, but it wasn't THAT funny. The scene with the Little Miss Colorado pageant was funny, and I thought the judges were hilarious, even if it might have been over-the-top for some people.

This episode was good. Not great, but good. If it wasn't for Billy Mays, the score would have been much lower.

I give this episode an 8.2

R.I.P Billy Mays