Grid Effect

For the sake of this website and the limited number of people who frequent it, I am not going to go into any details about last night’s South Park. So if you didn’t happen to watch it, do not bother reading this post because it’s not going to translate well for you.

Parker and Stone really aren’t pulling any punches this season, are they? Between last weeks episode over the use of the “N-Word” and last night’s episode about the Ted Haggard-esque war against homosexuality plus Cartman’s misguided prank, it is at a point now where the co-creators are baiting the national media, the far left, the far right, and every PC goon in the country. Yet still, no outcry. No hysteria. Their relationship with the world at large seems to be at a point where the only thing they could do to shock anybody would be too give up attempting to do so. Honestly, what would be more shocking than a South Park episode that simply revolved around Stan & Kyle having to finish a school project that wasn’t a microcosm for a larger social issue but just contained humorous content?

But alas, we have Butters going to a Jesus Camp to be “cured” of his perceived homosexuality by his parents, and Cartman taking a compromising photo of himself then showing it to his classmates. Odds are, if you show this to the average viewer, as opposed to some counter-culture miscreant such as myself, they are going to find something to be offended about.

When this is the case, it usually sparks at least some media outlet to jump all over them, in hopes of “catching a story” and exposing them to the mainstream public. But for whatever reason, everyone is simply immune to their shennanigans. The last example of a South Park episode sparking any controversy were the two scientology episodes (in terms of humor quotient, the two episodes in question are clogging the bottom rung), and in hindsight that seems a little obscene, the only reason anyone was concerned with them directly correlates to the movie stars that were parodied. For some examples of the best South Park has to offer, Rolling Stone has a video countdown of twenty-five hilarious, pivotal moments in the series.

Honestly, I thought last nights episode was top notch. South Park, much like The Wire, Arrested Development, Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Sopranos; is one of those shows I will always be entertained by regardless of how mediocre one episode is compared too others in the series.
But my favorite South Park episodes tend to be less topical. Such examples would be The Lord of The Rings episode with the porno tape, “Ginger Kids”, “Cancelled”, “The Entity” and “Towelie”. Obviously they do not miss the mark everytime they focus on a social issue, “Red Man’s Greed” and “Butt Out” rank high on my list as well. But I cannot recall the last time I saw an episode akin to the former group that looked like they put forth any effort.