Animation South Park

[Drizzle]

I did like the DikinBaus episode but yeah, it does feel like the guys have gradually checked out over the last ten years or so, which is understandable since they've been going for 25 years. It's as if they feel like they have an obligation to keep it going only as a commentary on current events, which is really the reason for the show's longevity.

 

[Teelie]

The show could end now and it would be fine. South Park has been coasting for more than 10 years at this point. Their last good season was 15 years ago.

 

[henzINNIT]

Something like 5-13 was the golden era, but I still rate some of the later seasons. I liked 19 and 21 quite a bit, if memory serves. Finding it hard to even get a sense of these 6-ep runs though.

 

[GREEN =w= DAY]

Welcome to the Panderverse

‘South Park: Joining the Panderverse’ Sets October Premiere Date on Paramount+

Paramount+ has announced that the streamer's next "South Park" exclusive event "South Park: Joining the Panderverse" will debut on Friday, Oct. 27

variety.com

 

[henzINNIT]

Anybody watch the special? I enjoyed it, but I'm already sick the culture war bs that it has given a second wind.

I think the funniest moment for me was that the pander-verse Sgt. Yates still had the same voice haha

 

[Drizzle]

I watched it. I thought it was one of the better Paramount+ specials mainly for the Randy B plot. Kathleen Kennedy was a weird scapegoat for them to go after in regards to Disney's "pandering" because most of it has nothing to do with Star Wars or Indiana Jones. Regardless, as usual, the far right on social media were praising the episode while failing to see that they were being made fun of too.

 

[henzINNIT]

Regardless, as usual, the far right on social media were praising the episode while failing to see that they were being made fun of too.

It's actually crazy. The show has Cartman scared of disney execs under his bed and some people are like: "Yup. He's correct"

 

[super85]

I thought the "Panderverse" episode was good. I'ts classic South Park, making fun of both sides of a thing. I think Disney/Marvel is garbage, and I also find a lot of the youtube channels whining about it pretty boring.

So I really enjoyed it.

 

[Captain Tired]

I agree, super85. A classic SP will have two sides of an issue pointing at each other and saying they're idiots for not getting that the show's making fun of them. And this did exactly that.

 

[henzINNIT]

I felt like rewatching the show so I subbed to Paramount+ then noticed an episode was missing in the first season. It was the Big Gay Al episode. That didn't strike me as a particularly controversial episode. I looked through the other seasons, and there are 15 episodes that have been deleted now. Some great ones too. Streaming kind of sucks.

 

[blueharvest]

I felt like rewatching the show so I subbed to Paramount+ then noticed an episode was missing in the first season. It was the Big Gay Al episode. That didn't strike me as a particularly controversial episode. I looked through the other seasons, and there are 15 episodes that have been deleted now. Some great ones too. Streaming kind of sucks.

The Big Gay Al episode from Season 1 is still showing up on Max. Which other episodes are missing?

 

[henzINNIT]

The Big Gay Al episode from Season 1 is still showing up on Max. Which other episodes are missing?

Weird. I'm using UK P+, and the following are missing:

Season 1: 'Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride'
Season 2: 'Not Without My Anus'
Season 5: 'Super Best Friends'
Season 6: 'Jared Has Aids' & 'Simpsons Already Did It'
Season 7: 'Cancelled'
Season 8: 'You Got F'd In The A'
Season 9: 'Two Days Before The Day After Tomorrow' & 'Trapped In The Closet'
Season 10: 'Cartoon Wars Pts 1 & 2'
Season 14: '200' & '201'
Season 16: 'Jewpacabra'
Season 17: 'Ginger Cow'

The Muhammad episodes have been gone for ages, and the numbering has even been altered as though they were never there, but yeah there's a bunch of gaps now. Some are obvious, some are quite baffling. I might pick up some cheap DVDs for the show again.

 

[Drizzle]

Weird. I'm using UK P+, and the following are missing:

Season 1: 'Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride'
Season 2: 'Not Without My Anus'
Season 5: 'Super Best Friends'
Season 6: 'Jared Has Aids' & 'Simpsons Already Did It'
Season 7: 'Cancelled'
Season 8: 'You Got F'd In The A'
Season 9: 'Two Days Before The Day After Tomorrow' & 'Trapped In The Closet'
Season 10: 'Cartoon Wars Pts 1 & 2'
Season 14: '200' & '201'
Season 16: 'Jewpacabra'
Season 17: 'Ginger Cow'

The Muhammad episodes have been gone for ages, and the numbering has even been altered as though they were never there, but yeah there's a bunch of gaps now. Some are obvious, some are quite baffling. I might pick up some cheap DVDs for the show again.

I was curious so I looked up some of these to try and guess why they might have been pulled.

As you said, the obvious ones are the episodes that directly involve Muhammad like "Super Best Friends", "Cartoon Wars", and "200/201" will probably never be available to stream and are only available on DVD/Blu-ray.

I can say almost certainly that "Trapped in the Closet" will never be on Paramount+ given Tom Cruise's relationship with the studio and the uproar that episode caused when it first aired. Max is a different story.

"Cancelled" and "Jewpacabra" might have been pulled for leaning too hard on the anti-semitic jokes (but with a show like South Park you might as well not have the show on streaming at all in that case). "Ginger Cow" might have been pulled due to the current Israel-Palestine conflict.

"Jared Has Aides" was probably pulled because Jared Fogle is a convicted pedophile. That wasn't known until years after the episode aired but I can understand why it got pulled.

"Two Days Before The Day After Tomorrow" was probably pulled because it references the real life disaster of Hurricane Katrina.

Can't really think of why the others would be banned. There have been way edgier episodes of the show.

 

[blueharvest]

New Paramount Plus special premieres today:

 

[Drizzle]

Eh, I'll wait until I have more to catch up with on Paramount+ before watching this. Don't really feel like re-upping for a month just to watch one South Park special.

 

[blueharvest]

 

[Pennywise]

 

[blueharvest]

 

[Pennywise]

 

[OrbOfConfusion]

I mean, there's plenty they could absolutely say about Biden and/or Harris. Still, not a huge deal in the end. South Park doesn't typically veer into the political instead of more just the social and what's happening in the world.

However, 16 years later, it's still impressive that Matt and Trey pulled off "About Last Night" in a mere 24 hours, given how they'd only made one version of the episode of the 2008 election and weren't sure what to do if McCain won.

 

[Drizzle]

After them shooting themselves in the foot with turning Garrison into Trump and thus losing him as a regular character for four years, I doubt they even want to mention Trump on the show ever again.

Personally I'm fine with that because I'm sick of Trump in general. I'm really only fine with James Austin Johnson's Trump on SNL because it's a great impression that captures his stream of consciousness diarrhea of the mouth.

It also just dawned on me that I still haven't checked out the Ozempic special on Paramount+. At this point I might as well wait until the next one before I re-up my subscription.

 

[blueharvest]

I'm not shocked they're waiting until the election is over before they decide to write new episodes, but I wish they'd make more than 6 episodes per year on Comedy Central. There should be at least 10 per year.

 

[Drizzle]

I'm not shocked they're waiting until the election is over before they decide to write new episodes, but I wish they'd make more than 6 episodes per year on Comedy Central. There should be at least 10 per year.

I don't think it matters much in the long run because the show seems to have lost a lot of creative steam in the last couple of years. They seem to save the more interesting ideas for the Paramount+ specials but the last two seasons on Comedy Central each had 6 episodes and even with a lower count they still were average at best overall. I'm not sure adding more episodes to each season would improve that.

I'll at least give them credit for not being persistent with it and waiting for ideas to come to them compared to shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy but South Park is getting closer and closer to that territory as time goes on. Topical humor keeps them relevant but even with the voices pitched, Cartman hasn't sounded like classic Cartman in a long time.