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Thanks sara for that Jooish responce...

IF you got that last post DONT click the link (now deleted)

looks like it might be SPAM..even thought it came from South Park Studios

TV'S All Time Best Villans for the last 50 years (per TV Guide)

Eric Cartman is #24!!

Thanks for sharing that Dark, I love Cartman!

So sadly underestimated!! Only 24th... where is Professor Chaos on the list!?

Your feeble world will bow

"South Park" co-creator Trey Parker was elated when he heard the news Tuesday night that Barack Obama had won the presidency. That's not because he bought into Obama's promises for change, or because he dislikes John McCain -- in fact, Parker says McCain is "a great guy."

Parker was crossing his fingers for an Obama victory because he wrote and directed an episode of "South Park," which aired Wednesday night, based on the premise that the Democratic candidate had won the night before. If the results had flipped, Parker says they would have aired the episode anyway, and later dealt with their own "Dewey defeats Truman" moment. (For a video clip of the Obama episode, click on the Read more line below and scroll down.)

The team considered doing an alternate version for a McCain win, but it proved to be ...

... too daunting a task. So, finally they decided, "Well, we're just going to make the Obama version, and if McCain somehow wins, we're basically just totally screwed," Parker said.

But throughout production, Parker says he had no doubt that Obama would win. That's because the sports betting website he uses to gamble on football games placed the odds heavily against the Republican nominee. "Who do we trust the most?" Parker said he asked himself when deciding whether to write the episode. "Who knows the most about who's going to win? And we just went to Vegas."

Parker even threw some of his own money on the line, placing a bet for Obama in October, when the odds were slimmer, he said. Just before the election, Las Vegas parlors upgraded their prediction to -800 -- what the odds might be for an NFL matchup between the undefeated Tennessee Titans and the winless Detroit Lions. (In other words, not close.)

Luckily for Parker, the house doesn't always win.

But just because the episode had been written before the election's fate had been decided doesn't mean Parker was partying in the streets Tuesday night. Like every Tuesday during a "South Park" season, he didn't get a wink of sleep.

The episode still wasn't completed on the eve of its air date. They needed to replicate the stage on which Obama gave his acceptance speech, and record voice-over excerpts from the transcript for the episode's cartoon reenactment of the oration. They finished production on the episode Wednesday morning, about three hours after they normally wrap.

Still, Comedy Central had only seen bits and pieces of it before airing at 10 p.m. One scene executives asked to see involved a joke about Obama's grandmother faking her death, which Parker says wasn't intended to be insensitive. "It's kind of nice," he said. "She's OK, and helping her grandson out."

Parker was committed to doing an episode on the election for this week's show once he heard about a McCain-Nazi joke on "Family Guy," which recently stirred some controversy. He called the scene, which showed the Stewie character dressed in a Nazi uniform and outfitted with a McCain-Palin button, "lame" -- amongst a series of expletives not suitable for publication.

"South Park" creators have publicly condemned "Family Guy" in the past, and Wednesday's episode was an attempt to one-up the Fox cartoon. But Parker wasn't going to make his version a political commentary.

"We've all heard about everything; we've talked about everything to death," Parker said of the exhausted political sphere. "And it's like, let's just put him in a diamond heist movie. They're just diamond thieves, and it's not about the politics at all anymore."

But what about change? Isn't Obama going to singlehandedly fix all our problems, and swiftly transform the nation into an eternal utopia? "I think this whole country is supposed to be based around the fact that one guy doesn't have that much power," Parker said.

IGN Exclusive Interview: South Park's Matt Stone

The South Park creator speaks about season 10, DVD's, future movie projects and World of Warcraft.

In the past year, South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker proved they were still a force to be reckoned with, as the long running show found itself at the center of controversy once again, in several different scenarios. From Tom Cruise and Scientology to mixing Family Guy and Mohammed, South Park got a lot of press all of the sudden.

This fall sees the return of new episodes of South Park, along with the release of a retrospective DVD, on which Stone and Parker have picked their favorite episodes. In addition, it was recently announced that Stone would produce and Parker would direct two new feature films for Paramount; the rubber monster movie Giant Monster Attack Japan! and a teen comedy called My All-American.

As season 10 prepares to have its fall launch, I spoke with Matt Stone for an exclusive chat with IGN to discuss South Park and all that it has resulted in.

IGN TV: On the new DVD you are including the original short with the characters, "The Spirit of Christmas." What is it like looking back on that now?

Stone: Well it looks so crappy, it looks so junky, that you are almost like "Wow what was the big deal about that?" More than anything, I think, "Wow, that junky little thing, that started all this?"

IGN TV: What were your thoughts when you made that? Did you know that you wanted to put those characters into a series?

Stone: Oh no, we had no idea. When we made that it was to make a friend a Christmas card, and maybe we could make a couple of dollars out of it maybe. But really that was it, just a five minute little thing and we didn't think anything about it, we didn't put our names on it. Only after it started becoming a hit, so to speak, we started talking about maybe we could make a TV show out of that, but it wasn't before.

IGN TV: Is it strange for you then to think, looking at that short, that the characters are so iconic now; that there are toys of them all?

Stone: Yeah, totally yeah, the whole thing is a huge trip. It is kind of like we were doing "The Spirit of Christmas" and now I am sitting here talking to you, and I really don't know what happened. It is like a big acid trip between the two [events].

IGN TV: After it took off in its first year, there certainly was a lot of attention on the show, but did you imagine it would have such a long life?

Stone: No, you have to be insane to think that you could have a TV show that could last ten years, because it is so rare. There was huge victory in just getting a pilot deal; just that idea, "Oh my god, we are making [episodes] for a real TV station, and if we do a good enough job we'll go on TV," and then to get picked up for six episodes, that was ultimate victory, like we're going to do something that is actually going to go on TV. And I think most people who work at Comedy Central or Cartoon Network would agree that's the ultimate victory. It is like football with coaches, like, "We're only going to think about the next game." It is really true, all you think is, "Okay, we have to make a good next episode." You don't think, "Okay, in ten years what should we be doing?", because you'll never get there if you think about that. All you've got to do is think about the next one.

IGN TV: Before last year the show had still been a hit, but it had been relatively quiet in the media for South Park for awhile, and then last year there were so many different controversies and a lot of attention paid to the show again. Were you guys surprised to find yourself in the center of all that?

Stone: Yeah we were totally surprised, we didn't expect that at all.

IGN TV: What do you think it was? We know what episodes caused it, but was there something about last year that what was on your mind really seemed to strike a chord with people?

Stone: I don't know. I just really think it was coincidence. You know Scientology and Tom Cruise, we happened to make fun of the wrong guy. You know, anything with Tom Cruise the press wants to do a story about it. Like, "Oh my god, you found Tom Cruise's hanky! We want to do a f**king story about it!" And we happened to get caught up in the Tom Cruise nuttiness. And so when that happened and it was reported that Tom Cruise got that show pulled off the air, it was like�?I mean Trey and I have done a lot of press, we have done The Tonight Show, we've done Conan, we've done big press stuff, but we have never seen anything like that. The calls we were getting were all over the world, in every press place in America... It would be like Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood, CNN, O'Reilly Factor; I mean everybody called. And so we were trying to do a show, and we were like, "You know what, I don't even want to be in the same f**king story as Tom Cruise." Even if I am on the right side of it, you just don't want to be associated with that guy. So we just put out this one little funny statement, and we let that be our statement and we didn't talk to anybody for months, until it kind of settled down. I think that was a good decision. So as much press as we got, we could have gotten way, way more. I don't know if that would have been the right decision though, because everyone would be like, "Shut up, I don't want to read about you anymore!" And it was like a weird convergence of events it was kind of all over the place.

IGN TV: Certain people who you have lampooned on the show obviously continue to make news, and when you see something about Mel Gibson's drunken tirade or Paramount letting Tom Cruise go and all the attention it gets, are you ever tempted to do a follow up episode or do you feel you have said what you needed to about these people?

Stone: I think the second thing; we have talked about it before. That is really what I like about South Park, and what makes it interesting from week to week. Although we have things that we come back to, maybe subjects and things that were mentioned that are relevant to the material. Once we do a subject, it is like we try to do it all in that episode, like, "This is our Scientology episode, lets do it all in this. This is our baseball episode, so put all your baseball jokes in this episode." It's like once we're done with it, we're done with it, and that is mostly the way it serves us best.

This sounds funny, but when the whole thing came out about Mel Gibson getting drunk and the Jews comment, it made me so f**king happy. That sounds kind of weird, like, why would it make you happy that there is some big anti-Semite out there? But it just does. I was so sure he was an anti-Semite, I had arguments with people all over the place, about him being anti-Semitic when The Passion came out. There were so many people in the world that would stake their reputation on Mel Gibson is or is not an anti-Semite. Everyone had staked their ground on that argument, and he just gave us a huge gift, when he was like, "Well, guess what? Yup, I am." And it was so damn funny, for people who defended him. You know, I don't think they were crazy; it is like okay, maybe you don't think he is because he hasn't given you any real definite proof. But then all of a sudden it is like "Ah, f**k, I was defending that guy!", and so even with Mel Gibson, we kind of did it and we kind of hit spot on.

IGN TV: I am sure there are a lot of people looking at that episode again with more appreciation.

Stone: Yeah, but that was a perfect example where on the show, we didn't make him an anti-Semite, we just made him more of a loon. But we kind of staked our ground, you know? And I wouldn't want to go back and do it again; it is just like treading on old territory.

IGN TV: Now one of the few exceptions, is that you did some Scientology material again in "The Return of Chef" episode.

Stone: We did, because they kind of fked with us and that was the only reason why. Isaac came by to voice his disapproval, right after the episode ["Trapped in the Closet"] aired, and he asked to take it off the air. We had a respectful and firm chat and we told him that we weren't going to. And for us, we were done, we were done with that, and I told Isaac that. I told him this was it, this is our Scientology episode, and we are done. I don't care about Scientology, we are done with it, and we are never going to bring it up again. And then he and fking whoever started f**king with us and putting out these press releases. And we were like, "This is how we can speak back," and what we had to do is answer the question about Chef, and so we did and that is how we did it. And if that had never happened we would have never touched the episode again.

IGN TV: Have you heard back from him or his people since then?

Stone: Never, no one has. And that is what is weird; no one has heard from Isaac, since the whole thing went down, and there is something going on. There was a report that he had a stroke, and I would like to know what happened to Isaac because I think he is a great guy, and I hope he is okay, and there is a great story there some place with what happened with the church and his health, you know what I mean?

IGN TV: Do you think you guys will put the Darth Vader Chef back on again?

Stone: No. Well maybe�?I don't know. I don't want to say no, 'cause, well right now it would be with a new idea, not to just cover the same ground, not just to do the same thing. I don't wand to say no, but there are no plans for it right now.
IGN TV: You come up with your ideas basically a week before you air, so when you are on break like you were this summer, do you see things on the news and think, "That would be a great idea to talk about," or do you keep a clean slate until you're back for production?

Stone: Yeah, it is kind of scary, kind of amazing and kind of appalling too, but I just try to not think about the show when we're not working on it. Sometimes I think, "I wish we were working on the show right now. I wish I could rip on that." For the most part though we just try not think about it so you can come back and have a fresh and honest take, with a little bit of newness, and you don't feel like, "Oh hooray, we are back on the show, we get to say this, and I've been thinking about this all summer." I don't know, we don't really have a formula, but even when Trey and I will see each other during hiatus we won't even talk about South Park; we'll just talk about other stuff.

IGN TV: With the premiere pretty close, have you started work on the first episode yet?

Stone: Oh yeah, we have started on the first episode, but it may turn into the second episode or we may just choose something else.

IGN TV: Any plot hints?

Stone: We are going to do a World of Warcraft show. It might be first - probably will be first but it might not be.
[Editors note: It has since been announced that the premiere episode will indeed be "World of Warcraft"]

IGN TV: I saw you speak in Pasadena this summer, and you guys spoke about the fear of losing your edge as you get older. Is it actually somewhat heartening to you, after having a year like you've had this past year, and being at the center of controversy again, to kind of prove that you are still not the status quo?

Stone: Yes. I mean, kind of. We definitely don't set out to do that kind of thing, and that was a lot of headache. But it is a nice thing to know you can still stir s**t up, and so I would be lying to say that isn't kind of a nice thing, but it really wasn't what we set out to do.

IGN TV: How do you think you are perceived by everyone in Hollywood. Do you think that everyone is afraid of being lampooned by you guys next?

Stone:I think it is a combination of disdain and respect. I definitely think we get a lot of respect for what we do, but I definitely think that some people don't like us, which is fine. I don't know that we have that great position. We have our own TV show; we are not actors who have to kiss anybody's ass. It gives us the financial freedom not to have to take a job. We don't have to act or write something we don't want to just to make money. We have a very blessed position that gives us a lot of creative power and a lot of power to say "No, I don't want to do that", and not everyone has that same position.

IGN TV: More recently you have gotten away from the old formula and had some episodes that haven't had all four of the main kids. Do you think we can expect more of that in this new season?

Stone: Yeah, anytime it becomes the model or the rule we try to break it. I don't know what that means in this season, but as soon as it was, "Oh my god, Kenny dies in every episode", we just had him not die. Or it is, "Oh my god, Chef sings a song in every episode." So we were just like okay, he just won't [sing] in this episode. You know it is kind of important at the end of the day, after 150 episodes; you are like, "Come on. You are really gonna have Chef sing another song?" There has to be some new jokes to it that are added to the pantheon there besides that same s**t.

IGN TV: Is there any new characters you have in mind, or characters from the past you'd like to see elevated?

Stone:Boy I don't know, we don't have anything of that yet, we are just working on the plot of the first World of Warcraft episode, but we don't have any new characters really. Characters come out a little more organically. We never go, "Lets do a character like this." You do a voice, and it sounds like a funny guy, and you think, "Okay, what is up with this guy?"

IGN TV: Is there a particular character that stands out as a favorite for you?

Stone: I think Cartman is one of the greatest characters, like okay I know that guy. I like Cartman, I like Butters, Mr. Mackey... Garrison's one of my favorite characters. Anytime Garrison's in the f**king show, I think it's funny; he's just so agro.

IGN TV:I know you wanted to speak with Doug Herzog again, because Harpers magazine has run those Mohammed pictures and there was no violent results. Any progress in an uncensored airing of "Cartoon Wars"?

Stone:I haven't picked it up lately, but I would like to see that happen, I don' t know if they'll do it. They just might be too lily-livered.

IGN TV: Do you have plans to put out a special edition of the South Park movie? Maybe do commentary for that?

Stone: I don't know. They have asked us about that, but the only thing that bugs me about that is that I hate the idea of somebody buying it just for the commentary. That just bums me out. It is like there's the movie, the only thing we can get out of it is commentary, so we can sit there and talk about it, and then just charge people $14 dollars. And I don't want people to think that we're just trying to get another 14 dollars out of us. I don't want to be f**king George Lucas. I hate the way that guy is made. I hate the way he has made Star Wars like a subscription service. I watch these geeks in our office - which is like everybody, we are all geeks here. They curse George Lucas, but every time he puts out another version of whatever -- of The Empire Strikes Back -- they go buy it. He milks 15 dollars a year on everybody with Empire Strikes Back, and then he'll do the HD version, and then the originals on HD, and then the HD special edition, and I just f**king hate that.

IGN TV: The problem becomes we come to expect there will be other editions. I was one of those people who didn't buy the movie for a long time, because I figured there would be another version.

Stone: Right. "Oh, they'll be a special edition." I mean they asked us for the 10th season and I think we said no, so there are no plans on doing that anytime soon. Maybe when it gets transferred to HD, because then there is a reason. I just hate that Lucas�?and it is not just Lucas, because everybody does it, where, boom, they get it out, and then there's a special edition for a movie that doesn't deserve a special edition. Or even with us; just the commentary.

IGN TV: Yeah, they just put out the third Lord of The Rings DVDs.

Stone: They did? F**k that! And the thing is, people buy it! And then they'll rush out the HD version, and then there will be an HD special edition... It's just like, come on, stop it..

IGN TV: You have some movies you're producing, based on scripts that you didn't initially develop and write. What is that going to be like for you?

Stone: Well, it's is different. It's not like we're going to shoot them the way they are. We acquired them and we'll work on them also, but it's is a little new, but it is a part of growing up. We found some really cool ideas and we felt we could make them into a movie, but I don't know what is going to happen. It is kind of new for us.

IGN TV: You are making Giant Monsters Attack Japan! with Nickelodeon. Are we going to see a different sensibility from you guys?

Stone: I don't know. We are so early on both those ideas that I can't even begin to tell you what the end movie will be like. We are definitely not averse to doing a PG movie or a G movie, and there are some movies that deserve that kind of treatment; some ideas that do. I thought Cars stunk, but other than that, my favorite movies are the Pixar movies, and I would love to work on a movie sometime that is even close to that good, and I don't care if the movie is R rated or G rated. I don't care; those are amazing movies. We feel we have earned our stripes as far as doing edgy s**t. But if we find the right material that doesn't deserve that type of treatment, we'll go do something else.

IGN TV: Can you describe the storylines of both those movies?

Stone: No, not really. They are going to change so much. I mean I can, but it would be totally wrong. They asked us to release it to the press, and I didn't even want to announce it to tell you the truth, because I didn't even want to answer questions about it.

IGN TV: You will be producing both and Trey will be directing. Did you have any interest in directing too?

Stone: Oh no, I'd be a fking crappy director! That is not in my future I don't think. Trey and I came to Hollywood and we did everything out of necessity, and so we do acting and voices because we had to. We did art direction, because you are just doing your own little thing, like any beginning filmmaker. But after a certain point you have to figure out what you are good at and what you are not good at, and I am not a good director, I know that. I am not a very good actor either, and I know it, but it is good to know that. I don't give a st, I don't have to be in front of the camera, because it is not the thing that charges me up. What Trey and I like are ideas, which is why South Park is such a great outlet, because it is just about ideas and it just needs to be constantly be fed, and that is what is fun about it.

IGN TV: Some members of the press found if funny to see Tom Cruise being released from his deal at Paramount just as you guys announced a new big production deal with the company. Was that funny for you too?

Stone: Oh, it was great; we just claimed credit for it. We just called [Viacom's] Summer Redstone and said, "Hey, get rid of that fker!" I wish! Wouldn't that be great?

IGN TV: That would be some power!

Stone: That would be power. No. [It was] totally, totally coincidental.

IGN TV: Is it strange and surreal to think of yourself as Matt Stone: Film Producer?

Stone: I'm a film producer! Isn't that fking stupid? I actually thought of that not too long ago. I was like, what is my job? I'm a producer�?I am a Hollywood producer. That is so weird�?And it's not lame. But it's just like, how did that happen?

To answer a question someone stated that M&T don't write the eps...

well they still do..

sheesh, so bad eps are still there fault and it looks like they may be running out of ideas if you read this right..

oh well, they have been mostly great to good..

EXCLUSIVE: Trey Parker talks about the "South Park" movie that almost was, and the end of the TV series.

"South Park" co-creator and executive producer Trey Parker says they've been discussing how to end the Comedy Central flagship series, which has been on the air for more than a decade. But you won't hear Cartman say, "Screw you guys! I'm going home," just yet.

Parker and co-creator Matt Stone are signed on to continue producing episodes until 2011, and whether that contract will be their last is anyone's guess. But what we can bet on is that when it does come time to pull the plug, it will be a full-length "South Park" film that sends off Stan, Kyle, Kenny, Cartman and the rest of the foul-mouthed Colorado fourth graders.

"We talked about maybe some day doing a movie to sort of end it all, and that seems like the best idea," Parker said. "That's been a big thought to do the last show as a movie."

It wouldn't be the first time a TV series has sent fans to the theaters for closure. Just this summer, "Sex and the City: The Movie" had an explosive opening weekend, pulling the fifth-highest debut ever for an R-rated film.

But Parker says they wouldn't consider making something for the big screen unless they had a really stellar idea. They had such an idea a couple years ago, but decided to use it for a series of episodes instead of holding it back for a motion picture.

"We came up with this pretty good idea for a movie, and then of course what happened was we got in the middle of a 'South Park' run, and were completely out of ideas," Parker recalls. "And we were like, well, we've got to use the movie idea. And that became 'Imaginationland.'"

"Imaginationland" was, of course, the three-part story in October 2007 about a group of terrorists plotting to bomb a fictional world, where all man-made, mythical characters live -- including Super Mario, Luke Skywalker and Strawberry Shortcake. The story arc, now available on DVD, yeilded an Emmy for outstanding animated program for one hour or more.

While Parker would have liked to save the concept for theaters, he says the long-story episode format was "really fresh and fun to do." "Once we decided, let's make it a three-part show, we're like: Oh, now we can do it in the style of '24' and 'Battlestar Galactica.'"

OK, it looks like we won't be seeing a "South Park" movie for a little while. But what about a different big screen venture from the guys that brought us "Baseketball," "Orgazmo" and "Team America: World Police"?

"We started going down the movie route," Parker said hesitantly. "Basically, 'Team America' just killed the movie spirit in us..."

Their distress isn't because "Team America" wasn't well received -- in fact, it got a respectable 78% rating from Rotten Tomatoes. No, Parker is burned out on movies because of the exhausting production that went into the puppet action film.

"It was just a much bigger beast than we ever could have imagined," Parker said. "Even the guy who shot all 'The Matrix' movies and the 'Spider-Man' movies would agree that it was the toughest movie shoot to do because it was trying to do a huge action film with marionettes, who don't do anything, and not use any computers to fix anything or do any effects."

So, we won't be seeing a "South Park" movie any time soon or any Parker-Stone flicks, for that matter. But aren't those guys getting sick of trying to make us laugh every week? When asked whether he has started to see ideas for the show running dry, Parker responded, "Um, no, have you?"

In all fairness, few shows exceed the ten-year mark without getting stale. What makes "South Park" any different?

"The fact that we still write and direct and voice every show ourselves, it's really more like a band," Parker said. "Because it's basically watching where we are now compared to where we were five years ago. It's sort of us growing up with the show, and the show growing up with us -- or growing down."

"We always said, When we feel like we don't want to write the show anymore, ourselves, then it's time to end the show," he said.

If Parker and Co. do happen to run out of ideas, however, they always have Crab People. "That's a thing in the writer's room now," Parker said. "On a Monday, when we're two days away from airing, and we only have half a show, we're like, But how does he get there? ... Crab People! That means we have no ideas left."

Oh, and for the record: Two episodes have made reference to the subterranean-dwelling Crab People. Hopefully, "South Park" won't have to break them out again.

Mormons to get 'South Park' treatment

They've tried noisy protests, consumer boycotts, and the odd act of minor terrorism. Now supporters of gay marriage have unveiled a new weapon in their war against the Mormon Church: satire.

The creators of the cartoon South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, are planning to stage a Broadway musical based on the lives and (many) loves of typical members of the Church of the Latter Day Saints.

It will be co-written by the composer Robert Lopez, who wrote Avenue Q, the award-winning musical which sends-up another all-American institution, Sesame Street.

Cheyenne Jackson, an openly-gay Broadway star who appeared in the film United 93, said this week that he has agreed to play the lead role, a Mormon missionary, in the show, which is currently being work-shopped and is slated to open in 2009.

"It's hilarious: very acerbic and biting," he told the New York Post. "It offends everybody, but does what South Park does best, which is [that] by the end it comes around and has something great to say."

Though he didn't reveal details of the plot, or say who else would be starring in the show, Jackson added that it has the working title of Mormon Musical. "I play the main missionary, Elder something," he said.

News of the potentially-controversial project comes at a tough time for the Mormon Church, which is fighting a propaganda war over its role in passing Proposition 8, the ballot measure that outlawed same-sex weddings in California this month.

The Church joined a coalition of religious groups supporting the Proposition, and members donated tens of millions of dollars to finance a raft of often-misleading attack adverts, which helped persuade 52.5 percent of the State's electorate to support the measure.

A series of noisy protests have since targeted Mormon temples, and church property across America has been vandalised. On Friday, two temples in Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, the home of Mormonism, were at the centre of an Anthrax scare, after being sent envelopes containing white powder.

Activists in Hollywood, the centre of LA's gay community, have urged their supporters in the world of show-business to back a consumer boycott of companies that helped finance the gay marriage ban.

The Sundance Film Festival, which begins in January, is particularly threatened by the boycott, since it takes place in the Utah ski resort of Park City, just a short drive from Salt Lake City.

Actors and producers have been urged to pull their films from a Cinemark Theatres complex providing four screening rooms to the Festical. The company's CEO, Alan Stock, contributed $9,999 to the Yes on 8 campaign.

Campaigners have already forced the resignation of Scott Eckern, artistic director of the Sacramento Musical Theater, who donated $1,000, and are calling for Rich Raddon, director of the Los Angeles Film Festival and another donor, to also be fired.

Whatever Mormon Musical's eventual contents, the creators of South Park certainly have form for offending religious minorities. One of their cast members, the late Isaac Hayes, quit the show in 2006 over what he described as its "bigoted" portrayal of Scientology.

Their 1999 film Bigger, Longer and UnCut attacked both Saddam Hussein and the people of Canada, and sailed close to the wind dealing with the issue of race. However it was shortlisted for an Oscar for its soundtrack.

Jackson is active within the gay rights community. His comments regarding the project were made an awards show organised by the gay magazine Out. "As frustrating as Prop 8 has been, we have to look back at the last 60 years and see how far we've come," he added.

Even 'South Park' is Doing Vampire Shtick

Those of you who caught last night's South Park episode would have noticed a pretty familiar and topical theme: vampires. We're not sure whether the boys intentionally made sure this episode aired the week Twilight was to arrive in theaters or if they just got lucky, but it was all pretty funny nonetheless. And while they didn't reference Twilight (the one thing the episode was missing)*, they did take a few jabs at Hot Topic and the difference between goth kids and vampire kids. In the episode, the character Butters mistakes some vampire-themed kids at school for real vampires, and when his friends and parents all reject him, he turns to this new group for acceptance. Check out the scene below which shows Butters' transformation into a vampire, and you can catch the rest of the episode over at South Park Studios.

*Yes, they do reference Twilight once early on. Thanks for pointing it out.

well, damn, I am a Dad and I have watched SP since it started. what is wrong with this blogger????

South Park is officially not cool, thanks to my dad

Thanksgiving isn't just about completing your Seven Deadly Sins check list before the year runs out. Thanksgiving is about family; learning where they've been, where you are, and where everyone in your life is going. Food and football are just gravy ... sweet, delicious, artery-clogging gravy.

This year, my brother and I flew home with my old man - who hates it when I call him "my old man" - the day before Thanksgiving. That's when a shocker of "Who shot J.R."-esque proportions dropped on the table.

My Dad officially announced that he watches South Park.

The news hit me in the face like Moe giving Curly an eyeful of fingers. Could it be that one of the most beloved shows of my generation and loathed by all previous generations has finally run out of cool?

The only vivid memory I have of him even knowing of the show's existence was during the first season around Christmas time. He was flipping through the channels when Kyle's round head popped on the screen. He was staring into a toilet when Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo popped out and gave a hearty "Howdy ho!" He flipped away fast, muttered to my brother and me, "I can't believe you watch that," and eventually stopped on the Fox News Channel, or as I called it that night, the Irony Network.

Every show tries to appeal to as wide an audience as possible, and the best ones do it without sacrificing their integrity, voice and originality. South Park has done that in ways no one thought possible in its first few seasons. It's inevitable they would attract an older audience since they've attracted the eyes of so-called "South Park Conservatives" and taken a more satiric slant without losing their edginess or ability to make bodily functions even funnier than they already are.

Am I the only person in the universe who feels this way? I'll still watch it every week and buy the DVDs and wear my Cartman "Beefcake!" shirt to the gym until it's no longer needed to motivate me to spend more time at the gym. But the show just feels different now that it's no longer forbidden fruit.

Its brash coolness seems to have disappeared into the stratosphere like so many flaming farts caused by alien rectal probes.

ok, someones awesome comment back......

Malren said...

WHAAAAAAHHH! MY DAD WATCHES FAUX NEWZ! WHAAAAAAAHHH! MY DAD WATCHING SOUTH PARK TOO! HOW WILL I GET MY HIPSTER IDENTITY NOW? WHAAAAAHHH! SOUTH PARK ISN'T THE EXACT SAME SHOW IT WAS FIVE MINUTES AGO BECAUSE I'M AN IDIOT WHO ONLY LIKES THINGS BASED ON HOW OTHER PEOPLE FEEL ABOUT THEM! WHAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!

Seriously. You're just being a douche. Grow up.

that was a good reply!

Thank goodness we all still like it

We is old, and we is cool, screw the 'hipsters' that think a sense of humour depends on your age!

South Park: Lessons in Cultural and Political Theory

When South Park first became famous, it was known largely as that cartoon with crappy animation and kids who swear like it was nobody's business. True enough, the first few seasons of the hit Comedy Central show did feature a lot of slapstick antics that were bound to shock the timid. Going forward, however, as South Park reached its 10th season and beyond, things got a lot more intelligent in the little mountain town in Colorado.

The show's creators started relying less and less on visual comedy and began using convoluted plots, outrageous premises, and out-of-this world characters to elicit laughter from its fans. Of course, the usual swearing and cussing and irreverence are still there, but somehow, South Park has evolved from the disgusting cartoon to the disgusting cartoon with substance and a steadfast political stance.

If there is a burning issue that's worth mulling over, trust that South Park will have it covered �?sooner, rather than later. Particularly striking in recent memory was how it tackled the momentous US presidential elections. Earlier on, fellow supposedly politically learned cartoon Family Guy portrayed Republican bets as Nazis. Deciding to take a less obvious route, the guys over at South Park just opted to poke fun at the whole thing. They reasoned almost everything had been said about Palin, Obama, McCain, and Biden. Let's just make them an Ocean 11-like gang who hatched the grandiose 2008 polls as nothing more but a grand conspiracy to steal some diamond. Genius.

Treading South Park's history of attacking the seemingly sacred, touching the supposedly untouchable is several years in the making. Name whatever issue, and more often than not there is a South Park episode that deals with it the way no mainstream media outfit does. Take, for instance, the High School Musical craze. Just as everyone was gushing over Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron, South Park fleshed out the fallacies that the HSM franchise was dispensing: the illusory equality that high schools are supposedly capable of. That, and the absurdity of nonlinear bursts of song.

Among the issues tackled masterfully by South Park include the meteoric rise of China as a new superpower, the Twilight craze, homosexuality (a number of times), global warming, scientology, the Y2K craze, religion, even Britney Spears.

And people do watch. Other than its consistent ratings, the best in the history of Comedy Central, there have been some cases such as Tom Cruise reportedly threatening to withdraw from promotion of Mission Impossible III if the network wouldn't stop airing a scheduled repeat of the episode “Trapped in the Closet�?which essentially portrayed Scientology as a global scam to milk money out of its members. (MI 3 flopped so apparently it would've hardly mattered.)

In the end, South Park creators have been adamant in insisting that they are “equal opportunity offenders�?so people should just lighten up. And it's true. Always, South Park represents a completely new way of looking at things, and it is always refreshing, educational, and downright funny.

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