South Park has been on a steady decline

[Zok]

So I don't know how many of the newer episodes you two have seen - I think the latest season finished in November - but I for one, feel that South Park has been on a steady decline. Points:


Original Plot Devices - In the first few seasons of the show, they relied strictly on things they thought were funny to drive the plot. Crazy and absurd things would happen (cartman getting an anal probe, Korn solving wacky mysteries, cartman buying pubes from a highschooler, etc). Now the writers seem to be relying on current events and even other TV shows to drive their own plot (Guitar Queero, Tsst! (dog whisperer episode), Cartoon Wars (family guy episode), Smug Alert (hybrid car episode), etc.) It's like when a show runs out of ideas and starts adding characters to compensate.
Original Jokes and Running Gags - I will say one positive thing here: They stopped killing kenny. That helped a lot, because they were really just running out of creative ways to do it. Now they just do it when necessary. Other than that, they still rely on the same gags (Kyle vs Cartman, Towlie getting high, Satan being gay, etc.). Hell, they had an entire episode without any jokes when they decided to say "shit" as many times as they could. Sorry, but senseless swearing isn't even funny to a 5th grader.
Over-hyped advertisements - This is mostly due to Comedy Central - I really think South Park would do better with Adult Swim. Comedy Central has a habit of making everything out to be the biggest, baddest, newest shit there is. If every ad was true, the episodes would be getting exponentially better. The ads are almost making the show cliche now.


I'll add some more bullets later.

[Fish]

I agree; ever since that 3-part episode of disappointment, I've been trying very hard to figure out how they're still going. I agree that the show has been too influenced by contemporary humor, and this is the biggest problem. In 10 years, an episode about a bookmobile-driving-chicken-lover will still be funnier than an episode about Guitar Hero, even if they're still making the games then.

Also, I've gotten the distinct feeling that the show is getting preachy. Sometimes, it's been on rather important issues (like voting - "Douche and Turd") but other times it's been really petty, but it always seems out of place. South Park is largely satire, yes, but there's a line between jokingly drawing attention to something, and spending 24 minutes trying to make something funny that ultimately isn't.

In the end, I'd say they really need some fresh writing credits, but they need to keep Matt and Trey involved. Maybe this will prevent the "5-minute gag that turned into a whole episode" phenomenon that seems to have overtaken the show as of late.

Also, Comedy Central's advertising is just a sad, sad side-effect of what The Media has become - empty hype for more crap.

[Ziv]

This thread is absolutely true.. Me and DerDrache had some epic arguing over this. The new stuff is almost unbearably bad, but thankfully Comedy Central seems to be playing some of the oldies lately.
Last really great episode was Major Boobage.

[Anima Mundi]

The last one that even entertained me was where Cartman was waiting for the Nintendo Wii.

[InThePathOfTitans]

I agree, i think south park would do much better on adult swim. And even tho the newer episodes do rely on world events, politics and fads. Some of them have been hilarious : The world of War Craft Episode.

[BornToKill]

I disagree with this thread; I would say however that the most recent ones have been hit/miss.

Some of the newest ones such as the one with Britney Spears were total balls, but some were real crackers, such as Cnada on strike/ the ungroundable one/super fun time. These I think were some of my favourite episodes as they showed very original plotlines which did not, I find, revolve soley around character cliches. SO whad'ya think?

[Monkmaster]

I disagree with this thread; I would say however that the most recent ones have been hit/miss.

Some of the newest ones such as the one with Britney Spears were total balls, but some were real crackers, such as Cnada on strike/ the ungroundable one/super fun time. These I think were some of my favourite episodes as they showed very original plotlines which did not, I find, revolve soley around character cliches. SO whad'ya think?

I agree. The newer episodes are either pants-pissingly hilarious, or not funny in the slightest.

[driveby]

South Park, and Family Guy turned into completely different shows, and King of the Hill decreased in quality significantly, but did not turn into complete garbage.

And it wasn't a steady decline, it was instant.

And EVERYTHING declined, shows, EVERYTHING in summer 2004. South Park did a complete 180 from a great show in spring 2004, to the most infuriatingly stupid, poorly written, and poorly vocalised piece of bullshit I have ever seen. It attempted to compensate by adding graphics (shadows, different head positions, mountains more detailed, and brown, instead of green, realistic explosions, and murder scenes.), but it did not make up for the bullshit.

It also tried to compensate with bloody murder scenes, and t violence and sex, but that did not compensate for the assenine nature of the writing of the scripts, essentially killing the identities of the charecters, and making them sound like their all reciting rehearsed lines, instead of living their daily life.

As far as I'm concerned, SP, and FG went off the air in '03, and '04, those new episodes don't count.

[LuKaZz420]

I still like some of the newer episodes, they've made some epic ones in the past couple of years, true the average quality might have declined a little but it's still worth watching.

[Bender]

Southpark<Futureama

[lostmyface]

i disagree with about half of what is in this thread.and i will tell you why in a moment. south park is hillarious. everyone who still likes south park can leave. but all you haters, stay put. i am about to drop some serious knowledge on your ignorant asses. mainly in the form of STFU an GTFO. so seriously, shut the fuck up an get the fuck out.



that is all.

[Monkmaster]

I watched the Time Immigrants episode last night. That is classic South Park.

Dey tuk ar jerbs!

[mutual]

i disagree with one of you.... details later.

[---Beany---]

I'm still loving it.
Imagination land was perfect and that wasn't that long ago. Over logging, more crap, breast cancer show ever, canada on strike. I loved em.

I don't think it's better or worse than ever before.

[Roll Fizzlebeef]

King of the Hill decreased in quality significantly, but did not turn into complete garbage.


http://i42.tinypic.com/szh7dd.jpg

[Shrike]

I'm surprised anyone is actually still watching that show. Shit was funny back in secondary school, but that was a long time ago.

[---Beany---]

Shit was funny back in secondary school, but that was a long time ago.

Well the South Park humour evolved. Perhaps your problem is that your sense of humour didn't. :P

[Azure]

When was South Park ever funny?

[Frank]

Original Jokes and Running Gags - I will say one positive thing here: They stopped killing kenny. That helped a lot, because they were really just running out of creative ways to do it. Now they just do it when necessary. Other than that, they still rely on the same gags (Kyle vs Cartman, Towlie getting high, Satan being gay, etc.). Hell, they had an entire episode without any jokes when they decided to say "shit" as many times as they could. Sorry, but senseless swearing isn't even funny to a 5th grader.


There has only been a few episodes featuring towelie and Satan being gay, what are you talking about? Do you expect them to create and introduce characters every episode? South Park has a very big "cast" of characters and I think they've always done a good job at not focusing on one character all the time.

Every show that is great has had a certain formula that the writers develop through trial and error. Seinfeld as an example.

In regards to the shit episode and senseless cussing: The first few seasons of South Park heavily relied on the gimmick of kids swearing like sailors. Using that kind of language on a cable show, especially by such young children was unheard of at that time. Then cursing became edgy and everyone started doing it for the shock value.This is is when South Park was forced to raise the bar and eased up on the cursing for it was no longer relevant(George Carlin didn't spend his whole career repeating the 7 words you can't say bit did he?). This is when I feel South Park found it's niche, matured and developed it's formula. When the FFC deemed shit acceptable to say on cable TV, cursing had become relevant again to show how absurd it is to get butthurt over a word for so long and then allow it to be used in such excess in the next minute. In the episode Mr Garrison was able to say fag because he was gay whereas everyone else was bleeped, this was to show ridiculous censorship truly is. Then there was the moral of the episode where the boys teach everyone to say shit less often to cure the shit curse.They then explain to everyone that curse words are curse words for a reason and overusing these words makes them lose their meaning and power as words and ideas. It's funny that you bring this episode up because it was obviously their way of explaining why they weren't the same old "FUCK YOU FAT FUCK, FUCK YOU JEW" South Park from the early seasons.

Well the South Park humour evolved. Perhaps your problem is that your sense of humour didn't. :P

This

When I was younger I loved the the first 2 seasons of South Park. Now I look back on them and through half of the material I think to myself "I can't believe I found this funny".

I think South Park has gotten better. Their good episode to shit episode ratio is the best of any show. There's been a few that weren't gold but come on, it's South Park.

[pill popper]

last good episode i saw was night of the living homeless
it was truly hilarious

[Xim]

There are still good episodes, but there has been a noticable decline in quality, though I'm not a big fan of the first and second seasons.

Imagination land was pretty good, the World of Warcraft episode was fucking gold.

[Spam Man Sam]

It seems that South Park has shifted from witty Political Satire to simply having as many homages to contemporary society and pop culture as possible. Its not really funny at all.

[Σnigma]

Imaginationland was total bullshit.

[---Beany---]

Imaginationland was total bullshit.

Get out!

[The New Guru]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned it yet, but I think one of the things that made the earlier episodes of South Park better was that the kids still had some semblance of naivety to them. Now, I don't know.

I don't obstinately hate the newer episodes, but they're definitely not South Park's highest point in history.

I'm just saying try watching some of the earlier episodes, and then the newer ones.
There's a distinct difference in the characters. At least, I notice one.

[Spam Man Sam]

Get out!

What exactly was funny about it? It was just stacked to the brim with homages to tv and movies.

[anon99989]

Why must assholes insist on going on a BBS to proclaim that a show they once thought good is no longer as good as they once thought?

Do we have to suffer through this every time a show has been on for more than 3 years? If South Park had ended when you thought it was at it's peak, you would be on here bitching about how they shouldn't have canceled it. Now you're here bitching that they kept going.

[*ivy]

I agree that their humour is becoming more current event related but I think it's part of the natural evolution the show is going through. Very rarely does a comedy series maintain its standard, people get bored of the same jokes so it has to move on, like with the Kenny schitck.

I do, however, disagree that the later shows are of a poorer standard. I think if you don't compare later series to earlier ones, it holds is own as a satirical show. The comedy has matured (I don't mean this as a reflection of its target audience, more as a development within the show) and changed to suit what the consumers want. The audience was getting tired of the same fart jokes and wanted something more topical. Whether this impedes upon the show's creative integrity is a valid point, but inevitably, profit comes first.

I also agree with your point about comedy Central, I've always thought South Park would be better off with something a bit more creative.

[*ivy]

Why must assholes insist on going on a BBS to proclaim that a show they once thought good is no longer as good as they once thought?

Do we have to suffer through this every time a show has been on for more than 3 years? If South Park had ended when you thought it was at it's peak, you would be on here bitching about how they shouldn't have canceled it. Now you're here bitching that they kept going.

Dude, it's called a conversation. That's what these boards exist for.

[---Beany---]

What exactly was funny about it? It was just stacked to the brim with homages to tv and movies.

You get to see popeye getting ass raped by a squirrel!! What frikkin more do you want?

[Eridani]

Sorry to resurrect an old[ish] thread. I actually prefer the newer episodes. They try different things with the animation where the earlier episodes - especially first season or 2 - the animation was just bad. I never liked the first few seasons - just immature teenage boy humour - laughing at the word balls and so on but for example the World of Warcraft one was one of the funniest episodes of any TV show I've seen.

[Spam Man Sam]

You get to see popeye getting ass raped by a squirrel!! What frikkin more do you want?

Aside from the shock value, there is nothing particuarlly funny about that.

This is exactly what has been the fuel for the decline of South Park. Easy slapstick jokes and a lack of satire.

[Dog]

Although I agree that Season 12 was a disappointment, Seasons 10 and 11 were both very strong. In fact, I'd say Seasons 5 through 11 were collectively the peak of the show. They might get some new energy and inspiration for Season 13 though, so we should just sit back and see.

By the way, Zok: You really missed the point on the "shit" episode if you think it was just about "senseless swearing". The entire episode is poking fun at the concept of "saying shit on TV", and our language taboos in general. Frankly, that was one of their best episodes.

All in all, I agree that the parodies of other TV shows and movies needs to be toned down. I understand why they do it...they need to meet a quota of episodes and coming up with original ideas after nearly 200 episodes isn't an easy task. But it seemed like every single episode of Season 12 was a parody of something, and the only really effective, memorable one was Major Boobage (mainly because it had an original plot surrounded by amusing parodies; and the boobs). So, I suppose I don't mind the parodies in and of themselves, but they need to actually be funny and creative in their own right. "Tsst" is another example of a good parody episode.

Speaking of which, you guys are on crack if you really prefer the original Cartman. The original Cartman was the epitome of mindless vulgarity and childishness. The only problem with the new one is that he's basically started to carry the show. In fact, sometimes it seems like a dichotomy between "Oh, yes! A Cartman episode" and "Ah shit, this one isn't about Cartman."

That doesn't mean there's a problem with his character, but rather one with the writing of the plotlines and the other characters. If they can make Stan, Kyle, and Kenny as interesting as Cartman is, then I think they'd have many more successful episodes.

Here's hoping...

[---Beany---]

^ Randy marsh driven episodes are usually a hoot.

I think it's good to have some normal, easily likeable central characters like stand and kyle. That way you get a basis for comparison.

[Intoxicated Shaman]

It's not as juvenile as it used to be and there's way too many parody episodes now. Plus, it seems like every character that made the early stuff especially hilarious (Chef, Mr. Hat, Hankey, Pip) has been phased out in favor of larger roles from the parents.

[Dog]

It's not as juvenile as it used to be

That's a good thing.


and there's way too many parody episodes now. Plus, it seems like every character that made the early stuff especially hilarious (Chef, Mr. Hat, Hankey, Pip) has been phased out in favor of larger roles from the parents.

Mr. Hat was not a character and Mr Hankey is ridiculously stupid.

[Surprise Buttsecks]

How long has this show been going? It's bound to get really old at some point.

[driveby]

Why must assholes insist on going on a BBS to proclaim that a show they once thought good is no longer as good as they once thought?

Dude, it's called a conversation. That's what these boards exist for.

last good episode i saw was night of the living homeless
it was truly hilarious
Go back to your caddy job at the country club, and get molested again.

[ZeroMalarki]

I reckon they've had a good 60% success rate in their episodes recently. I thought the vampire one was shit hot, the goth kids were a nice change of pace and made for joke set up. Overall the show has matured from the constant swearing and morbidity.

[graphite]

I feel sometimes they try too hard, other times not hard enough. I still watch it anyway - and that's what counts.

Is there any word on a new season coming out? I need something to look forward to.