3d ago

South Park Eviscerates Donald Trump After Paramount Gives Them $1.5B

www.newsweek.com

South Park eviscerates Donald Trump after Paramount gives them $1.5B

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Wow, people still watch South Park!? I’m sure they’re still killing it. Just kind of fell off the radar for me.
- Not really killing it imo. Most episodes are extremely "both sides"-y which makes them have this milquetoast approach to issues and an unclear perspective. The jokes are often kind of cringe, imo, and the whole thing feels very bland. So its like a political/social satire comedy show that is designed by committee to make mild japes at both sides but not make them too uncomfortable.
  It used to be an edgy comedy show (sometimes too edgy for mainstream audiences both then and now) that would lambast social and political figures, but it wasn't just a satire show - it had a separate identity from that. And it was funny, usually. It pushed a lot of boundaries - the media was always talking about South Park as though it was this super scary show that will turn your kids into hooligans and destroy the moral fiber of the country and should be banned.
  So maybe it's partly that you can't easily be a super rebellious standout show pushing the envelope every week for 27 years, that they wanted to appeal to mainstream audiences and adopted this bland centrist viewpoint, and that the media landscape is full of edgy-ish comedy shows these days and so it's harder to stand out.
  I am by no means a huge SP fan though and have not watched but like 3 seasons since the old days. So if this take is off and the show has gotten more interesting I'd like to know
  
  South Park has always been Right Wing. Trey and Matt are self proclaimed "Libertarians". There's a significant overlap in the Venn Diagram of Joe Rogan bros and South Park fans. "They make fun of both sides bro" and yet some of their most enduring cultural contributions are downplaying climate change and dehumanizing trans people.
  They may clutch their pearls about MAGA now, but their promotion of political apathy among Gen X and Millennial men is part of why we have MAGA.
  
  I remember there was a brief moment in the early 00s where the term "South Park Republican" had some cultural cachet until everyone realized it was just edgy libertarianism for contrarian shitheads.
  
  Aren't they former libertarians? I feel like I heard they realized they were idiots and changed, but I could be wrong.
  
  Its possible. I recall reading somewhere that they regret the ManBearPig episode. Good on them for being able to change and grow.
  Still, unfortunately the damage has been done.
  
  downplaying climate change
  i dont remember this one. when was this?
  
  Maybe man bear pig and the hybrid car episodes.
  
  oh i remember. literally just made the connection, the episodes even featured al gore as the alter ego or something.
  
  I think Man-Bear-Pig was more satire on people acting like Global Warming and Climate change was an imminent thing that was going to kill them in 10-20 years, treating a nebulous scientific concept into something impendingly dangerous like a car crash or wild animal.
  
  Manbearpig was saying climate change doesnt exist and Al Gore is an idiot. That was the only message. There was no both sides to that episode.
  12 years later they made an apology episode to say Gore was right all along.
  
  Watch the most recent episode. I, like you, don't really watch South Park anymore but holy shit was it funny.
  The Trump stuff killed it. The callback to Saddam, the absurdity of everything going on, the show really hit the nail on the head of how it feels in America right now.
  
  I will & will report back
  Edit: yeah it's definitely an improvement
  
  o7 good luck soldier
  
  They went kind of downhill started with his first term, but looks like this episode is strong
  
  Don't forget that Al Gore made them sad and they created Manbearpig as a response. It was some decades later that they admitted that they were wrong on the topic of climate change and regretted what they did.
  
  I liked it more in the early days before every episode revolved around current events and people. Like the dodgeball tournament episode, aliens giving anal probes, the kids getting ninja weapons from the fair, or Scott Tinnerman and how he shouldn't have fucked with Cartman.
  
  I long for the classics like MechaStreisand.
- They don't do regular seasons anymore, and haven't for several years. Instead, they will do some special episodes each year on a specific topic. These are more like miniseries than regular episodes and I have enjoyed them.
  
  They do, Season 27, Episode 1 just came out
  
  Aren't the specials still labeled as seasons?
  
  They are labeled as movies for me
- Honestly the latest seasons were fabulously on topic, well worth the watch in my opinion
  
  I might go back to it then, any episodes you'd recommend?
  
  I liked the Post Covid part 1 and 2 and Joining the Panderverse specials quite a bit. They're on Paramount + (or your piracy site of choice).
  EDIT: The first episode of season 27 was quite good, too, Finally, after over 8 years, they tore into Trump, daring Paramount to censor them.
- I don't even know how to watch it, I would if I could.
  
  Too bad southparkstudios.com isn't a thing anymore. That's how I watched the whole series ~'08
  
  KissCartoon and KimCartoon are decent if you don't want to torrent it
  https://shakil-shahadat.github.io/awesome-piracy/#cartoons
- The very first sentence of the article...
  South Park kicked off its 27th season on Wednesday after a hiatus of almost two and a half years
  
  Yeah, they moved from streaming on Comedy Central (and southpark.com, which was free) to Paramount (which is paid). It's been a shit show ever since, limited to 6 episodes or so a season (if you're lucky). Then the hiatus after Covid and the specials. It's been a rough ride, but they're still kicking.
  
  The next 5 seasons are contracted and paid for at 10 episodes per season
  
  the 6-10episode per season is a death knell for many seasons.
- Im Canadian so once they joined paramount they kinda just vanished here. To be fair they lost my interest with the whole tegridy farms thing that never ended. But them moving to paramount erased South Park off every streaming and tv channel in Canada so you stopped seeing ads, and I sure as hell am not getting paramount plus, that’s enough streaming services
  
  Canadian here, can confirm. I never watched the show myself but I haven’t seen any ads for it in many years (though I also haven’t seen many ads in years in general to be fair). No one talks about it anymore either.
  Also, I agree with your mom, I think you’re cool too :)
  
  American, and same.
  I only have Hulu and I struggled to find new episodes without finding them on a shady website.
  I'm absolutely not getting Paramount plus. After what they did to Nathan Fielder and removing the Nazi episode, they can go die.
- its only good certain episodes, otherwise its just as good as simpsons currently
- Generally, the show has moved on from "topic of the week" style shows and more... self-fulfillment for Matt and Trey. Episodes with Warhammer/Red Dead Redemption/Tegridy Farms/putting their kids in episodes. It seems more like they're just doing whatever they personally like now that they don't have to worry about money. I feel like this has kind of made narrative structures fall apart since it's strung together set-pieces of whatever Matt or Trey currently has in mind.
  
  That's really all South Park has ever been. They famously typically write the episodes in just a day each, voice them and put them out in under a week.
  Not much time for planning and deep analysis of their plot and subtext - it's just whatever shit's been on Matt & Trey's minds that week.
  There was even a documentary about it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6_Days_to_Air
- So, just watched the episode, and it’s about what I remember. Not bad. Kind of hope they make the whole season this. Someone needs to.
- You likely aged out of the target demographic
  
  Interesting hypothesis, but the show has been evolving as the creators age. For example, Randy has been a much more prominent character in recent seasons. They still poke fun at current events, celebrities, and issues though. Recent seasons tend to have more continuity across episodes, too.
  
  I think continuity is more a result of streaming services being more prominent. That seems to be a media-wide trend. Even kids shows are getting more of it. When you didn't have to rely on the audience running in at a specific time every week to not be lost, you have more flexibility to not resort to the status quo at the end of each episode.
  
  I think part of this too is with Matt-Trey having kids they want to write more for adult characters as they get older
- Its about as good as it always was. Which is to say that if you matured or grew as a person at all after grade 10 then its probably not for you anymore.
  
  What a stupid thing to say, the new manbearpig episodes where they admit they were wrong about climate change is some of the best fucking satire

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