South Park - the beginning of the end?

“I’m goin’ down to South Park, gonna have myself a time!”

Or not, as the case may be with the latest batch of new episodes shown recently in the US. The first seven episodes of the show’s thirteenth season ranged from the ridiculous to the stupid, and seemed devoid of the cutting-edge social commentary and satire that the show is renowned for. Since it began on Comedy Central back in 1997, South Park has earned itself a deserved reputation as being subversive and original, breaking taboos and boldly broaching controversial topical issues. Past examples include a brilliant examination of the 2008 Presidential Election (Season 12’s “About Last Night”), a unique take on the Gay Marriage Rights Bill (“Follow the Egg” from Season 9) and the show’s memorable response to the 9/11 attacks in an episode where the boys encountered Osama Bin Laden.

Perhaps it is, after almost two hundred episodes that the show is just running out of ideas? It happened long ago to The Simpsons, which has been unwatchable for the best part of a decade now, and Family Guy was never the same again after being brought back from the dead. And, to be fair, where else can Trey Parker and Matt Stone (the creators) take the show? It’s mocked every crevice of popular culture, ranging from its hilarious depictions of Michael Jackson and Jennifer Lopez to Mel Gibson and George Lucas. Christianity, Judaism, Scientology and Mormonism have all been caught in the firing line, and homosexuality, race, environmentalism, disability and war have all been tackled in the typical South Park style. What else does it have to say?

In the early years of the show, the humour was often more simplistic, relying, for the most part, on four eight-year-old boys living in Colorado. Fart jokes and swearing (the infamous “Oh my God, you killed Kenny”) were arguably what launched the show into the public consciousness, outraging certain parties (and in my case, parents), but winning critical acclaim and a loyal cult fanbase. Early adventures ranged from the surreal – mutant turkeys, Pinkeye-infected zombies, a gigantic robotic Barbara Streisand, a talking piece of poo, a gay dog and an elephant making love to a pig to the boys-will-be-boys innocence of Cartman, Stan, Kyle and Kenny, as well as the whole “I’ve learnt something today” aspect, which saw the show conclude with a semi-serious message. The early episode may look fairly drab; the animation is rather poor, but they ooze charm, and hold up extremely well. Most importantly of all, they’re still funny.

With the South Park movie in 1999, and arguably funnier and more ambitious stories, South Park was probably (for me, anyway) at its peak in terms of quality around the third and fourth seasons. It seemed to have struck a successful balance that juggled social commentary and satire with the puerile, immature and hilarious. Who could forget the fantastic Pokemon piss-take? The introduction of Timmy? Sexual Harassment Panda? Cartman posing as a poster boy for the North American Man Boy Love Association, the revelation that God is actually a talking rat and the boys attempt at launching a boyband were all memorable highlights – managing to be risqué, original and downright funny. But, towards the end of Season Four, the winning formula was changed. The boys were growing up. Fourth grade.

Season Five is much darker than the four proceeding years. We have Cartman turning a boy’s parents into chilli and then watching him eat it (in probably the best episode ever produced), we have Kenny dying (actually rather moving), as well as commentary on stem-cell research/abortion, terrorism, masturbation and an episodes that features the word “shit” in excess of 160 times. With Kenny absent from the sixth season, change was in the air. Gone were the days of the boy’s being boys – instead each week we’re faced with film parodies, grotesque celebrity spoofs and political satire. The murder of Jesus and Santa Claus being tortured in Iraq in the Season Six finale “Red Sleigh Down” epitomises the “new” South Park. It’s funny, but dark, and laced with undertones. Seasons Seven and Eight continued in much the same vein, offering a mixture of, on the whole, excellent episodes. Highlights included Cartman saying “Fuck Jesus”, the exposure of America’s attitude towards the Iraq war (“Let the flag for hypocrisy fly high from every poll”) and the brilliant metaphor for the 2004 Presidential Election Campaign where the boys had to vote between a Giant Douche and a Turd Sandwich for their school mascot.

And then we get to Season Nine, and the show has never been what it was since, in all honesty. It’s not that Season Nine was bad, it just wasn’t as fresh or biting or innovative as previous seasons were. An over reliance on film parodies was an issue. And it seems that we must endure several spoofs per year. We’ve had lampoons on “24”, “The Day After Tomorrow”, “High School Musical”, “The Passion of the Christ”, “Indiana Jones” and most recently “The Dark Knight”. The problem with these parodies is not that they’re not well-observed and realised, but that they’re not funny. Not particularly, anyway. The ideas are good, but the execution is frequently devoid of genuine laughs. And considering South Park is a comedy, that rather defeats the object. Leading on from this is the constant inclusion of celebrities. Very hit-and-miss in recent years. We’ve had takes on Britney Spears, Oprah, Russell Crowe, Mel Gibson, the Jonas Brothers, Mickey Mouse, Kanye West and Paris Hilton to name but a few, and whereas the satire and mockery is often completely on the money, I’m feeling more and more like “been there, done that”. They’ve made their point on celebrity culture and there’s only a certain number of times the same idea can be re-packaged and flogged. A comparison to the Ricky Gervais’ sitcom Extras seems necessary here. In Extras, we’ve offered a garish, distorted, completely exaggerated version of an egotistical celebrity each week. First time you see it, it’s really funny. Tenth time the formula is repeated, it feels stale, predictable and repetitive. South Park is definitely in danger of falling into this trap.

South Park has always had elements of surrealism to it, right since the first episode when Cartman was abducted by aliens and given an anal probe, but in recent years, the show seems to sometimes become too surreal, and possibly even ridiculous, for it’s own good. It’s okay when the surreal elements are used sporadically throughout an episode, but when they become the dominant focus of an entire episode, alarm bells begin to sound. Need I mention the Towellie disaster from Season 10, the hideous “A Million Little Fibers”, or the Britney Spears mess from Season 12. Or the one from Season 11 with the headlice, or the recent Season 13 train wreck that featured twenty-two minutes of Terrence and Philip and two Canadian women queefing all over each other and other people. These episodes tend to be weakened all the more by the fact that the four main protagonists are often completely removed from the plot. And, what is the writer’s obsession with Randy Marsh (Stan’s father)? It seems we can’t go a whole season without at least 3 episodes given over to him to ruin? Season 13 had Randy becoming some sort of recession-preventing-God, as well as being the American (or indeed Earth) representative when it was visited by an alien. Ridiculous! Since when was South Park about the parents? Randy isn’t even a funny character, and the fact that he is constantly at the centre of storylines detracts from what the show should be about.

I guess my main issue with Season 13 (well, the first half) is the feeling that the writer’s have exhausted every possible avenue. Everything feels stale. It’s as if Trey Parker is making the show on autopilot. The enthusiasm seems to have gone. The show is no longer making relevant statements about society, but is instead pandering to the masses with it’s reliance on celebrity culture and film spoofs. We’ve had several episodes this year that have, essentially, been one-joke episodes. The “Queef” fiasco springs to mind, as does the “Fishsticks” episode, not forgetting the abysmal “Fatbeard” which saw Cartman become a pirate. We’ve had the obligatory film parody, we’ve had the obligatory surreal episodes (the Derby episode, and the Queef episode), we’ve had the obligatory set of Randy centric episodes and we’ve had the obligatory celebrity piss-take. And I’m just left feeling, we’ve seen it all before. And the show has done it better before. I think, if the show is to improve in the second half of the season (seven more episodes to air from October), then the writer’s need to strip the show down. Maybe go back to basics? More emphasis on the boys and their antics, and less focus on Randy, celebrities, film parodies and surrealism. South Park has offered the best in satire since 1997, and I’d hate to see it completely lose it’s touch. Here’s hoping the second half of Season 13 is an improvement, or else I think it’s time for Kenny to be killed for the last time.