When did South Park begin to suck? Or has it not reached that point?

Personally, I think season 10 is a pretty clear "when things got bad" moment. The style did shift between seasons 1-9, but 10's style was completely different. The loss of Chef as the unlikely voice of reason did a number on things.

What are your thoughts?

I think it's been through a phase of major suckage, and has actually managed to recover somewhat. I've not exactly been keeping a close eye on SP, but there was a point eight or so years ago (possibly longer, I forget) where I found it absolutely dreadful to sit through.

I never was a fan of South Park. It did have its moments, but I personally didn't find it funny at all compared to Family Guy and Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

it's was since the wizard episode in my opinion That was honestly The last thing I have ever seen in the show which I find really Boring

Sodaholic said:

Personally, I think season 10 is a pretty clear "when things got bad" moment.

Exactly. Probably since that season in Studio appeared another writer with some rubbish and boring ideas.
euee... Just for money.

It started getting frustrating after "Scott Temorman Must Die" in the fifth season. People overrated the fuck out of that episode and Cartman went waaaaaay off the deep end. People call me crazy when I say this, but I've always appreciated the first 4 seasons of SP because the kids were still pretty much kids in their actions. Cartman was a fat, spoiled brat with hints of childish racism as opposed to the out and out shitbag he became after this point.

It became inconsistent through about the eleventh season. There was a mixture of enjoyable episodes (like the Imaginationland trilogy, Good Times with Weapons, Make Love not Warcraft, etc.), but there were also ones that were either way too heavy handed with Trey & Matt's (libertarian bullshit) politics, or focused too goddamn much on Randy Marsh. I fully credit the latter with killing the show's humor for me.

The few episodes I've watched since then have just been awful. I feel like they've become more focused on inserting their views and pushing boundaries than making good humor. I didn't watch any of the last season, but I heard enough to know that it'd just serve to piss me off.

The PC Season was brilliant, everything else since the movie has been a letdown.

Snakes said:

It started getting frustrating after "Scott Temorman Must Die" in the fifth season. People overrated the fuck out of that episode and Cartman went waaaaaay off the deep end. People call me crazy when I say this, but I've always appreciated the first 4 seasons of SP because the kids were still pretty much kids in their actions. Cartman was a fat, spoiled brat with hints of childish racism as opposed to the out and out shitbag he became after this point.

Pretty much this. Since then it lowered in quality and then sort of started fluctuating between okay and bad. There's some funny stuff like the crab people, good time with guns, PC Principal and water park flooded with piss, but then there's shit like that cringe inducing Pewdiepie episode. The constant need to comment on current events is also tiresome.

Have they ripped on the bronies yet? I can't imagine them getting a free pass when South Park has gone after Pokemon, Family Guy, Scientologists, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, Paris Hilton, microtransactions and so on.

I thought the new season was funny.

I think around season 10 (2006) is when it started getting very MTV-ish with random celebrity inserts every episode. I don't mind that they switched to being more topical instead of the childhood adventures of the early seasons, they need content, but I'm just not interested in celebrity crap. The last couple years have been pretty good though. Other than the two terrible Pewdiepie episodes HorrorMovieGuy mentioned, season 18 was almost celebrity free.

I will say that even at it's worst there were enough strong episodes now and than to hold my interest, unlike The Simpsons which went straight down the toilet and never climbed out.

Every season of South Park I've watched has been about 70-80% good but a few episodes in every season are just horrible. Overall I'd certainly say I liked and still do occasionally watch South Park.

I love south park! I think every episode has something that makes it rewatchable. I honestly can't think of any episode I'd skip if I were in the mood for south park and it was on. I guess I'm just casual, but on the hole south park is some of the best television out there. I like Parker and Stone's politics and I tend to agree with a lot of the things they say. I think they Episodes are very informative and they teach people about ethics. They have incredible attention to detail and it makes the outside world a little easier to understand.

There are people like Eric Cartman in the world and being exposed to his hyper inflated narcissistic personality is truly a learning experience. I think there are episodes that shine more so than others, but overall south park is legit.

It has never sucked. Sure, some episodes or seasons have been a little off, but the most recent season is arguably the best one to date.

It's not like The Simpsons where there was a distinct and unmistakable collapse in quality within a 1 to 2 year period. The quality of South Park has been relatively constant, perhaps trending slightly upward, throughout its existence.

Randy is perhaps one of the best characters on South Park. The cream fraiche, the baseball, and the sarcastaball ones were so fucking funny because of that character. Also the Black Friday ones had some funny parts and who can argue with Kurt Russel getting raped by the Christmas Critters in the imagination land episodes.

I think it's hit and miss with most of them, but that's any comedy.

I'd say about season 10 is where it stopped being *consistently* good---that isn't to say everything prior to 10 had been good, but it was usually a pretty safe bet. Since then the show has taken a lot of major turns in terms of how the characters have evolved and how they use them. They've gone through dry periods in the last 7-8 years, and also some really rich periods, where it seemed the writing was just bursting with creativity, comedy and unpredictability. I would say that when they have crappy periods these days, they seem to last at least several episodes, if not an entire season, and the reverse applies for the funny, creative stretches as well.

Mr. Freeze said:

The PC Season was brilliant, everything else since the movie has been a letdown.

PC season was brilliant! Come at me brah!

I actually like the newest seasons of south park much better than its older stuff. I'm probably biased because I didn't get a chance to watch it much when it was new but I like the show a lot. There are a few stinker episodes here and there that look like the guys didn't put much work into it, but many episodes are very iconic to me.

Its surprising to me to hear anyone not like it.

Edit: We should have more tv show threads.

Stopped watching it for awhile and recently caught up on like the last three or four seasons. The show mostly suffers when it uses the characters as too transparent a vehicle for Matt and Trey's political and social frustrations. Other times, this is done more appropriately and doesn't feel so try-hard or ham-fisted. I think the introduction of PC Principal, and the Whole Foods story arc, are great editions to the show. It's really had me hooked. The show exists more as an animated political cartoon than an actual show, which I respect. I also like that they still sometimes go back to the old school and have grotesque, juvenile episodes about something insignificant.

From what I've seen, south park is about: sex jokes, feces jokes, death jokes, injury jokes, swears, pop culture jokes and celebrity jokes.
Am I missing something else?

That's most forms of comedy in a nutshell, but yes, you're missing aliens hidden in the background for the druggies.

I miss it when the show was more about the boys getting in trouble rather than some political agenda. The PC season was great, but still.

Fonze said:

That's most forms of comedy in a nutshell, but yes, you're missing aliens hidden in the background for the druggies.

The aliens!!! I swear that I spend hours looking for those bloody aliens!
The fact that i'm stoned as fuck is irrelevant.....

HWGuy said:

Have they ripped on the bronies yet? I can't imagine them getting a free pass when South Park has gone after Pokemon, Family Guy, Scientologists, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, Paris Hilton, microtransactions and so on.

They also poked fun at Dan Snyder and the (SELF-CENSORED) over the team name.

The show does make a lot of good points, especially when it comes to politics. Sometimes however, they tend to go a bit too far...

CRAB PEOPLE
CRAB PEOPLE
CRAB PEOPLE
CRAB PEOPLE
CRAB PEOPLE
CRAB PEOPLE
CRAB PEOPLE
CRAB PEOPLE

OH LONG JOHNSONN
OOHH LONG JOHN

SP has always been hit and miss. Some of the more recent seasons have seemed to have fewer hits, but they've been on a upward trajectory for the past few years, and still when it's good it's very very good. The most reason season was good on the whole, though I think I preferred the one before. I think the show suffers somewhat from the very short production times, with ideas often seeming under-cooked, and plotlines resolving in weak ways. I think I'd enjoy the show more if it wasn't used so much as a vehicle for making political points, since M&T very rarely offer much in the way of insightful analysis, and it just detracts from the comedy; SP can work brilliantly as a distorting mirror for current affairs, but can also fall flat when it moves beyond this into punditry.

I really hope they revisit the Mysterion plotline at some point - one of my favourites.

I have never really found much of an interest in the show, I was exposed to it a few times when I was a small child at Christmas when my cousin watched it but other than than I have never really bothered with it.

Considering it's recently explored gentrification over a rather elaborate storyline that also ties in PC culture, gender identification, personalized advertisements, the elitism of Yelp reviewers, and other current topics, I think South Park is smarter than some give it credit for. This past season has been phenomenal. I do agree that it's hit or miss, but there have been a lot of hits lately.

durian said:

I think the show suffers somewhat from the very short production times, with ideas often seeming under-cooked, and plotlines resolving in weak ways.

I think this is also the reason the show still comes out with some of the greatest episodes ever. Comedy is usually best when you go with your first instinct and don't second guess it. The six-day production schedule enforces this in a way. A side effect though is sometimes an idea falls apart and they're forced to cobble something, anything together in a couple of days, and you end up with a "meh" or "wtf" type episode. But to me this is a lot easier to accept than The Simpsons which is terrible every single week because nobody there knows the first thing about humor, they just shit out whatever story and dialogue they can think of.

I think I'd enjoy the show more if it wasn't used so much as a vehicle for making political points, since M&T very rarely offer much in the way of insightful analysis, and it just detracts from the comedy;

It's probably more accurate to say that you'd enjoy the show more if you yourself weren't the exact thing that the show makes fun of. I'm guessing you're a Bernie supporter.