What's Up With South Park Lately?

T

tracie a

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These past several have only been... almost alright. Before this current run they've been having a string of unexpectedly hilarious episodes... and lately they're just... passable.

Anyone else noticing this?
 
I've always felt South Park is a "hit or miss" show. Not every episode is gonna be "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson", "Mystery Of The Urinal Deuce", "Night Of The Living Homeless", or "The Losing Edge." I thought that this season's "The Coon" was a really good episode.
 
I also have always been in that boat that South Park is really hit or miss. Lately though, the show has either been disappointing or average, which is quite a shame since there's lots of event in the world that are quite exploitable for humor.

It also doesn't help that a majority of the episodes dont seem to age well in reruns.
 
It seems that these days the original 4 boys are hardly together anymore. The best episodes have involved all of them doing something together. But my favourite episodes involve Kenny, who should be used more, and I'd like to see them make a spin-off series based on Kenny's family.
 
Agreed that South Park has always been a hit or miss show. It all depends on the episode. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, sometime's it freaking awesome, and sometimes it's just plain horrible. At least you get variety, eh? :p
 
I think the reason they don't use Kenny too much since he's in Matt and Trey's eyes more of a "prop" considering how you can only seldom really hear. Thus why he really dosen't have dialogue too often. Too be fair at least Kenny has had an episode this season but even then a lot of it also focused on the boys and Mickey's plan then just on Kenny. Beisdes considering that the only family that seems to get focused on is either Randy and the marshes and occasionally Ike and Kyle's parents (and Butter's parents as well whenever they need to gorund Butters) , I really doubt we'll see any spinoffs on families since it seems nowadays the boys are getting more play then most of the regular adults in town.

In truth though the eps will never be like they were in earlier season most of them to me are still really enjoyable. In fact I really liked 4 of the seven eps this run ("The Ring", "The Coon", "Fishsticks" and "Fatbeard") since any ep that focuses specifically on the boys seems to be better then ones that don't. Thus why "Pinewood Derby" though decent wasn't a classic, there were only some moments of "Margetaville" to enjoy and... well "Eat Pray Queef" would of been better staying more on the boys and girls then trying to involve the whole town really. (Though in truth there is a limit to how much I can take of fart jokes of how much they impact the plot and such).
 
I think this season has been good, better than last season, but its been one of the weaker seasons.


The last 2 episodes have been very weak.. Hopefully the second part of the season will redeem itself.
 
But we haven't had any really horrible episodes, either. Nothing that made me want to change the channel after 2 minutes. A couple really awesome ones, no abomidable one. I call that a good season.
 
It has been a diverse season. A different style with each episode. It started with a pop-culture-heavy episode, then a movie parody, then a timely social parable, then a one-note crude humor episode with lots of Terrance & Phillip, then an episode pretty similar to the first but with more Jimmy & Cartman, then a really out-there space adventure, and finally an adventurous "kids' fantasy vs. reality" episode. I can't say any of them have been true duds, although "The Coon" may qualify. It has, at the very least, been unpredictable.
 
Agreed!!!!!! Especially the 2nd half of last season. The 2nd half of last season had only 2 good episodes and rest really just sucked.
 
I think Matt and Trey are just getting tired of doing it. Especially Trey, writing all those episodes solo. If I were him I'd just hire a team of writers and oversee it while taking some time off
 
If it gets to that point, they might as well end it. Part of the show's appeal is that the 2 creators have complete control, and I really don't think it would be the same if they took the alternative approach.

Plus, I think they do have writers to assist them... they're just always the head writers. Regular professional writers would not work on that hectic schedule.
 
The 2 creators would definitely still have complete control over the show and the production, it's just the writing that they could use assistance with. From what I've read, Trey Parker writes all the episodes himself with no assistance and always has. I'm thinking, after 12 seasons, maybe he's getting tired of this and producing lackluster episodes as a result?
 
I don't know if this has been discussed yet but Bill Hader (Superbad, Adventureland, SNL) has been a Creative Consultant and Producer of South Park this season. Maybe Trey & Matt are becoming more open to bringing people on from outside the show?
 
They've done it before. I believe a lot of season 4 had some outside help.

They did that in season 2. They absolutely hated the results and decided to never do it again, which is why they've been the head writers since.
 
Oh, I see. I wasn't aware of this. If that's the case I can understand while they decided to handle all the writing themselves. It still seems tiresome to me though, hence why the show is such a hit or miss show
 
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