South Park

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Transmitted:	August1997 - November 2012
Country of origin:	USA
Genre:	Satirical comedy
Starring:	Trey Parker, Matt Stone
Rating:	2/5
No. of seasons:	16

I remember watching this at the time.
Now, fifteen years later, I thought I’d give it another go.

The premise:
We all know this one, right?
The show follows the exploits of four boys, Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman and Kenny McCormick.
The boys live in the fictional small town of South Park, located within the real life South Park basin in the Rocky Mountains of central Colorado.
Stan is portrayed as the everyman of the group,[7] as the show's official website describes him as an "average, American 4th grader".[8] Kyle is the lone Jew among the group, and his portrayal in this role is often dealt with satirically.
Cartman—loud, obnoxious, manipulative, racist and obese—is often portrayed as an antagonist whose anti-Semitic attitude has resulted in an ever-progressing rivalry with Kyle.
Kenny, who comes from a poor family, wears his parka hood so tightly that it covers most of his face and muffles his speech. During the show's first five seasons, Kenny would die in nearly every episode before returning in the next with little or no definitive explanation given.
(Synopsis taken from the South Park Wikipedia entry)

I really wanted to like this.
I really, really did.
Covering subjects with the fearless abandon of the best stand-ups out there - Stanhope, I’m looking right into your drunken face – no topic is out of bounds.
Disability, paedophilia, Scientology (gasp), racism, anti-Semitism, rape, buggery, bestiality, homophobia, Islamic Extremism, you name it, creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker poke a big, poo covered stick in its general direction.
And that’s all good.
Boundary pushing is what comedy should be about. Upsetting people is an essential of any truly great art, and they certainly do that.
But then there’s the bad.
The puerile.
The juvenile.
The constant fart jokes and toilet humour.
Sorry, just not funny.
Once, I can smile.
Twice, I can force a grimace.
Third time, I’m just losing patience and, by the fiftieth fart or shit reference, I’m just about ready to tear my fucking hair out.
It’s a real shame as, without it, I think this would be up there amongst my favourite shows. Struggled to the end of season one.
Won’t be watching any more.
What a pity.

Find an episode guide here: