South Park Season 23 starts Sept 25th

[NoSleep]

.... Coming Wednesday. Just thought it would be better to have a season 23 thread rather than continue in the current SP general thread.

[NoSleep]

Looks like there are S23 trailers (made up of clips from previous shows) with the catchphrase "Who's Inside You?" They look more likely to be Comedy Central's idea compared to last season's #CancelSouthPark which was Parker/Stone led.

[weekender]

Thanks for the heads-up.  Official UK premiere on Comedy Central UK on Friday September 27th at 10pm.

[Moribunderast]

I thought the season opener was a cracker. Properly angry and silly. I don't always love the Tegridy Farms stuff but it looks like it might be setting up more interesting things for down the line. Everything with Cartman and Kyle was fantastic - especially including my favourite South Park trope of Cartman trying to sing his way out of trouble.

[weekender]

That was the most I've laughed for a long time.

Great opening episode simply because it started with a simple idea - family weed farms and stuff - and then the ideas went off on tangents and I wasn't sure what was happening although I think I kept up to an extent.

If they have an arc in mind it's going to be amazing to see it played out, but even if that doesn't happen I'm fairly content with what appears to be two funny bitches in a studio trying to make the other one laugh.

South Park is still fucking great, basically.

[The Giggling Bean]

I'm going in the opposite direction and thought it was massively tedious. Seasons 1 through to 12 or so used to have me falling off my chair gasping for breath with laughing so much. The best recent series episodes can muster is one coughed out chuckle.

The idea of Cartman ratting on anyone who pisses him off is classic behaviour. However I didn't think they did that much of interest with it. I also didn't see why Cartman would end up there himself. It doesn't seem like the other kids would stop to his level and turn his trick back on him.

Parker and Stone seem to be fed up with the kids and are more interested in the adult characters now. Unfortunately it feels like Homer Simpsons job of the week to me. I've followed these characters since the original series and it really does seem like Parker and Stone have stumbled into The Simpsons trap. What's Randy been now? A Geologist,  pop star, celebrity chef now a weed farmer.

I've said it before, I really wish they'd go back to the self contained stories with silly premises (Cartmanland, Good Fun with Weapons, Awesome-O, Guitar Queero etc). These extended series feel like 1 joke stretched out over 10 episodes. I keep watching in the hopes there'll be a decent return to form episode but its felt like a chore to get through these past few seasons.

[Weeping Prophet]

I kind of wish it'd been a self-contained episode. Converting the migrant children to Judaism was genius. But we'll see where they go with it.

[BritishHobo]

I see what you all mean. To me, the Cartman/Kyle plot felt like a breath of fresh air. Even though there has been plenty, it feels like there's been little with the kids the last few years. The detention centre guys misinterpreting Kyle's Mexican Joker analogy and going fucking mad paranoid was really funny I think, the mad idiocy of the adults from the POV of the kids.

[The Giggling Bean]

Actually I'll agree that the Mexican Joker stuff was amusing...not laugh out loud funny but amusing nonetheless. I did also like Kyle converting the kids to Judaism too.

I just never got on board with the fact Parker and Stone feel they have to make every episode topical. They days of wacky ideas and crazy concepts feel like they ended a long time ago.

[The Lion King]

you little shit!

south park is on netflix now, not all seasons but the best of is worth is, where'd that come from! shit!

[godber]

Seasons 1-21 also on Amazon Prime

[NoSleep]

When I saw it on Netflix earlier this week I thought I had just not seen it before. I remember searching before and only the film had come up; but their search engine is fairly crap. I noticed Twin Peaks (S1&2 only) was on there a couple of months back, but when I looked again it was gone.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I've only just got round to watching the first episode, and TGB sums it up for me below...

I'm going in the opposite direction and thought it was massively tedious. Seasons 1 through to 12 or so used to have me falling off my chair gasping for breath with laughing so much. The best recent series episodes can muster is one coughed out chuckle.

The idea of Cartman ratting on anyone who pisses him off is classic behaviour. However I didn't think they did that much of interest with it. I also didn't see why Cartman would end up there himself. It doesn't seem like the other kids would stop to his level and turn his trick back on him.

Parker and Stone seem to be fed up with the kids and are more interested in the adult characters now. Unfortunately it feels like Homer Simpsons job of the week to me. I've followed these characters since the original series and it really does seem like Parker and Stone have stumbled into The Simpsons trap. What's Randy been now? A Geologist,  pop star, celebrity chef now a weed farmer.

I've said it before, I really wish they'd go back to the self contained stories with silly premises (Cartmanland, Good Fun with Weapons, Awesome-O, Guitar Queero etc). These extended series feel like 1 joke stretched out over 10 episodes. I keep watching in the hopes there'll be a decent return to form episode but its felt like a chore to get through these past few seasons.

Actually I'll agree that the Mexican Joker stuff was amusing...not laugh out loud funny but amusing nonetheless. I did also like Kyle converting the kids to Judaism too.

I just never got on board with the fact Parker and Stone feel they have to make every episode topical. They days of wacky ideas and crazy concepts feel like they ended a long time ago.

Admittedly I didn't dislike it quite as much, but most of the time I was bored, there was the odd vaguely amusing bit but I'm also tired of the topicality side of things, and I'm on the verge of quitting the show. It's not that it's bad, just oh so very average and I don't think I can be arsed with it any more.

[olliebean]

Just watched episode 2 and I don't think I cracked a smile once. So bored with Tegridy now, and judging from the theme song it's looking like it's going to feature heavily this season. When the fuck did it become the Randy Marsh show?

[The Giggling Bean]

Just watched episode 2 and I don't think I cracked a smile once. So bored with Tegridy now, and judging from the theme song it's looking like it's going to feature heavily this season. When the fuck did it become the Randy Marsh show?

Oh fuck...no. Something occurred to me just now. That scene at the end of ep 1 where Randy is shouting "Fuck South Park". I now think that was Parker having a genuine rant knowing they're now obliged to keep churning this out. The words, dump truck full of money, spring to mind. I reckon they'd have jacked it in ages ago if they weren't being paid mega bucks.

I've started watching some of the eps on Netflix and I'll say it again. How far has this show fallen in quality? There's been nothing in the past 3 series to hold a candle to stuff like "Good times with Weapons", "Return of the fellowship of the lord of the rings" or "AwesomeO". I'd be fascinated to see how the writers room is reacting to this latest lot. I wonder if Parker and Stone genuinely find what they're doing amusing or if the weight of 23 seasons has got to them.

They seem to really want to push Randy to the forefront now. I don't know if it's a cultural thing now in that weed growing is a big concern in the states. It's not a topic I'm familiar with so I'm wondering why they've decided that would be a good basis to set a series around. As theres not many legal weed farmers in the UK maybe I'm missing the point that seems more relevant to the US.

I'm now not looking forward to episode 2. I'd like to stop watching but I'd be worried in case they pulled a rabbit out of the hat and made a half decent episode.

[Noodle Lizard]

Oh fuck...no. Something occurred to me just now. That scene at the end of ep 1 where Randy is shouting "Fuck South Park". I now think that was Parker having a genuine rant knowing they're now obliged to keep churning this out. The words, dump truck full of money, spring to mind. I reckon they'd have jacked it in ages ago if they weren't being paid mega bucks.

Which is weird considering just how fucking loaded they are between South Park (to which they own all digital rights) and Book of Mormon. Last I checked, they were each worth a few hundred million. They've always seemed pretty grounded and self-aware, they must know the quality is nowhere near what it once was, and judging by the tone of some of the episodes/interviews it seems as if they're a bit sick of it too. Do they want the money that badly? God knows there are enough insanely wealthy people who still churn out increasingly poor-quality work in order to get more, so maybe it's something you don't understand until you're one of them.

This weed plotline may have been topical between 2012-2016 when a bunch of states legalized it, and they already did an episode on medical marijuana a while back. It's 2019 now, nobody really cares, and it doesn't seem like there's enough comedy in it to stretch over two seasons a year apart. Are these leftover ideas?

[up_the_hampipe]

Didn't they say they wanted to keep going until Comedy Central cancels it? At this stage I don't think they'll be forced into anything.

[NoSleep]

I believe they've gone beyond the point where they were tired of SP and are now quite happy to make it. Partly because they've contained it within their strict one-week-per-episode production regime. How can you get fed up with something that only takes up a few weeks of the year and you're gone from it again? They used to complain about how they were fed up with it years ago now. Most of their beefs around the subject, like this week's episode, are are more about the industry and their own changing attitudes (the "everything seems like shit" episodes).

[selectivememory]

I've quite enjoyed these two episodes. Sure, they're not really making any classic episodes any more, but considering it's 23 years in it's still going pretty strong. Not really essential viewing for me these days, but nowhere near bad enough for me to stop watching.

[up_the_hampipe]

Stan doing screamo metal and Randy killing Winnie The Pooh got some good laughs out of me. So yeah not bad. I'm a bit bored of the weed farm stuff though.

[NoSleep]

Loved Butters on the axe.

[olliebean]

Oh fuck...no. Something occurred to me just now. That scene at the end of ep 1 where Randy is shouting "Fuck South Park". I now think that was Parker having a genuine rant knowing they're now obliged to keep churning this out. The words, dump truck full of money, spring to mind.

And there it literally is, in episode 2...

[weekender]

I enjoyed episode 2.

I thought "China is bad" was the main point of the episode, and the fact that they've moved the initial situation to a farm is more incidental to prompt them to try and come up with some other subplot ideas.  I don't think the weed angle played any particular part in the overall plotline other than it was a basic change of setting for the starting point.

Pissed myself laughing at Cunt Mickey Mouse representing Disney Corporation, and Winnie the Pooh being garroted.  The animation styles of all three - Mickey, Winnie, Marsh - combined in one scene were also wonderful if you can appreciate animation as an art form.  Just thinking about the technical detail required in order to do that blows my mind, but it looks amazing.

I also laughed at nearly every single piece of music in the show, which just sounded like Parker/Stone messing around in a studio, having written the need for some songs/music/noises.  Look at the two folk singers who finish up at Autumn Fest and it's obvious that they're so out of tune with their singing that they're a crappy act.  That's what, a five second gag between the writers and people who have been to festivals - but again, I laughed.

To me at this stage Season 23 feels a bit like when the Meldrews moved house at the start of Series 2 of One Foot In The Grave.  That gave Renwick a few minor plot points to play with (and new characters to introduce as neighbours), but it was never integral to the main point of the show.

Sure, South Park maybe doesn't reach the dazzling heights of some of the first 6 or so seasons, but then what does?

It still makes me laugh every time it's on, and I still think the writers have some points to make.  Hopefully the 'Tegridy' stuff is just a background change, and they continue to make points about real world stuff.  As a suggestion - and bear in mind I have just Googled "annoying child climate change" - they could do an episode about Greta Thunberg and her parents' attempts to infiltrate world governments.

In summary, I still think this is a very strong show, Clive.

[Noodle Lizard]

I'm anticipating a Greta Thunberg episode too - it seems exactly the kind of thing they'd have a go at. That said, they're probably a bit more careful these days, and have kind of done both ends of the climate change debate now.

[weekender]

That said, they're probably a bit more careful these days

Yes, that was evidenced when they were careful with how diplomatically they treated China in this last episode.

[The Giggling Bean]

Well, I watched it. Stan doing Death Metal roaring was the coughed out chuckle for this episode. I think I even dozed off a few times through it. I'm wondering if the whole season is going to be this Tegrity Farm tedium.

Itd be interesting to know if they actually sit around laughing at this stuff in the writers room. If they're really fed up with doing South Park why don't they just end it. How much money is worth pissing all over your legacy?

The annoying thing is that the Stick of Truth game felt like a real return to form. That was genuinely funny but the series running concurrent was disappointing.

I hate coming on here bitching about the show but it used to be my favourite and they seem to have abandoned everything that made it funny in the first place. I'd love to stop watching but I'm sure they've still got it in them and I watch in hope.

[Twed]

I thought "China is bad" was the main point of the episode

I'm only a third of the way through but there seems to be a point being made about how appealing to specific markets makes works of art far worse (not being able to have things in the biopic because they wouldn't go over well in China)

[Twed]

America produces some of the best comedy but I wish somebody would sit the entire country down and say "it's not that funny to just keep repeating a catchphrase or word over and over again".

Tegridy.

[Twed]

I find it really difficult to stay engaged with any of these episodes or the last season. On the other hand I can tune into pretty much any older episode and be fully engaged.

[Moribunderast]

I loved the first episode (though I did watch it while drunk and was excited for new South Park) but the second was pretty mirthless, outside of Butters playing in a metal band. I mentioned in an earlier post that I don't find the Tegridy stuff very interesting (weed humour has always been tedious to me, even when I smoked a lot of it) and I never found their Mickey Mouse character funny so that was a loser too. When Randy was imprisoned I briefly thought they were doing something wild where each character would gradually end up in some kind of prison as the season wore on but then he got out and Kyle and Cartman returned to little fanfare and that was that.

I do still think they have a decent ratio of hits-to-misses in the newer seasons. I probably really enjoy 6 episodes of any 10 episode run but, yeah, a little worried if the whole season is going to be leaning on Randy as crazy pot farmer as it's just not that interesting or funny.