South Park

***South Park*** is an American adult animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central and NickAdult. The series revolves around four boys—Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormick—and their exploits in and around the titular Colorado town. *South Park* became infamous for its profanity and dark, surreal humor that satirizes a wide range of topics toward an adult audience.

Parker and Stone developed *South Park* from two animated short films both titled *The Spirit of Christmas*. The second short became one of the first Internet viral videos, leading to *South Park*'s production. The pilot episode was produced using cutout animation; subsequent episodes have since used computer animation recalling the cutout technique. *South Park* features a large ensemble cast of recurring characters.

Since its debut on August 13, 1997, 317 episodes (including television films) of *South Park*have been broadcast. It debuted with great success, consistently earning the highest ratings of any basic cable program. Subsequent ratings have varied, but it remains one of Comedy Central's highest-rated programs. In August 2021, the series was renewed through 2027, and a series of films was announced for the streaming service Paramount+, the first two of which were released later that year.

*South Park* has received critical acclaim, and is included in various publications' lists of greatest television shows. It has received numerous accolades, including five Primetime Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award. A theatrical film, *South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut*, was released in June 1999 to commercial and critical success, garnering an Academy Award nomination. In 2013, *TV Guide* ranked *South Park* the tenth Greatest TV Cartoon of All Time.

## Premise

### Setting and characters

See also: List of South Park characters

*South Park* follows centers around four boys: Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartmanand 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, approximately one hour's drive from Denver. The town is also home to an assortment of other characters, including students, families, elementary school staff, and other various residents. Prominent settings include South Park Elementary, various neighborhoods and the surrounding mountain range, actual Colorado landmarks, and the businesses along the town's main street, all of which are based on the appearance of similar locations in Fairplay, Colorado. As one of the few television programs set in the Mountain West region that takes place outside the urban core of Denver, *South Park* frequently features the unique culture of the region, including cattle ranchers, Old West theme parks, snowy climates, mountaineering, Mormons, real-life Colorado locations such as Casa Bonita and Cave of the Winds, and many other regionally specific characteristics. *South Park* current title image since Season 17 to Season 22 and Season 25 which features the four main characters and most of the recurring, supporting characters in the background.

Stan is portrayed as the leader of the group, described on the series' website as an "average, American 4th grader". Kyle is Jewish, and his portrayal as one of the few such people in South Park is often dealt with satirically. Stan is modeled after Parker, while Kyle is modeled after Stone. They are best friends, and their friendship, symbolically intended to reflect Parker and Stone's friendship, is a common topic throughout the series. Cartman (as he is commonly referred to) is loud, obnoxious, and amoral, often portrayed as an antagonist. His staunch antisemitism has resulted in a progressive 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 first five seasons, Kenny died in almost every episode before reappearing in the next with no definite explanation. He was killed off in the fifth season episode "Kenny Dies", being reintroduced in the sixth season finale. Since then, Kenny is depicted as dying sporadically. During the first 58 episodes, the children were in the third grade. During the fourth season, they entered the fourth grade, where they have remained ever since.

Plots are often set in motion by events, ranging from the fairly typical to the supernatural and extraordinary, which frequently happen in the town. The boys often act as the voice of reason when these events cause panic or incongruous behavior among the adult populace, who are customarily depicted as irrational, gullible, and prone to overreaction. They are frequently confused by the contradictory and hypocritical behavior of their parents and other adults, and often perceive them as having distorted views on morality and society.

### Themes and style

See also: Subject matter in South Park and LGBTQ representation in South Park

Each episode opens with a tongue-in-cheek all persons fictitious disclaimer: "All characters and events in this show—even those based on real people—are entirely fictional. All celebrity voices are impersonated...poorly. The following program contains coarse language and due to its content it should not be viewed by anyone."

*South Park* was the first weekly program to be rated TV-MA, and is generally intended for adult audiences. The boys and most other child characters use strong profanity, with only the most taboo words being bleeped during a typical broadcast. Parker and Stone perceive this as the manner in which real-life small boys speak when they are alone.

*South Park* commonly makes use of carnivalesque and absurdist techniques, numerous running gags, violence, sexual content, offhand pop-cultural references, and satirical portrayal of celebrities.

Early episodes tended to be shock value-oriented and featured more slapstick-style humor. While social satire had been used on the show occasionally earlier on, it became more prevalent as the series progressed, with the show retaining some of its focus on the boys' fondness of scatological humor in an attempt to remind adult viewers "what it was like to be eight years old." Parker and Stone also began further developing other characters by giving them larger roles in certain storylines, and began writing plots as parables based on religion, politics, and numerous other topics. This provided the opportunity for the show to spoof both extreme sides of contentious issues, while lampooning both liberal and conservative points of view. Parker and Stone describe themselves as "equal opportunity offenders", whose main purpose is to "be funny" and "make people laugh", while stating that no particular topic or group of people be exempt from mockery and satire.

Parker and Stone insist that the show is still more about "kids being kids" and "what it's like to be in [elementary school] in America", stating that the introduction of a more satirical element to the series was the result of the two adding more of a "moral center" to the show so that it would rely less on simply being crude and shocking in an attempt to maintain an audience. While profane, Parker notes that there is still an "underlying sweetness" aspect to the child characters, and *Time* described the boys as "sometimes cruel but with a core of innocence." Usually, the boys or other characters pondered over what transpired during an episode and conveyed the important lesson taken from it with a short monologue. During earlier seasons, this speech commonly began with a variation of the phrase "You know, I've learned something today...".