South Park - TV Review

Story by Greg Bright 

| Published Nov 9, 2010

After 14 years is there really any reason to watch South Park? This is a question worth asking, and I think the answer is yes.

In this day and age there is a lot of satire out there (Family Guy, Stephen Colbert and I guess Jon Stewart is still considered satire), but none of them can lampoon both sides of an issue quite like South Park.

Take their most recent episodes for instance, they deal with the BP Oil Spill and a superhero named ‘Captain Hindsight’. This ‘hero’ comes and tells the people what should have happened to avoid the disaster. He doesn’t fix anything, just says what should have happened and when he is done, everyone cheers him like they would Superman.

No other satirists even think of looking at the issue the way South Park does. In just that single “superhero” character, Trey Parker and Matt Stone (the creators and writers) are able to look at everyone and criticize their love for only noticing things after they have already happened and then passing judgement.

In another episode, they satirize both Nascar fans, and more so, their critics. Pointing out that having ideas like ‘All Nascar fans are poor and stupid’ really ends up proving that you are the one who is stupid.

You’ll never find satire that deep on Family Guy or even the Daily Show, because unlike them, South Park has no set agenda. They don’t want to persuade you that they have the right answer, they just want you to know that no matter what side of the political spectrum you’re on, you’re just as stupid and crazy as the people on the other side.

Occasionally the jokes fall flat, or are used too many times in an episode, but you won’t find fairer or more topical satire anywhere else on TV.