South Park Cleanup

Stemming from a discussion started here. South Park is a Long Runner whose popularity naturally dates back to the younger days of the wiki, meaning there's a lot of issues regarding context, shoehorns, speculation, etc. This has been compounded by the continuity-based shift the show has taken from Season 19 onwards, as the show not only features very blatant episodic troping and speculation (especially from Season 20, which is littered with unnecessary spoiler tags and presumptive entries) but also attracts some complaining about its Broken Base. And due to the show's very cynical nature, there's also the issue of people using the pages to complain about things the show has criticized, such as Family Guy. And every now and then there's a bit of fanon treated as canon that pops up, especially on character pages.

I think it's long overdue for a cleanup, and I'm interested in the show lately, so I'm willing to work on a dedicated cleanup, especially on the more recent (season 19 and beyond) recap pages.

I'll start with SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped.South Park, which, as with most of the trope's pages, contains lots of misuse along with some potentially ROCEJ-violating content.

EDIT: Removed the example I provided because I thought it over and decided that it wasn't as bad as I thought.

Edited by themayorofsimpleton on Apr 21st 2021 at 9:26:58 AM

That page has come up before and it's probably all misuse, but SANTBD is so broken and decayed as an item I have no idea if cutlisting it will help anything.

I'm not opposed to cutlisting it though. It's just another excuse to gush about both very controversial things and aesops that are so obvious or common ("celebrity bad! humanity bad!") that I don't see why they're even listed. Some of these aren't even aesops, like Jimmy and Timmy's mere existence being a point about how disabled people are human too, even though they have episodes that don't teach that aesop.

Edited by mightymewtron on Apr 21st 2021 at 9:30:48 AM

Here's the entry that inspired me to put South Park in the Cleanup sandbox in the first place. It's quite a lengthy epic. It starts to get really complain-y once Season 20 is mentioned.

• Seasonal Rot:
  • Season 2, while not disliked by fans anywhere near as much as it is by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, is still considered the weakest of the show's early seasons due to many episodes being Whole Plot References to other works (including two being lifted wholesale from Star Trek: The Original Series alone), and a lot of the other episodes just being generally forgettable. However, the season laid a fair bit of the groundwork for South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, and also gave rise to a lot of the show's best-remembered memes (particularly anything to do with the Underpants Gnomes, as well as the Chewbacca Defense), which helps it in retrospect.
  • Season 17 is considered this due to its short length and large amount of lackluster topical episodes (though many fans love the "Black Friday" trilogy).
  • Season 20 fell into this when its unusually complex Story Arc was abruptly altered by real world events. Parker and Stone hadn't prepared for the possibility that Donald Trump, whom Mr. Garrison was serving as an Expy of, would be elected President of the United States over Hillary Clinton (who was being used straight up), so the final four episodes had to be substantially rewritten in a very short span of time—in the case of the post-Election Day episode within less than 24 hours or risk coming off as completely irrelevant. The results were that several significant characters, in particular the Member Berries, fell Out of Focus while most of the plot threads were not brought to satisfying conclusions. The attempt at connecting Trump's support with the praise for J. J. Abrams' The Force Awakens is particularly confusing. Separated into their own plots, they could've worked, but as it is they're connected only by the reasoning that The Force Awakens was very reminiscent of A New Hope, and thus is hearkening back to the old days, while Trump's rhetoric was seen as regressive rather than progressive, a flimsy connection at best. In fact, many on the right attacked The Force Awakens due to what they saw as pandering to PC/SJW elements.
  • Season 21, despite dropping the serialization of the past two seasons, was criticized by a large number of fans and critics for retaining the heavy topicality that plagued the series since season 17 (the season premiere, White People Renovating Houses, being an obvious satire of the 2017 Charlottesville Rally, for instance). It was also criticized for the subplot revolving around Cartman and Heidi which remained in the background for the entirety of the season and succumbed to Arc Fatigue.
  • While Season 22 fixed a few of the problems from past seasons, such as lessening the serialization even further and removing the Trump jokes, it replaced them with new problems. First of all the first few episodes of the season relied on repetition of the same joke for the entire episode. Later episodes seemed to rely more on "clapter" rather than actual jokes, and were completely lost on fans who were unfamiliar with the topics. The most jarring example was the ManBearPig two-parter where the show seemed to think all the viewers played Red Dead Redemption 2. The ManBearPig two-parter, while better received than most episodes of the season, had a rather jarring case of the creators backpedaling on their past mistakes in the show which felt very out of place. Lastly, the show seemed very intent on cramming in as many 2018 references as they could into a single episode making a lot episodes feel like cluttered messes as opposed to having a straightforward plot line. It comes as no surprise, that "Tegridy Farms" and "The Scoots", by far the most well-received episodes of the season were also the only ones that didn't reference current events in any way, leading many to conclude that the constant topicality of recent seasons is ultimately doing more harm than good.
  • Ironically, Season 23, which followed on from the well-received "Tegridy Farms", was viewed as going into this direction as well. It was this season where Randy officially stole the show away from everyone else, with every episode focused in some way around "Randy does something stupid to try and sell his weed." Many fans' opinion is that this disproportionate focus on Randy's antics ended up ultimately detracting from what were otherwise fine episodes like "Band in China" and "Let Them Eat Goo". When the arc finally ended at episode 6, many fans were disappointed that Randy got away with everything ^note  At least in Season 20, most of the damage from Gerald's actions were caused by people overreacting to his antics. Randy's collateral damage was done all on his own. The next few episodes were more positively received, such as "Board Girls" and "Turd Burglars", only to bring Tegridy back for the finale, which implied a venture into the cocaine business, though this was replaced with more weed humor in the hour-long special that premiered in Season 24's slot, though that episode was better received since it featured a greater variety of character arcs.

Season 20 is such a specific and strange case that it's worth describing, and most of that entry seems fine, but I think the part about Trump and The Force Awakens can be cut down, if not cut entirely, as it gets a bit "review-y" there, for lack of a better word.

Season 21 has more of a mixed reception. I don't think it's as hated as Season 20 at all, and I know at least one episode from the season ("Put It Down") is really well liked, albeit mostly for being a Craig/Tweek episode and having a great musical number. I also think the Cartman/Heidi plot is more a Broken Base because I know several fans (myself included) who genuinely liked the exploration of a toxic relationship. Three of my favorite episodes are Season 21 episodes so make of that what you will.

Season 22 was actually pretty well received by fans, IIRC. It was at worst So Okay, It's Average and I think the Manbearpig plot was at least appreciated as an Author's Saving Throw. I've also never seen anybody complain that the issue with the season was being too focused on current events given that it's fucking South Park. Cramming unrelated events together is an issue with recent seasons but I think only a couple episodes in the season really did that badly (like the premiere).

Season 23 I'll make a case for being possible Seasonal Rot due to the Randy plot becoming Arc Fatigue (and they're fully aware of it due to the Leaning on the Fourth Wall moments in the show) and an apparent desire to pander to a stoner audience. Also I'm skeptical to say "Board Girls" was well received due to its.....controversial depiction of the subject matter pissing off a lot of LGBT fans. It's kind of a Broken Base there too.

Edited by mightymewtron on Apr 21st 2021 at 9:40:08 AM

So keep Season 20 and 23, and keep Season 22. I can't really tell if I should keep Season 21 or not.

Season 2 seasonal rot? That would mean everything after season 2 is worse than season 1, which I think is obviously not the case. Cut.

I think season 20 definitely counts for its radical change in format, as well as 23 for shifting the focus to Randy. The latter can also be noted for the creators explicitly going out of their way to do something the fans didn't like, even going so far as to point it out in meta commentary in several episodes.

Edited by Redmess on Apr 22nd 2021 at 11:29:17 AM

Seasonal Rot is supposed to refer to single seasons that are worse than others, not a progression of poor quality, but the misuse has muddied that. It'll get TRS soon, hopefully.

I don't think Season 2 is widely-hated anyway. It's considered weak by the creators and maybe fans but it's not given the same vitriol as Season 20+.

Would Season 2 count as Sophomore Slump?

What about Season 17 then? I enjoyed it when I watched it a while back.

I never see people bring it up as particularly bad, though I don't think it's unanimously well liked either, and the Black Friday arc is quite beloved.

Edited by mightymewtron on Apr 22nd 2021 at 4:00:01 AM

I went and made the adjustments you suggested.

• Franchise Original Sin: The topicality that became a common complaint around Season 17 actually existed back in the older seasons. Its prominence in later seasons is often cited as examples of South Park's declining quality.
• Forced Meme: One of the reasons why the Member Berries are so disliked is that their "Member X?" "I member!" exchange feels like this.

For the first one, that seems like misuse and should be cut.

For the second one, "Feels like this" That seems like Weasel Words to me. It's also not a YMMV item.

Also, for the Member Berries, I was thinking of adding those back to The Scrappy, mainly because someone mentioned on that cleanup thread they're The Dividual.

Edited by PlasmaPower on Apr 22nd 2021 at 5:39:08 AM

I don't think the member berries were a forced meme. Them constantly referring old media was rather the point, namely that they represented obsessive, blind nostalgia. Their memetic way of speaking is a part of that, since memes can play into nostalgia in a similar way.

Edited by Redmess on Apr 22nd 2021 at 2:05:48 PM

And the "I member" meme is popular in the fandom regardless of how well the Member Berries plot was done.

Wouldnt be surprised if that included "Member when South Park was good?"

But anyway, I'll go delete those entries. I find Forced Meme to be really complain-y in general.

I'm still wondering if I should re-add the Member Berries to The Scrappy.

Edited by PlasmaPower on Apr 22nd 2021 at 9:41:54 AM

Are they enough of a character to be The Scrappy, though? They are basically talking plot devices.

They did have a plot of their own that was set up but aborted due to the election fiasco. There's scenes of them interacting among themselves, I member.

Hmm, true, but I don't think they qualify as scrappy.

Randy in the last few seasons on the other hand, he definitely became a scrappy to the fans with Tegridy Farms.

Edited by Redmess on Apr 23rd 2021 at 12:03:37 PM

Randy's a Base-Breaking Character. He has a legit fanbase that enjoys these episodes.

I haven't seen much of it on here, but I'll take your word for it.

It's skewing more towards negative nowadays but if you go on like, Reddit or Twitter, the mainstream fandom and the stoner fanbase enjoys this stuff.

Kind of a shame that the Member Berries can't qualify, as lot of people hate them. Unless there's some way to write for each one, they'll never be The Scrappy.

I can't see Randy being anything besides a Base-Breaking Character tbh. The Tegridy Farms complaints are the same complaints the same group of people had when he was basically the deuteragonist of Seasons 13-15 too. (I am one of those people who wants the show to move on but I know people love him. Somehow.)

Also hello happy to help, direct me to some dire South Park nonsense to help with.

Randy also counts as a Spotlight-Stealing Squad, since he basically steals the spotlight from the boys, who are ostensibly the protagonists of this show.

From the YMMV page:

• Genius Bonus:
  • "Krazy Kripples" has Jimmy mistaking the Crips gang for a group of fellow "cripples." In reality, the Crips' name does refer to "cripple." They got the nickname for always appearing in public with pimp canes in The '70s, and the nickname stuck.

I can't remember the episode very well, but would this better fit Accidentally-Correct Writing? I don't remember if the episode implies that the "cripple" origin is actually true.

Edited by mightymewtron on Apr 26th 2021 at 1:34:38 PM