South Park

Having done projects where I spent way too long on dev, I can agree to sometimes basically being sick of the script, the concept, the whole everything once the thing is actually complete, needing a while to go back and appreciate it with fresh eyes.

Shouldn’t be too hard. Cartman is Q personified.

Well, that trailer basically said nothing at all. Or is there a longer one?

There will probably be a longer one closer to the 10th

I think it is safe to assume now that this season is going to be a series of specials, with no regular episodes.

Will it even be a series of specials for one season? This is nearly a six month gap between specials. If they keep this rate, it'll be two episodes per season until the contract runs out.

Also yes, pretty sure there will be a trailer with more detail down the line. They may not even be done animating this episode yet.

The entire season was probably dropped as a result of the doomsday clauses in contracts. These specials are likely off contract and negotiated one at a time, entirely at the discrepancy of Parker and Stone. Their previous production schedule was basically 3 months of sleeping at the office with a staff of 50 people, in fact I would venture that they might be doing these specials partially for the sake of their staff who could use the work right now.

Just filling out the rest of the contract with specials and then calling it a day would be a great way for them to get out of doing the show.

I guarantee you they won’t be talking about the insurrection. They’ve already did that back in Red Badge of Gayness. They’d just repeat themselves.

The what now?

And I guarantee you they will talk about it. They've never let that sort of thing stop them before.

If they're going to talk about Q, chances are the insurrection will come up. I just hope it isn't a repeat of their failed Charlottesville satire.

I really do wish they'd go back to making regular seasons. Not because there would be more episodes, but because I liked the show better when it satirized everything under the sun, instead of focusing itself on a single subject and just doing a single special for the year.

I'm pretty sure the reason they're doing only specials right now is because of the pandemic. Once it ends, regular seasons should return.

It's possible, but it also could be them once again shifting formats on the show.

Recently, I came across this, regarding a hypothetical Book of Mormon film, and Josh Gad said this:

“I don’t know that show could open today and have the same open-armed response that it did then. It’s not to say that it’s any less significant or wonderful or incredible a musical; I just think it’s the nature of art to adapt”

This was, of course, a month into the Floyd protests where we seemed to have some kind of “reckoning” over racial issues and things were being examined, like syrup and football teams. But the big point is: would Matt & Trey change things for a film to work?

To me, that’s rhetorical since we know the answer. While Matt Groening and Seth MacFarlane are willing to make changes to adapt (or in reluctance in the former’s case), Matt & Trey would rather double down on what people don’t like than to be more PC and they couldn’t care less about what people think about them. Obviously, we can debate whether it’s the right choice but there’s a respectability to give them since they are their own people and audience. I mean, this is the show that made fun of people who wanted to tear down Columbus statues, so what more do you want them to say?

Edited by HBarnill on Feb 25th 2021 at 11:45:37 AM

Yep, it's their greatest strength and biggest flaw all at once: doubling down on their ideas even if no one likes them.

Matt and Trey have a weird relationship with the idea of PC culture. At first they found it just totally worth mocking and not worth giving a second glance. But I think after Trump's election, that actually surprised them, and they became a little, like an iota, more willing to understand what these people were saying. Even if they still exaggerate it. Near the end of Season 21, we got the POV of a kid trying to "cancel" his favorite show, and while it's depicted as the incorrect decision, it's also very understandable given Kyle's current stress and situation. And then the Mr. Hankey episode in Season 22 did a "both sides can suck" thing (which, to be fair, isn't really inaccurate in many cases), but I think Mr. Hankey was depicted as more obviously an idiot for doubling down and just continuously being, well, shitty.

Personally, I think Book of Mormon could work at least as a concept if you rewrote the Ugandans to, you know, not be stereotypes, since its basic message is at least highly critical of white saviorism (even if it also plays into the white savior trope...gahhhh). I think that's really frustrating is Trey and Matt did the effort to properly research Mormonism and consulted with real Mormons and everything, but totally half-assed their depiction of Ugandan culture. It really throws a wrench in the Equal-Opportunity Offender thing.

Not that I ever thought they were good at tackling racism, because in my opinion that's always been one of their worse subjects, where they show their blind spots as smug white dudes and focus more on being edgy or ignoring the feelings of anybody but themselves.

This thread is about South Park, not the Book of Mormon. FYI, Book of Mormon has it's own thread. Now for a new South Park topic: What do you think would've happened if Kyle died in Season 5 like originally planned instead of Kenny?

Butters/Tweek converts to Judaism because Cartman still wants to make Jewish jokes?

Hell, I wonder if Tweek would still be the kid they choose as a replacement. I think Butters was always going to be the fifth main character though, he's too good to not be.

The BOM thread has been inactive for 3 years and my post about about Matt & Trey’s work in general.

Oh BTW, new preview dropped for the episode. It's only 15 seconds though.

That Hankey episode was strange since it was talking about the Roseanne situation and the commentary for the episode saying they felt sorry for Roseanne because Ambien does mess up your mind. They didn’t excuse her but they did imply that people took that tweet far too seriously, compounded with Santa’s response in the Season 22 finale. You can debate on the Roseanne situation all you want, I can certainly see the “Both Side Can Suck” argument for that, but it did show they’re not exactly gonna be listening to PC culture, despite Trump’s presidency.

Edited by HBarnill on Feb 25th 2021 at 7:41:28 AM

The Mr. Hankey episode was partially focused on Kyle's efforts to be sympathetic and helpful to an old friend, which only resulted in getting shit all over himself. You can argue on various sides on the whole Roseanne fiasco, but notably quiet in the whole thing was John Goodman and Laurie Metcalf (both beloved individuals) and I imagine it's because for all her faults Roseanne is a longtime friend. I doubt they approved of her behavior but they didn't want to throw her under the bus either. That's something that will happened with nearly any "canceled" celebrity.

That’s a huge problem with American culture. The whole “silence is violence” mentality, or the “with us or against us” mentality. I mean, I can remember when Daniel Day Lewis was called a “misogynist” because he didn’t call out Harvey Weinstein when all that shit was coming about about him. Daniel Fucking Day Lewis was accused of sexism just because he’s a private man who doesn’t like to make public statements and didn’t make anything about Weinstein just because he worked with him in some movies (BTW, DDL had stated he hated the man back in the 90s).

Same shit happened during the Black Lives Matter movement last summer when black people were calling all white people “racist” for not speaking up about racism, and when they do, they say shit like “don’t speak for us”. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

If that’s what Matt & Trey were going for, I’m in complete sympathy.

Edited by HBarnill on Feb 26th 2021 at 1:54:50 AM

The culture of silence is a real problem though, especially around sexual harassment.