South Park

[livid]

Well, yeah, it is less random than a chicken coming in and fighting Peter. Overused and stale plot device, however, definitely.

But yeah, it was typical South Park, pretty much. Funny enough but nothing too amazing.

[TKz]

Okay, it was mildly entertaining, but it's a reminder that South Park is no better than Family Guy for its "random humour", are they really trying to pass off a "wizard alien omg overreaction from the men in charge again" is any less random than Peter being attacked by a chicken? The creators are absolute morons for ever thinking their style of humour is that different from Seth Macfarlane's, their only benefit is that they have a slightly better ratio in the shit to good episodes situation.

That and the fact that Matt Stone and Trey Parker actually remember what pop culture is, where as McFarlane spends pretty much all of his show making cracks about unknown celebrities and referencing things that no one remembers or cares about.

South Park may have an equal level of random, but at least their jokes have some relevance and mostly everyone can understand them.

[apsham]

I call bullshit on that, total bullshit. Stone and Parker take an absurd idea and run with it, while McFarlane just throws whatever shit he can think of at the screen.. hoping that something sticks. The closest that South Park has ever come to that, was Imaginationland... and even then, it was epically awesome, and made sense.

[Benji]

How is taking an absurd idea and running with it for an entire episode (thus dragging out the joke) any better than taking several absurd ideas and throwing that into an episode? They're both shows that have awful and great episodes, but they really aren't that different in their humour.

Also, TKz, the pop culture thing, I'll agree with, it makes them more relevant, but relevant doesn't mean it's any funnier.

[TKz]

How is taking an absurd idea and running with it for an entire episode (thus dragging out the joke) any better than taking several absurd ideas and throwing that into an episode? They're both shows that have awful and great episodes, but they really aren't that different in their humour.

Also, TKz, the pop culture thing, I'll agree with, it makes them more relevant, but relevant doesn't mean it's any funnier.

Oh, no, of course not, I mean I didn't really enjoy the latest episode, but I'd take South Park over Family Guy any day of the week, because at this point Family Guy has pretty much become a self parody.

[Benji]

Oh yeah, I still prefer South Park, my issue isn't that it's not funny (like I say, it's hit or miss, pre-movie South Park is basically pure hit), it's that Trey and Matt chose to take a shot at Family Guy for a certain kind of humour, when they use a very very similar humour but just stretch it out.

[RPS]

How is taking an absurd idea and running with it for an entire episode (thus dragging out the joke) any better than taking several absurd ideas and throwing that into an episode? They're both shows that have awful and great episodes, but they really aren't that different in their humour.

Also, TKz, the pop culture thing, I'll agree with, it makes them more relevant, but relevant doesn't mean it's any funnier.

I like both Family Guy and South Park, but trying to compare the Tiger Woods episode to any sort of Family Guy humor just doesn't work. I think a lot of people, Parker & Stone included, dislike Family Guy because their randomness often times doesn't operate within the confines of what we think of as a linear narrative. Family Guy will literally cut away from the plot to make a joke that has no relation to what's going on. I think people just see that as lazy writing because it comes across as though they can't make a cohesive television show, but rather a bunch of seemingly unrelated jokes that don't further any sort of plot or narrative ahead. While "wizard alien" is absurd and random, it still related to the plot. I don't necessarily agree with these people, but that's the main complaints I hear against Family Guy. That and people simply say it's not funny.

On the subject of the episode, I found it to be hilarious. But I'm sort of captivated by this whole Tiger Woods scandal, so I was probably going to like it regardless.

Edited March 20, 2010 by RockPaperScissors

[apsham]

That'd be more of what I was actually talking about, I mean yeah the whole Wizard Alien thing was odd and off the wall.. but it was a plot point for the whole episode, and was used to poke fun at the whole "sex is a disease" thing.

[Kyle_]

Okay, it was mildly entertaining, but it's a reminder that South Park is no better than Family Guy for its "random humour", are they really trying to pass off a "wizard alien omg overreaction from the men in charge again" is any less random than Peter being attacked by a chicken? The creators are absolute morons for ever thinking their style of humour is that different from Seth Macfarlane's, their only benefit is that they have a slightly better ratio in the shit to good episodes situation.

That was one random joke, compared to how many in every Family Guy episode? I like family Guy also, but South Park is miles ahead of it

[Kyle_]

http://www.facebook.com/southpark?ref=ts#!/video/video.php?v=10150154086005206&ref=mf

[Bryan Blade]

I liked family guy for the 1st 2 or maybve even 3 seasons i can't really stand to watch it anymore, South Park I love though i think South Park is stll watchable when they do a bad episode, and when it's good it's unbelievable

[apsham]

So yes, as the preview that Kyle posted shows;

A BANNED BOOK COMES OFF THE SHELVES AND INTO THE 4TH GRADE CLASSROOM IN AN ALL-NEW "SOUTH PARK" ON WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24 AT 10:00 P.M. ON COMEDY CENTRAL

NEW YORK, March 22, 2010 - The parents decide the kids are mature enough

to read a book that was formally banned in an all-new episode of "South

Park" titled "The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerballs," premiering on

Wednesday, March 24 at 10:00 p.m. on COMEDY CENTRAL.

The boys are given a controversial book to read in school that both

excites and inspires them to write one of their own. When the boys

discover that Stan's mom has found their masterpiece, their new

motivation is how they can stay out of trouble.

[RoyWill Rumble]

Five days late, but... yeah, no, Benji.

The wizard alien was taking something to an extreme. It's satire. The wizard alien was just a really absurd visual metaphor for excuses dudes use (read: sex addiction is a disease) as opposed to just having balls and admitting we're all sex addicts. This is why that after the wizard alien was dead, sex addiction was cured. It's absurd, it's stupid, it isn't supposed to make sense. It's pointing out how absurd sex addiction is.

It related to the plot as absurd as it was, and it had relevance to the story, it had a point. Again, satire. Not the greatest use of satire, and quite frankly it fell flat, but, again, the wizard alien thing had a point. They took something absurd, expanded it from just a weird-ass idea, and made it into a plot point. Thus, it's more than just a random joke. That's called... I'll use the word again: satire. That is in no way the same as the myriad of non-sequitur jokes that are just non-sequitur jokes in Family Guy.

Family Guy, meanwhile, as stated, just does cut-away jokes and nothing comes of them. There's still plots, yes, but half the laugh points in an episode of Family Guy are supposed to be derived from these non-sensical things that have no relevance to the plot at all. So, Family Guy, as stated again, gets bashed for not actually being able to write a coherent plot and have jokes derive from said plot. South Park does cut-away jokes not retaining to the plot, The Simpsons did it way before Family Guy ever did, but Family Guy has made it its 'thing' and it's sacrificed plot for it.

So, no, Family Guy and South Park are actually two completely different styles of show when it comes to writing.South Park has every right to rip on Family Guy's style of writing, too.

[Kyle_]

That was a pretty crappy episode(no pun intended), but at least they got the dumb one out of the way early

[Damian WayLNKe]

That was a pretty crappy episode(no pun intended), but at least they got the dumb one out of the way early

I think Butters chanting, "Must kill Lennon" saved the episode from being a total waste.

[Lint]

That was a pretty crappy episode(no pun intended), but at least they got the dumb one out of the way early

I think Butters chanting, "Must kill Lennon" saved the episode from being a total waste.

I was actually just coming here to post that..but I don't think it was all terrible. The ripping of Sarah Jessica Parker I liked actually

[apsham]

I actually liked this episode a lot.

[The Mask of Norro]

I did too, everything involving Butters in this episode got at minimum a chuckle out of me. Was a really funny episode, though the bit where the two reporters are vomiting while trying to interview him honestly felt like a gag I'd see on Family Guy. Not the vomiting itself, just the way they set it up in that part of the episode. Reminded me of Peter trying to get rid of the dead frog he gave Chris, as an example, and for some reason it sorta irked me. It's not even that I don't like Family Guy-- I do, it's hit and miss for me but I do-- and I don't think South Park was taking it from there in the slightest. I guess it's just that I've seen that joke done so many times now that it just isn't funny anymore for me. In any event, I still think the episode as a whole was funny.

[livid]

The beginning with Cartman getting all excited about the fact that The Catcher and the Rye made a guy kill the "King of the Hippies" and the Sarah Jessica Parker stuff were pretty much the only funny parts of the episode. Other than that though, it was pretty awful; the vomit gag got old like the second time it happened.

[The Quasi Juice]

I liked the episode, it's still 10 times better than those crappy Towel episodes.