South Park Season 20

Anyone watch the Season 20 premiere last night? I really liked it, although I feel the stakes got a bit too high a bit too fast, and they're leaning a little heavy on the current event stuff, but that's just cause of the new continuity aspect of the show from last season (which I loved). What did you guys think?

I really enjoyed it, I hope they make Garrison win the election if Trump does. Also, I thought it was hilarious how the Jews were behind it after all.

First minute had me dying. 4 girls in total sat down, 3 of them, not even black.

Oh yeah, I should finish season 19. I'm not excited to watch the show anymore. Never thought it would be so. If they find the show such a drag now, as they hinted in one of the season finales a few years ago, they should probably quit.

@ezekiel: I believe Matt and Trey have said multiple times that they're going to do the show until Comedy Central cancels them.

Which will be never, at this rate. South Park is so great and it seems like it's only getting better. Season 19 was one of the most awesome South Park seasons and I'm pretty happy to see that they are taking a similar approach with Season 20. And why wouldn't they? The reception to that season was amazing. South Park is one of those shows that can do whatever they want pretty much because they are so great and popular (just look at Mr. Garrison fucking Canadian Trump to death last season).

I really liked the new episode. Cartman was being Cartman, Kyle was being Kyle and the social commentary was hilarious as always. Having that twist in the end makes me very curious where it goes, usually that's some Randy-type thing to do. It's pretty cool to see them trying and flesh out other characters.

Also, maybe change the thread title with a spoiler warning? This seems like a good place for some in depth discussion about episodes as they come out.

@zevvion: I agree, how do you change the thread title, I don't know how lol.

Their change to season long storylines was the best thing they did recently. I'm glad that the town still has some of the season 19 changes, like Skeeter's being a wine bar still.

I kinda miss the one-off intemporal episodes they did back in the day, but at the same time I loved last season and I really enjoyed this new episode as well. Lately there's been so much going on in the world that South Park can satirize, this season has some great potential.

It's a love-and-hate type relationship for me with this whole new current event episode planning they have. I miss the random quirky episodes that wouldn't have to do with anything in current times back in the day, but at the same time I looooveeeeed season 19 and am very excited to see where season 20 will lead into. As long as South Park is on-air, I will continue on watching.

@cherrio: Absolutely, I've seen every episode and don't plan on stopping until they do.

Introducing continuity between episodes and seasons has been so good for the show, I can't wait to see where it goes from here.

I really like the newer seasons but this and the last one are not as funny. The subject matter doesn't bother me in the slightest, it's just not as funny to me.

I loved last season and like the new episode a lot, seems to follow up on the last season really well. Agree that moving to season-long stories was a great move.

At this point South Park has to be acknowledged as being the best cartoon comedy TV show ever made, right? It's been on the air for twenty years now and has maintained its quality the entire time. You can't say that for anything else I can think of.

@cmblasko: I believe The Simpsons was just awarded the best series of all time by some notable outlet. A worthy series to be sure, but I don't think it holds to South Park.

Because the show is so old and I have changed so much over the past 2 decades, I don't think I could enjoy South Park anymore. The show definitely had its affectionate moments, but hearing about how its essentially turned into 2 men bickering about modern culture (which I don't know, but it's what I've heard) has got me weary on watching it again. I'd also probably find the show's more annoying aspects (such as the voice acting, which let's face it, has stopped being funny and the writing, which could also use more work if the last couple episodes I saw back in the day are any indication) more grating.

In other words, I don't think I could stomach its anarchic approach to comedy anymore and I'd prefer a more character-oriented approach that's more affectionate (meaning making fun of something with a purpose other than 'we can because we don't like it') and less annoying. Then again, the show might be heading in that direction and I just don't see it. Seeing that they're implementing a bit more continuity seems nice. I just don't think the show is for me anymore.

I enjoyed the last season and maybe this season needs to find its footing but the first episode felt more like reading snarky internet forum posts, it's the first time I felt bored watching an episode of Southpark. I feel like they went from commenting on current events to becoming what they were commenting on.

@shivermetimbers: Huh, that's odd. I would say they pretty much aren't making fun of anything or anyone at all without having a purpose and message behind it. It being funny or not while doing so is obviously a matter of perspective though.

@shivermetimbers: When is the last time you've watched South Park? It is indescribably different in its approach from what it used to be.

I'm with you on that. I felt like the past few seasons before this were starting to get stale, not terrible, but kind of felt like they should have just ended it.
But simply just having the story and characters continue through each episode brought new life into, it's great. Kind of wish another show cartoon show that begins with S would follow it's lead.

I kind of hope this season ends leading into the upcoming game like the last time, that was pretty cool.

As of right now, I'm thinking the reason Gerald is acting like a dick is that wine bottle he was drinking from is made out of the Rememberies.

I'm pretty shocked to read the overwhelmingly positive reaction to the show's new focus on serialization in this thread. I personally think it has shown itself to be more a of burden than a boon. The first serialized season (season 18 I believe) was hardly served at all by continuity, using it in the weakest possible way by maybe having an object that a character was involved with on a previous episode in a scene or two. The show has always been at it's best when it spends times with the characters, rather than with current events, and I applaud them for primarily using the characters to develop season 19's story arc, but the scenes themselves didn't play to the show's strengths. They spent too much time being honest to the source of parody - in this case, paranoid thrillers - and too little time exploring the characters within that framework. Parody works best when you have something to say about what you're parodying, not simply using a subject's tropes for the sake of evoking it. I just never felt like the scenes around PC Principal's secret past were fun to watch.

For example, one of my absolute favorite episodes of television is Free Willzyx. It takes the boys and puts them into an archetypal 90's feel-good story about doing what is right in the face of adversity and jaded adults. It deftly parodies the popular notion in film that a kid's wide-eyed positivity is always worth heeding, and it benefits tremendously from already-established character traits; it doesn't shove the kids into a mold, it fits the mold to them. Casa Bonita and Faith+1 are also brilliant episodes in which we see the subversion of an existing storytelling template by the traits of existing characters - in the former, that of Kyle and Cartman's convictions and lack thereof, respectively; and in the latter, Cartman and his peers' differences in what drives them. South Park benefits from the standalone nature of these episodes, in that it is able to use its characters as pieces in a game, each with their own capabilities and weaknesses for every task, and tell stories USING them, rather than AROUND them.

This isn't to say South Park should not try to be topical. Some of its best and most-loved episodes are topical. Ike being romanticized by his teacher basically invented the internet reaction of 'nice.', and the episode itself is a scathing indictment of how turning the tables on sexual abuse blinds men to the emotional ramifications of it. (Of course, Trey and Matt have had more impact on American popular culture than any show since The Simpsons, for better or worse, and in the case of common vernacular, perhaps even moreso.) I also enjoyed some of the episodes last season (though I enjoyed very few of season 18, honestly). The Whole Foods episode is playing out in California every fuckin day. I lived in more than one neighborhood whose name was composed of the first syllable of several different nearby regions it wanted to affiliate itself with. Trey and Matt definitely still have it, but I absolutely enjoy South Park the most when it is saying something about being human, and not when it's saying something about current events. When they're absolutely fucking 'on', they write better in 22-minute chunks than just about anyone else in the game, and the burden of serialization is having an impact on their ability to focus.

I do, however, applaud them for trying something new for the first time since Scott Tenorman Must Die in season 5. I can't think of anyone else in television that gets to do just about any fucking thing they want like these guys do, and they've earned it.

Just watched the episode. Love it when they end it on a cliffhanger. But it's too early to tell how the quality of the season will go. Last one was hit and miss for me, but more hits than miss.

You guys, I seriously support the 'Wieners Out' movement. First of all, it's hilarious as balls, quite literally. Secondly, it has the best leader you could hope for and lastly... I kind of honestly want to do it now. If you don't here from me again, I'm probably in jail.

That episode was pretty great.

Honestly, this show kinda lost its magic for me after the end of Season 11 (the one with the Imaginationland three-parter). Their humor has become less rapid-fire and more derivative over the years. Still, I enjoyed the last season and what's been on this one so far, even if I don't really feel like ever rewatching those episodes.

I thought they were gonna go dicks out for Harambe , lol

South Park has become my social barometer, in all honestly. When I hear someone come out super strong against it during a season I feel that I can basically tell how they lean politically/socially, lol.

This season and the last season has been spot-on.

The Twitter gags accurately depict a lot of the gaming industry (mostly 'journalists'). Very good stuff!

Shit season 20? Last time I watched South Park it was on season 11.

Well said. I have the same feelings about Season 10, ep 14 "Stanley's Cup". I keep thinking about that episode because it seems to come out of nowhere in that season, but is a perfect parody in the way you describe: The feel-good, scrub to champion underdog story in the style of "Rudy", "Mighty Ducks", "Karate Kid", etc. But, it does the thing of flipping your expectations of the outcome on it's head. I wish they would try more stuff like this, and with the show pretty much maintaining continuity from here, for better and for worse, it seems like they will lose the opportunities to do episodes with that focus.

I have to say, having watched all of South park to this point, I'm absolutely in love with any episodes that have to do with videogames. Maybe that's a bit of a no brainer being a part of this website about videogames, but I think they're handled with solid reverence and timeliness. I think my favorite episodes in that sense were the multi-part series around the Xbox One/PS4 launch, and Cartman's impatience to get the Nintendo Wii. I know the subject of those episodes were not the consoles themselves, but using their launch as a backdrop and the time and place nature of seeing them created special memory associations to those consoles for me, so I appreciate how South Park used them. Who knows, maybe we'll get a VR episode this season or something?

They did one already. Grounded Vindaloop. It's pretty funny as Butters believes he's in VR when he isn't and at one point enacts GTA and does typical GTA shenanigans where he drives over a REDACTED and then takes their money.