South Park
Trey Parker and Matt Stone met in a film class at the University of Colorado in 1992. They discovered a shared love for Monty Python, which became one of their primary inspirations. The duo created an animated short entitled The Spirit of Christmas using construction paper cutouts with stop motion animation. This first short featured prototypes of the main characters, including a character resembling Cartman but named Kenny. Fox Broadcasting Company executive Brian Graden commissioned Parker and Stone to create a second short film as a video Christmas card. Released in 1995, this second short resembled the style of the later series more closely. It was distributed on the internet and became one of the first viral videos. As Jesus vs Santa gained popularity, Parker and Stone began talks about developing it into a television series. Fox eagerly agreed to meet with them but disagreements arose over the network's refusal to air a show featuring Mr Hankey. Refusing to remove the character, the creators cut ties with Fox and shopped the series elsewhere. They entered negotiations with MTV and Comedy Central. Parker preferred Comedy Central, fearing MTV would turn it into a kids show. When Comedy Central executive Doug Herzog watched the short, he commissioned it to be developed into a series. Parker and Stone assembled a small staff and spent three months creating the pilot episode Cartman Gets an Anal Probe. South Park debuted on the 13th of August 1997.
Except for the pilot episode, all episodes of South Park are created using software primarily Autodesk Maya. The pilot took three months to complete while other animated sitcoms traditionally take eight to nine months. Individual episodes now take significantly less time to produce. Using computers allowed the production staff to generate an episode in about three weeks during the first seasons. Now with a staff of about 70 people, episodes are typically completed in one week, with some finished in as little as three to four days. Nearly the entire production happens within one set of offices originally located in Westwood Los Angeles and now part of South Park Studios in Culver City California. Parker and Stone have been the show's executive producers throughout its entire history. Debbie Liebling served as an executive producer during the show's first five seasons coordinating production efforts between South Park Studios and Comedy Central headquarters in New York City. Scripts are not written before a season begins. Production of an episode begins on a Thursday with writing consultants brainstorming with Parker and Stone. Former staff writers include Pam Brady who has since written scripts for Hot Rod Hamlet 2 and Team America World Police. Nancy Pimental served as co host of Win Ben Stein's Money after her tenure with the show during its first three seasons. Television producer Norman Lear served as a guest writing consultant for season seven episodes Cancelled and I'm A Little Bit Country. During the twelfth and thirteenth seasons Saturday Night Live actor Bill Hader served as creative consultant and co producer. After exchanging ideas Parker writes a script then the team works 100 to 120 hours in the ensuing week. Since the fourth season in 2000 Parker has assumed most directorial duties while Stone relinquished his share to focus on coordination and business aspects. On Wednesday a completed episode is sent to Comedy Central headquarters via satellite uplink sometimes just hours before its air time of 10 PM Eastern Time.
Stan Marsh lives in the fictional small town of South Park located within the real life South Park basin in the Rocky Mountains of central Colorado approximately one hour drive from Denver. The town is home to students families elementary school staff and various residents. Prominent settings include South Park Elementary various neighborhoods and the surrounding mountain range actual Colorado landmarks and businesses along the town main street all based on locations in Fairplay Colorado. Stan is portrayed as an average American boy who has many mishaps throughout the series. In the first 22 seasons Stan lived in South Park but in episodes during and after season 22 he resided in Tegridy Farms. Kyle Broflovski is Jewish and his portrayal as one of the few such people in South Park is often dealt with satirically. Stan is modeled after Parker while Kyle is modeled after Stone. They are best friends and their friendship symbolically intended to reflect Parker and Stone's friendship is a common topic throughout the series. Eric Cartman is amoral and increasingly psychopathic commonly portrayed as an antagonist. His staunch antisemitism has resulted in a progressive rivalry with Kyle. Kenny McCormick comes from a poor family tightly wearing his parka hood to the point where it obscures most of his face and muffles his speech. During the first five seasons Kenny died in almost every episode before reappearing in the next with no definite explanation. He was killed off in the fifth season episode Kenny Dies before being reintroduced in the sixth season finale Red Sleigh Down. Since then Kenny is depicted as dying sporadically. During the first 58 episodes the children were in third grade. During the fourth season they entered fourth grade where they have remained ever since.
The show's frequent depiction of taboo subject matter generated controversy over its run. As the series became popular students in two schools were barred from wearing South Park related T shirts. The headmaster of a UK public school asked parents not to let their children watch the programme after eight and nine year old children voted Cartman as their favorite personality in a 1999 poll. Parents Television Council founder L Brent Bozell III and Action for Children's Television founder Peggy Charren condemned the show. In 1999 Parker and Stone went on record to cancel the release of the Game Boy Color game based on the series. Specific controversies included an April Fools Day prank played on viewers in 1998. Its depiction of the Virgin Mary in the season nine finale Bloody Mary angered several Catholics. The season five premiere It Hits The Fan featured the word shit said 162 times without bleeping while also appearing uncensored in written form. In the days following airing 5000 disapproving emails were sent to Comedy Central. The season eleven episode With Apologies To Jesse Jackson generated relatively little controversy despite 43 uncensored uses of racial slurs. The season ten episode Cartoon Wars Part II involved censorship of Muhammad depictions in wake of the Jyllands Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy. The season fourteen episodes 200 and 201 were mired in controversy for satirizing issues surrounding the depiction of Muhammad. The website Revolution Muslim posted a warning that creators risked violent retribution. Comedy Central censored the episode broadcast by bleeping speeches and covering Mohammed appearances with a giant censored label. The government of Sri Lanka banned the series outright after the 200 episode depicted Buddha snorting cocaine. Due to many taboo topics such as Dalai Lama Winnie The Pooh labor camps freedom of speech and cannabis culture being involved in the season 23 episode Band In China South Park was entirely banned in China.
Commentary made in episodes has been interpreted as statements Parker and Stone are attempting to make to the viewing public. Since South Park debuted college students have written term papers and doctoral theses analyzing the show while Brooklyn College offers a course called South Park And Political Correctness. Soon after one of Kenny's trademark deaths other characters would typically shout Oh my God they killed Kenny followed by another yelling out You bastard. These lines became popular catchphrases. Cartman's exclamations of Respect my authori tah and Screw you guys I'm going home became catchphrases as well during earlier seasons. Cartman's eccentric intonation of Hey was included in the 2002 edition of The Oxford Dictionary Of Catchphrases. In the season two episode Chef Aid attorney Johnnie Cochran uses what is called in the show the Chewbacca defense which involves addressing plot holes related to Chewbacca in Return of the Jedi rather than discussing the trial at hand. The term has been documented as used by criminologists forensic scientists and political commentators. Another season two episode Gnomes revolves around underpants gnomes who run a corporation stealing people's underpants. When asked about their business model various gnomes reply that theirs is a three step process Phase 1 collect underpants Phase 3 profit with Phase 2 accompanied by a large question mark. Using Question Mark and Profit as the last two steps became widely popular Internet meme especially in context of politics and economics. Sophie Rutschmann of University of Strasbourg discovered a mutated gene causing adult fruit fly to die within two days after infection naming it kep1 in honor of Kenny. Similarly researchers named a different set of genes Tweek in honor of Tweek.
South Park is broadcast internationally in several countries including India New Zealand and throughout Europe and Latin America on channels that are subsidiaries of Comedy Central and Paramount Media Networks. In Australia the show is broadcast on The Comedy Channel Comedy Central and free to air channel SBS Viceland before 2009 while new episodes aired on SBS. The program also airs free to air in Australia on 10 Shake a sister network to Comedy Central through Paramount. The series is broadcast uncensored in Canada in English on The Comedy Network and later Much. South Park also airs in Irish on TG4 in Ireland STV in Scotland Comedy Central and MTV in UK previously on Sky One Channel 4 VIVA and 5Star B92 in Serbia and on Game One and NRJ 12 in France. In September 2020 SBS removed South Park from its television line though reruns could air on SBS Viceland. Broadcast syndication rights were acquired by Debmar Mercury and Tribune Entertainment in 2003 and 2004 respectively. Episodes further edited for content began running in syndication on the 19th of September 2005 with TV 14 rating. By time its run ended in 2015 it aired in 90 percent of television markets across United States and Canada generating estimated US$25 million a year in advertising revenue. In 2019 CBS Television Distribution took over full distribution rights following acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Walt Disney Company. In March 2008 Comedy Central made every episode available for free full length on demand legal streaming on official website. Within week site served more than one million streams growing to 55 million by October 2008. Legal issues prevented U.S content from being accessible outside United States so local servers set up in other countries like southpark.de in Germany. In July 2014 Hulu signed three year deal purchasing exclusive online streaming rights for reported $80 million. In early October 2019 industry rumors suggested streaming rights offered to various services creating intense bidding war estimated as high as unspecified amount. HBO and South Park Digital Studios announced HBO secured multi year deal for exclusive streaming rights starting the 24th of June 2020. Beginning with season 25 in 2022 HBO Max posts new episodes next day after Comedy Central airing. Once that deal expires in 2025 Paramount Plus will become exclusive streaming home.
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Common questions
When did South Park debut on television?
South Park debuted on the 13th of August 1997. The pilot episode took three months to complete while other animated sitcoms traditionally take eight to nine months.
Who created the animated series South Park and when did they meet?
Trey Parker and Matt Stone met in a film class at the University of Colorado in 1992. They discovered a shared love for Monty Python which became one of their primary inspirations before creating the show.
Where is the fictional town of South Park located within the real world?
The fictional small town of South Park is located within the real life South Park basin in the Rocky Mountains of central Colorado approximately one hour drive from Denver. Prominent settings include actual Colorado landmarks and businesses along the town main street all based on locations in Fairplay Colorado.
How long does it take to produce an episode of South Park today compared to the past?
Individual episodes now take significantly less time to produce than traditional animated sitcoms that take eight to nine months. With a staff of about 70 people episodes are typically completed in one week with some finished in as little as three to four days.
Why was South Park banned in China and Sri Lanka?
The government of Sri Lanka banned the series outright after the 200 episode depicted Buddha snorting cocaine. Due to many taboo topics such as Dalai Lama Winnie The Pooh labor camps freedom of speech and cannabis culture being involved in the season 23 episode Band In China South Park was entirely banned in China.