Shark Bytes

Actually, they DID bash Bush. Remember the Mystery of the Urinal Deuce? Ladder to Heaven? They bashed Bush in both those episodes. They made him look like an idiot.

The reason they don't bash Bush all the time is because everyone else has beaten them to Bush-bashing a thousand times over. I remember them saying "I hate liberals, but I ****ing hate conservatives."

A question for you: Why aren't you criticizing Family Guy's liberal bias?

My political affiliation? Both sides suck. They are more concerned with promoting themselves and trashing the other side than actually helping this country.

While the show officially jumped after Chef died, it was on life support for years. How many times do we have to listen to Trey and Matt trash Hollywood and the liberals and never once attack George W. Bush, Bill O'Reilly and the entire republican world. They are typical conservative assholes who never can find fault in themselves

comment4,

This show, jumped?! My ASS!!

jumped when chef died. DUUUUUHHHHH!!!

SP can be very funny but I can't think of a show that’s up its own ass more at the moment. Think about it. The endless preaching, the 'our show is better than yours' attitude, being offensive for the sack of being offensive.

But what annoys me the most are those idiots who hang on SP's every word. You know, those who now think Mormonism and Scientology are stupid because SP said they were. And those who now think Family Guy is sh*t because of 'Cartoon Wars'. Funny that, because most of them liked Family Guy.

season 12 - there was hardly any group-trashing in that season compared to normal.

Now THAT...was a miracle.

Not necessarily: just look at season 12 - there was hardly any group-trashing in that season compared to normal. Even the episode 'About Last Night...', which was all about the American election, didn't have an ounce of politics in it. Anyway, even when they are offending groups I don't necessarily find it predictable since they always seem to come up with new and interesting ways of carrying it out!

South Park HAS gotten predictable...
you just KNOW they're going to go find a group, organization, ethnicity, relgion, etc. they haven't offended yet and do their best to offend them. If they can't find one, they'll settle for "re-offending" someone or something they already trashed.

The genius of South Park is that Matt and Trey aren't afraid to reinvent it completely whenever the style of the show becomes tiresome. By doing this, they definitely lose some viewers who prefer the 'old' format but they are almost guaranteed to gain viewers too. Does anyone really think the show would have lasted 12 seasons if it was purely the fart jokes and profanity of the first few seasons, or purely political satire or movie parodies? Of course not, the show has survived by remaining fresh and original. In my opinion, South Park will have jumped only when it starts to follow a formula and becomes predictable.

it hasnt jumped the shark yet, but you can feel it starting to decline it relies too much on violence and shock value, (not to say that they arent good in moderation)

Well, South Park is one of the best shows out there along with being cleverly and (sometimes) subtly written in an age of not-so-subtle humour. It has maintained itself effectively for a good amount of time. Though I have not seen the earlier seasons (Australian), what I will say is that even if I do find them awful that South Park has always seemed to be able to rebound itself after having a string of episodes that are not up to scratch.

Season by season;
1-Funny, like little else at the moment. Sort of the kids show not for kids. Primitive and sometimes poor by today's standards.
2-Still very good.
3-Some funny moments, but seeming to run dry.
4-Brilliant, it has come back and is starting to not take cheap laughs.
5-Still brilliant, now Cartman is officially the character that makes you pay attention to him.
6-Some funny episodes, but some iffy ones. Mixed about Kenny's absense.
7-At its (so far) peak.. same with
8-They are now offending in a smart way.
9-Less all-out jokes, but there are some gems amongst a few less watchable.
10-This is when I thought South Park was doomed. Killing off Chef, another episode not containing main characters and the Al Gore one were all pretty bad in my opinion. But then there were the great ones in the second half including the World of Warcraft episode (which is a stand out in comedy all up).
11-Haven't seen every one, but what I have is actually funny.
12-Can not comment.

So, overall the balance is in favour. Especially considering that most shows tend to jump within 5 years and it has taken over twice as long to do so.

for me it jumped awhile ago when it was all about pop culture references as show themes, however i do enjoy watching the early reruns late saturday night. when south park started it was absolute genius pure and simple. i never laughed so hard in my life then when cartman sang "kyle's mom is a bitch, bitch, bitch"

It more or less jumped the shark at "The Passion Of The Jew". From there, the show became all about Pop Culture and less about the kids, whereas before the plots were very interesting and moreorless original with Pop Culture references used as a secondary plot device.

The show continued to be funny for a long time but the overall quality was beginning to decrease ever so gradually. Eventually, it was very sporadic and episodes began to lose their replay value in comparison to episodes of old.

Without a doubt, the best seasons were 4 and 5.

South Park has officially jumped with the Guinea Pig episode.