What’s it like to write a successful animated comedy for over 30 years? South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone know the business of making relevant TV is ever evolving and changing. That certainly includes whatever is going on politically, and the two funnymen recently admitted they’ve been hated on by people on both sides of the political spectrum at different times.

The two men don’t do a ton of interviews, but spoke to the Television Academy this week as part of a larger comedy video. When interviewed, they discussed free speech, targeted jokes, and getting hated on by both political parties. Of the latter, Trey Parker got really candid about what happens as time passes and they keep making the animated series.

First of all, let’s just take a second to acknowledge that South Park has been doing the dang thing for 30 years. Secondly, what they say is true. The last few seasons have been devoted to taking shots and Trump and others in the administration. This includes J.D. Vance, who took it with good humor. Taking more shots at the Republican party has meant they've got more criticism from Republicans, but that's just a continuation of a larger pattern.

There have been times in the past when South Park has been very critical of social issues, woke culture or politicians on the left. At those times, an overwhelming amount of the criticism has come from liberals. The backlash is almost always very subject-matter specific, and it's also been why so many people have been defensive of the show throughout its run.

To many fans, it's never felt like South Park has had an agenda or a specific point of view it has tried to convey, even poking fun at itself on more than one occasion. Instead, some of South Park's best episodes have simply been trying to clown on whatever bit of pop culture is buzzy at any given moment. If Republicans are in power, it'll dunk on Republicans. If Democrats are in power, it'll dunk on Democrats. If some weird subgroup is suddenly in the news or a new fad is sweeping the nation, that's going to be the target.

Some of that is due to how how the show is made. Parker and Matt Stone are able to produce episodes on the fly. Because they aren’t doing the series nine or 10 months in advance, jokes in the moment are easy for them to dive into, which certainly is not true of most series. It really only works, Stone says, because they’re such “procrastinators."

Above all else, Matt Stone also said that really the thing he and Parker are always pushing as hard as possible is the “freedom of speech” aspect.

That focus on free speech has seemed even more relevant than usual the last few years. The FCC has gotten more involved in television content, and late night host Jimmy Kimmel was even briefly suspended from the air and “micromanaged” over comments he made about the late Charlie Kirk. Talking heads like Megyn Kelly have gotten involved. Even shows like The View and Saturday Night Live have suddenly started getting questions about who they have on as guests and whether they should be forced to provide equal time.

Fortunately, Parker and Stone have proven over the years they're going to say what they want to say, regardless of how people feel about it. As history shows, if a group is mad about these opinions one year, chances are they might be celebrating their take the next year.

As South Park confirms its return to the 2026 TV schedule on September 29th, creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone had equally good news to share about their restaurant, Casa Bonita. While it seemed at first that the establishment was doomed to be a money pit for as long as they ran it, Parker recently confirmed it's on the way to being profitable.

Casa Bonita, which was the subject of one of South Park's best episodes as well as a documentary available with a Paramount+ subscription, was famously resurrected by Parker and Stone in hopes they could revive it to its peak form when they visited it in the 1970s. Parker explained during a recent interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live! that it was a costly endeavor, but it may eventually be something they'll make money on one day:

As someone who watched ¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor! on Paramount+, hearing that they're almost breaking even is wild news. After the tremendous renovation cost, both Trey Parker and Matt Stone both accepted they'd likely never make back their investment on the business, and committed to taking a loss just to revive a treasured piece of their childhood.

And while the year when Casa Bonita turns a profit is still far out, it's impressive to hear it's getting so much support. The duo revealed during their interview that the establishment averages around 12,000 patrons a week. That's a lot of cliff diving and puppet shows, but it seems as though things are going smoothly, which makes me all the more eager to finally get out there.

Casa Bonita is featured in the South Park episode of the same name in Season 7, in which Cartman is crushed when he learns Kyle opted to take Butters and not him to his birthday party at the restaurant. Cartman then makes Butters go missing in order to attend the restaurant, but the party is postponed as the town goes on a massive search for Butters.

The best part of the episode is when Cartman's scheme is discovered, and he makes a mad dash through Casa Bonita to sample all of its attractions and food before ultimately being captured by the police. When asked in the end if all the trouble he caused was worth it, the character has no regrets. Can't say that I blame him; it seemed like he had a blast, and Butters ended up being fine compared to when his own mother tried to kill him.

As mentioned, South Park will return to Comedy Central on September 29th. Casa Bonita's Denver location is still there and ready for fans far and wide to dine at it. That said, make sure to make a reservation beforehand, as it's still a hot commodity even years after reopening.

It’s hard to believe South Park is nearing its 30th birthday at this point. The show has been on the air for so long, I can actually remember talking to my seatmate about it while learning to type on a computer for the very first time way back in the ‘90s. I snuck behind my parents' back to watch the Comedy Central series during my youth, and have been an avid fan forever after. Which is why I’m shocked I never realized what the heck Kenny is saying during the South Park intro.

I'd never even thought about it before this week, but it turns out I was maybe better off not knowing the truth. Apparently, the phrases have changed over the years, but each and every single time Kenny goes mumblecore in that full parka, he is saying stuff that would make your mother blush. Thanks to one enterprising Reddit user, I am fully blushing, too.

So, what does Kenny say on South Park? It’s changed over the years, but here’s the rundown:

• Season 1 & 2: “I like girls with deep vaginas. I like girls with big fat titties.”
• Season 3, 4 & 5: “Yeah, I’ve got a 10-inch penis. Use your mouth if you want to clean it.”
• Season 7, 8, 9 & 10: “Someday I’ll be old enough to stick my dick in Brittney’s butt!”
• Season 10 to the Present: “I like fucking silly bitches ‘cause I know my penis likes it.”

If you’ll note from above, Season 6 has been left out, which is apparently a season Kenny was given even less screentime than usual, and Timmy took over the slot in the opening montage.

Listen, I’ve watched South Park for a long time, and I did know that one of the reasons we don’t really as an audience get to understand Kenny much is because of his penchant for casually dropping profanity (which is also probably why he's usually cited as one of the more popular South Park characters). Regardless, I did not realize what Kenny was saying was so over-the-top outrageous, and I also had not realized the show had changed the opening sequence comments over the course of many great episodes.

This is truly one of those, you think you know something, but you don't really know something moments for me. Not just for me, either, as some other South Park fans also shared in the comments.

• "My childhood memories of South Park have a deeper meaning now."
• "Knew about the first one and didn't even know they changed it."
• "I remembered the conversation at the lunch table at school when someone dropped this bombshell on us. Miss being a kid before the internet was up everyone's ass. Finding out obscure shit like from a magazine or word of mouth made you the smartest kid at school for a day."
• "😂🤣😂🤣😂 I always thought that about Season 1 but didn't know for sure! Didn't know the others though."

One user even had a tip to watch the show “with subtitles,” which would have given away the game much sooner, had I thought to do this. (I had not.) Meanwhile, the South Park guys have always made it clear Kenny was based on an archetype of real kids they’d known and met, with creator Matt Stone saying in an OG interview from way back in 1997 that they modeled the kids off of real kids who say weird, NSFW things without actually realizing what it is they are saying:

Kenny’s had it rough, though. Matt Stone and Trey Parker once described him as that "poor kid" you'd know who would "eat worms just to impress you." He was killed off in every episode for years, we’ve barely ever seen his full face, and now we know he’s just being as disgusting as possible based on things Matt Stone and Trey Parker remember about being kids. Here's Parker talking about creating Kenny (via TikTok):

This isn't the first time we've learned a wild fact about South Park, but this is one that will certainly stick with me as the diversive, no-holds-barred comedy keeps moving forward (hopefully on the 2026 TV schedule).

While the United States is presently in the midst of some extremely complicated times when it comes to the relationships between media companies and the government, South Park has done absolutely nothing to shy away from controversy. Season 27 of the Comedy Central show launched back in July, and there has been no effort from the filmmakers to shy away from hot button issues (which, to be fair, is the South Park way). Because of this, however, there has been some concern in recent days that the delay of the most recent episode was a result of censorship – but now series co-creator Matt Stone has gone on the record easing those worries.

The fifth episode of South Park's latest season didn't debut as originally scheduled last Wednesday, but it has now been put on the record that the delay was not due to any kind of behind-the-scenes conversations/objections regarding content. Matt Stone has spoken with The Denver Post and assured fans that the creatives were simply unable to hit the necessary deadlines for the episode to air. Said the filmmaker,

"Cutting it close" has long been a part of the South Park creative process. While there are many animated shows that takes months to develop single episodes, the production schedule for Matt Stone and Trey Parker's creation is accelerated so that the stories can be as timely as possible and comment on current events (if you haven't seen the documentary 6 Days to Air: The Making Of South Park, I highly recommend it, and it's currently available to stream with a Paramount+ subscription). Season 27 has been working with a different schedule than previous years, as episodes have been airing every other week instead of weekly, but it seems that even having an extra week to work was not enough to complete episode five.

It's worth noting that this is not the first time that the show has missed a deadline.

To be fair, concerns about censorship are understandable. In addition to all of the controversy regarding the cancellation of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the second episode of South Park Season 27 – titled "Got A Nut" – was pulled from reruns because it makes reference Charlie Kirk (it's still available to watch on Paramount+).

We have not yet gotten any teasers for the next episode of South Park, and we thusly don't know what it will be about, but the expectation is that it will air during the show's normal time slot at 10pm ET/PT on September 24.

Despite kicking off its latest season — #27, astoundingly enough — nearly two months ago on July 23, the button-pushing and politics-satirizing animated comedy has only aired four episodes thus far, and the creators’ plan to air episodes every other week is already taking a hit, with another delay to look forward to in place of this week’s new episode. But there’s a silver lining, if it can be fully believed.

Comedy Central announced on Wednesday, September 17, that its viewers will be waiting a bit longer for the next highly anticipated outing from Trey Parker and Matt Stone. At the time of this writing, South Park is now set to return with its fifth episode on September 24, marking the halfway point of Season 27’s 10-installment run.

What’s more, the network revealed the new current goal for how the rest of Season 27’s releases are going to slot. Below is the rundown of those dates, which are sticking to the mostly bimonthly approach once the mid-October episode hits following another three-week delay.

• Wednesday, September 24th
• Wednesday, October 15th
• Wednesday, October 29th
• Wednesday, November 12th
• Wednesday, November 26th
• Wednesday, December 10th

If nothing else, this delayed fifth episode and the following gap will hopefully give Parker and Stone enough time to get all the balls rolling in the right direction, and then to get rid of those balls so that they can get back to the actual animation. Who let all those balls in here, anyway?

Matt Stone and Trey Parker shared a statement along with the delay news, explaning the reasoning with:

Nothing wrong with taking the hit and being up front about what went wrong, and I'm not sure what else they could have said that would have made any sense. "Matt's hands turned into pumpkins after midnight all week," might work, with the right people listening.

But really, doesn't it seem kind of strange for Comedy Central to confirm release dates for the back half of Season 27 in the same announcement where Parker and Stone freely admit to not being able to finish an episode on time? I'm not doubting their abilities to stay on schedule for the rest of the season or anything, but if there was ever a time to....

It could very well be that the fifth episode is a beast that required a lot more work than usual, possibly due to beloved characters being brought back for special stories, or perhaps due to an abundance of new locations and characters that required more design work. Or maybe everyone involved was just a little more tired than usual.

Whatever the reason, here's hoping this is the last example of it ahead of the hiatus before Season 28. So again, be sure to tune into Comedy Central (or a Paramount+ subscription) on Wednesday, September 24, to see the kids from South Park back in action.

Voice acting is its own special skill that not all actors can pull off. Sometimes great live-action stars make the crossover, and some of them are listed here. Other times, actors who are primarily voice actors appear in live action roles, and you might not know what they look like, even when you know their voice (or, more often, voices). Those actors are also represented on this list of popular voice actors who you probably have seen before, even if you didn't know it.

Yeardley Smith

Yeardley Smith is, of course, best known as the voice of Lisa Simpson, who, for me, is the most underrated character in The Simpsons. Like many of her castmates on the legendary cartoon, she started from the beginning of The Tracey Ullman Show. You may also know her as the pregnant cashier who crashes the party at the beginning of City Slickers, among other roles in live-action movies and TV shows.

Christine Cavanaugh

The late Christine Cavanaugh was the original voice for Chuckie in Rugrats and Dexter in Dexter's Laboratory. Though she retired very young due to health reasons, you might also know her as injured football player Steve Remo's wife Jerry Maguire.

John DiMaggio

One of the most prolific voice actors on this list, John DiMaggio, is well known for his work as Bender in Futurama, and a whole ton of movies like Zootopia, Wreck-It Ralph, Despicable Me 4, and many more. You may also have seen him as Fenwick in the AMC show Interview With A Vampire, or Dan on Mythic Quest, which you can watch with an AppleTV+ subscription.

Diedrich Bader

Diedrich Bader has made quite a career for himself as a voice-over actor, with dozens of credits. His best-known work is probably in the DC Universe, where he has been Batman/Bruce Wayne in many animated shows across the universe. He's also done work as Lex Luther, The Green Lantern, and other DC characters. On the live-action side, he's probably most famous for his role on The Drew Carey Show, but he also has memorable roles in the movies Office Space, as Peter's neighbor, and The Beverly Hillbilllies, as Jethro, among others.

Nancy Cartwright

Certainly, Nancy Cartwright is most famous as the voice of Bart Simpson, but that's hardly her only role in The Simpsons. She's also been the voice of Chuckie in Rugrats since 2002, and has done numerous other voice roles on TV and in movies. As for live action, she played a role in the "It's A Good Life" segment of 1983's Twilight Zone: The Movie, and appeared in tons of sitcoms and other shows over the years, like Cheers, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and the ill-fated spin-off Baywatch Nights. Okay, that last one isn't technically a comedy.

Breckin Meyer

On the live-action side of things, Breckin Meyer will probably always be first remembered for the role of the stoner Travis Birkenstock in Clueless. It's a truly iconic role in a legendary movie at this point. He's also been very busy over the years doing voice-over work, most notably in Robot Chicken episodes, where he is a multi-Emmy-nominated actor.

David Herman

David Herman has been a voice-over actor on some of the most beloved cartoons in recent years like Bob's Burgers, King of the Hill, and Futurama. Many years ago, he became part of movie history as Michael Bolton in Office Space.

Phil LaMarr

Phil LaMarr has been a cast member in a ton of legendary cartoons. In addition to multiple roles in the DC world, including The Green Lantern, he also played big recurring roles in The Family Guy (as Ollie Williams), The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius (Bolbi Stroganofsky), Futurama (Hermes Conrad), and many others. He was also a member of the cast of MadTV, and maybe most famously, he played the ill-fated Marvin in Pulp Fiction.

Alanna Ubach

Alanna Ubach has found a lot of balance between her voice acting on shows like The Spectacular Spider-Man, El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera, and Pound Puppies, plus movies like Rango and Coco. She's also done plenty of live-action work in shows like Beakman's World, Eli Stone, and Euphoria, where she plays Suze.

Hank Azaria

This is an actor who really needs no introduction. Hank Azaria has been in dozens of live-action roles, of course, but it still probably best known for the dozens of voices he does on The Simpsons.

Cedric Yarbrough

Cedric Yarbrough's breakout role came as Deputy Jones on Reno 911!, but you may also know his voice as Tom DuBois and Colonel H. Stinkmeaner in The Boondocks and Chocolate Giddy-up in Black Dynamite. Like others on this list, he's also done work in the DC world, as Firestorm and other characters.

Harry Shearer

Harry Shearer is a Hollywood vet whose career dates back to the 1960s. He's best known for his live-action roles in This Is Spinal Tap (and its 2025 sequel), and some of the Christopher Guest mockumentaries, like The Mighty Wind. As a voice actor, he is certainly most famous as multiple characters on The Simpsons, including Principal Skinner, Mr. Burns, and many others.

Richard Steven Horvitz

Richard Steven Horvitz's voice is most recognizable to Mighty Morphin Power Ranger fans. He's provided the voice for Alpha 5 for years over multiple properties. As for movie roles you may know, he played Alan Eakian, the dorky, nerdy character in the Mark Harmon-led classic '80s comedy Summer School.

Stephen Root

One of my favorite character actors of all time is Stephen Root. He's been in some of my favorite movies and TV shows like Newsradio, O Brother Where Art Thou, and, of course, Office Space. He's also done a bunch of voice work in projects like Finding Dory, Finding Nemo, and various roles in the DC animated universe.

Trey Parker

Trey Parker is the co-creator and star of South Park, of course. Do I really need to say more about his voice work (he does lots of voices on the show)? He's worked a fair amount in his own live-action stuff as well, most famously BASEketball.

Matt Stone

Like his partner, Trey Parker, Matt Stone is most famous for the show he co-created, South Park. Like Parker, he writes and does many voices in the show, and like Parker, he's also starred in the live-action BASEketball and other movies.

Dan Castellaneta

The voice of Homer Simpson, provided by Dan Castellaneta, is one of the most recognizable voices in television history. Castellaneta even invented the word "D'oh," which is now in the Oxford English Dictionary. He's also appeared in a lot of sitcoms, as part of the live-action cast of The Tracy Ullman Show, and tons of one-offs in Married... With Children, Friends, Arrested Development, The Office, and others. He's also been in a bunch of movies like The Client, The War Of The Roses, Say Anything..., and Space Jam, for starters.

Alex Bornstein

You certainly know her from her voice as Lois on The Family Guy, but you also know her face as Susie on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Alex Borstein started her career doing voices in the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers before becoming a part of the original cast of MadTV. Like a few others on this list, she's split time pretty equally between live-action and voice work.

John Ratzenberger

Hey Normie, did you know that John Ratzenberger is known as Pixar's good luck charm? The actor, who is most famous for playing Cliff on Cheers, has appeared in almost every Pixar film going back to Toy Story. As such, he's actually one of the most successful actors ever when you add up the box office totals of his movies.

Ed Asner

Ed Asner was pretty famous before he really leaned into doing voice work, but for a generation of people, he'll always be best known as the voice of Carl Fredricksen in Up and for his voice work on shows and movies like The Boondocks, All-Star Superman, Christmas Is Here Again, and in live-action work like playing Santa in Elf, in addition to his most famous TV role, Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Julie Kavner

There are plenty of members of the Simpsons cast on this list, including Julie Kavner, who has been the voice of Marge and her sister Patty, and Selma since the beginning. She's also had a long career on screen, including the Nora Ephron-directed This is My Life in 1992 and Awakenings, alongside Robin Williams in 1990. She's also in 2025's Ella McCay, directed by Simpson's co-creator James L. Brooks.

Bill Farmer

Bill Farmer is an actor who has spent most of his career behind the microphone doing voice work. He's been the voice of popular Disney characters like Goofy and Pluto for decades now. He's also done voices for The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius, Robot Chicken, and others. You might, if you're a fan of the still politically relevant RoboCop like I am, know him for his small role as a reporter in the Paul Verhoeven-directed '80s action flick.

David Faustino

Though he started acting as a child, David Faustino's big break came when he was cast as Bud Bundy in Married... with Children. These days, he has become one of the most in-demand voice actors, working on the Winx Club franchise, 2023's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, and shows like The Legend of Korra, Robot Chicken, and DreamWorks Dragons.

Seth MacFarlane

Seth MacFarlane has created an incredible career after breaking out as the creator, writer, and main voice actor on Family Guy, as well as its spin-offs and related shows like The Cleveland Show and American Dad. He also wrote and directed Ted, providing the voice of the bear, of course. On the live-action side, his best-known role came in The Orville as Captain Ed Mercer.

Clancy Brown

For the last three decades, Clancy Brown has been the main voice of Lex Luthor in various DC animated shows and movies. He's also dabbled in Marvel shows and done plenty of Disney projects as well. He's also a very in-demand character actor, appearing in shows like HBO's The Penguin, Showtime's Dexter: New Blood, Netflix's Daredevil, and so much more.

Mila Kunis

To be fair, Mila Kunis is more well-known for her live-action work than her voice list, as is the case with a few of the people on this list. She is, of course, the voice of Meg on The Family Guy. Her other work on TV and the big screen is well known, like That '70s Show, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Friends with Benefits, and Bad Moms. She's also done voice work on Robot Chicken.

Gary Anthony Williams

Comedian Gary Anthony Williams is beloved for his role as Uncle Ruckus in The Boondocks and for his role as Mr. Dos on Special Agent Oso. He's also a regular contributor on Whose Line Is It Anyway? and in movies like Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle and Block Party.

Mark Hamill

For most people, Mark Hamill will always be Luke Skywalker first, last, and only. But fans of the actor know that his career has been far more varied. Fans of the DC animated movies may love him for being the voice of The Joker in many shows and movies as much as they love him for his role in the Star Wars movies.

Seth Green

One of my all-time favorite movies is Can't Hardly Wait, and Seth Green's character Kenny Fisher is a big reason why. He's probably most famous for playing Scott in the Austin Powers movies, but he's also a well-respected voice actor, as the co-creator of Robot Chicken, and for roles like Howard the Duck in the Marvel movies.

E. G. Daily

Without a doubt, E. G. Daily is best known as the voice of Tommy Pickles in Rugrats. Daily has dozens of voice credits beyond that, in shows like The Powerpuff Girls, Julius Jr., Curious George, and more. She started in Hollywood doing more live-action work in roles like the singer in Better Off Dead, one of the best dark comedies of the '80s.

Laraine Newman

As one of the original "not ready for primetime players" on Saturday Night Live, Laraine Newman will always be a big part of television history. Later in her career, she has done a ton of work for Pixar in movies like Finding Nemo, WALL-E, and Inside Out.

Carlos Alazraqui

Did you know the voice of the Taco Bell Chihuahua was one of the cast members of Reno 911? Yup, Carlos Alazraqui, who played Garcia on the Comedy Central show, was behind the voice who said "Yo quiero Taco Bell" back in the '90s. He's got dozens of other voice credits, but you can't deny how great that bit of trivia is.

In 2011, South Park aired the mid-season finale of its fifteenth season, and I wondered if it was potentially going to be a surprise end to the show. While still featuring fart and poop jokes, "You're Getting Old" showcases a shocking depth about maturing tastes, and I questioned if it was intended as a send-off. This thought ended up being super wrong, as there have been nearly a dozen more seasons since then (not even including specials), but one has to wonder... what does the end of South Park actually look like?

Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the long-running show's creators, addressed that question back in 2015 during an interview with IGN's Podcast Unlocked, and their response was perfectly on-brand. They don't have any kind of grand plan for what the end of South Park looks like; instead, they're basically just waiting for the series to die a natural death. Said Parker,

South Park has been airing on Comedy Central since 1997, and while distribution has changed greatly since the early years (now, we get six-episode seasons paired with specials made exclusively for Paramount+ subscribers), the show itself has continued doing what it does best: simple animation is mixed with topical discourse and crude, cringe-heavy humor.

With a laugh, Matt Stone added that the decades-spanning series won't be ending with fireworks:

One can excuse a lack of future planning in part because of how South Park has traditionally been made: unlike most animated shows, episodes are produced as seasons air so that the material can be as relevant to the zeitgeist as possible. Another part of the equation, however, is that the show's creators have always just been waiting for somebody to tell them to stop, and that stop sign has never been manifested. Trey Parker added,

South Park has been consistently embroiled in controversy since the show premiered, and yet, nothing has ever been so bad that it resulted in cancellation. Given all of the horrific and dark material that has been featured in the series, it's hard to imagine that a line exists for the writers to cross at this point.

At present, fans are continuously waiting for more South Park as we haven't seen new episodes or new specials since May 2024 and the airing of the streaming special South Park: The End Of Obesity.

There’s no question that producers Matt Stone and Trey Parker birthed one of the best animated shows of all time, South Park. Although it’s pretty much an institution I’ve never been a regular viewer. The showrunners have made plenty of other off-beat projects like Book of Mormon and Team America: World Police, but their upcoming release on our 2025 movie schedule, which involves Kendrick Lamar, interests me a lot.

Many are still talking about Kendrick Lamar's impressive Super Bowl performance featuring SZA. Of course, the acclaimed rapper has plenty of other opportunities on the table. But little did I know he was gearing up for this upcoming live-action comedy from the South Park creators. Stone and Parker are working alongside Lamar and his long time professional collaborator, Matt Free, and the flick is set to be released during 4th of July weekend. It was an update on the movie that caught my attention and really has me thinking about the production.

Matt Stone Shares An Update On His Newest Movie With Trey Parker

While one half of the raunchy cartoon duo, Matt Stone, chatted with Bloomberg about the future of South Park and AI, he teased a bit about the project involving the GNX artist. Via YouTube, when asked about why Cartman and pals have been on pause, the BASEketball actor shared that they’ve been busy with the impending summer release Lamar/Free project, saying:

It's honestly wild that the film is only a few months away from release and so little has been revealed as of yet. Of course, given all of the work that the producers have been putting in, it makes since that there hasn't been a full season of South Park in some time.

The film, for which a title has yet to be announced, centers around a man (Kendrick Lamar) who works as a slave re-enactor at a history museum. He's eventually thrown for a loop when he learns that his white girlfriend's ancestor's owned his centuries prior. When discussing the film, Matt Stone went on to emphasize the genre to which it will belong:

Everything about this statement makes me interested in opening up that outlandish Stone/Parker door and catching the film. The notion of the To Pimp A Butterfly artist and the Orgazmo creators coming together is just too intriguing to ignore.

Why I'm Excited For The Kendrick Lamar-Led Movie

His long and ever evolving beef with Drake, aside, the Compton-born artist is revered in the music industry. Since 2011, Lamar has continually sharpened his skills, ensuring that his work remains fresh and socially conscious. He's also grown his fan base in the process. Most notably, in 2017, his album Damn. won a Pulitzer Prize, making him the first rapper to earn the award. In short, my fandom is a major reason why I'd give this film a look.

Additionally, this film piques my interest because of the concept, which sounds so wild. I wouldn't have imagined K-Dot to join a project like this. But he's one of the most cerebral artists in the industry right now and, if he saw fit to join what sounds like a truly wild film, then it likely resonated with him in a deep way. I'm hopeful that his signature brand of storytelling will shine through in the flick.

Another reason this film has me curious is due to just how unexpected this melding of creative minds is. Matt Stone and Trey Parker have a distinct style, and it starkly clashes with Kendrick Lamar's. The Book of Mormon alone should tell you what these two producers are capable of from a creative standpoint. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to see how those sensibilities would come together in a single project.

Don't get me wrong, I still have plenty of questions and need to see more from this movie before I'm completely sold. However, considering Kendrick Lamar as well as Matt Stone and Trey Parker are all good at what they do, I'll give the the benefit of the doubt, for now. After I see the film when it opens up against the upcoming Jurassic World Rebirth, I'll be curious if I feel motivated to check out South Park and watch Kenny die (again and again).

If you want to commit to watching South Park now, you can stream the series with a ​​Paramount+ subscription.

If you know me, you know I love animation. I’ve always been a fan, from the latest animated movies coming out as part of the 2024 movie schedule to classics that I could rewatch again and again. I also love animation on television, something that I grew up on and have come to appreciate even more. But there are just some characters voiced by actors that I genuinely could not imagine another actor voicing them – and today, we’ll be going over them. 

Robin Williams As Genie (Aladdin)

This is the obvious answer. Robin Williams as the Genie in Aladdin was honestly one of Robin Williams' best roles, and he wasn’t even on screen. He was able to give so much energy, wit, and fun to a character that was drawn, and it almost made you feel like Genie was a friend rather than some random side character.

Tim Allen As Buzz (Toy Story Franchise)

Toy Story is hands down one of the best Pixar films, and a big reason for this is the natural partnership between Buzz and Woody. Of course, I had to put Tim Allen as Buzz here. I’m pretty sure we can barely think of Buzz in any other way aside from Allen doing it, even if Chris Evans did give it his all in the Lightyear cast. 

Dante Basco As Zuko (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

“Hello, Zuko here,” is a line that has lived in my brain since I was literally a child and will forever be there. Dante Basco as Zuko is iconic. Not only is Basco basically the biggest Avatar: The Last Airbender fan out there, but he’s also voiced not one but two characters in the ATLA universe. However, he, like Zuko, can’t be beaten, and we will always love him voicing one of the best redemption arcs on television. 

Bryce Papenbrook As Eren Yeager (Attack On Titan)

Let me preface this by saying that yes, I know the primary voice roles for anime are the Japanese voice actors but have you ever heard an English dub actor who is just so good that it makes it almost impossible to watch it in Japanese? That’s Bryce Papenbrook with Eren Yeager in Attack on Titan. As one of my favorite anime, I started this series listening to Papenbrook, and I ended it with him, too, when I watched the finale again with the dub. He does Eren so well, and it’s hard to picture anyone else but him. 

Eddie Murphy As Mushu (Mulan)

Eddie Murphy is one of those actors where it feels like he plays himself in his voice roles, and he, as Mushu, is certainly one of them. I cannot tell you how often I quote this character. “Dishonor on you! Dishonor on your cow!” I mean, only Murphy could have that kind of delivery. 

Tara Strong As Timmy Turner (The Fairly Oddparents)

There are some voice actors out there who ultimately defined my childhood, and Tara Strong is one of them. I could put so many of her characters on here from multiple different TV shows, but I think the best one has to be Timmy Turner from The Fairly Oddparents. I couldn’t imagine Timmy having a distinct voice, and Strong brought so much character to his iconic kid. 

Seth MacFarlane As Stewie Griffin (Family Guy)

Family Guy has cemented itself as a show that just won’t stop, and the voice actors have pretty much stayed the same since the beginning. One that hasn’t changed is Stewie Griffin, who is voiced by the creator of the show, Seth MacFarlane, and obviously, he has to be here. I’m pretty sure Stewie is probably the most iconic character from the show, and it’s because of MacFarlane’s delivery and his hilarious lines. 

Tom Hanks As Woody (Toy Story Franchise)

Come on. You knew Tom Hanks would be here. Hanks is like the grandfather of our generation when it comes to voice roles, and his role as Woody will live on in our memories long after we’re all gone and Toy Story becomes a certified classic (if it isn’t already). Hanks is just that good, and I will listen to him voice Woody over and over again. 

Ellen DeGeneres As Dory (Finding Nemo)

Ellen DeGeneres isn’t exactly known for her movies, as she was mainly a daytime talk show host for many, many years, but her voice acting as Dory in Finding Nemo is top-notch. Dory wound up becoming just as big as the clown fishes that we followed in the movie and became a loveable character that children all around the world flocked to, and that’s because of DeGeneres and her voice skills. 

Jay Baruchel As Hiccup (How To Train Your Dragon)

Even though there’s a live-action How To Train Your Dragon set to release, you can’t beat the animated movies, and of course, Jay Baruchel is voicing Hiccup, the main character. Honestly, I think Hiccup would have been really tough to nail if the voice actor wasn’t right. Baruchel had to find the delicate balance between a surprisingly brave warrior and a kind of wimpy teenager and build on that for three movies straight – and he rocks it. 

Eddie Murphy As Donkey (Shrek)

Eddie Murphy as Donkey is everything. Look at me. Look at me and tell me you can picture someone else as Donkey because I surely can’t. This talking animal has cemented itself into pop culture with hilarious lines, memes, and so much more, and it’s because of Murphy’s delivery. Now I’m gonna go and make some waffles. 

Kaiji Tang As Gojo (Jujutsu Kaisen)

Kaiji Tang is an example of an English dub actor in anime who knocks it out of the park. I honestly love any version of Jujutsu Kaisen, and Season 2 was one of my favorite anime of 2023, but let me tell you, Tang, as Gojo, made it so much better. His line delivery is just phenomenal – it’s no wonder the character is, like, the anime community’s crush. With that smooth voice, it’d be hard not to crush on him.

Trey Parker As Eric Cartman (South Park)

There are so many outrageous episodes in South Park that make you squirm, and you want to know who’s behind most of them. Eric Cartman, because he’s a menace to society – so, of course, one of the creators is the voice behind him. Trey Parker is a naturally funny person, so he as Eric Cartman makes sense – only he could think of the most ridiculous and awful lines to say for a literal fourth-grader. 

Billy Crystal As Mike Wazowski (Monsters Inc.)

When making this list, I thought about putting maybe John Goodman as Sully, but then I really thought about it and realized that Mike is actually low-key more iconic. Mike, in general, is a great character with a good backstory and a hilarious sense of humor, but you want to know why he’s so funny? It’s because of Billy Crystal—I can almost feel him through Mike. Mike is Billy, Billy is Mike. 

Shameik Moore As Miles Morales (Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse)

Miles Morales proved anyone can wear the mask in Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse, a film that became a huge hit and spawned a sequel and another movie coming out soon enough. However, a big reason why Miles is such a great character is because of the voice behind him, Shameik Moore. Since the first film, Moore has brought humility to Miles, but also that kind of smooth swagger that we know only he could have. He’s excellent, and I can’t wait to hear more from him. 

Tom Kenny As Spongebob (SpongeBob SquarePants)

How could I not include Tom Kenny as SpongeBob SquarePants from the SpongeBob SquarePants series here? This man is my childhood. Sure, there are impressionists out there who believe they can impersonate SpongeBob, but no one can do it like Tom Kenny, and I stand by that. 

Kaley Cuoco As Harley Quinn (Harley Quinn)

There have been multiple people who have voiced Harley Quinn in Batman TV shows and animated movies, but I’m sorry. Kaley Cuoco takes the cake, and I want her to be the animated version of Harley Quinn from now on. Her take on Harley in the TV show Harley Quinn is hilarious, on-brand, and unforgettable, and if you haven’t had the chance to watch her voice the heck out of his classic DC villain/antihero, then you have to. 

Mike Myers As Shrek (Shrek)

Obviously, I had to put Mike Myers on this list. While I do think Donkey is a little more iconic, Mike Myers as Shrek is pretty much the same as butter and toast, or Oreos and milk, or popcorn and movies—you get my gist. Myers as Shrek is pretty much the standard for celebrities voicing animated characters, and he’s quite hard to beat. 

Dakota Fanning As Coraline (Coraline)

Coraline is one of the best stop-motion films out there, and surprisingly, no matter how creepy it might be to others, it’s a comfort film for me. And, of course, I can’t imagine anyone else voicing Coraline other than Dakota Fanning. She was so young at the time but still brought so much sass and wonder to the character, and it made me love Coraline for the explorer she was. 

Dan Castellaneta As Homer Simpson (The Simpsons)

Oh, you know he would be here. The Simpsons is hands down the most iconic TV series of all time and has been around since the 1980s. Dan Castellaneta has voiced the patriarch of the Simpsons family since the very beginning and has cemented himself in television just as much as the rest of the cast. But you can’t get more iconic than Homer freaking Simpson. 

Christy Carlson Romano As Kim Possible (Kim Possible)

Kim Possible was a show from my childhood on The Disney Channel that made me want to be a spy. It likely led to a few injuries when I jumped from trees to show how cool I was. Either way, it was mainly because of Kim and how kick-butt she was while also being a remarkable teenager, and thanks to Christy Carlson Romano’s voice acting, she was made all the better. 

Christian Bale As Howl (Howl’s Moving Castle)

Howl’s Moving Castle is one of my favourite Studio Ghibli movies, and I have to admit that for this, I do like the English dub better because, come on, you can’t beat Christian Bale as Howl! That man has a voice as smooth as butter, and you will find yourself falling for Howl so quickly because of how he voices the character. Ugh, I’m getting butterflies just thinking about it. 

Antonio Banderas As Puss (Shrek 2)

Shrek has plenty of iconic voices, but you want to know who has one of the best ones? Antonio Banderas didn’t even show up in the Shrek franchise until the second movie. But Banderas’ voice was so popular that he spawned not one but two spin-off films – the second of which featured one of the best DreamWorks Animation villains of all time, so you know he’s iconic. 

Jeff Bennett As Johnny Bravo (Johnny Bravo)

Okay, so, if we’re being honest, Johnny Bravo is actually a pretty lousy person and very misogynistic, but man, is it funny to get his butt handed to him in so many situations? It’s because of Jeff Bennett and the way he voices him. He’s just so funny in a messed-up way. I love it. 

Matthew Mercer As Levi Ackerman (Attack On Titan)

Attack on Titan is a case where I tend to lean more towards the English dub than the Japanese because of some of the voice-acting choices, and Matthew Mercer as Levi Ackerman is just *chef’s kiss.* Don’t get me wrong, the Japanese voice actor Hiroshi Kamiya does a great job, too, but when I think of Levi, I think of Matthew Mercer’s voice, and that just means I literally cannot imagine anything else.

Jack Black As Po (Kung Fu Panda)

Po the Panda is one of those characters that has become a pretty big name for DreamWorks Animation. In reality, it’s really just Jack Black behind a microphone in the sound booth voicing some of the most hilarious moments ever. Sometimes, it feels like I’m almost just watching Jack Black on screen because Po is as funny as him.

Helena Bonham Carter As Emily (The Corpse Bride)

The Corpse Bride is an excellent stop-motion animated film that certainly has a specific group of people who watch it every year (me included during Halloween). I could talk about Johnny Depp as Victor, but I have to point out Helene Bonham Carter as Emily. She voices the character so well and gives so much life to a literal corpse. It’s one of Carter’s best movies. 

Chris Rock As Marty (Madagascar)

Chris Rock as Marty makes sense. While there were only three Madagascar movies, Rock voiced the zebra in each of them and killed it every time. I could literally watch an entire spinoff film on just Marty. I want more, Marty. Please give me more hilarious lines like “Oh, sugar honey iced tea!”

Bill Fagerbakke As Patrick Star (SpongeBob SquarePants)

You can’t have SpongeBob without his best friend, and Bill Fagerbakke as Patrick Star is a match made in heaven. Since the show’s beginning, Fagerbakke has voiced the sea star, and he’s perfect for the role. Honestly, I almost want to watch him and Kenny voiceover the Super Bowl again next year because he as Patrick and them together is just perfect. 

Matthew Lillard As Shaggy (Scooby Doo)

There have been many voice actors who have come and gone to voice Shaggy, but let’s be honest here – Matthew Lillard has become Shaggy. Ever since he did the live-action version of Shaggy in the Scooby-Doo films, we’ve loved seeing him as Shaggy, and then he began doing the animated version. He’s been voicing the character (except for Velma, but we don’t talk about that), and he’s fantastic. 

Oscar Isaac As Miguel O’Hara (Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse)

Oh, Miguel. TikTok’s boyfriend of Summer 2023. The man, the myth, the legend that somehow captured my heart and reminded me that I have a thing for fictional brooding men. Either way, Oscar Isaac voices Miguel, and yes, this man is Miguel, and I will not accept any other person voicing him. 

Idina Menzel As Elsa (Frozen)

I had to put Elsa here somehow. Frozen is one of the biggest animated franchises of all time, and it’s mainly because of Elsa, her ice powers, and the incredible force of Idina Menzel’s voice. There isn’t another singer/actress on the planet that could belt like that.

While there are plenty of other animated characters we could discuss, these were just some of the first ones that came to mind—and now I feel like having an animated movie marathon. 

The first thing that likely comes to mind for people with casual interest in South Park is probably a moment with Kenny dying, or a one-liner that’s something along the lines of, “oh my god, they killed Kenny!” Though the Comedy Central series has been killing the popular South Park character in the orange parka off far less in recent years, the complex way the show went from axing him in numerous over-the-top ways to resurrecting the character later in its run is a wild one, and it’s a story that’s rife with network heads who hated the idea and even Trey Parker and Matt Stone getting tired of the gag… eventually. 

How Matt Stone And Trey Parker Decided To Kill Off Kenny

Back in 1995, Matt Stone and Trey Parker put together one of the earliest examples of a “viral video.” The short was called “The Spirit of Christmas” and would lay the foundation for the majority of the two then-college students' careers. It also led them to landing a successful contract with fledgling cabler Comedy Central for a whole series based around a slew of foul-mouthed kids. It was a first for the duo, but also a first for the network, which hadn’t really been known for original scripted animated fare.

Early on, the idea was just to challenge expectations. As Trey Parker noted in an EW oral history, the popularity of the show hinged on the fact the concept was totally a new one, and spoke to the college audience (though they didn't drop an f-bomb on air until 2016).  

In “The Spirit Of Christmas” one of the plotlines was that Kenny is killed by a snowman the boys initially created who came to life, spawning the iconic “he killed Kenny” quote. When they got picked up by Comedy Central, it was a dream come true for the two co-creators, who later said the network was where they’d most hoped to be set up. They also revealed in the Basic podcast, “that’s where it belonged; we really felt that way,” though they candidly admitted “it seemed like they get away with more” at the network, as well. 

Which is why it’s surprising to hear the “he killed Kenny” gag was rejected by the network early on. 

Not Everyone Thought Killing Kenny Off Was A Great Idea

After Comedy Central ultimately greenlighted South Park, the real pain began. First, creating the actual episodes was no joke. The two creators told Basic the process was incredibly “tedious” and done by hand at first, with Parker explaining in vivid detail how the creation of the animated series went early on. 

“Being able to crack that nut” and figure out how to animate the series and work in relevant, current events jokes at the last minute is what led South Park to be so timely as a comedy once they figured out how to animate at pace. The show could come up with a joke about something that was happening in real time and get it on the air later that week or day, with the gents noting “no one had ever dreamed [that was] possible.” It also meant more episodes could be produced, and more gags could be repeated. 

Meanwhile, they’d already come up with the idea that Kenny would be killed every week, and they were getting pushback from executives over the choice. The president of the network at the time, Doug Herzog, admitted he thought audiences were not going to get it, years later calling it “the first stupid thing” he said to them. 

This might seem like a bad omen, but Stone and Parker said everyone had their “line” they didn’t think was funny, citing “Mr. Hanky the Christmas poo” as a prime example that producer Brian Graden hated. He straight up told the guys, “I’m not going to be involved in a show about talking shit.” The same sort of thing happened with the Kenny gag, with Herzog also saying in the basic interview:

In both cases, the men caved and the concepts made it onto the show by the time it hit the TV schedule. 

Thank goodness Herzog didn’t double down, as Kenny’s deaths went on to have an incredibly successful run on South Park. For the first five seasons of the sitcom, the show found new and inventive ways to kill off the character during each new episode. Theories were spawned about why Kenny died so often on the show, and the comedy actually addressed this years and years later, saying the character has a great power and a great curse. It's because his parents were part of Cthulhu cult and ended up making a deal that affects his ability to stay alive, and to stay dead each time he dies.  

So, thank Mr. and Mrs. McCormick. 

Kenny Officially Died Back In 2001, But Has The Show Killed Him Off In Recent Years? 

The creators ultimately chose to kill Kenny off for good in one of the best South Park episodes to date, aptly titled “Kenny Dies.” That 2001 episode featured Stan getting upset as his pal dealt with muscular dystrophy in a sendoff worthy of the popular character. 

In the past, Matt Stone has called Kenny “such a prop,” noting in a Maclean’s article that “he can’t really talk,” and at the time the gag was coming to an end, the duo was even more vociferous about ending the long-running bit. Stone hypothesized fans hadn’t even paid attention to the change, though I think it’s safe to say they had noticed, telling Knoxville News (via Page Six) at the time: 

He also said that once the episode was written, and Kenny was given a drawn out and sometimes emotional sendoff,  it was an “easy” “decision” to wash their hands of this viral idea they'd created.

No love lost there.

Still, the character eventually came back on the series and has died a few handfuls of times since “Kenny Dies” officially marked a wrap on that weekly storyline. Probably the best example of this is the well-reviewed “South Park: The Pandemic” special. During that multi-episode arc, Kenny had been researching COVID-19 and had left instructions for his pals in the event of his death, which obviously happened, this time due to a new COVID-19 variant. Kenny had also been researching time travel and the follow-up to this episode “Post Covid-The Return of Covid” explored the younger pals forgiving each other and returning to the past where Kenny was still alive. 

Kenny also died in the 2023 special “Joining the Panderverse.” So it’s not a gag that has died off completely as South Park has continued to make controversial episodes. In sum total, Kenny has reportedly died more than 120 times. Between there being 13 episodes in Season 1, 18 episodes in Season 2, 17 episodes in Season 3, 17 episodes in Season 4, and “Kenny Dies” being the 13th episodes in Season 5, there's a sum total of 78 episodes for Kenny to die in during the first five seasons alone. 

It's been a long road for one joke, but even if it's old hat at this point, and even if it drives its creators nuts, it's also one of South Park's most enduring legacies. 

South Park has been entertaining viewers for over two decades now, with its crude humor and irreverent takes on pop culture happenings. While most of South Park’s controversial moments have to do with its content, there’s been quite the brouhaha going on behind the scenes. Back in February, Warner Bros. Discovery sued Paramount Global, with HBO Max arguing they didn’t get the original content promised in the huge $500 million streaming deal they made in 2019. Now Paramount has hit back, alleging in a countersuit that not only did they fulfill the terms of the agreement, but that HBO Max has withheld two payments of $26 million apiece.

Warner Bros Discovery has said Paramount violated the streaming contract by providing only 14 new episodes of South Park, when HBO Max was expecting three 10-episode seasons. Paramount disputed this in their counterclaim, via Variety, saying there was no minimum number of episodes agreed on. A spokesperson also said in a statement that the $52 million owed is for the rights to the 300-plus best South Park episodes (minus a few from the full catalog) that HBO Max is currently profiting from. The statement reads: 

The 2019 deal sold episodic rights to HBO Max (whose service debuted in May 2020), giving the new streamer South Park’s 20-plus seasons of content with the assurance that at least three more seasons would be developed. HBO Max alleges those were to consist of 10 episodes per season. However, when the pandemic hit, only two episodes were able to be produced in Season 24, with Seasons 25 and 26 featuring just six episodes apiece.

Also at play is the $900 million deal with Trey Parker and Matt Stone for 14 made-for-streaming South Park movies for Paramount+. Warner Bros. Discovery accused Paramount of using “verbal trickery” by calling them "movies" in order to keep original content for itself that should have gone to HBO Max through the 2019 deal. Paramount’s latest filing, however, argues both of those claims, saying: 

The situation with the two media companies certainly seems to be a big pile of Mr. Hankey and the other best South Park characters, with millions of dollars at stake. While we wait to see how this legal matter plays out, fans can stream South Park episodes with an HBO Max subscription, while the four currently released movie specials are available with a Paramount+ subscription.  

As far as ratings go, at least those handed out by the Motion Picture Association, there is nothing more extreme these days than NC-17. That means no one under the age of 18 can be admitted to a movie with this rating for a multitude of reasons.

Some directors, producers, and studios will re-cut their films to get an R-rating, but there are plenty of NC-17 movies that have been left unedited and sent out into the wild as is, which has resulted in limited releases of some of the most notorious movies of all time. Find out why these films were branded this way, as well as how you can watch them if you are curious, in the following list.

Henry & June (1990) - Fred Ward, Uma Thurman

What better way to start than with the very first movie to earn the NC-17 rating – according to SlashFilm – Henry & June. Director Philip Kaufman’s adaptation of Anaïs Nin’s memoir focuses on a love triangle between novelist Henry Miller (Fred Ward), his wife, June (Uma Thurman), and the French-American author (portrayed by Thurman’s future fellow Pulp Fiction cast member, Maria de Medeiros) in 1930s Paris. Despite its controversially explicit sexual content, the drama was a mild critical and commercial success and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography.

Buy Henry & June on Blu-ray on Amazon.  

Killer Joe (2012) - Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, Juno Temple

Directed by the late William Friedkin and written by 2019’s Little Women cast member Tracy Letts (also based on his stage play), Killer Joe stars Emile Hirsch as an indebted young man who hatches a plan to have his mother (played by Gina Gershon) killed to collect insurance money. Matthew McConaughey gives one of his most underrated performances as the titular hitman he hires, whose fee is so high that he agrees to let his teenage sister (Juno Temple) be treated as collateral.

According to Deadline, the shamelessly twisted crime thriller was released with an NC-17 rating after Friedkin and distributor LD Entertainment opted not to change its ending. While an R-rated version of the film was later made available for home viewing, those interested in seeing it in its original form could also seek out the unrated director’s cut of Killer Joe instead.

Rent or buy Killer Joe on Amazon.
Buy Killer Joe on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Mysterious Skin (2004) - Joseph Gordon-Levitt

One of Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s best movies from earlier in his career is Mysterious Skin, in which he plays a gay teen making a living as a sex worker who recalls a disturbing encounter from his childhood through narration. Meanwhile, another teen, played by Brady Corbet, struggles to figure out the truth behind a blackout he suffered when he was younger, leading the two men to cross paths unexpectedly.

Writer and director Gregg Araki is notorious for including pervasive sexual content in his films, but the NC-17 rating for Mysterious Skin – also starring Elisabeth Shue and Buffy the Vampire Slayer cast member Michelle Trachtenberg – was largely determined by its graphic depiction of pedophilia. According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the challenging subject matter sparked controversy when the Australian Family Association feared child predators could use the film as a grooming tool or for their own gratification.
 
Rent or buy Mysterious Skin on Amazon.
Buy Mysterious Skin on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1989) - Antonio Banderas

In one of his many racy collaborations with writer and director Pedro Almodóvar, Antonio Banderas stars in Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! as Ricky, who is released from a mental hospital with the intent of finding love. So, he tracks down a former adult film star, played by Victoria Abril, whom he once shared an intimate encounter with and takes her prisoner in hopes he can convince her to be his wife.

According to Gwyne Edwards’ 2001 book Almodóvar: Labyrinths of Passion, the controversial subject matter of Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! was instrumental in the creation of the NC-17 rating itself. Thus, the MPA branded it as such in 1990 for a “scene of strong adult sensuality with nudity,” according to FilmRatings.com.

Stream Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! on Max.
Rent or buy Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! on Amazon.
Buy Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! on Blu-ray Amazon.

Blonde (2022) - Ana de Armas

Based on the book by Joyce Carol Oates, Blonde is director Andrew Dominik’s in-depth and fictionalized look at the tragically short life of Norma Jeane Baker, better known as Marilyn Monroe. Ana de Armas disappears into the role of one of Hollywood’s most iconic figures, portraying a side of the actress and model that was long kept hidden from the public.

Dominik once said that he anticipated his nearly three-hour biopic would be rated NC-17 before the MPA made it official in June 2022, citing “some sexual content” as the reasoning. The film’s more hardcore scenes would inspire some strong reactions from both critics and audiences since it was made available to stream in 2022.

Stream Blonde on Netflix.

Crash (1996) - James Spader, Holly Hunter

Not to be confused with director Paul Haggis’ Best Picture Oscar winner from 2005, Crash is one of the more bizarre and inventive movies directed by David Cronenberg (which is really saying something). Based on the novel by J.G. Ballard, it stars James Spader as a TV producer who becomes seduced into an unusual and dangerous obsession with car wrecks and the intense, sexually stimulating effect they seem to have on him and others, including his mistress (played by Holly Hunter).

Just from learning the plot, it seems pretty clear why a movie like Crash would have been given the NC-17 rating and why it inspired controversy so pervasive that it was chronicled in a 2001 book called The Crash Controversy: Censorship Campaigns and Film Reception. Nonetheless, it was still relatively well-received by critics, according to Rotten Tomatoes, and earned Cronenberg a Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, despite vehement opposition from the jury’s then-president, Francis Ford Coppola.

Buy Crash on DVD on Amazon.

Descent (2007) - Rosario Dawson

Not to be confused with the Scottish 2005 horror movie THE Descent, this film sees Rosario Dawson giving her most provocative and extreme performance since she broke out in another controversial classic, Kids. This time, she plays a woman who undergoes a dramatic and violent change of character after she is assaulted by a man she meets at a fraternity party.

This brutal and upsetting revenge drama was actually released with two alternative cuts: one rated NC-17 and an R-rated edit that omits seven minutes of footage. Still, both versions contain brutal rape, language, some sexual content and drug use.

Buy Descent on DVD on Amazon.

Showgirls (1995) - Elizabeth Berkley, Kyle MacLachlan

Perhaps the most infamous movie on this list, Paul Verhoeven’s 1995 erotic cult classic, Showgirls, stars a post-Save by the Bell Elizabeth Berkley as a young drifter named Nomi Malone. As she hitchhikes to Las Vegas with dreams of becoming a famous dancer on the Strip, she has some ups and downs on her journey, but finally makes her dreams come true, at a price…

According to the MPA, Showgirls was given its NC-17 rating due to the amount of nudity and erotic sexuality throughout the movie, as well as graphic language and sexual violence. If you’ve seen the movie (and not the VH1 version with digitized bras), you’re well aware of the film’s graphic nature.

Stream Showgirls on Tubi.
Stream Showgirls on Pluto TV.
Buy Showgirls on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Shame (2011) - Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan

Released in 2011, Steve McQueen’s psychological drama, Shame, stars Michael Fassbender as Brandon Sullivan – a successful and dashing executive who is secretly a traumatized sex addict who will do anything and everything to get his kicks in New York City. Just when he thinks life can’t get any worse, his equally damaged sister (Carey Mulligan) storms into his life, causing more complications.

Upon release, Shame was given an NC-17 rating by the MPA for explicit sexual content as well as some truly troubling scenes. I’ve walked out of several movies before, but this was the first I exited simply because what was happening on the screen was way too real and unnerving to finish.

Rent or buy Shame on Amazon.
Buy Shame on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Blue Is The Warmest Color (2013) - Léa Seydoux 

Abdellatif Kechiche’s 2013 French drama, Blue is the Warmest Color, stars Adèle Exarchopoulos as a high school student who experiences a sexual awakening after meeting an art school student and aspiring painter named Emma, played by James Bond movies actor, Léa Seydoux. Over the years, the two form a contentious and highly-emotional relationship that opens their eyes to a whole new world around them.

Though tamer than some of the other titles on this list, Blue is the Warmest Color was given an NC-17 rating because of the explicit sexual content the MPA felt was unsuitable for younger audiences. However, at least one theater allowed teens to watch the movie upon release.

Rent or buy Blue is the Warmest Color on Amazon.
Buy Blue is the Warmest Color on Blu-ray Amazon.

Bad Lieutenant (1992) - Harvey Keitel

Abel Ferrara’s 1992 crime thriller Bad Lieutenant follows Harvey Keitel as a broken NYPD detective whose stress over his job, life, and gambling habits get the best of him. From one interaction to the next, the unnamed lieutenant falls deeper down the rabbit hole of depravity, committing some irredeemable crimes of his own along the way.

If there has ever been a movie deserving of an NC-17 rating it would have to be Bad Lieutenant. With an abundance of sexual violence, intense sexual situations, endless drug use, and extreme language throughout, it’s no wonder the MPA came down hard on the movie, which later inspired a sequel only in name, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, starring Nicolas Cage and directed by Werner Herzog.

Stream Bad Lieutenant on Tubi.
Rent or buy Bad Lieutenant on Amazon.
Buy Bad Lieutenant on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Orgazmo (1997) - Trey Parker, Matt Stone

Co-writer and director Trey Parker plays a normal Mormon missionary trying to find enough money to support and marry his longtime girlfriend. But when he stumbles upon a porn set, the once strait-laced and deeply devoted young man becomes the biggest thing going in the adult entertainment industry in Orgazmo.

It should come as no surprise that a movie written by the creators of South Park, and one centered on the porn industry, would receive an NC-17 rating from the MPA in 1998. It should come as even less of a surprise that the rating was handed down due to the sexual content and dialogue featured throughout.

Rent or buy Orgazmo on Amazon.
Buy Orgazmo on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Bent (1997) - Clive Owen, Ian McKellen

After being discovered and arrested by the Gestapo in Nazi Germany, Max – a proud gay man played by Clive Owen – is sent on a perilous journey to the Dachau concentration camp where he is subjected to indescribable horrors while still being able to find love.

Possibly one of the most harrowing movies about the Holocaust, Sean Mathias’ 1997 drama Bent is absolutely heartbreaking and disturbing with its graphic displays of violence. Upon its release, the movie received an NC-17 rating from the MPA due to its graphic sexual nature.

Stream Bent on Peacock.
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Rent or buy Bent on Amazon.
Buy Bent on Blu-ray Amazon.

Matador (1986) - Antonio Banderas

In one of his most disturbing roles, Antonio Banderas plays Angel, a young student who confesses to an attempted rape and a series of murders he may or may not have committed, in Pedro Almodóvar’s 1986 dark comedy, Matador.

Just like some of the other movies featuring the director and actor, Matador pushed the limits with its dark, twisted, and oddly humorous story. Still, the MPA would later give the film an NC-17 rating in 2005 (nearly 20 years after initial release) due to “aberrant sexuality” and violence.

Rent or buy Matador on Amazon.
Buy Matador on DVD on Amazon.

The Dreamers (2003) - Eva Green, Michael Pitt

In the midst of the 1968 Student Riots in Paris, an American student named Matthew (played by Michael Pitt) finds himself getting caught up in the lives of formerly conjoined twins – Louis Garrel as Théo and Eva Green as Isabelle – whose relationship is far from normal. When asked to spend a month with the siblings, Matthew falls deeper into their wild and free-flowing lifestyle.

Bernardo Bertolucci’s 2003 erotic drama, The Dreamers, pushes several boundaries and deviates from societal norms to tell a story about young love in the midst of a chaotic time. With the extreme sexual content and nudity, it’s no surprise the MPA gave the movie an NC-17 rating upon release.

Buy The Dreamers on DVD on Amazon.

A Dirty Shame (2004) - Selma Blair, Johnny Knoxville

A John Waters movie receiving an NC-17 rating? You don’t say! The filthy filmmaker’s 2004 comedy, A Dirty Shame, follows Tracey Ullman as Sylvia Stickles– a puritanical resident of the Hatford Road area of Baltimore who experiences a sexual awakening after being hit by a car. 

Selma Blair, Johnny Knoxville, and Chris Isaak also star in A Dirty Shame, which (no shocker here) was given the NC-17 rating by the MPA due to its pervasive sexual content. And if you’ve seen the movie, you are all too aware of just how pervasive and graphic it is.

Rent or buy A Dirty Shame on Amazon.
Buy A Dirty Shame on DVD on Amazon.

Pink Flamingos (1972) - Divine

When Connie (Mink Stole) and Raymond Marble (David Lochary) attempt to steal Babs Johnson’s (Divine) title of “the filthiest person alive,” the down and dirty criminal and her family make it their mission in life to prevent the newcomers from accomplishing their mission by any means necessary.

With scenes featuring incest, people eating dog poop, flashers, and an infamously notorious scene involving a chicken, it shouldn’t shock anyone that John Waters’ classic exploitation comedy film, Pink Flamingos, was given an NC-17 rating by the MPA upon re-release in 1997, 25 years after it first shocked audiences around the world. Maybe that’s why Roger Ebert hated the movie.

Buy Pink Flamingos on Blu-ray on Amazon.

The Evil Dead (1981) - Bruce Campbell

Bruce Campbell stars in the film that kickstarted the Evil Dead franchise as Ash Williams who – along with his girlfriend and a small group of friends – set off for a night away in an isolated cabin. However, the night quickly takes a turn for the worst after they discover the Necronomicon – a powerful book that awakens possessive, malevolent spirits.

Sam Raimi’s classic horror film, The Evil Dead, was initially released with an X rating back in 1981 on account of its substantial graphic violence and gore. It was later given an NC-17 by the MPA when the movie was re-released back in 1994.

Rent or buy The Evil Dead on Amazon.
Buy The Evil Dead on Blu-ray on Amazon.

BONUS: Elles (2011) - Juliette Binoche

The title of Elles refers to the French magazine, Elle, for which Juliette Binoche’s character is researching an article about an underground sex worker ring orchestrated by female college students in Paris. However, the closer she gets to the facts behind the story, the more she begins to question her own personal interests. Graphic sexual content that goes as far as urinary fetishes initially earned this drama from Polish filmmaker Malgoska Szumowska an NC-17 rating.

Buy Elles on Blu-ray on Amazon.

BONUS: Happiness (1998) - Philip Seymour Hoffman 

The late Philip Seymour Hoffman plays one of several interconnected people all searching desperately for the most coveted emotion there is: happiness. Of course, their chosen ways of acquiring it are exactly the kind of reasons this Golden Globe nominee was initially given an NC-17 rating. 

Also starring the likes of Trick ‘r Treat’s Dylan Baker, Twin Peaks cast member Lara Flynn Boyle, and SNL’s Jon Lovitz, Happiness is one of the darkest comedies of its time. However, that does not mean so much when you learn it comes from writer and director Todd Solondz.

Buy Happiness on DVD on Amazon.

Elles and Happiness are some of a few notable examples of films that surrendered their NC-17 ratings upon release and are now deemed “unrated,” such as the aforementioned Kids. However, they are just as challenging and provocative as any of the films listed above, which is why we’ll still count them as NC-17 in our book.

Audrey Hepburn. Andrew Lloyd Webber. John Legend. Whoopi Goldberg. What do these people all have in common?

They’ve all earned their EGOT — that is, they’ve won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony. It’s known as the “grand slam” of show business, and it’s incredibly difficult to achieve (despite how easy John Legend made it seem). But, who will be the next actor, composer, singer, director, or producer to join these EGOT winners? 

For this list, we’ll be focusing on artists who seem likely to complete their EGOT during their career — so, unfortunately, that eliminates some of the greats like Bob Fosse or Stephen Sondheim who won’t get the chance to complete their grand slam. Instead, we’ll focus on people who are contenders for the very next EGOT and speculate wildly about which of them it’ll be.

Common - Missing A Tony

Common won an Emmy for his song “Letter to The Free” from the documentary 13th and earned both an Oscar and a Grammy for his song “Glory” from the movie Selma (as well as two additional Grammys he snagged in the early 2000’s).

This one seems like a shoo-in to me. We already know Common can rap, and he’s flexed his musical theater chops in movies like Smallfoot. Plus he’s got a chance to win that Tony by writing, rapping, or acting.

Cher - Missing A Tony

Miss Cher earned her first major award in 1988 when she won an Oscar for Best Actress in Moonstruck, followed by a Grammy in 2000 for her dance recording “Believe” and an Emmy in 2003 for Cher: The Farewell Tour.

Some people might say that Cher is past her prime…and some people would be wrong. We all saw her in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. In reality, Cher is only in her mid-70s and still just as fabulous as she always was, so don’t count her out just yet. I could definitely see her on Broadway…

Jennifer Hudson - Missing A Tony

The talented Jennifer Hudson has already earned two Grammys and won a well-deserved Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Dreamgirls. Hudson also earned an Emmy just last year for Baba Yaga, a childrens’ film she produced.

Here’s the thing: Jennifer Hudson is nominated for a Tony this year. As one of the producers of A Strange Loop, she actually has a chance to complete her EGOT at the awards ceremony this summer.

Kate Winslet - Missing A Tony

Unsurprisingly, Kate Winslet has already won an Oscar (for Best Actress for The Reader) and multiple Emmys (for Mildred Pierce in 2011 and Mare of Easttown in 2021). But, many don’t know she actually earned a Grammy all the way back in 2000 for Best Spoken Word Album for Children, called Listen to the Storyteller.

Kate Winslet winning a Tony doesn’t feel far-fetched at all. She's acted in several plays early on, so taking to the stage wouldn’t be brand new to her.

Trent Reznor And Atticus Ross - Missing A Tony

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (yes, from Nine Inch Nails) are one of the most sought after composing teams in all of Hollywood at the moment, earning accolades from the Academy for their Best Original Scores in The Social Network and Soul. They also earned two Grammy awards for Score Soundtrack, again for Soul, and for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (in addition to the Grammys they won years ago with Nine Inch Nails). Add in their Emmy for Music Composition in A Limited Series for Watchmen and you have three prongs on the quadruple crown.

These two are definitely capable of writing the score for a Broadway musical. Crazier things have definitely happened. I mean, if the guys from South Park can write a musical…

Viola Davis - Missing A Grammy

Viola Davis started out as a stage actor, earning Tony awards for King Hedley II and Fences. She then earned an Oscar for the movie version of Fences, and as we all know, won an Emmy for Lead Actress in a Drama Series for How to Get Away With Murder.

Viola Davis is not known for singing. But, as we’ve learned from some of the other Grammy winners on this list, there’s more than one way to earn a Grammy. I’d love for Viola Davis to narrate a spoken word album.

Elton John - Missing An Emmy

This is another EGOT that feels inevitable. Sir Elton John has won many Grammys, and earned a Tony for Best Original Score for the musical Aida. He also won an Oscar for Best Original Song for “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from The Lion King, and more recently, earned another for “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” from Rocketman.

All Elton John has to do is compose one perfect song for an HBO show and that Emmy is his. I could also see potential Emmy nominations for a live action musical or Elton John documentary.

Cynthia Erivo - Missing An Oscar

And now for my personal pick for the next EGOT — Cynthia Erivo. She’s won an Emmy, Tony, and Grammy, all for her performances in The Color Purple, so she’s just missing an Oscar.

But, Erivo has already been nominated for two Oscars (Best Actress for Harriet in 2019 and Best Original Song for “Stand Up” from Harriet). Half of the people on this list haven’t even been nominated for the award they’re missing, so she’s right on track to earn an Oscar soon. Keep in mind that Cynthia Erivo is also set to play Elphaba in the Wicked movie in 2024, so at least one future Oscar nom seems eminent.

Hugh Jackman - Missing An Oscar

I can’t believe the only award Hugh Jackman is missing is an Oscar. That seems impossible, probably because most thought he would win one when he was nominated for Best Actor for playing Jean Valjean in Les Miserables.

Jackman already won an Emmy for his hosting gig at the 58th Tony Awards, a Grammy for The Greatest Showman soundtrack, and a Tony for Best Leading Actor in The Boy from Oz. He’s also nominated again in 2022 for The Music Man, a role that's earned huge applause from audiences, so this could be his year.

Audra McDonald - Missing An Oscar

Just because she hasn’t won an Oscar doesn’t mean she can’t act — Audra McDonald has won six Tony awards, as well as an Emmy award for Outstanding Special Class Program for Sweeney Todd (Live from Lincoln Center). She also has two Grammy awards for Best Classical Album and Best Opera Recording.

I’d love for Audra McDonald to earn her Oscar starring in a movie musical, but she also could earn a nomination for writing an original song for a movie.

Lin Manuel Miranda - Missing An Oscar

Like Hugh Jackman and Cynthia Erivo, Lin Manuel Miranda is only missing one award, and he’s already been nominated for it. His EGOT was put on hold when he lost the Oscar for Best Original Song for “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana, and again for “Dos Oruguitas” from Encanto. 

Previously, Lin Manuel Miranda won two Tony awards for In The Heights and Hamilton, as well as Grammys for each soundtrack. He earned his Emmy for writing the opening number of the 67th Tony Awards, “Bigger!” and again for Hamilton.

Miranda’s obviously not done writing forever, although he did say he’s looking forward to taking some time off to spend with his family. Whether it's as an actor or composer, he'll eventually get redemption for Moana and Encanto and earn that Oscar. It could even be for a sequel to Encanto, which Miranda has mentioned he'd like to do.

Trey Parker And Matt Stone - Missing An Oscar

Oh, right. The guys from South Park did write a musical.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone won four Tony Awards for their musical, The Book of Mormon, in addition to a Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album. When you include their Emmy awards from South Park, the pair are only one away from an EGOT.

Again, this one feels destined to happen. Whether it will be a South Park movie or maybe a new movie musical, these guys definitely have the skills to earn their Oscar.

Ben Platt - Missing An Oscar

Ben Platt snagged his E-G-T for his work in Dear Evan Hanson and its soundtrack. Since he’s the youngest person on this list at only 28, he has more than enough time to earn plenty of nominations for Academy Awards.

Consider the fact that Ben Platt became the youngest person to win Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical at the age of 23, and you’ll understand why I’m not concerned that he’ll ultimately complete his grand slam. Let's continue the tradition of Dear Evan Hansen and cast Platt in one of the many other modern musicals that should be made into movies.

Billy Porter - Missing An Oscar

Billy Porter is going to win an Oscar soon, I can feel it. He already won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in Pose, as well as a Tony for Best Actor in Kinky Boots. He might even earn another Tony this year as a producer of the Best Musical nominee, A Strange Loop.

Porter earned his Grammy for Kinky Boots, as well, so I’m wondering if it’s time for another Kinky Boots movie. Whether that happens or not, Billy Porter is an extremely talented actor and definitely on track to complete his EGOT.

Lily Tomlin - Missing An Oscar

Finally, comedy legend Lily Tomlin has won six Emmys for her comedy and variety specials, one Grammy for Best Comedy Album, and even won a Tony for Best Actress in a Play for The Search of Intelligent Life in the Universe.

The Grace and Frankie actress has nothing to prove, but definitely has the ability to take on a dramatic role or maybe even provide some comic relief in an Oscar-worthy movie. 

Again, my money is on Cynthia Erivo getting a full EGOT first, but Jennifer Hudson does seem to be walking away with this one. To keep up with the progress of these EGOT contenders, tune into the 75th Tony Awards on Sunday, June 12.

One of the most successful animated series to ever exist, South Park is in no danger of being removed from fans’ lives anytime soon, thanks to that massive $900 million deal ViacomCBS made with creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone over the summer. It was revealed at the time that the duo would be creating no less than 14 new made-for-streaming TV specials for Paramount+ on top of their usual seasonal duties. It’s been a while since we’ve heard any updates, but now Parker and Stone have removed the metaphorical orange hood from around their faces and divulged some details about what fans can expect. 

For one, we now know that the first special will be debuting on Paramount+ on Thursday, November 25, though it doesn’t exactly sound like a Thanksgiving celebration. Titled South Park: Post COVID, the special’s details are still being kept mostly under wraps, but here’s what Trey Parker told THR about it:

Sure, it’s not a whole lot to run with, but considering how much the status quo has wavered on South Park in recent years, it’ll be interesting to see what Trey Parker and Matt Stone consider “normal” these days. (I’m guessing it won’t involve the show’s versions of Elon Musk and Kanye West.) It would be subversively amazing if they just remade the first episode of the series using current animation techniques, but I’m betting what Parker and Stone come up with will be much better.

Fans won’t have to wait long to see the second South Park special, either, as Paramount+ has confirmed the next made-for-streaming installment will be released at some point in December. I doubt the streaming service will continue that once-a-month scheduling, considering the creators’ deal lasts for another six years or so, but considering Season 23 ended back in December 2019, with only the pandemic and vaccination specials in the interim, I’m betting fans would eagerly welcome all the Paramount+ specials hitting in short order.

Check out the quicker-than-quick first teaser for the Post COVID special below.

Trey Parker also wanted to clarify one of the key details of the mega-deal with ViacomCBS, regarding how the specials were being touted as “movies” in the company’s initial announcement. Here’s how the co-creator put it:

It’s also been made pretty clear that these specials won’t even necessarily match the length of the previous two Comedy Central specials. I’m thinking if everyone goes into it with the mindset that they’re all just out-of-season episodes, there won’t be much confusion or disappointment.

As far as progress on Season 22 goes, Trey Parker and Matt Stone are ready to have some of the South Park crew members finally return to work in-studio starting in January, though only in part-time mode. So it’s not entirely clear when the new season might start up, but at least we already know we’ll have at least two specials to enjoy before that happens. 

Set your calendars for South Park’s return for its first Paramount+ special debuting on Thursday, November 25. And you can stream some of the best South Park episodes on HBO Max!

While it’s no longer news that the pandemic has been hard on just about every business, it’s still always difficult hearing that someone’s livelihood may be at stake due to no fault of their own, as COVID has really been a huge extenuating circumstance. Now, it looks like Casa Bonita, a Colorado restaurant that was popularized by Comedy Central’s South Park, is now among the long list of businesses that are facing hardships in the time of COVID, as it is having some major financial problems.

Casa Bonita, according to The Hollywood Reporter, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this month. While it is not exactly clear what the root cause of the restaurant’s issues are, it is safe to say that the pandemic is, at least partially, to blame. The trade mentions that Casa Bonita has been closed for at least part of the pandemic.

Chapter 11 bankruptcy may not be the end for the restaurant made famous by South Park, though. Part of the process Casa Bonita will go through with this kind of bankruptcy is trying to pay off debt over time while still being able to remain in business. Chapter 11 bankruptcy can also supply some relief to businesses, and Casa Bonita is seeking to benefit from this benefit.

Casa Bonita has been featured in South Park many times and was even the focus of one episode. Since its inclusion in the popular, comedic animated series, it has certainly seen some fans show up at its doorstep. Unfortunately, even with the celebrity status it holds in some circles, the restaurant has still seen its struggles.

South Park creators, and the masterminds behind each episode, Trey Parker and Matt Stone are very fond of the restaurant and would frequent it during their time in Colorado, which is where the creative duo met. In the past, the two have even thought about buying Casa Bonita when it went up for sale. Their connection to the restaurant is even stronger now, as it is a part of their South Park universe and important to the show's fandom.

In fact, die-hard fans have really put their money where their mouth is in support of Casa Bonita. A GoFundMe page for the restaurant has been created by residents of Denver and has raised over $18,000 already. The page states that Casa Bonita is a huge cultural and historical icon and important to the state of Colorado.

One thing that the pandemic hasn’t harmed is people’s resolve to help keep the things that are important to them, and that is really showcased by the support Casa Bonita is getting during its time of financial troubles. South Park is still going strong, and we really hope we’ll be able to say the same about Casa Bonita moving forward. But if the fans have anything to say about it, the restaurant has a firm chance of surviving this hardship.

In the last 25 years, there has arguably been no show on television that has gone to darker places than South Park. Trey Parker and Matt Stone have a knack for poking at the most fragile and sensitive subjects in our society, and the result is that audiences’ jaws drop and our eyes widen as we howl laughter. With each new season part of what’s exciting is seeing how close the animated series can get to the famous “line.”

After 23 years, 307 episodes, two specials, and a movie, it’s a challenging task to pick out the darkest of the dark moments in the history of South Park, but that’s what we set out to do, and you can check out the results of our deep dive below. Will the scene or episode you’re thinking of right now make the list? Read on and find out!

8. Cartman Joins NAMBLA - "Cartman Joins NAMBLA" (Season 4, Episode 5)

I didn’t actually know that NAMBLA was a thing until the year 2000 and South Park aired “Cartman Joins NAMBLA” – and I think it’s possible I was just generally a happier person before that day. This is another instance of Eric being less evil mastermind and more innocent (albeit dickish) victim, but above all else it is unendingly shocking to watch the kid reach out on the internet looking for more mature friends, and become a would-be spokesperson for the horrible titular organization.

7. Cartman Buys/Retrieves Some Semen - "Simpsons Already Did It" (Season 6, Episode 7)

Being an awful and evil person, Eric Cartman is a character who the audience usually enjoys seeing victimized, but there are some instances where he is more prey than predator, and “Simpsons Already Did It” in Season 6 provides a great example. Cartman’s childish innocence leads him to feel betrayed when his magical Sea People turn out to be brine shrimp – and it takes him down a dark path involving semen. (We’re about to make a turn for the super gross here, so hang on). Not only does he reveal to his friends that his source for sperm to mutate the brine shrimp was a guy who “made [him] close [his] eyes and suck it out of a hose,” but he later finds himself inside the corpse of Ms. Choksondik while searching for evidence that could link them to her possible murder.

6. Cartman Becomes A Fetus Dealer - "Kenny Dies" (Season 5, Episode 13)

There are few subjects in American discourse that generate as much controversy as abortion, but it is one that South Park has had no issue directly discussing over the years. Few fans will ever forget the sight of Christopher Reeve sucking spinal fluid is Season 7’s “Krazy Kripples,” but two seasons before that Cartman came up with a crazy scheme after finding an overturned truck transporting fetuses for stem cell research. He wheels and deals as though he has a collection of hot speakers that fell off a truck – and the icing on the cake is that while Stan and Kyle think that his efforts must at least be in aim of ailing a dying Kenny, his only goal is to build his very own Shakey’s Pizza.

5. Butters’ Mom Tries To Kill Butters - "Butters' Very Own Episode" (Season 5, Episode 14)

As illustrated by this list, you really have to marvel at how far South Park is able to go and still get a laugh, and this is a perfect example. There is absolutely nothing funny about a woman, distraught after discovering her husband is visiting bathhouses, making a plan to kill her young son and then herself, and get “Butters’ Very Own Episode” pulls it off. Obviously one thing that helps in this particular case is Butters’ never ending optimism and obliviousness – unable to recognize that his mother is trying to drown him even after she straps him in a car and pushes said car into a lake.

4. Crack Baby Basketball - "Crack Baby Athletic Association" (Season 15, Episode 5)

On South Park, Kyle and Stan are essentially meant to be the coalition of reason among the protagonists. While Cartman and Kenny (when he’s around) freely exercise their ids, Kyle and Stan are meant to balance them out with their ego/super ego-heavy perspectives. That being said, it’s the fact that Kyle actually sides with Cartman in "Crack Baby Athletic Association" that makes it particularly nasty – on top of the subject matter being discussed here. The episode winds up being a vicious takedown of the NCAA system and its treatment of college students, but first and foremost it is pitch black dark because somebody in the writer’s room actually came up with the titular concept.

3. Cartman Attempts To Restart The Third Reich With Mel Gibson Fans - "The Passion Of The Jew" (Season 8, Episode 3)

Cartman’s casual anti-Semitism has been a fucked up part of the show since Season 1, but it reached a whole new level when the character watched Mel Gibson’s The Passion Of The Christ. Watching the horrifically violent movie, the little hate-filled monster gets the impression that the world is ready for the rise of a new Nazi party led by the filmmaker, and he goes as far as to organize a mixer at his house to teach hateful chants. Of course, the fact that nobody actually feels the same way that Cartman does is a silver lining to the whole situation, but the dark route that South Park’s resident instigator takes in “The Passion Of The Jew” is still one of the all-time worst things he’s attempted.

2. The Death Of Chef - "The Return Of Chef" (Season 10, Episode 1)

Prior to the tenth season of South Park, some seriously unfortunate drama unfolded. Isaac Hayes, who had voiced Chef from the very beginning of the show, made the decision to quit because of the episode "Trapped in the Closet" (which heavily criticizes Scientology – a group Hayes belongs to). This left Trey Parker and Matt Stone with a decision to make regarding how to say goodbye to Chef… and they went with the darkest possible route. “The Return Of Chef” has the titular character featured using repurposed episode footage from previous seasons, which was a controversial move by itself, but the specific moment for the purposes of this feature is the very end where the longtime cafeteria cook falls off a burning bridge, tumbles down a rocky cliff side, gets impaled on a tree, gets shot, and then gets torn apart by a mountain lion and a bear.

1. Scott Tenorman Eats His Parents - "Scott Tenorman Must Die" (Season 5, Episode 4)

I imagine that many of you saw the headline of this feature and clicked just to ensure that this moment was on the list and properly recognized for what it is: one of the darkest moments in all of television history. Cartman has obviously done some awful, awful things across multiple decades on South Park, but nothing will ever top the time that he orchestrated a plan that saw him murder the parents of his enemy by proxy, grind them up like meat, and then serve them to said enemy. It’s a kind of thing that no live-action show could ever get away with, and while it’s horrific all by itself, Trey Parker and Matt Stone pushed things even further in the episode “201” (Season 14, Episode 6), where it’s revealed that Scott Tenorman is actually Cartman’s half-brother, and that the evil fat boy killed his own father.

After 23 seasons, the show doesn’t appear to be slowing its insane train any time soon – and it may result in us feeling the need to update this feature. Stay tuned on that front, be on the lookout for news regarding Season 24, and also check out our ranking of the best South Park episodes. For everything else happening on the small screen this year, check out our 2021 TV schedule.

This month, it was reported that Trey Parker and Matt Stone are working on their next film. There aren't a lot of details known about this rumored upcoming project, but it's said to come from Oscar-winning producer Scott Rudin (No Country For Old Men), with whom Parker and Stone previously collaborated with on 1999's South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut. It's also (at least tentatively) said to be titled Alma Junction, i.e. the name of Stone and Parker's hometown. Not much else is known — though it appears to be live-action and not animated — but if true, it'll serve as their first feature project since 2004's Team America: World Police, as well as possibly (if the reports are to be believed) the first movie Parker and Stone direct together. But as this intriguingly vague film gets reported, one must ask themselves a question: where's The Book of Mormon movie?

There is some very unconfirmed speculation that this mysterious Alma Junction project might be a secret movie adaptation of The Book of Mormon. It should be noted upfront that this information isn't from anyone involved with the project or from any official sources. That said, even if this new film isn't a disguised adaptation of the Tony-winning musical, there are several reasons why Trey Parker and Matt Stone should hopefully consider bringing their best-selling Broadway musical onto the big screen. In this article, we will list just a mere few. Though, of course, we like to believe it'll happen someday.

The Movie Will Finally Give Many Trey Parker & Matt Stone Fans A Chance To See The Book Of Mormon

Let's face it: Broadway tickets are expensive. While we're sure the production is worth the cost, these shows require many fans to spend damn near a fortune to see them. Not a lot of folks have that kind of cash lying around, including me. It's nearly as pricy to see the show on tour. Speaking from personal experience, tickets to see The Book of Mormon when it came to my city were somewhere in the ballpark of hundreds of dollars — and that was in the cheap seats! Suffice to say, it was out of my price range, despite how badly I wanted to see it. I'm sure many other Trey Parker and Matt Stone's fans (quite a few of whom are younger) haven't had a chance to see this hit show for similar reasons.

Therefore, a Book of Mormon movie would finally give these fans (as well as other musical lovers) their first chance to see the show for themselves. The cost would only be the price of admission at your local movie theater. Granted, movie tickets cost way too much these days, but it's definitely a whole lot cheaper. I know I'm not alone in wanting a chance to see what the fuss is about. Plus, we can't eat popcorn in a playhouse, but we can inside a movie theater.

*Having Trey Parker & Matt Stone Involved In Book Of Mormon's Movie Adaptation Pretty Much Guarantees It'll Be Done Right *

More often than not, movie adaptations of popular musicals find the material switching hands from one creator to another. Due to the medium change, different writers, directors, producers, and sometimes actors get involved. And the results, naturally, vary. Sometimes, a musical adaptation can capture what made the original production such a smash success. Other times, it does a massive disservice to what music fans adored about the original stage show. For instance, not to point fingers or pile on to its ever-growing misfortune, but this December's Cats wasn't a great transition — to say the least.

Thankfully, Trey Parker and Matt Stone have made their fair share of movies. Though they're best known for their animated work, most notably South Park, the creative duo has also made Cannibal: The Musical, Orgazmo, and Team America: World Police, in addition to 1999's Oscar-nominated South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut. They are no strangers to moviemaking, and it should be noted that most of the movies they have made thus far have been musicals — directly or otherwise. Therefore, they'll certainly take careful care of their movie adaptation of their award-winning musical. If they were involved with the adaptation, it would almost guarantee that The Book Of Mormon would make a spectacular, successful transition onto the silver screen.

It'll Give Us A New R-Rated, Big-Budget Movie Musical, Which Are Often Rare

While R-rated movie musicals aren't unheard of, notably with movies like The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Once, The Blues Brothers, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and Repo! The Genetic Opera, to name a handful, they're increasingly rare as far as studio movies go. Though we got Rocketman last year, as well as A Star is Born the year prior (depending on whether you count that as a traditional musical), R-rated musicals outside of these few examples are slim nowadays. 

The Book of Mormon: The Movie is not a musical for kids, so it may be safe to assume that the film would aim for an R rating, if not PG-13. If that were the case, it would, no doubt, be one of the biggest R-rated movie musicals since 2008's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street. Or ever, for that matter. Should The Book of Mormon make the transition to the silver screen, it would be one of the few R-rated movie musicals of the 21st century. That's certainly no small feat, and it would also serve as a rare R-rated, big-budget movie musical comedy.

A Book Of Mormon Movie Adaptation Would (Hopefully) Renew Interest In The Broadway Smash Hit Musical

When The Book of Mormon premiered on Broadway, it was an instant sensation. It won the Tony for Best Musical, among other accolades, and it got Trey Parker and Matt Stone even more critical and commercial success than before. But now that time has passed, the show hasn't quite reached the same heights. To be fair, the musical is still going strong, both in New York City and other touring productions. But it hasn't had the same cultural relevance, particularly as other hit musicals like Hamilton steal a bit of its popularity. Therefore, a movie adaptation could be a good step towards renewing interest and notice towards the beloved musical —both by reminding musical lovers why they enjoyed the show in the first place and winning over new fans as well.

These are just a few reasons why we're excited by the prospect of a Book of Mormon movie adaptation. But what do you think? Would you want to see Trey Parker and Matt Stone turn the smash-hit Broadway musical into a major motion picture? Or should they leave it for the stage? Let us know below.

In a pop culture world where yesteryear's edgiest animated shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy have respectively lost their bite, Comedy Central's South Park continues to find way to create controversy with just 22 minutes a week. That's quite an accomplishment for any show, let alone one that's been on the air for 23 seasons (and has killed off the same character over and over). Yet creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone continue to find ways to ruffle feathers and drum up condemnations from celebrities, religious leaders and even entire countries. (Just look at how its recent episode "Band in China" got the show legitimately banned in China.)

The secret, it seems, is to be as offensive as humanly possible to everything and everyone while ensuring that absolutely nothing is off limits. Targeting the entire world has gained South Park a lot of outspoken critics over the years, and has sparked a lot of controversy as well. In no particular order, here are some of the most offensive and infamous South Park episodes that really stirred the pot and kept people talking.

"Trapped In The Closet" Season 9, Episode 12

Most South Park episodes are controversial, but few have stirred up as much drama as "Trapped In The Closet," which centered on the origins of Scientology, providing an unflattering representation of the religion's teachings and methods. The ep also touched on allegations that actor Tom Cruise was secretly gay or "in the closet," as it were. South Park's Trey Parker and Matt Stone knew there could be legal repercussions, so they credited all the staff in the episode's credits as John or Jane Smith.

The episode shockingly resulted in the departure of Chef voice actor Isaac Hayes, who was a Scientologist. Rumors have persisted that Hayes didn't make the decision to quit the show, but rather someone on his behalf did, as Hayes had suffered a stroke around that time. It was also rumored that Tom Cruise stopped a scheduled rebroadcasting of the episode when he allegedly refused to do publicity for Mission: Impossible III if the repeat aired. (The M:I movies are distributed by Paramount, which shares Viacom as a parent company with Comedy Central.) Cruise later denied the claims and the episode eventually aired again, but it remains one of the meatier controversies in South Park history.

"It Hits The Fan" Season 5, Episode 1

It sounds crazy today to think that someone saying the word "shit" on primetime television was controversial – and on cable, no less – but 2001 was a different time. The entertainment world was, at the time, making a big deal over Mark Harmon's character saying the S-bomb on Chicago Hope, so South Park wanted to see what would happen if it delivered an episode where "shit" was said 162 times.

In all honesty, the backlash and controversy surrounding this episode was relatively light in terms of stereotypical South Park reactions, at least outside of TV censors. Though the fallout wasn't massive, it's fair to say South Park's episode played a role in normalizing "shit" being said on television, to the point that it's uttered with uncensored frequency on most cable networks, and even gets some broadcast usage. Most South Park fans would probably consider that a win.

"Proper Condom Use" Season 5, Episode 7

Sex Education can be an uncomfortable subject to teach children, and mere discussions of how to teach it in schools can even create controversy. So, when South Park decided it was going to air an episode on schools teaching sex education the incorrect way, advocacy groups were obviously going to have something to say about it.

"Proper Condom Use" was deemed too controversial to air in some countries. For example, Sky One in Britain refused to broadcast the episode to audiences. While Comedy Central was cool with it in America, the Parents Television Council cited the episode as an example of the show's explicit vulgarity, and part of the reason it labeled South Park episodes as being "dangerous to the democracy."

"Bloody Mary" Season 9, Episode 14

Some of the most controversial South Park episodes poke fun at a religion, and "Bloody Mary" is among the comedy's most controversial. The episode depicts a statue of the Virgin Mary that is believed to be miraculous because it was seemingly bleeding from its anus. Later in the episode, Pope Benedict XVI examined the statue and determined that, because the blood was actually coming out of the statue's vagina, there was no actual miracle performed.

The episode aired the evening before the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a holy day of observation in the Catholic Church, and it received rampant criticism from advocacy groups representing the church. Catholic Viacom board member Joseph A. Califano Jr. later issued a statement condemning the episode and vowed to have it reviewed by Viacom's then-President Tom Freston. Other countries had similar controversies, but the episode ultimately prevailed and is available on streaming and DVD to this day.

"All About Mormons" Season 7, Episode 12

South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are no strangers to Mormonism, as evidenced through their works outside of the show like Orgazmo and The Book of Mormon. Basically, an episode of Mormonism was inevitably going to happen at some point, and South Park went all out in riffing on some of the religion's popular beliefs.

While there were plenty of folks upset about the way Mormons were portrayed in "All About Mormons," the Church of Latter Day Saints had one of the mildest reactions that any religious organization could have after falling victim to South Park parody. The Church viewed the episode as a gross misrepresentation of Mormon culture, but something to be ultimately dismissed as a distraction that followers shouldn't acknowledge.

"201" Season 14, Episode 6

"201" wasn't the first time South Park angered the Muslim community, but it is without question one of the biggest controversies of the sort in the show's history. One of the episode's driving storylines was to bring the prophet Muhammad into public view, and the intention was for the South Park episode to air a depiction of the prophet uncensored, which is considered blasphemous.

Word of the episode reached the masses before its airing, and radical Muslim groups reacted with threats of violence and retribution against Trey Parker and Matt Stone. One organization, Revolution Muslim, even went so far as to post the addresses of Comedy Central's New York and Los Angeles offices, and said Parker and Stone would probably end up like murdered filimmaker Theo van Gogh for their decision. Comedy Central ended up censoring any references or depiction of Muhammad, but an unedited cut of the episode leaked online and was distributed.

"Hell On Earth 2006" Season 10, Episode 11

If one watches "Hell On Wheels 2006" now, they might wonder why it's considered one of the most controversial South Park episodes. Sure, the story revolves around Satan throwing an awesome Halloween party on Earth, and the Catholic church trying to sabotage it. But that's really par for the course in terms of outlandish story lines, so why would people have been so up in arms with this in 2006?

Well, many viewers (and otherwise) took issue with the fact that the late wildlife expert Steve Irwin was shown at the party with a stingray dangling from his chest. That episode aired less than two months after Irwin's death, so the timing, while intentional, was not taken kindly. A response was prompted from a family friend of the Irwin family that feared the mourning children Bindi and Bob would see the episode and break down. The friend added that Irwin had a great sense of humor, but a joke like this was just too soon after the TV personality's death.

"With Apologies To Jesse Jackson" Season 11, Episode 1

Trey Parker and Matt Stone had wanted to do a South Park episode for a while about the epitome of all racial epithets, but they'd struggled with how to frame the episode. The two found an angle in the aftermath of Michael Richards' infamous racial outburst during a stand-up set, and they proceeded to write a story in which Randy used the racial slur in a very public setting.

The episode, while steeped in controversy in some circles, was actually praised by the NAACP for its accurate depiction of how hate speech can affect an individual. Others, like the Parent Television Council, felt audience praise was hypocritical and wondered why South Park got a pass when media personalities who used the word, such as Don Imus, did not. Stone personally really enjoyed the episode, and said he fully believed that if there was a similar word that was as offensive to white people, it would be illegal.

"Band In China" Season 23 Episode 2

It may very well be premature to list "Band in China" as one of the most controversial South Park episodes, since it's still fresh on our minds. But since it kinda got the show booted from one of the biggest countries in the world, it definitely counts, and the episode's cultural impact is spreading. For those that missed the newer episode, much of it revolved around the fact that the American media is working to appease the Chinese government for financial gains.

Now, South Park wasn't the first entity to call attention to this kind of behavior, but the episode served as a massive signal boost that was only aided further when China straight-up permanently banned the series in the country after the ep aired. If there weren't a ton of people in America already aware that major corporations self-censor their brands to better serve Chinese audiences (and others), the South Park episodes definitely added to that population.

That Time Fox Refused To Pick Up South Park Because Of Mr. Hankey

With more controversies no doubt on the way, South Park airs on Comedy Central Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m. ET. Stick with CinemaBlend for more updates on the series, and for a look at all things happening in the world of television and movies.

South Park has made a lot of people mad during its 23 seasons on the air so far, airing words that definitely wouldn't fly on many other non-premium cable/streaming shows, being condemned for its characters, and sometimes seeming like it was trying to get itself cancelled. Now, an episode -- fittingly called "Band in China" -- went hard on the idea of Hollywood going the extra mile to avoid offending Chinese government censors, and the result is South Park getting banned in China. The creators definitely had something to say. But first, here's what happened.

After "Band in China" aired some sharp commentary on showbiz aiming not to offend the Chinese government to avoid being censored, THR reports that just about all things South Park were deleted from the internet in China, which is highly regulated.

While there were once billions of posts about the show on the Twitter-esque Weibo, there are now none to be found. Clips, episodes, and seasons are now gone from the streaming service Youku, and Chinese online discussion platform Baidu Tieba's South Park threads are no longer working.

This isn't the first time a scathing comedy series earned the ire of Chinese censorship, as John Oliver of HBO's Last Week Tonight aired a blistering commentary on Chinese President Xi Jinping and HBO was apparently banned as a result.

Unsurprisingly, South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker's response to the South Park censorship was barely any less irreverent than "Band in China." Here's what they had to say:

Well, that's probably about the closest anybody will come to an apology from the creators of a series deemed one of the five most offensive TV shows of all time! Considering it was a short statement, Trey Parker and Matt Stone managed to pack in a lot of layers. The mention of the NBA was likely in reference to the NBA disavowing the comments of the Rockets general manager that were perceived as critical of China, after Chinese broadcasters announced that Rockets games would no longer air there and sponsors pulled funds.

The mention of Winnie the Pooh is in reference to President Xi Jinping. Some on the internet began comparing Xi Jinping to Winnie the Pooh, which might have come across as funny under different circumstances. Instead, the Chinese government has instead censored Winnie the Pooh, as mentioned on Last Week Tonight and what resulted in Christopher Robin not screening in China. The bear has become a symbol for many.

In many ways, being banned in China was actually great timing for generating South Park buzz in the United States. The milestone 300th episode soon airs, and more people may know about that now thanks to all the censorship news than would have otherwise.

South Park Creators Hint At When They Could Quit

You can catch new episodes of South Park on Wednesday nights at 10 p.m. ET on Comedy Central. It's one of many options on the small screen now and in the not-too-distant future. Find out when to watch what you want to watch with our 2019 fall TV premiere schedule.

Later this month, Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s animated series South Park will begin its 23rd season on Comedy Central. Although the frequently controversial and almost always hilarious show has already been renewed through 2022, it’s not the only project Matt Stone and Trey Parker have on their minds. The South Park creators actually want to make more movies, as Matt Stone explained:

They may be best known for South Park on TV, but Matt Stone and Trey Parker have big screen experience as well. Trey Parker wrote and directed the 1997 comedy Orgazmo and the duo worked together on South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut and Team America: World Police. So as they told The Hollywood Reporter, they think of themselves as filmmakers and want to dive back into that space with a new movie.

Matt Stone acknowledges that the movie business might be a hassle and that with so many different platforms, everyone is working in television now, but that does not dissuade them. They don’t care about the hurdles and headaches of the movie business, they just want to make one. They sound extremely eager about it too, like they’re just itching for the opportunity to make more movies.

This isn’t just an abstract desire either; Matt Stone and Trey Parker have some things in mind for new movie projects. These film projects are not South Park-related, so Kyle, Kenny, Cartman and Stan’s escapades will be confined to the small screen for now. Stone and Parker wouldn’t divulge to THR what exactly their movie plans entail, but Matt Stone did describe them as "really fucking killer ideas."

Stone and Parker’s last film, the puppet comedy Team America, was 15 years ago and in the time since then, we’ve seen the rise of streaming services. So with the South Park creators so keen on making more movies, you might think that they could take their movies to one of the many platforms available today (Disney+ is the obvious candidate right?). But the two have no interest in making movies for streaming platforms, as Matt Stone made clear:

Christopher Nolan, Quentin Tarantino, Steven Spielberg and Matt Stone & Trey Parker: defenders of the theatrical experience. Movies on streaming platforms might be in vogue right now, but releasing a movie that way does not interest the South Park creators. They want to make more movies and they want them to be seen by audiences on the big screen.

Although Trey Parker also hinted that they really like premiere parties, their reasoning seems to primarily be that they want people to see their movies with a crowd. That is something that can’t be replicated at home, no matter how nice your home theater system and even if you invite a bunch of people over.

Seeing a movie with a packed theater (of hopefully courteous people) is an incredible experience. And if we are to assume that Matt Stone and Trey Parker have comedy movies in mind, they want theaters full of people all laughing together.

South Park Season 23 premieres on Comedy Central on September 25. Check out our 2019 Release Schedule to keep track of all the movies coming to the big screen this fall.

It’s hard to believe that South Park has been on the air for 23 seasons and just was renewed by Comedy Central through 2022. This year the show will hit the 300th episode milestone, although Trey Parker and Matt Stone say there’s nothing hugely special like the controversial 200th double episode planned. Still, despite being renewed for some time, the two creators have thought about when South Park could end and just hinted about when we can expect it.

In a recent interview, Matt Stone and Trey Parker happened to touch on their respective ages before noting it’s safe to say their run on South Park will be done sooner rather than later. Per Matt Stone:

Trey Parker turns 60 first, so if we’re assuming Trey also won’t be 60 yet before they call it quits, at max, South Park has nine or 10 seasons left in the tank. At that point the show would be well past Season 30 which would be, suffice to say, a good run. Worth pointing out that’s not quite so long as the other behemoth South Park is often compared to, The Simpsons, will likely have run. (It's already going into Season 31 this year.) Although, that's just supposing South Park ends when Parker and Stone are done.

Still, due to the renewal that already happened, the two men haven’t talked exactly about when their run on South Park will end, with Trey Parker also noting they absolutely do not sit down and have a heart-to-heart each renewal cycle about “if we are going to keep going.” It's also worth pointing out the two men have dropped this line about saying sayonara to the show before, also noting they previously said they'd quit in their 40s. So, this is a hint rather than a proclamation.

Instead, what Trey Parker and Matt Stone told THR they do recognize is the fact that this talk of cancellation and renewals (talk the show has even made light of in the past) is something that comes up frequently in their line of work. In fact, Parker notes where the Comedy Central series is currently at is “an achievement”

Ratings are down on TV across the board, yet, as the Energizer Bunny would put it, South Park keeps going and going and going. Season 23 is expected to hit Comedy Central this fall and if the one season per year with 10 episodes per season model holds up in the future, the 2022 renewal will mean South Park hits a Season 26 milestone and a whopping 327 episodes.

Compare that to other long-running scripted shows and 327 episodes is actually small potatoes. Or, I guess more like medium-sized potatoes. Long-running network series Law & Order: SVU, which is heading into Season 21, has created 458 episodes so far. The Simpsons actually fairly recently surpassed Gunsmoke as the longest-running series of all time. It’s 663rd episode will air on September 29.

Of course, network TV gets a bit of an edge, here. More episodes are traditionally produced for network TV than cable TV each season, with The Simpsons often creating 23 episodes to South Park’s 10. (Although early seasons of South Park did air more episodes.)

This actually could precisely be why Matt Stone and Trey Parker are still interested in making more South Park, given they get to create a 10-episode season with tightly-woven episodes and few restrictions. Although Trey Parker has previously revealed there was at least one episode that made him think the show had reached its zenith, it’s still going strong and the creators aren't ready to quit, at least not yet.

In the meantime, catch South Park this fall, and here’s hoping the show continues hitting oddball milestones, like incorporating f-bombs or ranking in studies of the most offensive shows of all time. South Park will officially return for Season 23 on September 25.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone may take pleasure in creating irreverent humor with the South Park franchise, but the duo were also in charge of creating the script for the upcoming South Park: The Fractured But Whole, and they revealed that it's absolutely massive.

Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Parker explained to the outlet that the game's script is the length of two feature films, saying...

It's no surprise that the game's script would be that large. But, how much playtime do you get out of a script the length of two feature-length Hollywood films? Well, a lot.

According to Matt Stone, he managed to get in full play sessions with the finished version of South Park: The Fractured But Whole and it took him a considerable amount of time to beat... 12 hours to be exact.

So, if we do a little bit of the math, a feature-length film is usually anywhere between 90 minutes to two hours. So if we go with the 90 minutes -- that means we're looking at three hours worth of game-time going toward the script. If we go with the two hour variable, then it means that there's four hours worth of game-time going toward the script. What this means is that at the minimum three hours out of the 12 hours would be dedicated to talking and chatter, while at the top end of the range four hours may be dedicated to cinematics, talking, banter and chatter. Either way, gamers are looking at anywhere between eight to nine hours worth of pure gameplay.

No matter how you cut it, though, Stone revealed in the interview that South Park: The Fractured But Whole has a script that's larger than South Park: The Stick of Truth. He explains...

Stone goes on to say that it was the extension of the script and the development of new gameplay mechanics tying into the script that caused a lot of the hiccups and delays in the production as they worked with Ubisoft to get it all ironed out.

At times the script was a bit behind and at other times the gameplay was a bit behind. For the duo it was a lot more complicated than simply going back and changing an animation or two like they do with the show; for video games it's a lot larger and more complex, involving a more collaborative effort between designers, artists and writers in order to pull off any significant changes that affect all three areas of a video game.

Thankfully, Matt Stone and Trey Parker managed to get everything settled in nice and neat with Ubisoft for South Park: The Fractured But Whole, and with the game having gone gold a few weeks ago, it's now scheduled to launch for PC, PS4 and Xbox One next week, on October 17th.

South Park took a serialized turn for the topical in recent seasons, and co-creator Trey Parker is going on the record and saying Season 21 will be different than the Trumpified Season 20. Here's how Parker explained the show will shake things up with South Park returns for another year.

This wouldn't be the first time Trey Parker has commented on not wanting to follow President Trump's antics in South Park, as he and Matt Stone talked fairly recently about how the constant current-events writing really wore them out. Parker indicates in his interview with the Los Angeles Times that the two are working towards moving away from their satirically topical format by making an effort to return to the types of random episodes that are more similar to the show's glory years. Parker notes that he regrets falling into the same hole that so many other shows did in covering the President and current events as extensively as they did.

Trey Parker no doubt means every word he says there, but it seems highly unlikely that something extremely off the wall happening in Washington won't get referenced by South Park in some way. Of course, Parker didn't explicitly say, "We're going to stop riffing on Donald Trump and doing current events parodies," but instead stated that Season 21 would be a return to some of the original storylines that likely have nothing to do with politics.

In that context, it makes sense that the show wouldn't cover the Presidency as often as they would in an election year, as the subject matter is not as new and fresh anymore. Plus, with Mr. Garrison being the recurring character most closely associated with President Trump's persona, it seems likely there will still be some parody involving the White House in Season 21.

It's also interesting to note that while Trey Parker remarks about not putting up billboards to advertise what they're doing to Donald Trump, they actually did that exact thing last season. In fact, the Season 20 promotion of South Park featured multiple billboards displayed prominently at both the Trump and Hilary Clinton campaign headquarters, as well as the Church of Scientology, and even the real Casa Bonita in Colorado. Obviously, that billboard ad campaign wasn't solely aimed with the ratings-garnering intention of advertising what South Park will do to the President, but it's the same concept.

The world see what South Park has in store for it when Trey Parker and Matt Stone return for Season 21, which debuts on Comedy Central on Wednesday, August 23rd, at 11:00 p.m.ET. Fans waiting for that date should read on about the one episode that almost caused Trey Parker to lose it, or how the show hit their F-bomb milestone. For more information regarding new shows premiering over the summer, though, visit our summer premiere guide.

Spoilers below for anyone who hasn't seen tonight's episode of South Park.

South Park has long been known for being one of the most topical comedies on TV, with creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker busting their ass every season to deliver episodes that comment on headline-earning events of the oh-so-recent past. There is no bigger headline in the United States right now than Donald Trump's election victory, so it was a no-brainer that South Park would have some particularly sharp barbs to pepper viewers with. That it did, though the episode wasn't quite as scathing as expected, perhaps due to a complete overhaul in material.

Season 20 of South Park has focused largely on the presidential battle happening between Hillary Clinton and Mr. Garrison, the show's Donald Trump stand-in running on a platform of fucking people to death. It appears Stone and Parker were extremely optimistic that the Democratic hopeful would win out, as the episode was originally called "The Very First Gentleman" and was centered on Bill Clinton. The episode even started with an ill-advised victory party at Clinton headquarters, and when the official results came in with Mr. Garrison as the winner, somebody shot himself in the head in the background. I guess that part was predictably scathing.

Following last night's Trumpified results, the show's creative team went into high gear on revising the episode's content to account for the G.O.P. candidate winning, with the title's change to "Oh Jeez" one of presumably many alterations. The former POTUS did show up throughout the episode, both let us know that Hillary is "pi-i-i-i-i-i-i-issed" and to invite all the school boys to join his Gentleman's Club, which also features Bill Cosby as a member. Can't forget about that guy.

Instead of winning the Presidency in South Park, Hillary Clinton is now convinced that the election was stolen from her, and she brings in the "talents" of Kyle's dad Gerald, who has been operating as the deplorable online troll Skankhunt42. Or does she? Gerald thinks he's digging into the Danish hacking site TrollTrace, but he was inevitably just being set up by the former First Lady via a rick-roll. Never gonna sympathize with Skankhunt42. Never gonna...

This series has been quite harsh to Donald Trump in the past, or at least an unspecified version of Donald Trump, but "Oh Jeez" was less about poking fun at Mr. Garrison, who is now fine with being President, and more about the viewpoint that Garrison/Trump in office will be a travesty for women. We see Hillary threaten revenge on men who have wronged her, we see Bill Clinton's Gentlemen's Club explained as a place for bad boys to reverse their behavior to make women happy, and we also saw old Bill getting real in a chat with boy's rights activist Butters. As he puts it so eloquently, "Women are sick of our shit, son."

But it's Randy, who's now back on Member-Berries after having Caitlyn Jenner vomit some all over him, that gets the episode's most poignant line. While trying to soothe his daughter Shelly that the Giant Douche won't be so bad, he makes this observation about the campaign season.

So if South Park is setting itself up for a Garrison-run country that has Hillary Clinton on a coast-to-coast mission to drive out misogyny, I'm all for it. While not as strong of an episode as one that would have aired just a week later, "Oh, Jeez" proved once again that Matt Stone and Trey Parker are unparalleled when it comes to creating scripted television. Even a bad South Park episode is more hilarious than the majority of anything airing right now, and there haven't had any bad episodes in a long time. I cannot wait to see what happens next.

South Park airs Wednesday nights on Comedy Central. If only creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker would come to an agreement with Comedy Central to put out an episode every single week of Donald Trump's presidency. That probably won't happen, but you can head to our fall TV schedule and our midseason premiere schedule to see what the small screen has to offer in the coming months.

South Park has always pulled off the gloves when it comes to taking on those that creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone see as the biggest targets. and one wouldn't be considered foolish for thinking Season 20 would continue to use the upcoming election as fodder for some effectively piercing political satire. But while Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump (or a ideals-sharing facsimile) both showed up in Season 19, it sounds like Parker and Stone are going to put their attention elsewhere next season.

Disappointed to learn that South Park isn't going to attempt to reflect the funhouse that is currently the U.S. Presidential race? In any other election, that might have been more of an issue, but both of these main candidates have already had really memorable appearances on South Park. In the 2007 episode "The Snuke," Clinton is at a campaign rally when a bomb-sniffing pig discovers there's a bomb in her vagina, something that's sorta cleared up later.

And then last year, the episode "Where My Country Gone?" introduced a wall-building, toupee-wearing president of Canada that had more than a striking resemblance to Trump. By the end of the episode, Mr. Garrison had raped and murdered the Trump stand-in, soon adopting the same polarizing policies. In fact, Parker and Stone told everyone at their Paley Fest panel (via The Daily Beast) that Mr. Garrison will likely serve as the show's thinly veiled way of bringing in Trump's campaign highlights. Here's what they said about the decision to use Garrison as a shill like this.

No mincing of the words there. In any case, it was made pretty clear that even though the show is taking on an election this season, the point isn't to fall into political satire, as Stone would see that as sacrilegious against keeping South Park at the center of their attention. I stand by that 100%, since Comedy Central already has politics-skewing programming. South Park has always been great about tackling issues without necessarily invoking government bodies, so Season 20 sticking to those guns will be a great thing. (Those are metaphorical guns, Officer Barbrady.)

South Park will return to Comedy Central for Season 20 thankfully ahead of the election on Wednesday, September 14, at 10 p.m. ET. And don't forget about the video game Fractured But Whole that will hit stores on Tuesday, December 6.) To see when everything else is coming to the small screen, check out our fall premiere schedule.

Comedy Central's South Park can always be counted on to lampoon some of the biggest trends in pop culture, and the fast pace at which episodes are produced means that producers Trey Parker and Matt Stone can poke fun at fads almost as soon as they arise. There's no greater fad at the moment than the Pokemon Go mobile game that allows users to attempt to catch Pokemon in the real world. Pokemon Go seems like it would be perfect for South Park to mock, but Parker has revealed that the show won't be touching the game. Here's what he has to say about South Park and Pokemon Go:

Trey Parker commented on Pokemon Go at the South Park panel at San Diego Comic-Con. The reveal that South Park won't be tackling Pokemon Go might come as a disappointment to younger fans. Those of us who still remember the early Pokemon hysteria of the 1990s, and are pretty unfazed by the Pokemon Go craziness, might be okay with Parker's refusal to touch on Pokemon again. The show's original spoof of Pokemon back in Season 3 was so great that South Park might not actually be able to top itself, even with all the new material that has come with Pokemon Go.

The original South Park parody of Pokemon aired back in Season 3 in 1999. The episode was titled "Chinpokomon" and followed the stories of the kids as they became addicted to the Chinpokomon phenomenon. Unbeknownst to them, the Chinpokomon cartoon contained subliminal messages that ranged from encouraging the purchase of merchandise to converting viewers into child soldiers on behalf of the animators. The episode even gave Kenny a seizure after watching a particularly flashy installment of Chinpokomon that was a nod to the real life neurological reactions suffered by some Pokemon viewers. Check out one of the parody commercials of Chinpokomon from Season 3:

Even if South Park did manage to produce an episode nowadays that's funnier than "Chinpokomon" back in 1999, the show might not be able to create something fictional that is more absurd than some of the real life side effects of the Pokemon Go popularity. The game became Apple's most downloaded game ever in only its first week of availability, and there have been multiple arrests of folks who are so entranced by the game that they lose touch with the real world. Some players have strayed into the Holocaust Museum in their attempts to catch 'em all, two kids were almost shot in Florida, and a teen discovered a dead body when she was looking for Pokemon. Even South Park might not be able to out-crazy the current craziness.

Luckily for fans, Trey Parker and Matt Stone will still have plenty of chances to poke fun at other fads. The head honchos aren't looking to quit producing episodes of South Park any time soon. Season 20 will hit the airwaves on September 14, 2016 on Comedy Central.

South Park is on the verge of its twentieth season. This is insane. People born on the night that the first episode aired are nearly allowed to drink legally. However, that's not the biggest issue with making a show for two decades. The problem, is that when it comes time to come up with the ideas for the show, they discover that they've already been done. No, not by The Simpsons, but by South Park.

The creators of South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, were in attendance at San Diego Comic-Con to promote, and to celebrate, the twentieth season of their animated show about foul-mouthed grade schoolers. It's been a long-running joke among the pair they would always run into difficulties when trying to come up with ideas for the show because The Simpsons had already done an episode with the same plot. The idea eventually led to an episode in its own right. Unfortunately, as Trey Parker told the SDCC crowd, the problem now is that after they think they've found a great idea, they discover that somebody else already had the idea first, them.

After 20 years, it's not too surprising. If they thought the idea was funny once, of course, they would think it's funny again. Add in the two decades of work, and it's not too shocking that they might forget that they had already told a particular joke or storyline. Of course, a couple of hours of work on an episode of South Park is some fairly precious time. The team behind the series famously produces each episode in a mere six days. This has the benefit of making episodes extremely timely, however, it also means there isn't a lot of extra time to waste working on ideas that aren't going to bear fruit.

According to Matt Stone, when the two go back to look at the episodes in order to verify that they did already have the idea, they discover that it really was funny the first time around. This is apparently something of a comfort, as it at least confirms that the idea they had actually was good, even if it was the second time they had it.

While new ideas may be getting harder to come up with, Trey Parker and Matt Stone still consistently put out a solid TV show without missing their deadlines. The twentieth season of South Park begins September 14.

As one of TV's most long-lasting success stories, South Park didn't seem like the show that would suddenly make drastic alterations to narrative structures and formats. But that's exactly what happened in the highly acclaimed Season 19, which built on the previous season's serialized elements, setting all ten episodes up with interconnected stories that fell under the recurring theme of "political correctness" (and the lack thereof, obviously). Why the change? Because TV and audiences have finally evolved. Here's how co-creator Matt Stone put it.

Now, it's possible that South Park might have been able to jump over to the more streamlined storytelling style further back, perhaps when Breaking Bad was at the height of its conversation-guiding prowess. Frankly, though, it's rather amazing that it happened at all. Matt Stone and Trey Parker have never been known to back down from any challenges, and the breakneck speed at which the episodes are produced is what keeps the show more culturally relevant than almost anything else out there. But still, just because someone CAN climb a mountain doesn't mean they'll do it.

Some might look at a structural change-up with hesitation and dread, but Stone and Parker aren't your average creators. Here, Parker tells EW some rather encouraging things about how Season 19 went for him.

Wouldn't you love to be able to say that your job, which has basically followed the same path for nearly two decades, reached one of its highest points that late into it? It probably helps that the seasons are shorter than they used to be, but I don't think anyone would complain if Stone and Parker agreed to take the serialized approach for longer seasons in the future. If I sound greedy here, it's only because Cartman is forcing me to type this.

Season 20 of South Park will debut on Comedy Central on September 14, 2016, with at least three more seasons to follow. And don't forget - as if it's possible - that Season 20's ending will coincide with the highly anticipated South Park: Fractured But Whole, the video game sequel to 2014's Stick of Truth that is currently available for pre-order.

Not every episode of South Park is a hit, and not every episode of South Park is a miss. However, every week without fail, South Park co-creator Trey Parker has to be talked down off the ledge regarding the quality of an episode the Comedy Central animated series has produced. In a recent interview, he explained what happened the one time South Park produced an episode that he thought was so remarkably bad that he basically lost it. Here’s what he had to say:

As Trey Parker continues to note to SBS2 Australia, it was the World of Warcraft-based episode that caused him so much stress. “Make Love, Not Warcraft,” is probably one of the most famous episodes of South Park ever, hitting the schedule back in 2006, when World of Warcraft was still new-ish and incredibly popular. In the episode, Carman, Kyle, Stan and Kenny get way too involved with the game, growing overweight as they drink mostly energy drinks and eat mostly Hot Pockets to get back to the game as quickly as possible. The episode is made even better because Blizzard Entertainment, which owns the World of Warcraft property, is actually involved.

I have no idea how Trey Parker thought that episode would be a big fail for the Comedy Central series, but apparently, “stress” and “stomach trials” are pretty common when the South Park gang is trying to put a new episode together each week. The hectic week starts out on Thursday, and by the weekend the team is cramming to try to churn an episode out for the following week. Long hours and hard work are involved, but the South Park creation process has worked for the past 19 seasons and should continue to work in the future.

Despite the fact that the guys go through the same level of turmoil each week, Matt Stone and Trey Parker have never missed a deadline with Comedy Central due to freaking out over a comedy idea. In fact, they’ve only ever missed a deadline once, and that was due to a power outage that was out of their control.

South Park had an exceptionally good season this fall, and it’s not going anywhere, anytime soon. In fact, over the summer Comedy Central signed on for a slew of additional seasons for the new series, announcing that South Park has been renewed through Season 23.

During the Golden Age of Television, showing a toilet was one of the more risqué things that shows could do. Skip forward a few decades, and there’s South Park, using an animated piece of feces to celebrate Christmas, and even that ended up being fairly tame compared to future shenanigans that creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone would give audiences. But the show almost didn’t have a future, thanks to one particularly disastrous focus group.

The mildly sordid origins of Comedy Central’s most long-lasting scripted hit are chronicled in a recent EW oral history. It was a long and winding road from the duo’s Spirit of Christmas short films to their official network pilot, the wild and crazy “Cartman Gets an Anal Probe.” Here’s how show producer Brian Graden explained that episode’s first foray into public view.

I can’t imagine how an episode where a child dies (for the first of many, many times) and another child gets kidnapped by aliens could possibly bring about any negative feelings in 1997. To be fair, though, these are probably the same people that wanted to crucify Fox execs for Bart Simpson saying “damn” and “hell.” Focus groups are usually the worst ways to perceive audience enjoyment anyway, as exampled time and again with both TV shows and movies. (And consumer products and video games and…you get the point.)

The Comedy Central President at the time, Doug Herzog, asked Parker and Stone to change the pilot’s ending. For most shows, that would just mean another day or two of shooting, but because South Park was still being physically animated by hand with construction paper, that meant another week of sleepless nights for the visionary pair. But it worked like a charm, and Comedy Central largely ignored the focus group scores and ordered it to series. Here’s where Herzog’s mind was at the time.

And although the show has been in trouble with Christians, Scientologists, Mormons, celebrities, and just about every race on the planet, it’s still on the air, 18 seasons later. And that’s nothing to cry about.

With Trey Parker and Matt Stone continuing to branch out in the entertainment industry, it's not all that surprising to hear that, moving forward, South Park will be airing shorter seasons. But given the animated comedy series' lengthy run and the mentioned busy professional lives of its creators, a few less episodes is hardly terrible news by comparison to Stone and Parker being too busy to make the show at all, right?

Via EW, Trey Parker and Matt Stone are trimming down South Park's upcoming season from the usual 14 episodes - with two half-seasons of seven eps airing over the course of the year - to ten episodes, which will not be broken up, according to what Stone told the NY Times.

It sounds like the decision is based on what works for Stoke and Parker and their busy schedules. And given their other responsibilities, which include starting their own studio (and eventually, a Book of Mormon film!), it's understandable that their schedule might not allow for two half-seasons per year. My optimistic approach to this news is to say, better a few less episodes than no South Park at all. It sounds like Viacom (Comedy Central's owner) feels the same way. President of Viacom Entertainment Doug Herzog said, "We’re happy to take as many or as few as they can produce. Frankly, I’m surprised it took them this long to get to a schedule like this.”

South Park's 16th season wrapped up last fall. Season 17 will premiere September 25, 2013.

Since the preview video for Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s episode of Stand-In was put online early last month, we’ve been anxiously awaiting to see the full segment. The day has finally come! MTVu.com posted the video online today, which features the South Park creators as they share some tricks of the writing trade.

Between their long-running Comedy Central series South Park and their Tony award winning Broadway musical The Book of Mormon, it’s clear that Parker and Stone’s success in the entertainment business is no accident. These guys know how to tell a story and fortunately for a bunch of college students (and us, now), they know how to explain what they do.

This episode of Stand-In, which was posted on MTVu.com, is only six minutes long, but despite the fact that Parker and Stone weren’t sure what they were going to talk about when they went in, they actually offer some interesting words of advise on writing and story-telling.

If you’re a fan of South Park, check out our preview for the upcoming documentary 6 Days to Air: The Making of South Park, which airs on Comedy Central next Sunday.

South Park returns with a new episode tomorrow night (Wednesday, October 5th) at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.

Students at Tisch School Of The Arts NYU were treated to a surprise guest appearance in one of their classes by Tony Award winners Matt Stone and Trey Parker. The South Park creators stood in for their regularly scheduled professor to drop some knowledge about story-telling for the class, for an episode of mtvU's Stand In.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone are already a pretty big presence in New York right now, due in large part to the success of the Broadway show Book of Mormon, which earned them both Tony Awards. These guys know funny and they also know how to write a story. It’s for both reasons that they’ve been so successful in the entertainment industry and it’s why, in my belief, they’ll be around well beyond South Park’s run on Comedy Central.

I’m envious of the kids who got to sit in a classroom and listen to Parker and Stone talk about writing and how to tell a story.

The appearance was filmed for an episode of mtvU’s Stand In. The series, which airs on mtvU and at MTVU.com, features celebrities who surprise college kids by serving as professor for a class and sharing some wisdom based on their own experiences in their craft. Previous episodes have featured John Legend, Don Cheadle, and Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

The full episode of Stand In featuring Trey Parker and Matt Stone will air Monday, October 3, 2011 on mtvU and mtvU.com.

The fourteenth season of South Park continues a streak of brilliant writing and production by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, including an Emmy nomination for their two-part celebration of reaching 200 episodes. "200" and "201" feature virtually every celebrity the pair has ever skewered in the past, and became the subject of a great deal of controversy when Comedy Central heavily censored the second part in response to threats from a radical Muslim organization.

The network beeped any mention of the name Muhammad, placed a large "CENSORED" black box over depictions of him in the episode, and bleeped the entirety of Kyle's speech detailing the "I've learned something" of the episode. Fans were outraged, and if they were hoping to finally lift the veil of censorship with the DVD and Blu-ray releases of the season, they're going to be stunned and disappointed.

Parker and Stone have always offered the uncensored cuts of their episodes on the home versions, but apparently the long reach, and fear, of Comedy Central drew the line at "201." In fact, we don't even get the censored cut Stone and Park submitted to the network, but rather the version that aired on television.

Now, one could argue that since Comedy Central has never re-aired the episode, and won't even allow it to be made available for online streaming at the show's website, we should be grateful we're even allowed a second chance to see it. But it is a cartoon, so we still can't read Kyle's lips to understand what he was trying to say.

Parker and Stone offer mini-commentaries on each episode, as in past seasons, but on "201" the commentary is about as unrevealing as the censored episode, because it seems Comedy Central told them not to talk about it. So they even got their commentary censored? Classy move, Comedy Central. It's one thing to say you get to choose what you are on your network, but to control what people buy for home viewing is insane. Have you seen some of the stuff we can buy and own? It kind of goes along with that freedom thing we talk about a lot in this country. I guess that's the power of ownership, though.

There were other episodes this season as well (I promise), including "Medicinal Fried Chicken," which was the show's take on medicinal marijuana but will forever be known as the episode with the guys bouncing around on their giant testicles. Stan Marsh has quickly risen to be among the best characters on this show, and this episode is a perfect showcase for why South Park needs his special brand of stupidity. The adults are always the stupidest characters, and their sheep-like follower mentality speaks so much to how many of us are in life. It makes perfect sense that they would all want to get testicular cancer so they could score some medicinal marijuana. After all, the adults are kids on this show, and they never think things all the way through.

We also get to see a Shake Weight squirt white stuff into women's faces, and South Park comes under attack by New Jersey, including the introduction of the creature "Snooki." I loved their take on the Tiger Woods scandal, by having the boys pick up the new Tiger Woods PGA Tour game, only to find out that it's now a fighting game between Tiger and his wife.

The Coon returns in a three-parter which feels like it was one too many at times. While it isn't as broad in humor as some other episodes, it makes up for this by actually being an engaging and interesting superhero caper. The saga also takes shots at the BP oil spill, with a hilarious marketing campaign featuring the CEO of BP apologizing to the public, and their accidental release of Cthulhu into the world. Captain Hindsight may also be my favorite new character: a superhero who shows up after things go wrong and tells you what you should have done differently to avoid the mess you're in now. Brilliant!

The set is very light on extras, but one of them is the Season 13 episode "The Coon," which originally introduced us to Eric Cartman's alter ego. Other than that, we get some deleted scenes, several of them still in the early stages of development, and those mini-commentaries by the creators on each episode. These are nice and all, but it seems we could have been treated to more. That, and it would have been nice to at least have the option to see the uncensored "201." The big question looming over the show now, though, is how upset Parker and Stone are over this whole "201" censorship thing. Season 15 is the end of their current contract, and with The Book of Mormon doing great on Broadway, will they want to continue on with South Park if they're concerned their creative vision could be stifled to this degree again?

Length: 308 min.

Rated: Not rated

Distributor: Paramount Home Entertainment

Release Date: 4/26/11

Starring: Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Mona Marshall, April Stewart

Directed by: Trey Parker

Produced by: Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Anne Garefino

Written by: Trey Parker, Matt Stone

Visit the South Park Official Website

"You'll know it's done when you hear the word 'cunt' and everyone bows."

That was the promise Trey Parker made to me and a crowd of journalists last night, when we assembled in a fourth-floor rehearsal room on 42nd Street to see a 25 minute preview of The Book of Mormon, the musical that Parker, his South Park partner Matt Stone and Avenue Q creator Robert Lopez are bringing to Broadway at the end of March. In the works for six years and bearing the tagline "God's Favorite Musical," The Book of Mormon couldn't come with higher expectations-- in a Broadway climate littered with movie knock-offs and dull spectacles, a new musical from the masterminds of South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut carries all the promise of potential genius, or at least the raunchiest song and dance numbers you'll find on 42nd Street.

I'd like to refrain from gushing here, because we only saw 25 minutes and it's hard to remain objective when some of Broadway's most talented actors are performing three feet away from you in a cramped rehearsal space. But I was grinning widely from the first moment to the last, both thanks to the sheer musical joy of watching actors dressed as Mormon missionaries sing and dance and the wicked humor of every song. Bearing the musical influences of everything from The Music Man to The Lion King and questioning the very existence of God early in the first act, The Book of Mormon is both rousing old-fashioned entertainment and a very specific kind of satire. Maybe most surprisingly, it's not nearly as harsh on Mormonism as you might expect; the two central Mormon characters are goofy but also relatable, and though Parker and Stone are having fun with the notion of an omnipotent God, it also seems that religious and non-religious folks will be able to walk out thinking the show is on their side. Of course, because this is Broadway and you've got to sell out a lot of seats to turn a profit, they're going to have to appeal to the widest audience possible no matter what. The nice thing from what I saw seems to be that, despite that demand wide appeal, Parker and Stone haven't softened their edge.

The Book of Mormon isn't actually an adaptation of that holy book or, as the creative trio had originally imagined, the story of Mormon founder Joseph Smith. Instead it's a kind of Music Man story of strangers in a strange land, two young Mormon missionaries-- slobby Elder Cunningham played by Josh Gad, and golden boy Elder Price played by Andrew Rannells-- sent to Uganda to spread the good word of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The play opens with a kind of Bible pageant giving us the history of the golden tablets discovered by Joseph Smith "in ancient upstate New York," then segues into a zippy number with a chorus of fresh-faced Mormon missionaries ringing doorbells and promising "this book will change your life." Think "There Is Nothing Like A Dame" from South Pacific crossed with "Telephone Hour" from Bye Bye Birdie, a big tangle of booming male voices eventually merging in perfect harmony. And though there are some jokes thrown in there, and the whole earnestness smacks of hidden sarcasm, it's really just a simple delight-- the harshness is going to come a bit later.

Quickly Rannells as Elder Price emerges as the hero, a clean-cut do-gooder who dreams of being assigned on his mission in his favorite place on earth-- Orlando, Florida. Instead he's paired with the shabby Elder Cunningham-- chubby, always a step or two behind on the dances, his tie askew-- and sent to Uganda. A perfect example of The Book of Mormon's layered humor comes the minute that country's name is announced; immediately after a black woman stepping up front and singing a garble of words that seem lifted from The Lion King's opening number. But this isn't just a reference that's supposed to stand as a joke-- turns out the woman isn't in Uganda but is a neighbor hired by Elder Price's parents to send him off. "I've never been to Africa but I hear it's a hoot!" the woman says cheerily before wishing him well. Not only is this a joke that could only be conveyed on stage, where a single musical cue can stand in for an entire location, but it skewers the lack of cultural understanding for these characters and Broadway itself.

The ugly African stereotypes come up again in the next scene, when Elders Price and Cunningham arrive in Uganda in a village that boasts all the stereotypes-- a woman carrying a bucket on her head, a shabby baby strapped to another woman's back, a man carrying a punching bag labeled "DEAD DONKEY" (presumably to be replaced with a real prop later), and of course, gun-wielding warlords. The Elders are soon greeted by the village's leader who tells them they have a local saying for what to do when bad things happen; it starts as a direct lift of "Hakuna Matata," the entire chorus singing the probably made-up saying, until the leader reveals the saying's meaning: "Fuck you, God." The Elders, who had been joyfully singing along with their newfound friends, struggle hilariously as the villagers sing and dance around them, middle fingers stretched to the sky. And yes, the song ends on everyone singing the word "Cunt"-- 25 minutes gone in a dizzy, hilarious flash.

The wonderful thing about all of these song and dance numbers-- in the full 25 minutes, probably only four or five didn't include singing-- is that they allow Parker, Stone and Lopez to extend their comedy into even the smallest details of the characters' movements. South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut and even Avenue Q were limited in their physical comedy thanks to the constraints of crude animation and puppet characters; in Book of Mormon they get a laugh when Gad does a dance move a second too slow, or in the exaggerated "tribal" movements of the Ugandan villagers. Who knows how much of that will translate when the audience is sitting many yards from the stage, but up close you can see the amount of thought put into every movement and facial expression, and how in synch each actor is with the play's anarchic and ebullient tone. Rannells is a perfect blast of well-meaning but pompous energy as Elder Price, and while Gad seems mismatched with the rest of the Broadway-fit cast, both his voice and dancing are up to par when the time comes.

In a brief Q&A Parker, Stone and Lopez stuck to a few talking points while avoiding giving away many details about the rest of the play, other than promising that the village leader's daughter would become a love interest for one of the Elders, that one musical number would tell the story of Joseph Smith, and that there will be a message by the end of the play that should make the religious folks pretty happy. They also promised over and over they weren't trying to hurt the feelings of Mormon people-- as Parker put it, "We never came at this in terms of Mormon bashing. I've liked every Mormon I ever met." They also shrugged off the notion that the musical might be too edgy for older Broadway audiences, with Parker noting he himself is already 41, and Lopez rightly remembering that everyone expected Avenue Q to turn away older crowds. That musical spent six years on Broadway and won three Tonys.

I've spent this entire write-up telling you what you probably already knew-- The Book of Mormon is both a classical musical and wickedly, raunchily funny. But if anything it may be even more than you're expecting--more clever, more inspired by musicals of the past, and above all more generous to the religion that inspired it. There will be an unbelievable amount of attention on this show when it begins previews at the end of February, but if what I saw is any indication of the full product, it will be more than deserving of it.

For more on The Book of Mormon, including the link for buying tickets, visit its official site.

Welcome back to FlixWorthy, your weekly guide to Netflix streaming. Yet again we're bringing you a handful of new or notable selections from Netflix's streaming catalogue. Some will be classics, some will be little-seen gems, some will be shows you might have missed, and some...some will be crap so awful they simply has to be seen to be believed. Here's what's FlixWorthy this week, kids.

The Pillars of the Earth

(2010, TV-MA)

For those of you without Starz, here's your chance to check out one of the summer's biggest TV events. Starz has been promoting the hell out of this miniseries, which Ken Follett co-wrote with John Pielmeier (Agnes of God), based on Follett's best-selling 1989 historical novel. Centered around the decades-long building of a gothic cathedral in the fictional 12th-century English village of Kingsbridge, The Pillars of the Earth uses the focal point of the cathedral's construction to weave together a tapestry of civil war, religious strife, and the struggle to determine the future of Britain. The outstanding cast includes such talents as Ian McShane, Donald Sutherland, and Rufus Sewell as Tom Builder, the architect whose passion shepherds the cathedral through every challenge. With Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Starz has established itself as a major player, and The Pillars of the Earth further cements that reputation. If you're a fan of elaborate costume dramas or Shakespearean machinations, you'll find plenty to love in The Pillars of the Earth. The show is halfway through its eight-episode run, so you've still got plenty of time to catch up. You can read Kelly's review of the miniseries right here.

Double-Feature It With:

The Tudors

(2007, Not Rated, Two seasons available)

In many ways, The Tudors paved the way for The Pillars of the Earth, along with other elaborate historical dramas such as HBO's excellent Rome and Deadwood. Jonathan Rhys Meyers gives us an appropriately lecherous young King Henry VIII, long before he ballooned into a portly and bearded icon. The Tudors mixes political intrigue with a generous dose of soap opera, and the results are addictive. Only the first two seasons are streaming, but hopefully seasons 3 and 4 will be added at some point.

The Men Who Stare at Goats

(2009, Rated R, 94 min.)

The Men Who Stare at Goats finds George Clooney in O Brother, Where Art Thou? mode, playing a role that deftly undercuts his leading-man looks and charm. In O Brother, he played the leader of a trio of well-meaning doofuses bumbling their way through a Depression-era retelling of Homer's Odyssey. In Goats, he plays Lyn Cassady, an eccentric who claims to have been trained by the United States government to be a psychic "warrior monk"...or, in the common shorthand, a Jedi warrior. After a chance encounter in Iraq introduces Lyn to journalist Bob Wilton (Ewan MacGregor), the two set out on a trip to track down Lyn's mentor (Jeff Bridges), whom Lyn believes needs his help. Along the way, Lyn tells Bob the history of the government's attempts to create an army of soldiers capable of remote viewing, walking through walls, and, of course, killing goats with their minds. Believe it or not, the movie purports to be based on real events, specifically events chronicled in the book of the same name by journalist Jon Ronson. Goats is uneven, but it's surreal, silly, and gains a lot of mileage out of its too-crazy-to-be-true concept.

Double-Feature It With...

The Hudsucker Proxy

(1994, Rated PG, 111 min.)

Not the Coen Brothers' most acclaimed outing, The Hudsucker Proxy has nevertheless attracted a cult following over the years -- and rightly so. Tim Robbins stars as well-meaning but naive mail clerk Norville Barnes, who stumbles into the CEO's chair of Hudsucker Industries after the corporation's patriarch leaps 45 floors to his death (counting the mezzanine). Screwball comedy of the finest sort unfolds, during which Norville invents the hula hoop and hotshot reporter Amy Archer (Jennifer Jason Leigh) fast-patters with the best of them.

Stargate Universe

(2009, Not Rated, One season available, HD)

I've tried. Over the course of 13 years and multiple spin-offs, I have tried and tried again to get into Stargate. I missed SG-1's original premiere back in the Showtime days, owing to a lack of cable, but I tried it on DVD. I tried it when they attempted to entice us Farscape fans in by casting Ben Browder and Claudia Black. And yes, I tried again when SGU premiered last year. I've finally given up. Much as I like the original Stargate movie, whatever alchemy attracts me to that production just hasn't carried over to any of the series for whatever the reason. Maybe it's the lack of Kurt Freakin' Russell. Nevertheless, I've come to peace with the fact that the multifarious Stargate spin-offs just aren't for me...but they are for quite a few fans, given how the franchise continues to flourish. This latest incarnation aims for more of a Trek/BSG vibe, featuring a crew trapped aboard an ancient, runaway starship and having adventures along the way. Hmm, maybe it's more Lost in Space/Space: 1999 than Trek/BSG...

Double-Feature It With:

Stargate: Atlantis

(2004, Rated TV-PG, All five seasons available, HD)

If SGU appeals to you, you can also watch all five seasons of its predecessor series, Stargate Atlantis. If you want to get the full Stargate experience, you'll actually have to pop some DVDs into your player, because, with the exception of a few standalone movies, none of parent series SG1 is available streaming.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

(1975, Rated R, 100 min.)

Needless to say, watching The Rocky Horror Picture Show in your living room is going to lose a certain something. Unless, of course, you invite over a pack of costumed friends who know all the cues and appropriate things to shout/throw at the screen. On the other hand, you're much less likely to be pulled onstage and humiliated like the lowly "virgin" you are. Rocky featuring an insanely catchy soundtrack and a gleefully twisted storyline involving alien transvestites, cannibalism, and boot-knocking in nearly every conceivable combination. Tim Curry is at his Tim Curry-iest as the cross-dressing Dr. Frank N. Furter, chewing every bit of scenery in his most iconic role. Also along for the ride are Barry Bostwick as Brad Majors (ASSHOLE!) and Susan Sarandon as Janet Weiss (SLUT!). Look, you really ought to just track down a midnight showing of this thing if you've never had the full Rocky Horror experience, but if you're just looking for an excuse to sing along with the soundtrack, this is an acceptable substitute. Barely.

Double-Feature It With:

Cannibal! The Musical

(1996, Rated R, 90 min.)

Speaking of musical cannibalism, why not follow Rocky up with a musical about cannibalism called Cannibal! The Musical? Based on the tale of notorious 19th-century long-pig enthusiast Alfred Packer (played by South Park's Trey Parker), Cannibal! explores the lighter side of killing and eating your fellow man.

Swamp Thing

(1982, Rated PG, 92 min., HD)

We take our current comic-book renaissance for granted these days, what with our Iron Mans and our Dark Knights. We sometimes forget how many forgettable or outright horrible attempts were made during the last few decades to bring various comic-book characters to the screen. From Dolph Lundgren's unfortunate outing as The Punisher to The Hof's blasphemous attempt to channel Nick Fury, the track record prior to X-Men hitting was not a good one. (Although you should totally watch the god-awful '90s Justice League pilot if you can find it.) One of the many dubious entries on this long walk to respectability was Swamp Thing, horror maven Wes Craven's campy adaptation of DC Comics' shambling, eco-friendly plant man. Ray Wise stars as an unfortunate scientist who becomes Swamp Thing after an experiment gone awry, and who then finds himself facing off against rival scientist Anton Arcane (Louis Jordan). Adrienne Barbeau plays an inappropriately cleavage-y government operative so Swamp Thing will have somebody attractive to carry on the movie poster. In the right hands -- Alan Moore, Joshua Dysart -- Swamp Thing can be heady, compelling stuff. Wes Craven was perhaps not the right hands.

Double-Feature It With...

The Toxic Avenger

(1985, Rated R, 82 min.)

One goopy, green mutant deserves another. The Toxic Avenger introduced low-budget experts Troma's best-known character, a hapless janitor who gets dropped into a dump truck filled with toxic waste and then decides to fight crime. With a mop.

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