South Parkfirst aired in August 1997, and any media-savvy reader can see the glaring red flag here. Nothing good lasts that way for over twenty years. Heck, most shows turn sour after only a few short seasons. In light of this fact, it is incredible thatSouth Park, decades into its run, is able to remain relevant, well-written, and most importantly, laugh out loud funny. Created by, and to this day primarily produced by, the hard-working duo Trey Parker (BASEketball, South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut) and Matt Stone (The Book of Mormon, Team America: World Police), the irreverent exploits of Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny have enraptured television audiences fortwenty-five seasons and counting.
Season 25 was the series' shortestby episode count, and though not without its fair share of laughs, from the problems of pajama privilege to an angsty airsoft assault, fans were left wanting a little more. Season 26 may very well be another short, six-part installment, which may bring about the best results for the aging franchise. However, it is not easy to imagine how Matt Stone and Trey Parker could compress the myriad cultural moments of 2022 into such a short season.
Here are some of the eventsSouth Parkseason 26 might cover.
The Slap Heard Round the World
If you have somehow avoided seeing the latest celebrity and TV news, there was a little dust-up at the most recent Oscars. Will Smith got in one little fight, and while he wasn’t relegated to live with his auntie and uncle in Bel-Air,he was ultimatelybanned from the ceremony for ten years. The creators ofSouth Parkhave lampooned Will Smith before, depicting him as a naive, privileged immigrant to the boy’s quiet mountain town in the 2001 episode “Here Comes the Neighborhood.”
Though Will Smith’s ferocious forehand has been memed to death across all internet spheres,South Parkhas always found ways to twist even the most overplayed media bites into something fresh and hilarious. Perhaps Kyle gets fed up with Cartman and gives him five fingers across the mouth, and the ever-popular horrible and husky Eric gets to play the victim.
South Parkhas been going after Kanye Westfor a lot longer than the rest of us. West has ‘starred’ in two episodes of the long-running series, season thirteen’s “Fishsticks” and season seventeen’s “The Hobbit.” The rapper is characterized as a bull-headed, boisterous buffoon. Given Kanye West’s recent public antics, Matt Stone and Trey Parker would be leaving easy money on the table if Ye and his extended universe don’t appear in season 26. Will we see, for example, a Tolkein-ified Kim Kardashian snuggled in a cozy hobbit-hole with a cartoon Pete Davidson?
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Furthermore,South Parkis no stranger to music. Trey Parker and Matt Stone were the brains behind the hit musicalThe Book of Mormon.There has been no shortage of catchy tunes throughout the show’s twenty-plus-year run. The episode “Fishsticks"has already brought beats and bars to aSouth ParkKanye episode. It concludes with the auto-tuned bopGay Fish, an homage to Kanye’s style of ranting rap underlying rap, and a video of the hip-hip sensations making out with a particularly gorgeous gilled guy. Audiences can only hop for another catchy tune when Kanye inevitably returns in season 26.
Catastrophic Cartoonery
In the fourth episode ofSouth Parkseason 25, “Back to the Cold War,” Matt Stone and Trey Parker treat audiences to a little bit of playful Russophobia. Butters and his horse Melancholy compete against a Russian student in dressage. Though the equestrian adroitness on display leaves something to be desired, the episode and its plethora of phallic performances serve as an opportunity for Parker and Stone to vent their frustrations with the recent Russian invasion.
No one can claim thatSouth Park pulls any punchesin terms of social commentary. The pain of a new war in Europe, albeit very recent and real to most of us, will not deter the duo from lampooning social ills. Vladamir Putin is no joke, but you can believe that he will be once Cartman’s finished up with him.
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Name another show that’s been consistently good for 25 seasons? Anything? Let’s save ourselves some time; the answer is no. A huge reason forSouth Park’scontinued success is its ability to remain relevant, thanks in large part to the simplified production process still largely maintained by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Though it seems double-digit episode seasons of the classic animated comedy may be a thing of the past, the show will undoubtedly compensate for the shorter seasons with more cutting commentary and wicked wit.
