South Park season 1
Driven by a commercial featuring Sally Struthers, which promises a Teiko digital sports watch for charity for an Ethiopian child, the boys decide to donate.The idea for South Park originated in 1992 when creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone met in a film class as students at the University of Colorado.[25] In 1997, The Spirit of Christmas won the Los Angeles Films Critics Association award for "Best Animation", thus further bringing the two filmmakers to the attention of industry representatives.[2] The popularity of the short led to Parker and Stone to develop an adult-animated show concept with four children as main protagonists and the fictional town of South Park in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.Through Graden, the duo persuaded Fox to buy their series due to its reputation with primetime edgier shows such as Cops, The Simpsons, and The X-Files.[27][28][29] Later, Comedy Central executive Doug Herzog saw the Jesus vs. Santa short and considered it to be "literally the funniest thing [he]'d ever seen," and requested Parker and Stone to develop a show for his network."[32] In contrast, they allowed subsequent episodes to "be more natural",[33] focusing more on making fun of topics considered taboo "without just throwing a bunch of dirty words in there."[32] After the poor results from the test audience, Comedy Central executives were unsure whether they wanted to order additional episodes after "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe".However, when buzz began to generate on the Internet about the two original shorts, the network commissioned Parker and Stone to write one more episode without committing to a full series until they had seen the script.[31] Comedy Central originally ordered only these six episodes, but when the show proved successful, they requested an additional seven, which Parker and Stone had to produce quickly.[41] "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" earned a Nielsen rating of 1.3, translating to 980,000 viewers, which was considered high for a cable program in the United States at the time.[42][43] The season finale, "Cartman's Mom is a Dirty Slut", received a Nielsen rating in the 8.0 range[44] and gained over 300,000 viewers when first aired in Canada in August 1998."[48] Calling the series "sophomoric, gross, and unfunny," Hal Boedeker of the Orlando Sentinel reckoned that the episode made "such a bad impression that it's hard to get on the show's strange wavelength."[49] Tom Shales of The Washington Post considered that "most of the alleged humor on the premiere is self-conscious and self-congratulatory in its vulgarity: flatulence jokes, repeated use of the word 'dildo' (in the literal as well as pejorative sense), and a general air of malicious unpleasantness."[61] In 2008, scholar Stephen Groening argued that the show appeared as part of a reaction to the culture wars of the 1980s and 1990s in the United States, in which issues such as Murphy Brown's motherhood, Tinky Winky's sexuality, and The Simpsons' family values were extensively debated.Its critics argued that the Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny were poor role models for children while its supporters celebrated the show's defense of free speech.[62] In 2006, Devin Leonard of Fortune regarded that the launch of South Park transformed Comedy Central from a "not-so-funny" network to "a cable industry power almost overnight."[2] An affiliate of the MTV Network until then, Comedy Central decided, in part due to the success of South Park, to have its own independent sales department.[84] South Park – The Complete First Season was originally released by Warner Home Video as a three-disc region 1 DVD box set in the U.S. on November 12, 2002 and received an MA rating.[86] The distribution licenses for six episodes of the South Park's first season ("Volcano", "An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig", "Pinkeye", "Damien", "Starvin' Marvin" and "Mecha-Streisand") were purchased in 2000 by the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based company and website SightSound.com.
Comedy CentralSeason 2List of episodesSouth ParkTrey ParkerMatt StoneDan SterlingPhilip StarkStan MarshKyle BroflovskiEric CartmanKenny McCormickanimated shortThe Spirit of ChristmasFox Broadcasting CompanyNielsen ratingsEmmy AwardOutstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)GLAAD AwardBig Gay Al's Big Gay Boat RideCableACE AwardAnnie AwardGeorge ClooneyRandy MarshMr. GarrisonClyde DonovanMr. HankeyMr. MackeyPhillipGerald BroflovskiStuart McCormickJimbo KernTerranceMary Kay BergmanLiane CartmanSheila BroflovskiShelly MarshSharon MarshWendy TestaburgerIsaac HayesMichael BufferDamienNatasha HenstridgeTom's RhinoplastyRobert SmithMecha-StreisandJay LenoCartman's Mom Is a Dirty SlutList of South Park episodesCartman Gets an Anal ProbeCartmanKyle'sstomach issuesVolcanoUncle JimboNed GerblanskiWeight Gain 4000Kathie Lee Gifforddietary supplementpsychiatric hospitalmatinghomosexualhomophobiaAn Elephant Makes Love to a PigcrossbreedSheilaboycottPinkeyeembalmingWorcestershire sauceHalloweenRaggedy AndyChewbaccaAdolf HitlerKu Klux KlanMichael JacksonStarvin' MarvinSally StruthersThanksgivingMr. Hankey, the Christmas PooChristianChristmasJewishAnts in the PantsrhinoplastyBarbra StreisandDNA testUniversity of ColoradoJesus vs. FrostyBrian GradenJesus vs. Santaviral videoColoradoRocky MountainsThe SimpsonsThe X-FilesCentury CityDoug HerzogOrgazmocut paperstop-motionPower Animatorcable programbootleggedThe Washington PostThe New York TimesEntertainment WeeklyOrlando SentinelflatulenceNewsdayRolling StoneNewsweekculture warsMurphy BrownTinky Winkypolitical correctnessfree speechFortuneV-chipDenverTele-Communications Inc.MTV NetworkTrash of the TitansHomer's PhobiaEnvironmental Media AwardThe Old Man & the Lisa