For most animated shows, production can take months. But ‘South Park’ creates every episode in less than a week, the writing, acting and animating all done on a tight schedule that gives Comedy Central the finished product about a day before it goes on air. With this insanely quick turnaround time, ‘South Park’ has always managed to stay relevant with stories taken straight from the week’s major headlines.

But for any long-running show, like ‘The Simpsons’ or ‘Saturday Night Live,’ it’s tough to stay fresh and funny after 15 seasons. Old seasons of ‘South Park’ used to be the TV equivalent of gold, with every season’s episodes brilliantly lampooning the day’s issues and culture. But for a while, the show’s quality suffered. Glimpses of lost brilliance came through maybe once or twice a year, like the show’s take on Scientology —the only real standout of season nine.

The current run of ‘South Park’ may have only three episodes left, but those who are not watching are missing out. This season has been one of the consistently best in years, but it’s difficult to pinpoint the reasons why. Maybe the show’s creators, actors and writers, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, are in good spirits after the success of their Tony-winning Broadway musical, ‘The Book of Mormon.’ Or maybe it’s because the show has returned to what it does best: Satirizing current events through the scope of an extremely offensive and/or cartoonish situation. Also, making plots center around the show’s standout characters, Eric Cartman and Randy Marsh, is a safe bet.

Keeping that in mind, the show’s most recent episode seemed like a perfect storm as Randy Marsh crossed paths with Broadway musicals. The premise: watching musicals makes women want to give blowjobs. Naturally, Randy sets out to write his own musical, and as a result, runs into other Broadway behemoths such as Andrew Lloyd Webber and Stephen Sondheim. Turns out, they like to hang around at Hooter’s and ‘bro’ out. When they meet Randy, they express concern that his new musical is too obvious about its implication. After all, the title is ‘Splooge-Drenched Blowjob Queen.’

The material is obviously quite offensive, but at the same time, the show has fun rethinking the Broadway stereotype of ‘femininity.’ They also get in a shot at the long-targeted Spiderman musical and a quick self-aware advertisement for ‘The Book of Mormon.’ This episode really has the show firing on all cylinders, with good jokes and even more hilarious musical numbers. But again, this is only one episode in a string of great ones. Yes, on the surface level, this episode was about blowjobs. But the show also always has an argument to make on an emotional level beyond all the silliness. Sometimes these can be obvious, and other times they’re endearingly sweet, but those ending monologues tend to ground the show.

For anyone who has checked out of ‘South Park’ the past few years, I would highly recommend coming back. Those who never liked the show, probably never will. It can be, and usually revels in being, extremely offensive. But all that dirt usually ends up going somewhere, and recently, that somewhere is greatness.

jswucher@syr.edu

Published on October 30, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Jeff: jswucher@syr.edu