South Park's Most Shocking Shows
Five Episodes to Make Your Jaw Drop
South Park has long been both praised and criticized for its ability to push boundaries farther than many knew they were capable of going. In the show’s twelve seasons, well over 150 episodes, five moments stand above the rest.
Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo
The story goes that as a child co-creator Trey Parker had a habit of not flushing the toilet so his father told him that if he didn’t flush, Mr.Hankey would come out of the toilet and eat him. Mr. Hankey, though as jolly and full of the Christmas spirit as Santa himself, is shocking because, well, he’s a piece of poo. Matt Stone and Trey Parker, in their show’s first season, managed to create a new holiday icon, complete with his own Christmas anthem, using their own unique brand of toilet humor.
Scott Tenorman Must Die
Cartman was always a problem child. He always toed the line between menace and possibly evil. But in season 5 he crossed the line into Evil-ville by a mile when he orchestrated the death of Scott Tenorman’s parents, made them into chili and fed it to Scott as revenge. It was the episode that showed South Park fans just how far Cartman would go to prove a point or exact revenge. This episode paved the way for Cartman to attempt to exterminate the Jews in ‘Passion of the Jew’ and concoct Woodland Critters in ‘Woodland Critter Christmas’ so heinous that sadistic killers like Jason and Freddie Kreuger were intimidated.
It Hits the Fan
Again, in its fifth season South Park decided to create and episode which mimicked NYPD Blue’s ‘groundbreaking’ use of the word shit on primetime television. Stone and Parker have said that initially Comedy Central said no until the creators posed the idea of saying shit over 100 times and ‘making a statement about the word shit’. In the end the statement, however true it rang – and it did, was just a red herring. South Park was the first show on television and may continue into the foreseeable future to be the only show on television to use the word shit 162 times.
With Apologies to Jesse Jackson
The eleventh season of South Park started with a groundbreaking episode. While appearing on Wheel of Fortune, Stan’s father announces that the answer to the final puzzle, ‘people who annoy you – n_ggers’, is the notorious n-word. The answer of course, however, was naggers. It was truly one of those moments that makes the viewer’s breath catch in their throat. The twenty some odd minutes that followed were a crude yet elegant statement on race and the racial slur which was said a total of forty one times in the episode in one form or another completely uncensored. The episode stands as yet another example of how far South Park is willing to go to push boundaries, break new ground, and talk about things the public would rather tip toe around.
Tonsil Trouble
It didn’t seem like South Park could do much else that would be more shocking than ‘With Apologies…’. They found a way, however, with the first episode of season twelve. Cartman is admitted to the hospital for a routine tonsillectomy and contracts the HIV virus during a blood transfusion. The episode mocked the idea that AIDS has fallen to the wayside as the pet cause of celebrities and proved yet again that Cartman may be the most inherently evil character on television when he exacted revenge on Kyle. While making valid points, the episode also managed to coin an offensive and hilarious quote when Cartman turned the phrase, “I’m not just sure, I’m HIV positive.”
