John Hawkins has a list of what he says are the top ten South Park episodes. Now, I can’t quite comment on them because apparently there are some later seasons of South Park where I don’t think I’ve seen any of the episodes, but I disagree with his number one pick. While that is one of my all time favorite episodes, I think Underwear Gnomes (his number three pick) is there best ever episodes. The scene where the gnomes explain their plans to make money from stealing underwear is one of the most memorable and quotable scenes of any TV show, plus how many shows have you ever seen where the moral of the episode is that big corporations are good?
UPDATE:
Ace is right; Scott Tenorman Must Die was a genius episode and should be on there somewhere. It was played realistically of what would happen if a ten year old tried to outsmart a teenager… until the awesome finale.
“Ohhh, the tears of unfathomable sadness, mmm, yummy… yummy you guys!”
My favorite is one that came on last season where Hillary Clinton made an appearance and they made fun of 24. Second for me is “Tsst”. You can probably watch both at http://www.tv-links.co.uk/.
Any list without ManBearPig is of course invalid, but as a survivor of a year-long foray into the ecotourism hells of Costa Rica, I agree with his choice of #1.
Meh, South Park jumped the shark ’round Season 4. And seriously, You Got F’d in the A? That’s one of the episodes that was so lame, trite, unfunny and useless that I just couldn’t bring myself to watch it. Ugh.
At least The Simpsons lasted for 8-9 seasons before going into hardcore suckage.
So, so wrong, Francesco. I keep expecting it to head south but…not yet.
I have to say that the “Smug” episode about hybrid cars was pretty darn funny….and the Indian casino/SARS one was great…but my favorite was the terribly foul and hysterical “Taco flavored kisses” about Jennifer Lopez! I agree that any top ten list must include “Manbearpig”.
Cartoon Wars, the Return of Chef, Scott Tenorman Must Die, The Death Camp of Tolerance, Good Times With Weapons, and Return of the Lord of the Rings to the Two Towers all are top ten worthy episodes.
Also any episode where Butters receives a lot of screen time. Butters is hilarious.
I have to say, while I agree You got F’d in the A mostly sucked, the final dance scene with Butters made up for it. It was worth suffering through the rest for the payoff.
Now, Jakovasours was all pain with no payoff. F’d in the A was less pain, but it had a payoff scene.
I wouldn’t say they’ve dropped into suckage, but I also haven’t seen most of the last season or two.
And who can beat Jimmy as Gandalf (The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers): You shall not p-p-p-p-p You shall not p-p-p-p-p You shall not (everybody rides past him, knocking him to the ground) … Pass. Ughn.
This list is invalid without Scott Tenorman must Die and ManBearPig.
The fact that, on this blog of all places, the episode “Die Hippie, Die” has not been mentioned – if only for the initial Cartman extermination scene – is a terrible mistake.
South Park jumped the shark in season 4, but then jumped back over the shark, stabbed the shark to death, and swam back to shore sometime around season 7.
It suffered when they took time off to make a movie (fwiw, I think it suffered this past season because of that also), but if you haven’t been watching it the past few seasons you’ve missed a lot (Oprah’s vagina and asshole engaging in a murder/suicide pact, Cartman being trained by the Dog Whisperer, Cartman being transported to the 25th century to fight super-intelligent sea otters who worship Richard Dawkins, the “Trapped in the Closet” episode, etc.)
It’s still able to put some f’n hilarious episodes on per year whereas it looks like the Simpsons just turned into a shell of what it once was.
Four best episodes:
4 – The Scientology episode where Tom Cruise to urged to come out of the closet.
3 – 1st Christmas episode (we meet Mr. Hanky, Kyle sings “Jew at Christmas” and great allusions to the Charlie Brown Christmas Special).
2 – Return of Lord of the Rings to Two Towers
1 – Don’t F*** With Wendy Testaberger!
All aforementioned episodes are among favorites, definitely. However, I personally want to add “Make Love, Not Warcraft.” Even if I only enjoyed it so much because my mom’s become completely obsessed with that game… which in and of itself is kinda backwards. Still…
Thanks for adding “Trapped in the Closet,” Fosterdad. And “Die Hippie, Die,” Bob R. And all the rest, the rest of you.
How could I forget? Make Love, Not Warcraft That’s gotta be number 1, hands down. That episode dispensed some uber pwnage.
Anytime they Lampoon icons of the left. So in my humble opinion, the Mega Stresand was right up there.
Is the Scott Tenorman Must Die episode a parody of Shakespeare’s “Titus Andronicus”? I’ve never seen the episode, but reading the synopsis of it on Wikipedia sounds a lot like it- the main character Titus out-smarts an evil woman named Tamora and ends up cutting up her sons and feeding them to her in her pie. (Such a lovely play!)
I’ve seen a lot more recent episodes than old episodes, so some I think definitely should be on there:
616. My Future Self ‘N Me (one of the best endings, IMO)
711. Casa Bonita
904. Best Friends Forever
908. Two Days Before The Day After Tomorrow (my #1)
also agree with many others that Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers and Scott Tenorman Must Die should be on the list
I’ll also agree with a previous commenter with 705. Fat Butt and Pancake Head (the Jennifer Lopez one). While I can’t say its a “great” episode, it does make me laugh so I give it an honorable mention. Other honorable mentions to Cartoon Wars, Good Times With Weapons, and Make Love, Not Warcraft. Above all I must agree with The Chris that Butters ROCKS!
Of the given Top Ten list, my favorites are Tsst and Ginger Kids, but they’d be toward the bottom of the list or honorable mention. Haven’t seen Gnomes, Jakovasaurus, or Aspen, and I’m not sure any of the rest of the list would even get honorable mentions on my list, though I like most of them ok.
Don’t forget the second Starvin’ Marvin with Sally Struthers as Jabba the Hutt. Also the Hair Club for Men ( DaVinci Code parody ) when Kyle has to kill Jesus – ” You cannot tell Cartman about this…”
Seriously, no one included “Mystery of the Urinal Deuce”? The episode from last year where they mocked the 9/11 Truthers and conspiracy theories in general?
Cartman’s 9/11 Theory
Some of mine would have to be the Sea People episode (“just sucked it out of a hose.”), Casa Bonita, and Bebe’s Boobs.
Oh..and Butter’s very own episode.
Yeah I am gonna have to side with Hazel on this one. What kind of nubikins makes a South Park Top 10 List and doesn’t include “Make Love, Not Warcraft”, um hello…Emmy nomination.
Oh yeah and before I forget…
I hate you guys
I scrolled through all the comments, thinking that I would definitely find that someone had mentioned THE greatest episode of all time, “Osama Bin Laden has farty pants”… I mean, come on… You not only get slams on Osama, but also Barbra Streisand thrown in just for fun as well as a Bugs Bunny tribute. Its a classic.
The episode with Cartman’s “she’s a bitch” song is pretty good…
lord of the rings
scott tenorman must die (ps this is a spin off of the movie “john tucker must die” i believ)
the sea ppl episode (forget the name)
come on? no votes for “rainforest, smainforest”??
it disses the lefties so bad in that one……….”the rainforest sucks azz!”
Is the show aligned to the right? Or is it just funny? I only watched a couple of episodes in the first season. I’m too busy playing video games to watch any sort of TV. I know that Team America was made by these guys and that was awesome.
Goobacks was fantastic — they spent the entire episode setting up a joke where the punchline is (paraphrasing) “Saving the earth is way gayer than a big pile of guys having sex with each other”. I can’t believe that one’s not on there.
Perhaps more puzzling, some of the ones that made the list were manifestly horrble — Jakovasaurus, particularly, sticks out in my mind as being so terrible I could barely sit through it once. I guess if you’re a huge Star Wars nerd it’s funnier? The Korn thing would go on that list too.
Anyway, some of the recent episodes in the last season or two have been especially good, mostly because the subject of the satire was particularly well chosen. Everybody on this board should watch “The Return of Chef” and “Trapped in the Closet”, the two Scientology shows. At least one probably should have made the list. Likewise, “All About Mormons”. (“THIS IS WHAT THEY ACTUALLY BELIEVE“)
The Jesse Jackson episode would be a candidate for my top 10 too:
TOKEN: “JESSE JACKSON IS NOT THE EMPEROR OF BLACK PEOPLE!”
STAN: Really? He told my dad he was.
“Go God Go” (both parts) might have made the list, but the Wii reference probably helped it with me more than it would with most people. The Richard Dawkins thing was genius, though.
For a while there (sometime around Season 8?), I thought it went downhill, but the last season or two have been really good, and I think more of those eps should have made the list. If anybody here stopped watching because the quality went down a few years back, you might want to give Matt and Trey another shot.
I didn’t really think about it, but reading back over the previous comments, I have found a pattern. Almost all the episodes where they make a political or social commentary are gold, especially if they’re making fun of some group of pretentious gits like Scientologists. Almost all the episodes where they try to make fun of a movie or TV show (or a genre of movie or TV show) are terrible. Case in point:
* Stanley’s Cup: “parody” (?) of 80’s underdog sports movies, blargh
* Something Wal-Mart This Way Comes: mocks anti-corporate lefties; hilarious
* Asspen: mocks 80’s teen nerds-vs-jocks comedies; painfully unwatchable
* The Jeffersons: makes fun of Michael Jackson, funny
* You Got F’d: obvious movie parody; Butters is the one and only laugh in the whole episode
* Mr. Garrison’s Vagina: skewers “trans-gendered” idiots; awesome, awesome, awesome
* The Losing Edge: yet another generic sports-movie parody; just kill me
Maybe it’s just my personal tastes, but I would bet that a lot of people find the writing of the entire episode subjectively better in the topical (rather than parody) episodes. I hope Matt and Trey figure that out, too.
Scott Tenorman Must Die is NOT a spin off of John Tucker Must Die. The Scott Tenorman episode first aired in 2001, about five years BEFORE the John Tucker movie.
I thought Stanely’s Cup was very good. The ending was almost as messed up as the Tenorman episode.
Manbearpig is a must. Scott Tenorman Must Die, Make Love Not Warcraft, Trapped in the Closet, Return of Chef, The Easter one (forgot the name). All great ones. But, most SP eps are.
By the way, I have such a raging Clue right now. Heh.
“Oh Yeah…Kyle’s MONEY! It feels so good on my skin.”
Faith+1 is the best band EVER!
I found Jesus(with someone else)
Three times my savior
“I wanna get down on my knees and start pleasing Jesus, I want to feel his salvation all over my face”
Fulfill all your weeshes with my taco flaverd keeses…taco, taco,burrito, burrito.
EWWWW Ben Affleck splooge.
I’ve got somethin in my front pocket for you.
were not comming out the closet, so you can just go away(ohmuhGOD)
mom, dad, i dont wanna live with her..she’s got a big nose….and something squishy in her pants.
CHANGE…..CHANGE….
Isn’t this america? Im sorry.. I thought this was America!
No one else mentioned “Woodland Critter Christmas?” Santa Claus blowing away devil-worshipping animals, kids & little cougar cubs learning to perform abortions, what’s there not to love???