South Park: Season 13

Every time I buy a season of South Park on DVD, two things happen. One, I watch the entire season (14 twenty-two minute episodes) in a matter of a day or two. And two, I do so while listening to Trey Parker and Matt Stone's commentary tracks. I don't just think South Park is a funny show; I think Trey and Matt are really clever and totally cool guys. A recurring theme in their commentary tracks is that they piss and moan about being required to make them at all. In fact, each commentary track lasts just four minutes, typically, and they say only what they feel is relevant or humorous. Mostly, I listen to these tracks to gain some insight as to how and why they go about making the episodes they choose to make. As anyone who has seen a lot of South Park should know, the turn around time on every episode is ridiculous. During a season, Matt and Trey (and their entire staff) will literally create every episode in less than a week. The show airs on Wednesdays, and they're often putting the finishing touches on episodes at noon or so on the same day. And then on Thursday morning they'll start brainstorming, from scratch, the episode which will have to completed - written, altered, animated, voiced, and all - by the following Wednesday. That's ridiculous. That's absurd. As I type this, it's after midnight and technically a new episode of South Park will air tonight. And I can promise you that it has not yet been finished and sent off to Comedy Central. What a system. Of course, Matt and Trey often have "shelved" ideas - simple, non-topical concepts for episodes - that they'll turn to after particularly hellish or non-newsworthy weeks. But even these episodes are rarely more than half-written by Friday night. At least, that's what the commentary tracks are telling me. Anyway, I should stop talking about the show's process in general and discuss Season 13. Honestly, this was a fantastic season overall. It's probably my favorite in years, like, since Seasons 6-9 or so. That was South Park's peak (well, plateau, I guess) for me, but 13 was certainly just as good as ever. And that's an encouraging sign. I'm always one of the first people to be calling for a show's cancellation once I think its run its course, but I very much think that South Park could thrive for another ten years with ease. And the good news is that it should. As long as Matt and Trey want to keep it going, there's literally no reason for Comedy Central to pull it. And I heard somewhere that last week's Season 14 premiere was the highest rated episode since Season 3's premiere. That's an eleven-year high. Awesome.