There’s something comforting about knowing South Park is always on and available to me, even when I don’t keep up with it consistently. The show has changed over the years, had its hit and miss season for sure, but the fact that the same two guys are behind it each year and that the show remains one of the most quickly-produced in all of television means its growth and warts have been on a much more personal curve. Turns out I’ll get to keep enjoying that comfort (and fun marathon catching-up sessions) through 2016, as Matt and Trey have renewed with Comedy Central for another three seasons.
The quotes from everyone involved are the glad-handing that you’d expect, but Parker and Stone said long ago what keeps them going with the show… freedom, resources, and flexibility. They run a show on which they can say and do almost anything they want, they can do it as quickly and topically as they want in a playground that can handle anything they can come up with, and they’re not prevented from doing outside projects as they see fit. They’ve run through so many conventions and built/drop/renewed so many running gags that there’s never really any expectation on any given episode, so what better creative outlet is there?
At this point I think the obvious comparison of something like The Simpsons has long fallen away, as that show is/was more of traditional sit-com, network production that was dependent on specific writing crews and producer’s whims. The decline of The Simpsons and the politics of its modern production are well documented, but it’s safe to say the show has been compromised at its core for a long time. South Park on the other hand is really just a direct reflection of its creators, which turns it more into a swearing and abortion-joke-filled version of Andy Rooney’s 60 Minutes segment than a traditional show. It’s not always going to be great, but that’s the kind of thing that can run for as long as the personalities behind it are vital and invigorated.
Here’s to many more years to havin’ ourselves a time…
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Source | HitFix