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Revision as of 01:49, 15 October 2009

"Dead Celebrities"

"Dead Celebrities" is the premiere episode of the second half of the thirteenth season of the animated television series South Park, and the season's eighth episode overall. It first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on October 7, 2009.[1] The episode was watched by 2.68 million viewers, and was rated TV-MA L in the United States for strong to extreme language.[citation needed] The episode first aired outside the US on October 9, 2009 on Comedy Central in the UK.[citation needed]

Plot

Ike has been seeing ghosts of recently deceased celebrities such as Billy Mays, Farrah Fawcett, David Carradine and Ed McMahon. The boys come to Ike's aid, including an ecstatic Cartman, as he has been a fan of Mays since he started regularly using one of his products, "Chipotl-away". Chipotl-away is a fictional cleaner that removes blood stains from people's underwear having been caused by eating food from Chipotle; Kyle remains confused about why people like Cartman would eat Chipotle in the first place if it causes rectal bleeding, but Cartman swears by the product.

The boys first decide to call the team from the reality television series Ghost Hunters for help with Ike, but they prove less than useful when they confuse soiling their pants in fear with paranormal activity. After Ike ends up in a coma, a medium comes to help the boys, managing to contact the spirits as they reveal they're trapped in Purgatory because Michael Jackson refuses to accept his death. Despite the boy's pleas, Jackson kills the medium by throwing her out a window and possesses Ike's body. The other spirits are forced to languish in Purgatory, which is revealed to be an airplane stuck on a metaphorical runway (when the spirits wonder why don't they leave Michael behind, the stewardess responds that Michael had "a lot of baggage"). Meanwhile, the boys determine that the only way to release Ike's body from possession and to free the celebrities from Purgatory is for Michael to achieve his dream (being a "little white girl"), allowing him to rest.

The boys enter Michael in a beauty pageant. Michael's singing performance wows the two male judges; unfortunately, they are later arrested by the police for masturbating in public. Only a lone, skeptical female judge remains to decide the winner, but Cartman, after seeing her deciding to swear off Chipotle due to the problem of blood stains, bribes her with the knowledge of Chipotl-away.

Michael wins the pageant, and his spirit leaves Ike's body and returns to Purgatory. The "plane" the celebrities are on then lifts off and arrives at its destination, Hell. To the annoyance of the dead celebrities, however, they are informed that Hell is a tow gate.

The dead celebrities

The celebrities seen in the episode all died between January and August of 2009. They include the following celebrities:

Reception

IGN's Ramsey Isler gave the episode an 8.0 rating, saying "is not an amazing episode" but noting that "it is still pretty freaking funny".[2] Josh Modell of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B- grade and called it "a decent episode. Not one for the history books by any means, but enjoyable just the same."[3] Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker reviewed it positively and described it as a "highly irreverent salute to 'celebrities that died over the summer'".[4]

Several reviews were critical of or noted criticism of the content. The Daily Telegraph compared the episode with previous controversial episodes such as "Trapped in the Closet" and "The China Problem".[5] The Examiner.com's Sue Bergerstein described the episode as "a display of how bad American culture is to the rest of the world".[6]

In a letter to a customer inquiring about the episode's claim that their product causes one to defecate blood, a representative from Chipotle Mexican Grill stated that "There is no truth to the claim."[7]

Cultural references

The episode made reference to the films The Sixth Sense and Poltergeist, and the TV series Ghost Hunters.[2][3]

References

  1. ^ "South Park episode guide". South Park Studios. 2009-10-04. Retrieved 2009-10-04.
  2. ^ a b Isler, Ramsey (8 October 2009). "South Park: "Dead Celebrities" Review". IGN. Retrieved 9 OCtober 2009. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  3. ^ a b Modell, Josh (7 October 2009). "Dead Celebrities". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 9 OCtober 2009. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  4. ^ Tucker, Ken (7 October 2009). "'South Park' season premiere: 'I see dead celebrities'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 9 OCtober 2009. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  5. ^ Tom Chivers (9 October 2009). "South Park shows Michael Jackson and Patrick Swayze in purgatory". The Daily Telegraph.
  6. ^ Bergerstein, Sue (8 October 2009). South Park hits a new low "Dead Celebrities". Examiner.com. Retrieved 10 October 2009. {{cite news}}: Check |url= value (help)
  7. ^ Walters, Chris (October 9, 2009). "Chipotle Says Their Food Does Not Cause Underwear Blood". The Consumerist. Retrieved 13 October 2009.


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