South Park season 13

South Park the episode that rocks Season 13
Season 13
File:Southparkseason13.jpg DVD cover art
No. of episodes	14
Release
Original release	March 11 – November 18, 2009
Season chronology

The thirteenth season of South Park originally aired in the United States on Comedy Central between March 11, 2009 and November 18, 2009. The season was helmed by the series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who served as executive producers along with Anne Garefino. The season continued to focus on the exploits of protagonists Stan, Kyle, Cartman, Kenny and Butters in the Colorado mountain town of South Park.

The season was the first of three new seasons the duo agreed to produce for the network under a renewal deal. It consisted of fourteen 22-minute episodes, all of which aired at 10 p.m. on Wednesdays. Prior to the season's premiere, all South Park episodes were made available for free viewing on the official series website, South Park Studios. It was also the first season to be broadcast in high definition and in widescreen.

Continuing their practice from previous seasons, Parker and Stone wrote and produced the thirteenth season episodes within the week before their broadcast dates. The thirteenth season satirized such topics as the ACORN scandal, Japanese whaling, piracy in Somalia and the marketing tactics of Walt Disney Company. Many celebrities were spoofed throughout the season, including the Jonas Brothers, Kanye West, Carlos Mencia, Paul Watson and Glenn Beck, all of whom publicly responded to their portrayals.

The episode "Fishsticks" gained a particularly large amount of attention due to the response it provoked from Kanye West, who said the show but his feelings were hurt. "The F Word" was considered particularly controversial due to its attempt to change the connotation of the word "fag", which prompted complaints from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. A broadcast of "Pinewood Derby" in Mexico was pulled, allegedly due to its depiction of Mexican President Felipe Calderón. "Fatbeard" was praised by the crew of the USS Bainbridge, which was involed in the 2009 rescue of the MV Maersk Alabama from Somalian pirates.

The thirteenth season received generally positive to mixed reviews, which some critics calling it one of South Park's strongest seasons, and others claiming the series was starting to show signs of dropping in quality. The season maintained the average Nielsen rating viewership for the series, which was around 3 million viewers. The episode "Margaritaville", which served as a satire and commentary on the global recession affecting much of the industrialized world at the time of the episode's broadcast, won the 2009 Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program for Programming Less Than One Hour.

Episodes

Series #	Season #	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original U.S. air date	Viewers (in millions)
182	1	"The Ring"	Trey Parker	Trey Parker	March 11, 2009	3.41
Kenny takes his slutty new girlfriend Tammy to a Jonas Brothers concert after which he hopes to get a B.J. from her. Instead, they are given purity rings as a pledge to abstinence, which ruins Kenny's chances. He becomes dull as a result and ceases to spend time with his friends, which make Stan, Kyle and Cartman concerned. They attempt to confront the Jonas Brothers at a televised appearance where they find out a greedy Mickey Mouse is using the rings scheme to make money from little girls. They manage to make Mickey spill out his devious intentions to the crowd, which then turns onto him. Kenny discards the ring and gets the B.J., but contracts syphilis and later dies.
183	2	"The Coon"	Trey Parker	Trey Parker	March 18, 2009	3.27
Cartman poses as a superhero vigilante named "The Coon", who grows increasingly jealous of the popularity and success of a rival superhero named "Mysterion". Cartman tries to discover the identity of his rival and turns to the "dark side" to get rid of him, enlisting the help of Professor Chaos (Butters) and his sidekick General Disarray (Dougie). He convinces Professor Chaos to threaten the destruction of a hospital unless Mysterion reveals his or her identity. Cartman, disguised as The Coon, fights on Mysterion's side with the hopes that he too will be hailed as a hero, and convinces his rival to unmask himself. After this, Mysterion is hauled to prison, leaving Cartman to believe he is the superhero in South Park.
184	3	"Margaritaville"	Trey Parker	Trey Parker	March 25, 2009	2.77
Randy tries to teach Stan to learn to save money by making him deposit a $100 check he received from his grandmother. Within seconds, it is lost in a mutual fund investment, along with the money of other bank customers. As recession hits South Park, Randy poses as a prophet and steps forward with a solution by reducing people's spending to only "bare essentials", in order to propitiate the economy's anger. Kyle disagrees and tries to convince the people that if they want the economy to be strong, they must have faith in it. He sets up a table with a credit card machine in the town and begins "paying everybody's debts", indebting himself for life, although nobody recognizes this and give credit to Barack Obama for the recovery of South Park's economy. Meanwhile, Stan attemps to return an expensive drink mixer make him realize the incompetence of the federal government.
185	4	"Eat, Pray, Queef"	Trey Parker	Trey Parker	April 1, 2009	3
The boys are angered when Terrance and Phillip is preempted by a new show called the Queef Sisters, which is very similar but relies queef jokes instead of fart jokes. The show starts a queefing movement across the country, with women arguing there is no difference between queefing and farting. The men get revolted and disgusted by the queefs, even though still finding farts funny. In light of the created uproar, Colorado State Senate passes a law on banning queefing. When Sharon and Shelley feel hurt and insulted by the decision, Stan and his father Randy realize the issue was about a larger point about women's rights. The two get all the South Park men together and record an inspirational song, declaring women should have the right to queef. Terrance and Philip have their show canceled and plot to kill the Queef Sisters, but instead fall in love and marry them.
186	5	"Fishsticks"	Trey Parker	Trey Parker	April 8, 2009	3.1
Jimmy comes up with a joke that becomes a national sensation, and Cartman takes all of the credit. Kyle tries to explain to Cartman that his ego is so big that he subconsciously remembers things incorrectly to make himself feel more important. Nevertheless, Cartman comes to the exact opposite conclusion, believing Jimmy to be the one with the twisted ego trying to steal credit from Cartman. Meanwhile, comedian Carlos Mencia claims credit for the joke and Kanye West is mocked for not getting it. Convinced he is a genius, West will not allow anyone to explain the joke and gets angry, beating Mencia to death. Later he has an epiphany about his own massive ego, but interprets the joke to mean that he is a gay fish, which he embraces by making a music video about it.
187	6	"Pinewood Derby"	Trey Parker	Trey Parker	April 15, 2009	2.78
Randy steals a superconducting magnet from the Large Hadron Collider and slips it into the back of Stan's pinewood derby car to make sure that his son will win the annual state derby. It wins the first place while reaching warp speed and shooting off into space, where it is found by an alien species. Soon, a spaceship piloted by an alien bank robber lands in South Park demanding Stan and Randy to build a new warp drive, but Randy refuses to tell the truth in order to avoid embarrassment. The bank robber is killed, and Randy convinces Earth's leaders to keep alien's "space cash", which is divided among the world's leaders. Intergalactic Police ship arrives looking for the robber, but no one admits to seeing him or the money. Eventually, however, Stan reveals the cheating in the pinewood derby and returns the trophy. The robber emerges from the officers' ship, revealing he faked his own death and that as an ambassador to new worlds, who was testing whether Earth was worthy to join the intergalactic community. Having failed, the Earth is isolated from the rest of the Universe forever as punishment.
188	7	"Fatbeard"	Trey Parker	Trey Parker	April 22, 2009	2.59
Mistaking the recent upsurge of piracy in Somalia for a return of the classic era of swashbuckling pirates, Cartman convinces his classmates to run away to Somalia for a responsibility-free life in a warm tropical paradise. Butters, Ike, Clyde and Kevin join Cartman's crew and go to Mogadishu dressed as stereotypical pirates, where they are taken as ransom to a French schooner. However, Cartman assumes control of the schooner and returns with the captured vessel to Mogadishu, where the pirates begin to respect him. Originally jubiliant to be rid of Cartman, Kyle goes to Somalia to rescue Ike after he realizes his brother is gone. By then, Cartman is the widely respected captain of an actual pirate crew. Butters and Ike begin to have regrets, but Cartman refuses to give up his romantic notions. A U.S. Navy ship arrives full of snipers arrive, who kill all of Cartman's pirates, leaving him dumbfounded and angry.
189	8	"Dead Celebrities"	Trey Parker	Trey Parker	October 7, 2009	2.67
Ike is being terrified by frequent encounters with the ghosts of recently deceased celebrities. Kyle, Stan, Cartman and Kenny try to to help by calling the team from the reality television series Ghost Hunters. When they fail, the boys use a medium to contact the ghosts of celebrities haunting Ike. They find the ghosts are trapped in purgatory (depicted as the interior of a plane) because of Michael Jackson' refusal to acknowledge his own death. Jackson's spirit takes over Ike's body and insists he is not only alive, but is a little Caucasian girl. The boys take Jackson to a child beauty pageant for little girls so Jackson can experience the acceptance he sought in life. After winning, he leaves Ike's body and the celebrities in purgatory lift off, only to be taken to hell.
190	9	"Butters' Bottom Bitch"	Trey Parker	Trey Parker	October 14, 2009
Butters, the only boy in his class to have never kissed a girl, purchases his first kiss from a girl named Sally, who gives kisses for for $5. Winning the respect of his fellow classmates, Butters starts to advertise Sally's services to other unpopular boys at the school, keeping a 40 percent cut. Soon, more girls join his service and he begins to resemble a stereotypical pimp. As his reputation grows and actual adult prostitutes begin defecting to work for Butters, he looks into offering benefits by consulting an ACORN office. Meanwhile, Sergeant Yates goes undercover as a female prostitute to combat the apparent rise in prostitution, but gets carried away with his duties and engages in sexual acts with his male patrons. He makes his pimp fall in love with and marry his prostitute impersonation, which leads Butters to quit his job as a pimp.
191	10	"W.T.F."	Trey Parker	Trey Parker	October 21, 2009
After seeing a live WWE Raw event, the boys at South Park Elementary join the school's wrestling team, but quit when they realize it is very different from professional wrestling. The boys form W.T.F. (Wrestling Takedown Federation), their own backyard wrestling federation. Their performances more dramatic storylines and monologues than actual wrestling and stunt work, which nevertheless attracts a large audience of rednecks who believe the action is real. Mr. Connors, the school's wrestling teacher is fired by the school board, prompting him to try sabotaging one of the W.T.F. events to restore the integrity of the sport. WWE Chairman Vince McMahon attends a W.T.F. match to scout for talent and, seeking to impress him, the boys modify their performances to a point where they have more in common with theatrical plays and musicals than wrestling. Mr. Connors tries and fails to destroy the ring, but his impassioned monologue about how professional wrestling has ruined real wrestling makes the crowd sympathize with him, prompting McMahon to offer him a contract with the WWE.
192	11	"Whale Whores"	Trey Parker	Trey Parker	October 28, 2009
After a family visit to the public aquarium during which Japanese people slaughter all the dolphins, Stan takes on the cause of saving the dolphins and whales from the Japanese. As his friends are not interested in helping, he joins Paul Watson and his crew on the television show Whale Wars. After Watson is killed, Stan becomes the new captain of the ship and leads a much more successful campaign against Japanese whaling by employing more aggressive methods. After Japanese pilots launch kamikaze attacks on ship, Stan and his crew are captured and brought to Japan. They learn the whaling efforts are a retaliation for the bombing of Hiroshima, as they believe that Enola Gay bomber was piloted by a dolphin and a killer whale. The boys convince the Japanese officials that the pilots were actually a cow and a chicken, prompting the Japanese resolve to cease their whaling efforts and beginning a violent vendetta of slaughtering cows and chickens instead.
193	12	"The F Word"	Trey Parker	Trey Parker	November 4, 2009	1.99
Cartman confronts a group of obnoxious Harley riders that are disrupting everyone in South Park, describing them as insecure losers who ride loud motorcycles to draw attention to themselves and referring to them as "faggots". Other children begin to use the slur, and the bikers leave town after the children they write "Fags get out" on town buildings. This alarms Big Gay Al and Mr. Slave, and the boys have to explain to the city council that the word "fag" is not intended as an insult to homosexuals. Instead, the boys say the word is more commonly used nowadays in reference to a contemptible person who rides a Harley motorcycle, or "an inconsiderate douchebag". This convinces the council to change the word's definition. After a national outcry, the town invites the English Dictionary Officiates led by Emmanuel Lewis to review the proposal and convince him to make the definition change official.
194	13	"Dances with Smurfs"	Trey Parker	Trey Parker	November 11, 2009	1.47
Cartman is chosen to do the South Park Elementary morning announcements, which he uses as a platform to make critical statements about the school and class president Wendy. Soon projecting his announcements onto television screens in the classrooms, Cartman accuses Wendy of wanting to kill the Smurfs, and starts selling copies of his book which includes sexually explicit rumors about Wendy. As Wendy refuses to acknowledge Cartman, Principal Victoria and Mr. Mackey confront Cartman, who accuses them of violating his freedom of speech and turning the school into a "socialist whoreland". Cartman further reports that Wendy bulldozed Smurfland and slaughtered the Smurfs to get their valuable Smurfberries. After an uproar from the students, Wendy appears on Cartman's show, where she surprises Cartman by admitting to the accusations. She secedes her president title to Cartman and announces she has written her own book about the Smurfs, which she sold the movie rights to director James Cameron for his new film Avatar. As president, Cartman cannot make the announcements anymore and learns that the president is a meaningless position with no real power.
195	14	"Pee"	Trey Parker	Trey Parker	November 18, 2009	2.87
The boys go on a trip to the water park, where Cartman is distraught to discover that many minority people are in attendance. He calculates there will be no white people left by the year 2012, in accordance with the Mayans prediction of the end of the world. Meanwhile, Kyle is disgusted to learn that many people freely urinate in the pools and the park owner refuses to close and evacuate the park when tests show that the park's water is 98 percent urine. As a result, the park is overcome by tsunamis of urine and volcanic eruptions, it is quarantined, and the rescue operations are delayed until an antidote is found for the "pee contamination" which is believed to have turned the survivors inside into mutants. Cartman finds himself in an inflatable raft where he is the only white person, prompting him to think that the 2012 scenario occurred three years early, and that he is the last of his species. Kyle, who refused to get into the pee-infested water all day, has to drink urine before he can reach an emergency release valve. However, much to his annoyance, they are rescued immediately after Kyle drinks the urine.

Production

Crew

South Park co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone served as executive producers for the thirteenth season.

Series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone were the executive producers of the thirteenth season of South Park, along with Anne Garefino. The season was distributed by Comedy Central, where the series has aired since its inception in 1997. Frank C. Agnone II served as supervisor producer, while Eric Stough, Adrien Beard, Vernon Chatman, Bruce Howell and Erica Rivinoja served as producers. Saturday Night Live cast member Bill Hader, who had previously worked as a consultant on the show, was credited as a producer. Hader said of his role with the show that "it's really Trey and Matt who kind of write everything, and you're just in the room kind of helping them. Basically, I'm friends with them and they're just nice enough to invite me into the room and let me goof around." Ryan Quincy served as director of animation during the season.

Development

South Park was set to expire in 2008, but in August 2007, it was announced the series would be renewed for at least three more seasons. The deal extended the series through 2011 and included seasons thirteen, fourteen and fifteen, each of which consist of 14 episodes. Stone said of the announcement, "Three more years of South Park will give us the opportunity to offend that many more people." In announcing the new deal, Parker and Stone also announced they would partner with Comedy Central to create a Los Angeles-based digital animation studio called South Park Digital Studios, which would serve as the center for all digital extensions of the South Park franchise and other animated projects.

Prior to the broadcast of the thirteenth season, Parker and Stone made every episode from the previous 12 seasons of South Park available for free viewing on the official series website, Southparkstudios.com. New episodes from the thirteenth season were made available for one week after the original airdate, then removed for 30 days, at which point would return to the site permanently. The episodes were uncensored and ad-supported, so no membership fees were required to view the shows. In a statement, Parker and Stone said, "We got really sick of having to download our own show illegally all the time. So we gave ourselves a legal alternative."

Two months before the thirteenth season premiered, it was announced it would be the first season to be broadcast in high definition and presented in widescreen. Episodes from previous seasons were also converted into high definition picture. The thirteenth season episodes aired Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on Comedy Central, and were repeated Wednesdays at 12 a.m., Thursdays at 10 p.m. and 12 a.m., and Sundays at 11 p.m. and 2 a.m.. The first seven episodes of the season aired from March 11, 2009, with the series premiere "The Ring", and ended on April 22 with the mid-season finale "Fatbeard". The season returned with seven more episodes, resuming on October 7 with "Dead Celebrities", and ending on November 18 with the season finale, "Pee".

Writing

Continuing their practice from previous seasons, Parker and Stone wrote and produced the thirteenth season' episodes within the week before their broadcast dates. Nevertheless, only Parker received official credits for writing. The duo conceived a list of episode ideas at the start of the season, but said they prefered to wait until the last minute to start the work. In waiting until deadlines forced them to act, they said it allowed them to harness the energy as if they were doing a live show. Stone said of the practice, "We kind of need that [chaos] to work. We're, like, 'We have to do something right now. It's going on the air in just a few minutes.'" For example, three days before the broadcast of the season premiere, "The Ring", the script was only half-finished and the animation was not yet complete. Critics have said this technique helps South Park stay fresh and address current events in a quick and timely fashion.

The thirteenth season introduced the characters Katie and Katherine, who star in a television show called The Queef Sisters, which consists largely of vaginal flatulence jokes. The characters serve as a female equivalent of long-time characters Terrance and Phillip, who are initially angered at the competition from Katie and Katherine, but end up falling in love with the women and marrying them. Season thirteen also marked the final appearance of long-time supporting character Gordon Stoltski, the third grade student who read the morning announcements for South Park Elementary. In the episode "Dances with Smurfs", Gordon is murdered while reading the announcements by a gunman who mistakes him for a truck driver who slept with his wife. Some critics found the scene disturbing and inappropriate in the light of recent school shootings in the United States.

The running gag of killing protagonist Kenny McCormick continued in the thirteenth season of South Park, but he was only killed three times: in the episode "The Ring", when he contracted syphilis after engaging in oral sex; in "W.T.F", when he was shot by a rocket launcher during a professional wrestling match; and in "Pee", when he drowned in a tsunami of urine. During the final half of the season, aliens was hidden in images throughout the episodes as part of a contest offered by South Park Studios, in which viewers who could find and identify the alien in the episode could enter a contest, with the winner getting an animated version of himself or herself placed in the South Park opening credits during next season. Matthew Klinner was announced winner of the contest.

Cultural references

The thirteenth also continued a South Park tradition of lampooning celebrities and timely issues. The episode "Margaritaville" served as a satire and commentary on the global recession affecting much of the industrialized world at the time of the episode's broadcast. Parker and Stone said they had long planned to do an episode about the global recession, but did not want to rush it. "Fatbeard" was based on real-life piracy in Somalia, which began receiving increasing international media attention in 2008; the Somali pirates are portrayed in a sympathetic light in the episode. "Dances with Smurfs" served as a parody and social commentary of the political commentary style of Glenn Beck, a nationally syndicated radio show host and Fox News Channel political pundit. In the episode, Cartman makes outrageous claims with no basis for fact under the guise that he is simply asking rhetorical questions and seeking further discussion, a style Beck has been criticized for practicing.

The episode "Whale Whores" addresses the controversies surrounding Japanese whaling, condemning not only the Japanese whalers who engaged in the practice, but shows like Whale Wars and activists like television celebrity Paul Watson who profit from fighting whaling. "Butters' Bottom Bitch" featured a scene in which Butters vists an ACORN office seeking benefits for prostitutes working for him, a reference to the real-life 2009 scandal. The episode "Eat, Pray, Queef" demonstrates a double standard between rights of men and women by showing the South Park men, who have no problem with farting, strongly object to vaginal flatulence from women. The season finale, "Pee", satirized the disaster film genre, especially the 2012, which was released five days before the episode aired. Cartman interprets the large amount of minorities at his favorite water park as a sign of the 2012 phenomenon, the prediction that cataclysmic events will occur in the year 2012, which is said to be the end of the Mayan Long Count calendar.

"The Ring" featured parodies of not only the pop rock boy band Jonas Brothers, but also a foul-mouthed, greedy, and physically violent Mickey Mouse, who served as a satire of the Walt Disney Company's use of family-friendly morals to disguise their primary motive of financial profits. "The Coon" served as a parody of dark-toned comic book movies, like The Dark Knight (2008), The Spirit (2008) and Watchmen (2009). "Dead Celebrities" mocked numerous recently-decreased celebrities, including Michael Jackson, Billy Mays and David Carradine, as well as the show Ghost Hunters. "Dances with Smurfs" mocked the 2009 James Cameron film Avatar, suggesting the plot borrows heavily from the film Dances with Wolves, and comparing Avatar's blue aliens to the cartoon Smurfs. The episode "W.T.F." parodied professional wrestling in general and the World Wrestling Entertainment in particular, particularly highlighting the soap opera aspects of wrestling storylines and fans who believe the stories are real.

Music

Several original songs written by Parker and Stone were featured in the thirteenth season. The episode "Fishsticks", which prominently features rapper Kanye West, included a two-and-a-half minute song "Gay Fish", which parodied West's song "Heartless". "Gay Fish" satirizes the rapper's tendency to use an excessive amount of Auto-Tune-style pitch audio processing. After "Fishsticks" aired, the full song was made available for download on South Park Studios, the official South Park website. "Fatbeard" featured a song "Somalian Pirates, We", in which Cartman and his crew of pirates sing about Somalian piracy in the style of a sea shanty from the classic era of piracy. In response to requests by fans, the full 90-second version of the song was made available for download on South Park Studios the week the episode aired. The season finale, "Pee", featured a musical number sung by Cartman called "(Too Many Minorities) Not My Water Park" in which he despairs over the amount of African-American, Hispanic-American and Asian-American patrons at his water park. Among other topics, Cartman expresses anger about long lines full of minorities and park employees speaking Spanish rather than English. The episode "Eat, Pray, Queef" features a song called "Queef Free", an charity single recorded by the men of South Park after they realize women should be free to queef just as men are free to pass gas. The song has been described as a parody of such celebrities-for-charity songs as "We Are The World".

The thirteenth season also featured or spoofed real-life songs and bands. Several fake Jonas Brothers songs were written for "The Ring", many of which with lyrics about how physically attractive the band members are. Other songs also emphasized the band's belief in sexual abstinence, with lyrics like, "Who needs sex and drugs and partying when we can cook a meal and sit around and watch Netflix?" The strong sexual reactions of young girls in the crowds of their concert parodied the frenzied reactions female fan reactions the Jonas Brothers tend to elicit, even though their image projects wholesomeness and chastity. In the episode "Whale Wars", Cartman performs a rendition of the Lady Gaga song "Poker Face", which received praise by critics. During the audition the South Park boys setup for possible wrestlers for their professional wrestling league, one of the people trying out sings a Broadway-style musical number about why he wants to be a wrestler which parodies the song "Nothing" from the musical A Chorus Line. The episode "Fatbeard" received considerable press attention after one of the characters said he would "vomit his balls out through his mouth" if he had to hear anything more about Susan Boyle, the Scottish amateur singer who gained worldwide attention around the time of the episode's airing for her performance on the show Britain's Got Talent of the song "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Misérables.

Reception

Critics

From knocking celebrities off their high horse, to tackling social issues, to just plain pointing out the ridiculous nature of our every day lives, South Park Season 13 had more cultural impact than most animated series could ever dream of. Sure, it wasn't always great, and previous seasons have been better, but the series sure is doing well for its age.

Ramsley Isler, IGN

Ramsey Isler of IGN said South Park continued to be the "best animated comedy show on TV" during its thirteenth season. Isler said the season had some low points, particularly the episode "Eat, Pray Queef", but said episodes like "The F Word" and "Dances with Smurfs" delivered a significant amount of social commentary, and described "Fishtsicks" as a hilarious and well-timed episode that became a "phenomenon". Ben Flanagan of The Tuscaloosa News said the thirteenth season was one of the strongest for South Park, and that the series continued its tradition of perfectly combining gross-out comedy with social satire. Flanagan said: "Whether they tackle the Jonas Brothers, Somali pirates, Kanye West, The Dark Knight, the current economic woes or just the frequent greed and foolishness of the human race, the show continues to solidify itself as not only the funniest show on TV, but the best." Carlos Delgado of iF Magazine said the season featured some particularly funny episodes, including "Fatbeard" and "Dead Celebrities", as well as episodes that served as strong social commentary, including "Eat, Pray, Queef" and "The F Word". Delgado said, "[Parker and Stone] almost always hit the ground running with some of the funniest and biting comedy around."

Not all reviews of the season thirteen were positive. The A.V. Club writer Sean O'Neal called it one of the most hit-or-miss seasons of South Park history", but said he was confident the series could do better and that it had not entered the "staggering animal begging to be put out of its misery stage of a show's lifetime". O'Neal said the season was a "weekly exercise in South Park schizophrenia", with some episodes faring better than others, although he said the first half of the season was generally strong. Josh Modell, also of The A.V. Club, also said the season was generally uneven, with several episodes "that most of you kinda shrugged your shoulders at", but others like "Butters' Bottom Bitch" that he found "pretty damn funny". Carl Cortez of iF Magazine said the latter half of the season was largely uneven and mediocre, although he praised the season finale, "Pee".

The episode "Fishsticks" gained a particularly large amount of attention during the thirteenth season. In the episode, Jimmy writes a joke that becomes a national sensation, and Cartman tries to steal the credit. Rapper Kanye West fails to understand the joke, but cannot admit that he doesn't get it because he believes himself to be a genius, a reference to West's perceived ego problem. Within one day of the episode's broadcast, West responded on his blog, claiming to have enjoyed the episode but that it also hurt his feelings. The reaction generated significant media attention. On September 13, 2009 during the MTV Video Music Awards, Kanye West interrupted an acceptance speech from country singer Taylor Swift by walking onto stage, grabbing the microphone and praising her competitor, Beyoncé Knowles. The incident received considerable press attention and drew further attention to "Fishsticks", which Comedy Central reaired for two straight hours on September 15, 2009. Some critics considered "Fishsticks" one of the best episodes of the season.

"The F Word" was considered particularly controversial, even by South Park standards. In the episode, the South Park boys attempt to change the official definition of the word "fag" from an anti-homosexual slur to a term describing loud and obnoxious Harley bikers. The uncensored word is used casually and extremely frequently by the characters throughout the episodes. "The F Word" advocated a philosophy that language is ever-changing, and that the idea of taboo words are only assigned their stigma because society allows them to become so. Although LGBT activists acknowledged the noble intentions behind the episode, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation objected to "The F Word", claiming the word was still used as a means of insulting others and could be unintentionally harmful to the gay community, Some critics said praised the episode and said it addressed an important and difficult issue, whereas others felt the satire was ineffective and unfunny.

Celebrity reactions

Kanye West, who was spoofed in "Fishsticks", wrote on his blog within one day of the episode that it was funny, although it hurt his feelings.

Some celebrities who were spoofed in thirteenth season episodes responded to their portrayals. The day after "Fishsticks" aired, West wrote on his blog, "South Park murdered me last night and it's pretty damn funny. It hurts my feelings but what can you expect from South Park!" West thanked the South Park writers in his blog entry and acknowledged he has a problem with his ego, but said he was trying to change. Later, in response to the significant amount of media attention his blog post garnered, West wrote another blog entry on April 10 claiming he had only seen part of the episode and found it funny, but he had been working on his arrogance problem for some time and that South Park did not lead to his "ego epiphany". Nevertheless, Daniel Kreps of Rolling Stone said: "Many have tried, all have failed, but in the end it only took four animated children from Colorado to topple Kanye West's ego." After West interrupted Taylor Swift at the MTV Video Music Awards, actor John Stamos wrote on his social networking Twitter feed, "Matt and Trey had it so right with South Park's FISHSTICKS episode on how DENSE you are – KANYE."

Carlos Mencia, host of the Comedy Central show Mind of Mencia, was also spoofed in "Fishsticks". He is portrayed as knowingly stealing credit for a joke he did not write, which is a reference to accusations other comedians have made that Mencia plagiarizes jokes from other people. After the episode aired, Mencia wrote on his Twitter feed, "They just made fun of me on South Park. I thought it was hysterical. Catch the rerun." Dave Itzkoff, arts reporter for The New York Times, complimented Mencia for his response. Shortly after "Whale Whores" aired, Paul Watson said he was not offended by his portrayal in the episode, and was glad South Park brought the issue of dolphin and whale slaughter to a large audience, as well as the role of the Japanese in the deaths. However, Watson said the episode failed to portray that his actions have hurt Japanese profits from whaling. Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, stars of Ghost Hunters, declared that "they loved being made fun of alongside Michael Jackson and Billy Mays."

The day after "Dances with Smurfs" originally aired, Glenn Beck discussed the episode on his radio program. Beck said he had not watched the episode himself but took the parody as a compliment, and that he particularly enjoyed Cartman's hair, which was combed in a style similar to Beck. Steve "Stu" Burguiere, the executive producer of Beck's radio show, also complimented the episode, and said of Parker and Stone, "These guys skewer everybody and they are always very good at it." The Jonas Brothers' publicist specifically forbade reporters from asking the band members about their portrayal in "The Ring". Nevertheless, Nick Jonas told the Orlando Sentinel that the band had not seen the episode: "We are always open to make fun of ourselves. For us, we’re so focused on what we’re doing with this tour and our album, we didn’t have much time to see it."

"Pinewood Derby" drew considerable media attention in Mexico when it originally aired due to its depiction of Mexican President Felipe Calderón. The episode was scheduled to be air in Spanish on MTV Latin America on February 8, 2010 but, a few hours before the scheduled time, the network pulled it, allegedly due to its depiction of Calderón irritating the international community and frivolously spending the space cash on water parks. MTV said the South Park creators did not get a special permit needed to broadcast an image of Mexico's map, but the explanation was met with skepticism by Mexican South Park fans, some of whom accused MTV of unfair censorship. The episode "Fatbeard" included prominent references to the April 2009 hijacking of the MV Maersk Alabama by Somalian pirates. The crew of the USS Bainbridge, the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer which participated in the rescue of Richard Phillips from the MV Maersk Alabama, contacted the creators of South Park to commend them on the episode. Ensign Jonathan Sieg, the Bainbridge public relations officer, wrote: "Pretty much everyone onboard our ship - from Captain to seaman - is a huge fan of South Park, and when we heard about the episode "Fatbeard", as you can imagine, we were thrilled and very interested to watch."

Ratings

The thirteenth season of South Park generally maintained the average Nielsen rating viewership for the series, which is around 3 million viewers per episode. The season premiere, "The Ring" was seen by 3.41 million households. It would prove to be the largest individual viewership for the season, outperforming even a highly anticipated and publisized episode of The Daily Show involving an ongoing feud with CNBC and pundit Jim Cramer. The season received the lowest viewership in the episodes "Dances with Smurfs", which was seen by 1.47 million households, and "The F Word", which was seen by 1.99 million households. However, "The F Word" was the highest rated show of the season among viewers between ages 18 and 49, and outperformed The Jay Leno Show, a primetime late night talk show on NBC. The season finale, "Pee", was seen by 2.87 million households, which made it most watched cable show of the night. Likewise, the episode "The Coon", seen by 3.27 million households, was the most watched cable program among ages 18 to 49 the week it aired. Several episodes from the thirteen season of South Park were the most watched Comedy Central shows the week they aired, including "Margaritaville" (2.77 million households), "Fatbeard" (2.59 million households), "Eat, Pray, Queef" (3 million households), and "Fishsticks" (3.1 million households). The latter two episodes were watched by more than 1 million more viewers than the second highest-rated network shows that week.

Awards

The thirteenth season episode "Margaritaville" won the 2009 Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program for Programming Less Than One Hour against the other nominees Robot Chicken, The Simpsons and American Dad. The victory marked the third consecutive Emmy win for South Park, which won in the same category in 2007 for the tenth season episode "Make Love, Not Warcraft", and won the award for Outstanding Animated Program for Programming One Hour or More for the eleventh season episode "Imaginationland". Parker, Stone, Agnone, Stough, Beard, Howell, Rivinoja, Chatman, Hader and Quincy were all recipients of the Emmy.

Release

The season will be released by Paramount Home Entertainment in US on March 6, 2010, on both DVD (as a three-disc set) and Blu-Ray. They will include all fourteen uncensored episodes, in addition to mini-audio commentary by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for each episode.

External links

• South Park Studios - official website with streaming video of full episodes.
• The Comedy Network - full episodes for Canada
• Watch South Park Season 13

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