South Park: Episode 201

[Proteus214]

I'm pretty sure that all the supposed censoring and bleeping (especially the two massive bleeped speeches at the end).

On another note, I find it kind of ironic that there wasn't much of a fuss over the Super Best Friends episode years ago. Also the fact that this image from that episode was a part of the opening of the show for quite some time:

Spoiler

Honestly. No. Also, Santa in Southpark is epic.

I think his purpose was a response to the complaint about Mohammad in the bear costume. It's their way of saying "Haha. Look, you got all mad over nothing!"

 

[Alex Everitt]

I think everyone is missing the point here.

Firstly Southpark are genius in the field of comedy and making moral points.
Secondly Southpark did not censor this episode for the sake of a joke - Comedy Central censored it for the sake of not being bombed (I presume - stupid reason but it's the best I can think of).
This was a brilliant episode and I'm sure that Southpark new that it would be censored as much as it was but that's the point - they want to make people angry about certain things (in this episode freedom of speech) but also be funny.
They did both for me and I hope that people who didn't get what was going on read this and do now because it is a very important issue.

 

[soapyshooter]

it was a massive disappointment, the only funny joke was when Seaman was talking to swallow and he said "Swallow, Come" my immaturity got the best of me.

 

[ThaBenMan]

I was a little disappointed too, both by the revelation of Cartman's father and the continued censoring of Muhammad - there was a lot of potential for hilarity, I think.

There were some great parts, though, like

Spoiler

the return of Scott Tenorman, and how Tom Cruise ended up on the Moon with the killer whale. Lots of great little references to previous episodes.

 

[Dave Quixote]

The reason chef won't come back is that he was a scientologist..(you can follow from there)

Being dead might also prevent his return....

Trey and Matt knowing that Comedy Central would likely censor the show, I'm convinced they purposely wrote the episode with that in mind....Like asking "is that okay?" when they're making allusions to Muhammad in part 1. If they were making a point the "what Kyle has learned" speech and the censored Tom Cruise is what they were going for. It's less about being able to show Muhammad's image on television for shock value (which they mention they've done before in previous episodes and in the shows opening montage) and more about how arbitrary and ineffectual censorship is, if the show is supposed to have a message at all. Hate to be pragmatic but part of it is exploiting a time-tested method to generate free advertising for a show: do/say something that generates a controversy, allow extremist to insert foot in mouth, everyone tunes in to see what happens, we all learn something, and extremist is exposed for what they are....a douche. The whole thing is clever marketing and I thought despite the lack of Muhammad it was humorous thank you to the fans for supporting a "dick and fart" show for 14 seasons.

 

[Vault boy Eddie]

They didn't show or mention Mohammed because comedy central didn't let them.

 

[Nmil-ek]

They didn't show or mention Mohammed because comedy central didn't let them.

Theres more to it than that I'd wager muslim extremists pretty much said you will end up dead, only they didnt directly say it funny how that works huh?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/7615310/South-Park-creators-warned-by-Islamic-website.html

Owners of that site should be prosecuted for insiting frankly, is your god hounestly that weak Muslims?

(and the Telegraph is quite reliable its no TIMES)

 

[Dave Quixote]

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/22/south-park-episode-is-altered-after-muslim-groups-warning/?hp

I stand corrected....I figured it was a meta-joke with Kyle's speech about what he learned censored but apparently that's not the case.

 

[Schneizel]

Much of our world was build on Religion, it will always be a part of it. And i've met few atheists that i could stand more than christians or muslims. Most of them act like they are a step above everyone else.

We pretty much ARE. In the same way humans have sentience and are therefore a step above dogs, atheists have the intelligence not to assume an arbitrary fairy tale is true and are therefore a step above its believers.

Of course, I'm talking about atheistic agnosticism. The idea that there might be a creator, but that it probably isn't one known to us through any books. The atheists who insist there is not and cannot be any form of god - even a malevolent non-omnipotent god to account for suffering - are almost as bad as the idiots who pick a book and demand it's true.

 

[faceless chick]

http://www.southparkstudios.com/news/3878

in case it wasn't posted, matt and trey speak out about the censoring issues.

 

[TheRundownRabbit]

The episode may have been disappointing but it was still funny as hell.

 

[ribonuge]

And one thing I've found out is that apparently the audio beeps were not in fact meant to be there at all.

Proof: http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/267116/

This. Matt and Trey didn't want that much censoring. Apparently Comedy Central did that against their wishes. They have no say on what content is displayed. As well as this they make their episodes "on the run", so they are not pre recorded. That is why they are always so up to date with their jokes.

 

[RatRace123]

I haven't seen the episode, and I probably won't, when it was supposed to be repeated later on wednesday night, it was replaced. I also read that the censoring was mostly unintentional, they (Comedy Central) allowed the protestors to bully them into submission, this sends the message that bitching about something you don't like and threatening violence, will solve the problem.

Those moronic terrorists (They threatened and caused terror, so in this case that's what they are) believe that their religion is the religion, and that it can't be made fun of, I'm completely disgusted that this happens.

 

[Nikolaz72]

Much of our world was build on Religion, it will always be a part of it. And i've met few atheists that i could stand more than christians or muslims. Most of them act like they are a step above everyone else.

We pretty much ARE. In the same way humans have sentience and are therefore a step above dogs, atheists have the intelligence not to assume an arbitrary fairy tale is true and are therefore a step above its believers.

Of course, I'm talking about atheistic agnosticism. The idea that there might be a creator, but that it probably isn't one known to us through any books. The atheists who insist there is not and cannot be any form of god - even a malevolent non-omnipotent god to account for suffering - are almost as bad as the idiots who pick a book and demand it's true.

True. True, still. There are more atheists of the latter than of the first mate. Like there is only a few extremist people of faith, compared to the casual fourlegged ones.

What im saying is that there are a lot more extreme atheists than there are extreme religious folk. And therefor i consider the casual religious a step above the idiots who claim they are smart.

 

[Hamster at Dawn]

I just watched this episode and I am disappointed. Not disappointed about Cartman's dad, I think that was a very good twist that barely anyone saw coming. I also wasn't disappoint, like you say, "when the credits rolled" since that ending was so freaking hilarious. But obviously I am disappointed by the censoring.

At first, I thought that it was a joke. The fact that Mohammed's name was censored every time someone said it was kinda funny. It was also funny when Kyle's speech was censored at the end. I thought that surely the speech must have been censored purposely. Surely they wouldn't censor out about a minute of dialogue entirely unless it was a joke. But then I found out that this waas not a joke. Comedy Central censored the episode, even after the creators themselves had already censored the hell out of it.

And yet, there is no complaint that Jesus is looking at porn or Buddha is snorting coke. This is obviously intentional as a way to get the point across and really makes you realise how stupid it is that Mohammed cannot even be depicted. Mohammed actually gets it easy but still has to be censored. It is ridiculous. South Park has made fun of just about everything you could think of. Why should it have to be any different for any one person?

 

[KP Shadow]

Wait, wasn't it originally stated that Cartman's "mom" was actually his dad? Did they do a retcon or something?

 

[jackanderson]

I would love to comment, but here in the UK the episode has been banned. Comedy Central UK refused to show it and instead issued a repeat of Sexual Healing. They basically pussied out. So now, I have to deal with shitty internet sites that are trying to spam my inbox back to the Middle Ages in order to see the quite possibly hilarious ending and find out who Cartman's real dad is.

The only reasons I watch Comedy Central are for this and 30 Rock. Last night they removed one of those reasons. I hope they are fucking proud of themselves!

/rant.