South Park's History of Serialization
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- Опубликовано: 19 янв 2023
- South Park and serialization. A subject that has been a bit of a debate in the fandom over the past 7 or 8 years. Is it ruining the show? Or has it breathed new life into it? I don’t think there’s a definitive answer, BUT, while many people attribute serialization to the most current era of South Park, the reality is that… they were dabbling in serialized elements for YEARS before embracing it more thoroughly. Arguably dating back to season 1! So I thought it might be fun to take a look back and explore the entire history of serialization in South Park, and talk a little bit about whether its changed the show for the better or worse.
Edited by Joe Murphy
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Video Used:
South Park (1996-2023)
South Park: Post Covid (2021)
South Park: Post Covid: The Return of Covid (2021)
South Park Streaming Wars (2022)
South Park Streaming Wars part 2 (2022)
The Simpsons (1989-2023)
Dallas (1978-1991)
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While I was uploading this I realized I missed a GREAT example of early serialization and I feel so dumb for forgetting about it. The Bigger Longer & Uncut follow up where Saddam returns to hell, can't believe I missed it! Mybad!
just imagine this comment is about the video cause im still watching the pre ad
"Aww come on, guy!"
Lol
Oh no! Now you'll have to make a whole other episode of equal length where you can dive into how it set the pace for future serialized episodes that I'll absolutely enjoy!
Well the Saddam Husein arc started with Not Without My Anus and ended with A Ladder to Heaven.
@@leephillips4402 technically it ended in "it's christmas in canada"
I'd argue that Mint Berry Crunch is the most cereal-ized element of the show
You
*YOU*
Of course! He's got the power of super cereal!
Ba dumb tss
One of the best things about the serialization of South Park would be how Mr. Garrison was one of the few characters who had a story that carried from season to season, creating a subtle sense of continuity on a show that was still technically a floating timeline with status quo resets. Matt and Trey even made reference to it during their season one commentaries. A lot of characters on the show never had a defined arc, but Mr. Garrison definitely had development as the series played out.
The only other character that has gone through as many changes as Mr Garrison is Randy Marsh
I think that why the show has aged so well. It’s based on thoughts and what’s going on with world. Unlike certain shows like Family guy, the Simpsons and loud house, South Park known what time to hit thier burns.
Mooomoooo moo moo...moo moo
Doesn't make the show better
@@smelkus now if we’re talking sex changes..
South Park has a lot of subtle continuity that’s often overlooked, it makes the show more rewarding to watch chronologically and it’s really an underrated aspect of the show. Great vid as usual!
OMG BRO I WATCH UR VIDEOS 💀
Oh my god blooms
i just binged all your south park videos! they were so good
The continuity is not subtle, it’s quite obvious but because people watched the show one episode a week, they wouldn’t always pick up on it
WHAT THE HELL IS SERIALIZATION!?!?!?!
My favorite reference to continuity was in Terrace and Philip Behind the Blow where Cartman threatens to feed Philip his parents with Stan saying "he'll do it." This episode comes right after the Scott Tennorman one
Yeah I like those small moments of continuity, like when stan and Kyle start getting tired of “oh my god they killed kenny” bit
cartman also threatens to make ms. choksondik eat her parents later that season lol
I being following South Park since season 9, and I honestly always thought the show was serialized.
But not serialized like Bojack is, more like how Futurama is. The best kind in my opnion for any show
You are technically correct, the BEST kind of correct. Therefore I am promoting you one bureaucratic level.
@Bertoxolus The Puzzled this comment always makes me happy and makes me have Faint in society again
I think the light serialization is the way forward. Somewhat loosely connected stories and then managing to tie them in the finale is really impressive, the Bezos season was the best representation of that.
I love how mr garrison has a noticeable story arc over the first few seasons if you watch it in order. The kids stuff was self contained but mr garrisons was always like the continuity character, so many status quo shake ups either revolved around or involved him somehow.
1 he replaces mr hat with mr twig.
2 comes out as gay
3 becomes a mountain man
4 teaches kindergarten
And the rest you mentioned in the video
Best part is mr. Garrison becoming ´´Trump´´ :D
Oh my god I forgot he become a mountain man 😂
@@krystofcisar469 god I hated garrison as trump, was so over played and just not funny.
I’m so glad they leaned into serialisation, S19+ have felt like such a different energy and it’s kept the show really fresh
light serialisation is definitely the way to go, I haven’t rewatched S20 since it aired but it got pretty derailed towards the end
hi chippys couch
Dude i love your terraria stuff, never expected to see you in a south park video lol
holy shit its the terraria man
I loved when the boys started freaking out over people starting to remember things from last week at the beginning of season 19.
Couch man is here
One of my favorite pieces of South Park serialization is character death. To my memory, once a character dies, they are dead (besides Kenny, which they explained away).
Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas died in Free Hat and returned in The China Problem
Osama Bin Laden died in Osama Bin Laden has farty pants and came back in Its a jersey thing
@@smelkus True. I was thinking of characters like Pip, Miss Choksondik, Jack Tenorman, and Clyde's mom. All who were perma killed.
Thank you for pointing out character revivals I missed.
@@privatecaboose256 not to mention chef, although they did bring him back once & in the video game but that was more to take the piss out of the voice actor
@Bruhdon Kind of sad how he ended up being treated by Matt and Trey when he had a stroke and his entourage forced him out of south park.
@@toastedt140 I mean he was a weirdo Scientologist, he was practically bullied into leaving by them, anyone who says anything negative about Scientology has to be shunned. He was fine with making fun of Christianity, Islam, buddhism etc but soon as it came to Scientology he threw a fit and left
I'm just glad that Matt & Trey refuse to let the show go stale. Maybe some experiments don't land, but experimentation is necessary.
It would be better to talk about serialization by making a multi-part video
lmao wow what a missed opp
Eh 😂
S19, as well as S25+Streaming Wars have had my favorite serialized aspects to date. I love it when they can still mostly be standalone, but still connected, it feels rewarding to watch. I also love the status quo shifts, primarily from those seasons; they're fun & keep the show fresh, and it feels as if this world is changing as it grows, which I love.
I just wanted to go to bed… but now you posted
It's 4:33 in the afternoon
@@dr.wolfstar1765 you know other time zones exist, right?
I think one of my favorite aspects about South Park experimenting with serialization is that it really showcases their writing process to its fullest extent. Where boring writing usually just has a lot of “and then this happens” aspect to it, their writing includes “therefore” and “however” meaning that when a decision or choice is made, it always has consequences and they frequently try to harken back to it, often to a hilarious degree.
Yeah I saw that lecture too.
@@leephillips4402eah it sounds like they’re trying to pass off what the creators said as his/her own insights
@@ABBZ120 sounds like you're trying to take credit for what was subtextually implied in my comment.
@@leephillips4402 I was just agreeing with you
@@leephillips4402
Don’t worry guys, I’ve filed an official police report to report this incident of digital credit-theft.
I’m sure you’re worked up by having witnessed such a serious crime, but no need to argue among yourselves.
I always watched South Park hella out of order growing up, because I always just caught whatever episodes I could on cable. Their serialized and proto-serialized stuff was always some of my favorite batches of episodes. I think ebbing and flowing with serialization is the right move; have recurring plot elements serve as a basis for new and interesting story ideas. IE the hotdog house.
I was a teenager during season 20. I was the core demo, and I was so invested in it. As the season went on, it really did fizzle out. I loved when South Park had serialized narratives even if they were short or small threads.
It's why I love the games so much. Both of them are filled with references and nods to past episodes. Both have longer narratives and show with time that Matt and Trey could write very engaging and funny longer form narratives.
Stan's relationship with Wendy, Kenny's family issues, Jimmy being a stand-up comic, and the Goth kids and their relationship with other characters are all small status quo changes that happen throughout the seasons. It's small, but those small things made episodes that came back to them that much better.
I hope they write this kind of small, more character focused serialization
Weird comparison ik, but I think My Little Pony: Friendship is magic did this kind of serialization amazingly well. Status quo changes happened at the beginning and end of seasons, but characters still learned lessons and grew.
I’m not a fan of the serialization. A couple multi-episode stories here and there was fine but having it span an entire season takes away from the fun spontaneous nature the show used to have. I get that it has been a hallmark of Park to be able to pump out episode covering current events in near real time but my favorite episodes are the ones that allow me to take a break from those things. Watching the boys trying to send an orca to the moon, Cartman wanting to go to Casa Bonita, or sending Butters to a girls sleepover to capture a fortune telling device is much better entertainment and makes for more laughs than basically watching the news portrayed by South Park characters. The social commentary is not subtle enough to be funny anymore and having it in every episode is too much for me. I more or less gave up on SP after season 20
They really did a whole Tegrity Farms season lmaooo. Who tf idea was that?
From Season 21 onward, South Park found a strong balance between serialisation and episodic. Stories are more rewarding and cohesive than ever, but also function successfully under the constraints of making a show in six days. The same goes for Season 19, though that one had a more ambitious storyline in comparison.
The only times serialisation didn't work properly were in Seasons 6, 18 and 20. 6 juggled around ideas a lot with not enough episodes to flesh them out. 18's story was so basic it would better serve as a three-parter at most, and 20 was extremely committed but lacked foreshadowing and planning, though it didn't drop the ball nearly as hard as unrelated examples like Star Vs. the Forces of Evil's final season. Of these unsuccessful attempts, my favourite is Season 20. The South Park duo deserve major respect for keeping their creation fresh and innovative despite the hiccups, which can't be said for most long-running programmes.
Also, the Streaming Wars Specials are a masterclass in storytelling. Just, wow!
This is great, considering the announcement of season 26! Good timing!
honestly i like the interconnected chunks and how they switch it up. uve never gotten bored of it and its been fun to watch since i was a little kid 😅 the serialized parts are great and so are the individual episodes
You missed Tweek & Craig! The most wholesome serialisation!
From what I've heard, the ImaginationLand trilogy was originally planned to be a second theatrical movie.
it was, trey & matt were surprised comedy central let them do a 3-parter
The best line has to come from Kenny
“Have you ever been stabbed?! IT FUCKING HURTS!!”
Omg thanks for shouting out blooms! His videos are great! Love seeing creators supporting creators
Matt and Trey and the rest of the writers truly are master story tellers. They already receive incredible praise, but they deserve even more
Funnily enough the show was actually a lot more focused on serialization from the very beginning, with Garrison getting fired for his involvement in NAMBLA the previous episode and Cartman counting his previously failed get-rich-quick schemes.
I’ve been watching South Park consistently since 2009 and this video just cued me into some South Park lore I never even knew. Woah. Good vid
Fantastic video! Love the in depth look & thoughtful commentary.
a south park banger on my birthday? we eating good this year! Keep up the good work Johnny!
Happy birthday!
@@Johnny2Cellos appreciate it man means a lot from one of my favorite content creators! Any ideas on when the next CTC video will be?
One of my favorite and one of the earliest multipart episode stories is do the handicapped go to hell and its follow up episode entitled probably. I dont think it was mentioned in the video which is why i mentioned it but great vid as usual.
Great episode, I've always loved the serialization of the show...I know some don't, but it's so much fun to see what new roads they take to tell a relevant story.
Thanks for giving me a vid to watch during my break 😌
Perfect timing with the recent announcement of season 26.
Wonderful timing, I needed my fix!
Thanks man.
I was just rewatching some random episodes of SP^^
Loving how this was uploaded after the official release date for season 26
The timing was impeccable lol
I really love how Lorde just rolled with it, even made a track for them to use for funsies
That’s sick
I thought it was SIA that did the music for the lorde music in the show?
@@bruhdon4748 It was Sia.
Lmfaooo. Well this comnent backfired!
@@portugal5698 why?
I’m a huge fan of first sixteen South Park seasons. They were so great, and…maybe it’s a strange thing to say about a show like THIS, but really heartwarming and important to me. It was literally a series about my childhood and my life. I have or had friends that act or acted like some of the characters and all of them are incredible. The story in most of the episodes was unique or just exiting, had some good thoughts, some of the concepts and punchlines surprised me a lot.
Jokes, animation, even music - everything in South Park was like…made for me. Just perfect. And then they ruined it starting from the seventeenth season and baby now.
Okay, Goodbye you, guys, I’m gonna go cry about the show that made me experience a lot of feelings and had some realistic and emotional morals mixed with stupid childish and really funny smart jokes…
I'm ready to see what they do this season. I wouldn't be surprised at all if we get a Kanye episode, or maybe a sequel to "Band in China" about Apple promoting Chinese censorship.
The Covid Saga was a sequel to Band in China since the events of Band in china caused everything that happened in the Covid saga
@@smelkus Yeah, that's true.
I don't think they will go heavy into china again, because they already did that so much. But kanye might be a possibility.
@@HeavyMetalGamingHD Yeah, Kanye can try to exterminate the Jews like Cartman tried in "The Passion of the Jew" lol.
Another example of early serialization is season 2 Mr Garrison giving up Mr Hat for Mr Twig
Apart from great videos I always love the music you use! What’s the song playing at 05:30? And please make a feature lengths song with your outro :D It’s so good!
Honestly, I love the little nods to continuity in this show. It's one of my favorite parts about it, and I hope they keep it up.
lol for me it was the very opposite
Tbh that was something I never liked about South Park. I think South Park was way better when the interconnected episodes were not more than three episodes. Nowadays I avoid watching South Park because I haven’t watched the previous stuff and feel just confused. What made the show so great for me was that I could just binge through the episodes and always being at the beginning of a story and not in the middle where I’m forced to watch the episodes in order for me to keep up with the story
gotta watch Family guy for the sitcom type stuff my dude
@@NARUTOthe6THh0kage are you sayin South Park can be replaced by family guy?
@@qayssarjrd5399 Isn't family guy older than south park?
@@NARUTOthe6THh0kage so what? That doesn’t change anything about what my initial comment was about and the response to your comment. Who cares if family guy is older or not. South Park is in my opinion the superior show and I liked better without season long stories and subplots
Love your videos bud
Season 14 episode 5 thanks Johnny going home right after work and watching that episode now
Damn, really early for once! Excited for the quality content.
I really hope they continue with like not the ongoing full story’s but do like what they did last season like with small changes that end up happening but stay the same and end up being a bigger part in the movie like you said I really found it neat that the season sent up not many things in my opinion but I think it was perfect to end it all with basically a 2 hour movie making up like what 6 episodes almost making it a 12 episode season but you only had to wait for 3 episodes a piece but they just had the smaller changes they made become a bigger part in the second half of the season but I think it worked perfectly tbh
I only just started South Park this week and I when I randomly stumbled on season 20 and I can't lie it is the season what sold me on the show.
I'm so excited to see this evolve in season 26
The only thing I didn’t understand with the ending of the pandemic special I didn’t really get what they were trying to say lol
I think what I liked about the serialization is how even more off the wall South Park gets with its storylines in this format such as imagination land, the ads, Covid etc. even if it had a few missteps
I also like that you extent it to the early seasons and how they added continuity to the series before going full season story arcs in the modern episodes, almost as if they were stepping stones. nice vid!
I love it. My wife and I basically relive recent history through southpark
Brilliant stuff
Great video
I have enjoyed the episodes that follow somewhat of a story throughout the episodes i just hate when they don't finish it that is my biggest problem. At first i did not like it seeing Stan's family move to a farm away from the main cast, but i have enjoyed the whole tegridy farm episodes i think they are hilarious.
Finally someone is doing this video. thx.
Serialization is great for most shows but it doesnt belong in a show that is relies on pop culture for its plots.
Debatable 😅
That's one of the best parts when it somes to South Park, and what may be to come...the anticipation lol
I'm rewatching the collection again, I just hit season 16.
I've been a hardcore fan since we all watched the very first episode in my buddies basement.
We were at opening night of Bigger, Longer Uncut.
I've seen em all lol more than once.
And they've yet to let me down.
The thing about the newer serialized episodes is that I respect them more than I like them.
Ya know... I feel this
I love your outros
Serialization was cool but the newest season was a breath of fresh air as well.
a breath, that suddenly stopped after 6 episodes. then nothing happened for a while. And now south park seems to be in a bit of a limbo again. I haven read any news about a new season or a new special for quite a while.
The meteor shower night concept was brilliant. Not all the individual episodes hold up though.
Rewatching South Park it’s kinda crazy how they mess up continuity with things like character’s names and ages and etc but also recall some kinda little things. There’s stuff with saddam hussein, various character deaths, and other references from the movie and such of course-kinda surprised u didn’t bring up the Mr. Twig stuff in season 2-but also here are just some neat lil things I noticed going back to some old eps:
-in “fat camp”, Cartman directly references how he smuggled stuff into prison by shoving them up his ass in “cartman’s silly hate crime”
-in “trapper keeper”, Cartman says he can’t have friends over the age of 30 as he got screwed over on that once, referencing “Cartman joins NAMBLA”. In this ep Mr. Garrison also mentions how his relationship with his dad is better now, a reference to “worldwide recorder concert”
-in “super best friends”, Cartman says he doesn’t wanna die bc he hasn’t even gotten his pubes yet. Next ep he buys pubes from Scott tenorman
-of course the Scott tenorman ep ends up tying into a lot of things/gets referenced more than I remembered, but also in this ep Cartman tells a story abt his grandma dying in an attempt to get his money back from Scott. This might not have been a total lie as in “cartmanland” 2 eps later, cartman’s grandma dies.
-as many ppl noticed, cartman's devotion to mel gibson/the passion of the christ was brought up in "good times with weapons" and "up the down steroid" before "passion of the jew" finally centered on it
-similarly, "tonsil trouble" is basically based on jokes from "cartman joins NAMBLA", "casa bonita", "red man's greed" and "woodland critter christmas" where cartman expressed desire for kyle to get AIDS (which ends up being referenced in "post covid")
-in “merry Christmas, Charlie Manson”, Kyle brings up the film festival from “chef’s chocolate salty balls” influencing mr. Hankey’s popularity. If u pay attention, there are more lines referencing other events than u might think
All that aside, I guess I most prefer the continuity how it’s done in like seasons 18, 21 & 25 where there’s definite elements that carry from one ep to the next, possibly leading to a more continuity-heavy string of 2-3 episodes near the end of the season
Go God Go is my favourite multi-part episode and one of my favourite episodes of the show in general. I can't say I'm surprised it doesn't see much discussion online because it's a prty straightforward plot that doesn't rly reveal anything about the characters, but it and Make Love Not Warcraft are the highlights of the otherwise kinda mid season 10 for me.
I really like Go God Go! But I think season 10 has a handful of bangers. Chef Returns, Cartoon Wars, ManBearPig, Make Love Not Warcraft, Go God Go and Stanley's Cup are all great imo
I don’t expect a Good Times With Weapons or a Make Love Not Watcraft or a Cass Bonita in today’s South Park. I’ll just keep rewatching decade-old ones.
I have the Imaginationland movie DVD. You don't get much more serialized than if you can put three episodes together and release it as a single movie.
I always viewed imaginationland as the 2nd south park movie.
It change the episode for the better and nice video man :]
There has been a lot of serialization through out the early South Park episodes, like Mr Hat running away and then coming back to hurt Mr Twig. Or the time that they made a Mr Hanky movie, then later it was mentioned on the way to Grandma's house in a different episode.
As an old fart, I’ve been watching South Park since S1E1 came out. It’s the only show that has continued to get better and better with age. The Tegrity Farms arc was hilarious IMO, especially the specials. Can’t wait for the new episodes coming. 😁👌🏻
A few times in season 6-8 Kyle and Stan mention a few of the things that happened in S1-3
This is so weird I literally just rewatched season 20 and now this vid comes out.
originally I thought the grouping was Stan and Kyle, and then it was Cartman and Kenny,
but I think actually it is Stan and Cartman and Kyle and Kenny
butters and cartman couldn't be a pair because both of them need some one to support them, and neither can supply that for each other
Another episode 200 and 202 follows up is Butt out since Rob Reiner plays a major role in the episodes you forget to mention Butt out when you listed the episodes that 200 and 291 follow up from
Switching up the status quo on any long running show can help keep it fresh
The Imaginationland "Battle of Helm's Deep" was amazing and cemented South Park as top-tier animated show. I love the serialization seasons. Season 19 is one of my favorites. Especially the reveal that Leslie is an ad.
I met Matt Stone at a gig in London a few months ago. Holy cow, he was so nice. And we talked about rush.
I love the little hints so you are mindblown when you find out later in the season. Like that lelsie keeps talking to much and pc principle shutting here up. And later finding out she ie an ad and thus the reason why she talks so much. I thought that was great
Now there’s a sentence. “Equal rights means equal fights”
Love the south park videos Johnny ! Have you see the great north on hulu
Thanks! I only watched the first episode I think, but it was pretty good! I'll have to watch more of it
@@Johnny2Cellos it has it's own sense of humor and heartwarming at times , gives off king of the hill vibes
For a guy like me that’s been watching South Park religiously since I was six or seven, 99ish. I love it either way, they’re both different but they’re both good. Old old episodes are ridiculously silly, which is great. But I like all the new changes/serialization. I love to hate PC Prince
I like light serialization but if they abandoned the idea i dont think id be upset about it
Fun video Johnny! Don't mean to correct you, but the reveal of Cartman's father took much longer than 1 week. I WAS THERE, YOU LITTLE WHIPPERSNAPPERS! After the cliffhanger, viewers had to wait 5 weeks for the April 1st reveal, which of course turned out to be the Terrance and Phillip prank, then an additional 3 weeks after that for the actual sequel episode reveal. I remember the wait being agonizing!
The post covid specials were some of my favorite things that ever happened in South Park.
those specials had some absolutely insane jokes and writing. I absolutely died, when butters came out as a NFT scammer.
Hi - Hope you make more South park stuff.
I got the bell on but can't remember why I subed in the first place. Probably South Park. ;)
I think a mix of both is ideal.
I know you do a lot of American cartoons and they are all I love, but I swear Johnny 2 cellos would do an amazing breakdown of Berserk. 👁️👄👁️
i fucking needed a south park episode holy
A missed opportunity for the President Garrison's story arc would be seeing how the Garrison Family would react to Garrison being president
I love that episodes matter. Callbacks are great and it feels like things really happened, however I feel like it needs to be a lot looser like in the past. Though I feel like I am just burned out of the whole Tedigree thing.
I would like the kids to go to the 5th Grade, bring Kenny in to the spotlight more, and bring back some fan favourite characters more like Mr Slave or the Goth Kids.
I feel like Season 6 was mostly a fully serialized one with constant back and forth storylines having Kenny's season long absence as overarching set-up for everything
jesus i didnt even realze the episodes in the meteor trilogy were all on the same night
another big example of continuity in south park is stan and wendy breaking up in the episode Raisins and didn't get back together until The List several seasons later
Season 19 was one of the greatest seasons of any tv show I’ve ever watched.
South Park lost me after Coon and Friends. I just loved it so much. Was hoping they'd continue with that story at some point in the future
It would e good if one of the specials focused on Coon and friends and maybe they could expand Kennys lore such as by explaning why peoples memory of seeing him die gets erased when he ressurects
I can't believe they had morbius in South park
anyone notices that his voice syncs with mitch conner? 5:45
It was a really smart move at the time when they did it, I felt.
Either way it's insane that the show started 3 decades ago and is still good and finding new ways to be good
Randy actually being Lorde seems to have also not been the plan originally. It looks like they originally had Randy lying about having an in with her so he had to impersonate her. A throwaway joke. But some reporter didn’t get it and published an article all angry at South Park for portraying Lorde as a man. So they decided to mock that with the following episode, which has a reporter sleuthing South Park to find out the truth about Lorde, with Randy being Lorde. The rest is history.