Although one episode of South Park appeared precision-engineered to shock viewers, this outing satirically went largely unnoticed upon launch. South Park has at all times been controversial. Since the sequence started life in 1997, South Park’s ribald satire and tasteless humorousness have earned the ire of ethical guardians the world over. Some of South Park’s worst episodes deserve the criticism they obtained, just like the witless, transphobic season 23, episode 7, “Board Girls.” However, most of the present’s outings shocked viewers solely for the sake of enjoyable. Long earlier than South Park season 27, one such outing backfired.

South Park’s co-creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker had been accustomed to controversy by the point the present’s fifth season started. The present was met with outrage when South Park began airing because of its gory violence, frequent foul language, and gross-out humor. Although lots of South Park’s most controversial moments got here later within the present’s historical past, by season 5, there had been requires the sequence to be censored and banned. Even South Park’s film spinoff Bigger Longer and Uncut struggled with the MPAA, with the creators repeatedly resubmitting the film earlier than they might safe an R score.

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South Park Season 5 Episode 1’s Profanity Didn’t Shock Viewers

“It Hits The Fan” Featured One Swear Word 162 Times

Ironically, one episode of South Park that appeared destined for infamy did not shock audiences when it aired. Season 5, episode 1, “It Hits The Fan,” wasn’t the scandal South Park’s creators anticipated regardless of its record-setting ranges of profanity. An episode that centered on tv censorship, “It Hits The Fan” featured one swear phrase 162 instances, or a mean of as soon as each eight seconds. Despite this, the episode garnered few complaints from Standards and Practices and aired unedited. Stone and Parker had been ceaselessly challenged for smaller infractions, however “It Hits The Fan” by some means managed to keep away from courting controversy.

This could have been indicative of the altering norms of tv within the early ‘00s. Throughout the ‘90s, the once-tight standards of American television censorship had loosened somewhat and this only became more prevalent in the early ‘00s. Some of South Park’s riskier storylines nonetheless shocked viewers, however the present was gaining equally edgy rivals like Family Guy by the point season 5 started. Within a number of a long time, South Park’s comedy had grown so acceptable that some nations aired dubbed reruns of early episodes as early as 6 pm. As Stone and Parker themselves have famous since, instances modified.

Why This South Park’s Episode’s Fate Was So Ironic

South Park’s Creators Anticipated Pushback For Season 5 Episode 1

It was extremely ironic that “It Hits The Fan” didn’t trigger any of the controversy that the present’s creators anticipated since South Park’s sweariest episode was about ridiculous overreactions to real-life TV swearing. In “It Hits The Fan,” the titular city’s denizens discover that they can not cease repeating the identical offensive phrase when a TV present options the controversial swear. A ethical outrage springs up all through South Park because the residents maintain spontaneously repeating it, resulting in all method of comedic silliness. This was an apparent parody of widespread justifications for TV censorship, however the episode aired utterly uncensored.

South Park had handled numerous makes an attempt at censorship through the years, so it is sensible that the present’s creators had been accustomed to outraged viewer suggestions. However, though South Park’s lengthy historical past is filled with controversies and scandals, audiences merely didn’t take the bait this time round. In the DVD commentary for the episode, Parker and Stone famous that Comedy Central executives had been equally nonplussed. To their shock, the community wasn’t certain a few draft of the episode that featured the swear phrase a handful of instances, however permitted a draft the place it was uttered over 150 instances.

South Park’s Sweariest Episode Highlighted A Real Double Standard

Boundary Pushing Content Gained More Praise In TV Dramas

While “It Hits The Fan” may not have triggered as a lot controversy as its creators could have anticipated, the episode did nonetheless enable South Park to make some extent. Shows like NYPD Blue had been praised for his or her grittiness whereas South Park was criticized for its obscenity, resulting in the unfair presumption that self-serious drama was inherently extra artistically legitimate than comedy. This understandably irked the present’s creators, a lot in order that the sequence which options the offensive phrase in South Park’s episode is just titled “Cop Drama.”

This parody allowed South Park’s creators to level out that tv viewers and critics alike tended to have two separate units of guidelines for comedies and dramas when it got here to censorship. Some of South Park’s traditional episodes don’t have any significant message or level, however “It Hits The Fan” was proper to notice that giving dramas extra leeway from censorship units a foul precedent. This may very well be used to silence satirists by claiming their work is frivolous, one thing South Park’s critics have tried earlier than and since season 5’s sweary premiere.

South Park

Cast

Trey Parker , Matt Stone

Release Date

August 13, 1997

Seasons

26