South Park’s Cartoon War

South Park’s epic 10th season is coming out on DVD tomorrow, so I thought it was fitting that I run this article from the Trashwire.com archives. Season 10 had so many great episodes, but I was particularly fond of “Cartoon Wars” for taking on the very network that airs the show…. oh, and for totally ripping on another “controversial” animated comedy in the process. This article was originally posted on Trashwire when the two-part episode first aired back in 2006.

In “Cartoon Wars”, a recent two part episode of South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone took on Family Guy and its writing staff. Not only did the episode feature a fake translated terrorist threat video which said, “Seriously, Family Guy isn’t that well written,” but it also had Cartman screaming that his sense of humor was better than Family Guy, and it claimed the Family Guy writers were manatees. The feud between the two controversial animated shows has been legendary for a while, but this was the first time it was directly addressed by either party. I found that after the episode aired, a line was drawn amongst my friends between those who were South Park people and those who were Family Guy people. As someone who likes both shows, I think there’s really no way to compare them.

Family Guy is a great network TV show. It’s funny, the characters are amusing and some of the jokes are really smart. Who doesn’t love Stewie and Brian? How could anyone not laugh at the Hope/Crosby parody “Road to…” episodes like “Road to Rhode Island” and “Road to Europe”? Seasons 1-3, the first set of DVDs, were excellent. At that time, most of the jokes had some significance within the plot and the absurdity was new and funny. Even into the fourth season, as the jokes started to become more obscure and irrelevant, the show maintained a pretty good level of humor. I really liked the Discovery Channel bit they did with fire trucks and ambulances competing for food out in the wild in the “Petarded” episode.

The only complaint I have with the show is when they claim to be “controversial”. Let’s be honest, the show is tame. Even network shows like the brilliant-but-canceled Arrested Development touched on more controversial subjects than Family Guy. There’s nothing wrong with that; it’s ok to not be controversial. I only wish that I didn’t have to hear Seth MacFarlane claim that their show is so risqué in every single interview. It’s like he took old articles about South Park from 1998 and just scratched out South Park and jotted in Family Guy. I think MacFarlane should be proud of the show he has without making it seem like his show is so important for stirring things up. Like I said, it’s a great network TV show. It’s not a cable show like South Park, so it’s a whole different ball game.

Cable shows can take on subjects that network shows could never imagine. Just think, would we have ever heard the word “sh*t” 162 times on Fox’s Family Guy? Would there ever be an episode in which Christopher Reeve sucks the stem cells out of aborted fetuses, or one where a statue of the Virgin Mary squirts blood onto the Pope? Those were all incidents on South Park, but there’s no way that Fox would ever take on subjects like that. Again, that’s fine. Fox doesn’t have to talk about aborted fetuses and bloody Mary statues. But please, Family Guy staff, don’t try to say that your show is the most controversial cartoon.

Aside from the completely different medium, you can’t compare the shows because of the time frame it takes to make each episode. One episode of South Park takes only four days from script to air time compared to Family Guy’s nine month production schedule. That allows South Park to take on current events while they’re still current and even gives the show a news-like quality. It’s at least as relevant as an editorial. The show becomes a social satire, Parker and Stone’s own op-ed piece. Family Guy just can’t take on this genre because it takes so long to produce. That’s why Family Guy remains a sitcom… and that’s just fine. Sitcoms are good too, look at Seinfeld, but sitcoms can’t claim to have news value or to be real social satires.

I TiVo both shows, but I find that I’m always anxious to watch South Park right away, whereas Family Guy can sometimes sit on my Tivo’s Now Playing list for a while before I get around to it. At Trashwire we support our dudes and Parker and Stone are, most certainly, our dudes.

At the same time, I enjoy Family Guy too. I don’t think we should have to pledge our allegiance to one show or the other. So to all my friends who are now living in fear of admitting they like Family Guy in front of hardcore South Park fans like me: let your freak flag fly and watch Family Guy whenever you want, just make sure you watch South Park too.