Il y a peu d'émissions dans l'histoire de la télévision qui ont repoussé les limites de ce qui est acceptable plus que "South Park".
Créé par Trey Parker et Matt Stone, "South Park" suit les exploits de Kyle Broflovski, Stan Marsh, Eric Cartman et Kenny McCormick alors qu'ils naviguent à l'école primaire tout en traitant de tous les problèmes de société imaginables. "South Park" s'est attaqué à tout, des fusillades dans les écoles et du droit à l'avortement aux relations raciales et à l'hypocrisie religieuse. Le spectacle a remporté d'innombrables prix et a été critiqué par tous, des acteurs et athlètes aux politiciens et universitaires. À ce jour, il continue de repousser les limites afin de mettre en lumière les injustices et de placer un miroir géant sur la société d'aujourd'hui.
Bien que "South Park" aime embrouiller les célébrités, il ne manque pas de célébrités de bonne humeur qui ont volontairement participé à l'émission. Des stars comme George Clooney, Jennifer Aniston, Elton John, Ozzy Osbourne et bien d'autres ont exprimé des personnages au fil des ans.
Il est presque impossible de déterminer les meilleurs épisodes de cette émission révolutionnaire, car les fans endurcis peuvent se disputer sans fin pour savoir quel morceau de satire est vraiment le plus grand. Heureusement, il existe des mesures qui peuvent être utilisées pour régler quelques débats. Stacker a compilé les données IMDb sur tous les épisodes de "South Park" et les a classés en fonction de leur note d'utilisateur IMDb, le n ° 1 étant le mieux noté. Nous avons ensuite dressé une liste des 100 meilleurs qui peuvent être examinés, débattus et donner un excellent sentiment de nostalgie aux fans de la série classique. Continuez à lire pour voir combien de vos favoris ont atteint le top 100. Attention :spoilers à venir !
1 / 100
- Note des utilisateurs IMDb :8,3
- Votes :2 057
- Date de diffusion :23 septembre 2015
Visant directement la candidature politique de Donald Trump, l'immigration clandestine et le politiquement correct en général, le deuxième épisode de la 19e saison de South Park utilise l'ancien instituteur, M. Garrison, comme remplaçant de tout ce qui est xénophobe. Garrison, remarquant un afflux de Canadiens aux États-Unis, compose une chanson intitulée "Where My Country Gone" et annonce sa propre candidature à la présidence aux côtés de sa colistière Caitlyn Jenner.
L'épisode est une capsule temporelle fascinante lorsqu'on le regarde à travers l'objectif de la présidence Trump, en particulier lorsque Garrison propose de construire un mur entre les États-Unis et le Canada lorsqu'il apprend que South Park Elementary oblige les enseignants à apprendre une langue canadienne.
2 / 100
- Note des utilisateurs IMDb :8,3
- Votes :2 089
- Date de diffusion :28 mars 2007
Jouant au plus fort du drame populaire "24" de Fox Broadcasting, "The Snuke" de la saison 11 suit Cartman alors qu'il soupçonne un nouvel étudiant musulman et ses parents d'un complot terroriste visant à tuer Hillary Clinton. En apprenant qu'un rassemblement Clinton est prévu à South Park, Cartman alerte la CIA. Les employés de la CIA découvrent alors que les Russes ont placé une arme nucléaire à l'intérieur de Clinton, surnommée "The Snuke". Après avoir découvert un complot secret des Britanniques, qui utilisent le Snuke comme diversion pour reprendre l'Amérique, Cartman arrive à la conclusion que c'est son racisme qui a en fait aidé à résoudre l'affaire - une fois de plus sans tirer de véritables leçons en cours de route.
3 / 100
- Note des utilisateurs IMDb :8,4
- Votes :1 604
- Date de diffusion :10 novembre 2010
"Coon vs. Coon and Friends" est la dernière partie d'une trilogie d'épisodes de South Park qui présentent les enfants en costumes de super-héros avec Cartman comme "The Coon" et Kenny révélé être l'immortel "Mysterion". Dans "Coon vs. Coon and Friends", Mysterion tente d'empêcher The Coon d'utiliser "Cthulhu" (un être maléfique créé par l'écrivain de science-fiction H.P. Lovecraft) pour assassiner des hippies. Trop tard pour sauver des gens au festival Burning Man et pour avoir tué Justin Bieber, Mysterion se tourne vers un autre personnage immortel, "Mint Berry Crunch" (l'alter-ego de Bradley Biggle), qui entraîne Cthulhu dans le trou de déversement de pétrole de BP dans le Golfe du Mexique.
5 / 100
- Note des utilisateurs IMDb :8,4
- Votes :1 757
- Date de diffusion :19 juillet 2000
Après avoir entendu un sermon apocalyptique du père Maxi, les enfants de South Park commencent à se demander si leur ami juif Kyle et leur ami handicapé Timmy iront en enfer s'ils ne confessent pas leurs péchés. En enfer, pendant ce temps, Satan est rongé par la culpabilité de ses relations avec Saddam Hussein et un homme nommé Chris - et qu'il devrait choisir. L'épisode embrouille le catholicisme lorsque les garçons surprennent le père Maxi avec une femme et que Cartman prend sur lui de prêcher aux habitants de South Park pour qu'ils lui confessent leurs péchés à la place.
7 / 100
- Note des utilisateurs IMDb :8,4
- Votes :1 812
- Date de diffusion :19 novembre 2014
L'épisode de la saison 18 de "Cock Magic" se moque à la fois du jeu réel de Magic:The Gathering, des combats de coqs, des droits des animaux, des sports féminins et des marionnettes du pénis. Dans l'épisode, les garçons finissent par entraîner un coq pour un combat de magie de coq (avec des coqs jouant à Magic:The Gathering) tandis que le père de Stan, Randy, présente des performances de magie en utilisant son pénis sous le nom de scène "The Amazingly Randi". Dans le même temps, les filles de South Park Elementary tentent de susciter l'intérêt pour leurs matchs de volley-ball tandis que les garçons sont dégoûtés par les droits des animaux. À la fin, la police fait exploser le ring de combat de la magie du coq pendant que Randy exécute ses tours et que les garçons découvrent comment aider les filles en combinant la magie du coq avec le volley-ball pour gagner une plus grande foule.
8 / 100
- Note des utilisateurs IMDb :8,4
- Votes :1 832
- Date de diffusion :2 avril 2003
Après avoir eu des ennuis pour avoir fabriqué un pénis en argile en cours d'art, les enfants décident de se venger de leur professeur en tapissant sa maison. Les problèmes commencent lorsque Kyle se sent submergé par la culpabilité et que Cartman doit trouver un moyen de le faire taire. Pendant ce temps, les flics interrogent Josh (dans un envoi d'Hannibal Lecter de "Red Dragon") pour tenter de résoudre l'affaire. Cartman avoue finalement le crime et, ce faisant, obtient moins de détention que Kyle, Stan et Kenny. Josh est capable de tromper la police et s'échappe de la salle des mineurs. La scène finale le montre en train de démarcher la Maison Blanche avec un grand sac de papier toilette.
- Note des utilisateurs IMDb :8,4
- Votes :1 961
- Date de diffusion :16 décembre 1998
En remontant à la deuxième saison de South Park, "Gnomes" vise les entreprises et les implications d'organisations comme Starbucks (nommées Harbucks dans l'épisode) qui poussent les petites entreprises à la faillite. Dans l'épisode, les enfants sont convaincus d'écrire un article contre Harbucks et la ville se mobilise pour empêcher le conglomérat de café de South Park. C'est la première fois que le personnage de Tweek est présenté, car ses parents sont les propriétaires de petits cafés qui se battent pour garder Harbucks hors de la ville. En ce qui concerne le titre de l'épisode, les enfants découvrent qu'il y a des gnomes à South Park qui disent qu'ils sont des experts en affaires et peuvent aider à leur expliquer le conflit de Harbucks à travers un plan de base en trois phases :1. Récupérer des sous-vêtements. 2. ? 3. Bénéfice. Le plan des gnomes a été utilisé d'innombrables fois pour usurper des pratiques commerciales de mauvaise qualité ou des propositions de politique gouvernementale qui ont échoué.
14 / 100
- Note des utilisateurs IMDb :8,4
- Votes :2 054
- Date de diffusion :28 avril 2004
Un autre épisode abordant la question de l'immigration clandestine, "Goobacks" parle de gens du futur qui ne peuvent pas trouver de travail et qui voyagent dans le temps pour travailler pour pratiquement rien. Cela affecte directement les garçons de South Park lorsqu'ils perdent leur travail de pelleteur de neige au profit des Goobacks. Le père de Stan, Randy, prend la cause des habitants de South Park qui élaborent un plan pour combattre les Goobacks en participant à une orgie gay en utilisant la théorie selon laquelle les hommes homosexuels ne peuvent pas se reproduire, il y aura donc moins de personnes à l'avenir. Stan, embarrassé par son père, dit que la société devrait essayer d'améliorer les choses afin qu'à l'avenir les Goobacks aient de meilleurs emplois, ce qui finit par les faire disparaître et disparaître. Bien sûr, les habitants de South Park préfèrent l'orgie gay et décident de s'en tenir à cela.
15 / 100
- Note des utilisateurs IMDb :8,4
- Votes :2 079
- Date de diffusion :8 août 2001
La saison 5, épisode 8 marque le premier de nombreux épisodes où le personnage créé en laboratoire Towelie fait une apparition. Towelie apparaît pour la première fois lorsque les garçons jouent sur une nouvelle console de jeu et leur demande s'ils "veulent se défoncer" (le slogan de Towelie, ainsi que "n'oubliez pas d'apporter une serviette"). Lorsque la console de jeu disparaît et qu'une demande de rançon l'offre en échange de Towelie, les garçons se retrouvent pris entre l'armée et une société en lice pour la technologie qui a créé Towelie en premier lieu. Les garçons ne se soucient que de récupérer l'appareil de jeu pendant qu'un complot visant à conquérir la terre par une race extraterrestre utilisant des serviettes intelligentes créées artificiellement est découvert. Les garçons et Towelie finissent par s'échapper et ils récupèrent également leur jeu.
16 / 100
- Note des utilisateurs IMDb :8,4
- Votes :2 134
- Date de diffusion :18 mars 2009
Dans le premier d'une trilogie en trois parties, "The Coon" est l'alter-ego super-héros de Cartman qui agit en tant que justicier pour aider à contrecarrer le crime à South Park à la Batman. Voulant se faire connaître pour ses capacités à lutter contre le crime, The Coon tente d'alerter la police d'événements insignifiants lorsqu'il affronte un autre personnage masqué nommé Mysterion. Cartman tente de vaincre et de démasquer Mysterion avec l'aide du professeur Chaos (Butters) lorsqu'il plante des explosifs dans un hôpital. Cartman et Mysterion s'affrontent et Cartman le convainc de partager son identité ou il continuera à faire des ravages dans South Park. Mysterion est d'accord, mais le public ne voit pas l'identité du personnage masqué.
18 / 100
- Note des utilisateurs IMDb :8,4
- Votes :2 298
- Date de diffusion :7 novembre 2007
Jouant sur l'engouement international des jeux vidéo "Guitar Hero", "Guitar Queer-o" suit Stan et Kyle alors qu'ils deviennent internationalement célèbres pour leurs prouesses "Guitar Hero". L'épisode joue sur les stéréotypes des groupes de rock classiques lorsque Kyle et Stan se séparent, et Stan tombe dans le piège de jouer à un jeu plus relaxant appelé "Heroin Hero". Après l'ascension et la chute de la renommée de "Guitar Hero", Stan et Kyle se réconcilient, abandonnent leur contrat d'enregistrement et tentent de franchir ensemble la barre du million de points du jeu. Quand ils le font, le jeu les insulte simplement et ils abandonnent tout pour de bon.
21 / 100
- Note des utilisateurs IMDb :8,5
- Votes :1 952
- Date de diffusion :10 décembre 2003
Les garçons essaient de remonter le moral de Stan après que sa petite amie a rompu avec lui en l'emmenant à Raisins, une parodie de Hooters mais avec des préadolescentes très maquillées. Cependant, le stratagème ne fonctionne pas :au lieu de cela, Stan commence à traîner avec les enfants gothiques à l'école. Pendant ce temps, Butters tombe amoureux de l'une des filles Raisins qui l'utilise pour l'argent de ses parents. Lorsque Butters se rend compte qu'il est utilisé, les enfants gothiques l'invitent également à se joindre à eux, mais il refuse et convainc Stan que se morfondre avec les gothiques ne fait que prolonger sa misère au lieu de lui permettre de s'en remettre.
22 / 100
- Note des utilisateurs IMDb :8,5
- Votes :1 961
- Date de diffusion :27 octobre 2004
"Douche and Turd" plonge dans la valeur du vote lorsque tous les choix se ressemblent exactement. PETA proteste contre l'utilisation d'une vache comme mascotte de l'école, alors les enfants décident de choisir entre deux alternatives :une douche géante ou un sandwich à l'étron. Stan trouve que tout le processus n'a pas de sens et finit par être banni par la ville pour avoir refusé de voter. En fin de compte, les membres de PETA sont abattus par Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs qui tentait d'assassiner Stan pour ne pas avoir voté et l'école se rend compte qu'ils peuvent simplement garder la vache comme mascotte, ce qui rend la position de Stan vraiment dénuée de sens.
23 / 100
- Note des utilisateurs IMDb :8,5
- Votes :1 963
- Date de diffusion :20 juin 2001
Pour ponctuer les règles de blasphème absurdes établies par la Federal Communications Commission (FCC), "It Hits the Fan" utilise le mot "s ** t" plus de 100 fois. Dans l'épisode proprement dit, les enfants sont ravis lorsque l'une de leurs émissions préférées "Cop Drama" annonce qu'ils prononceront le mot S à la télévision pour la première fois. Le spectacle normalise le mot et les personnages de "South Park" commencent à le dire tout le temps. Mais l'utilisation excessive entraîne le retour de la peste noire et le réveil d'un dragon tueur. Kyle tue finalement le dragon en utilisant la magie ancienne et tout redevient normal. Depuis la diffusion de cet épisode, le mot S est devenu monnaie courante dans la série.
24 / 100
- Note des utilisateurs IMDb :8,5
- Votes :2 000
- Date de diffusion :19 mars 2003
Pour l'épisode d'ouverture de la saison 7, Cartman a une antenne de sonde extraterrestre placée à l'intérieur de ses fesses et les enfants découvrent que la Terre fait simplement partie d'une émission de télé-réalité intergalactique. Lorsque les enfants découvrent que l'émission "Earth" va être annulée et donc détruite, ils trouvent un moyen de faire chanter les producteurs du réseau (qui sont des extraterrestres catalogués comme des stéréotypes juifs contrôlant tous les médias de l'univers) afin qu'ils puissent ' t détruire la Terre après tout. Lorsqu'ils rentrent chez eux, les extraterrestres réussissent à effacer la mémoire de tout le monde, mais les enfants ont toujours une photo, prouvant que les extraterrestres existent.
25 / 100
- Note des utilisateurs IMDb :8,5
- Votes :2 016
- Date de diffusion :24 mars 2004
Cartman décide de faire semblant d'être handicapé afin de pouvoir participer aux Jeux olympiques spéciaux afin de gagner 1 000 $ en prix. En même temps, Jimmy commence à prendre des stéroïdes pour pouvoir gagner également. À l'approche des jeux, l'utilisation de stéroïdes par Jimmy commence à tout affecter dans sa vie et il perd des amis et sa petite amie. Lorsque les jeux commencent, les membres honoraires du comité olympique se révèlent être des toxicomanes notoires Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi et Mark McGwire. Après être arrivé premier, Jimmy avoue avoir consommé de la drogue. Cartman, quant à lui, est tellement hors de forme qu'il arrive en dernier, mais il reçoit tout de même un prix d'esprit spécial pour sa participation.
26 / 100
- Note des utilisateurs IMDb :8,5
- Votes :2 057
- Date de diffusion :21 octobre 2015
Dans sa bataille apparemment sans fin contre le politiquement correct, cet épisode de South Park aborde l'idée d'espaces sûrs. Lorsque Cartman reçoit un assaut de commentaires négatifs à partir d'une photo qu'il a publiée de lui-même, P.C. Le principal demande à Butters de filtrer les remarques négatives afin que Cartman ne puisse plus les voir. Finalement, Butters doit filtrer les commentaires des célébrités comme Demi Lovato, Steven Seagal, Vin Diesel et d'autres. Dans le même temps, Randy essaie de transformer Whole Foods en un espace sûr lorsque le caissier le culpabilise continuellement pour qu'il fasse des dons de bienfaisance. Avec toute la négativité dirigée contre Butters, il est hospitalisé et le reste de South Park collecte des fonds pour les enfants affamés afin qu'ils puissent avoir des iPads et filtrer également les commentaires négatifs à leur sujet.
27 / 100
- Note des utilisateurs IMDb :8,5
- Votes :2 062
- Date de diffusion :1er décembre 2004
Au plus fort de la renommée de Paris Hilton, Trey Parker et Matt Stone ont décidé d'écrire un épisode entier se moquant de Hilton et de son effet sur les jeunes filles voulant être comme elle. Dans l'épisode, les jeunes filles de la ville idolâtrent Hilton, achètent sa marchandise et reconstituent sa sex tape. Wendy veut que tout s'arrête et elle recrute M. Slave pour y mettre un terme. Pendant ce temps, Hilton adopte Butters comme son nouvel animal de compagnie et offre à ses parents des millions de dollars pour le garder (ce à quoi ils doivent réfléchir). Butters échappe aux griffes de Hilton et M. Slave a une salope avec Hilton qui se termine par lui fourrer Hilton dans ses fesses et fustiger les parents de South Park pour ne pas avoir appris à leurs enfants pourquoi être une salope est en fait une mauvaise chose.
29 / 100
- Note des utilisateurs IMDb :8,5
- Votes :2 093
- Date de diffusion :14 novembre 2007
Lorsque les filles dressent une liste secrète qui évalue les garçons sur leur niveau de gentillesse, cela envoie des ondes de choc dans toute l'école, en particulier lorsque Kyle est classé dernier avec Cartman juste au-dessus de lui. Kyle entre dans un funk et prévoit de mettre le feu à l'école lorsqu'il est révélé que la liste a été truquée en faveur de Clyde, dont le père possède un magasin de chaussures. Les filles voulaient secrètement que Clyde arrive en premier dans l'espoir d'obtenir des chaussures gratuites. Bebe essaie d'empêcher Wendy de révéler la vérité en la tenant sous la menace d'une arme, mais les flics se présentent, l'appréhendent et sa balle perdue finit par tuer Kenny à la place.
- IMDb user rating:8.5
- Votes:2,198
- Air date:April 7, 1999
Voiced by Jennifer Aniston, the kid’s teacher Miss Stevens takes them and the rest of their choir group to Costa Rica where they’re supposed to perform for the president in a joint effort to help save the rainforests. While touring the forest, their guide is eaten and the group is left scared, alone, and abandoned. Encountering dangerous natives and wild animals, the kids manage to make their way back to safety when Cartman finds some loggers who destroy that part of the forest. The kids come to hate the rainforest and change the song they were supposed to sing for the Costa Rican president into one that decries everything about the forest itself and expounds on all its dangers.
33 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.6
- Votes:1,866
- Air date:April 23, 2003
When the kids play a game of junior detective and attempt to solve petty crimes around the neighborhood, they wind up getting recruited by the actual police to help them solve drug crimes. The kids end up busting a meth lab, taking part in shootouts, and uncovering corruption on the police force. With South Park cleaned up, the cops offer to make them real detectives, but they decline after realizing how intense the ordeal really was. The episode is a spoof of crime dramas on TV like “CSI” and plays on the popularity of police procedurals in general.
34 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.6
- Votes:1,879
- Air date:July 24, 2002
The parents of South Park are overwhelmed with news of child abductions and decide to elicit the help of City Wok owner Mr. Lu Kim to build a great wall around the town. As Mr. Kim finishes, the wall is immediately attacked by Mongols who continuously try to break through throughout the episode. When a new report comes out that parents are most likely to abduct their own children, the kids take it upon themselves to join up with the Mongols and blow up the wall. The parents finally come to their senses as the kids make them realize how much they’ve been overreacting to the news.
35 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.6
- Votes:1,892
- Air date:Dec. 4, 2002
Trying to teach their kids a lesson about drugs, Stan and Butters’ parents hire actors from a company called Motivation Corp to convince their kids what they’ll be like in the future if they take drugs. Stan—immediately on to his parents’ ruse—calls a revenge hotline that’s run by Cartman. Cartman offers to kill Stan’s parents, but Stan instead plays a trick on them to force them to admit their lies. Stan’s parents come clean and apologize for lying, as do Butters’ (who hired Cartman to smear his house with feces in revenge) and tell them that drugs can lead to bad things but aren’t all bad. Cartman is then visited by his future self who is a trim, good looking CEO of a time-traveling company. But Cartman doesn’t believe him, thinking his mom paid another actor from Motivation Corp. Instead, Cartman carries on the way he always does, which changes the man into a poor, fatter version, revealing it was actually Cartman coming back from the future.
36 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.6
- Votes:1,900
- Air date:Dec. 6, 2000
The episode of “Fat Camp” has two competing storylines. The first involves Cartman being sent away to fat camp and scheming his way to get food smuggled in. The second involves Kenny, who, in the fashion of shows like “Jackass,” starts doing crazy stunts and eating weird things for money. While Kenny starts to get famous and Cartman begins selling candy to other kids at fat camp, Kyle begins to suspect what Cartman is up to and figures out that he was using an imposter to pose as a skinnier version of him back home. Kyle then blackmails the imposter to act as Kenny for one final stunt—spending hours inside Mrs. Crabtree’s uterus. When the time runs out, the imposter (dressed as Kenny) flings out of her uterus, but now dead from the pressure. Cartman, of course, is kicked out of fat camp and banished from ever returning.
37 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.6
- Votes:1,934
- Air date:Aug. 1, 2001
Completely oblivious to sexual education, Cartman thinks he can “milk” his own dog. When Stan shows his parents the same thing, he gets grounded and the school winds up having to teach the kids sexual education. The teachers, not exactly experienced in their own right, cause even more confusion, making the girls think all boys have STDs and the boys think they need to wear condoms at all times. Chef finally intervenes and chastises the parents for not properly teaching the kids about sex, leading to a better understanding in South Park as to how STDs are transmitted and babies are made.
38 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.6
- Votes:1,935
- Air date:April 10, 2002
The kids get tired of Butters as their Kenny replacement and decide to kick him out of the group and hold auditions for a new friend. Bitter, Butters decides to bring forth his supervillain alter-ego, Professor Chaos, who vows to create disruption all over the world. Dougie is one of the early losers of the kids’ auditions and joins Butters as General Disarray and the two of them try to destroy the environment with aerosol cans. The auditions for a fourth friend come down to Towelie, Tweek, Timmy, and Jimmy and they ultimately decide on Tweek for no discernible reason.
39 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.6
- Votes:1,959
- Air date:Dec. 8, 2004
There’s a serial killer in South Park, and Cartman claims to have psychic powers in order to help the police find him. Kyle, knowing that Cartman is full of it, takes it upon himself to investigate a suspicious man named Deets. When Kyle finds evidence and shares it with the police, they disregard him, following Cartman’s alleged psychic powers instead. Kyle then has to pretend he’s a psychic in order for the police to believe him. Kyle points the cops in the direction of Deets, who has taken Cartman hostage for crediting the wrong people with Deets’ crimes. The cops get to Deets at the last moment, killing him before he’s able to murder Cartman. Kyle is then looked at as a real psychic before he lectures everyone that there’s no such thing as psychics and he was faking it the whole time.
40 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.6
- Votes:2,016
- Air date:Oct. 28, 1998
For their Halloween special, Season 2’s episode of “Spookyfish” finds a nice and normal Cartman in South Park causing the other boys to get suspicious. At the same time, Stan’s mom says that Aunt Flo has come to visit and gives Stan a goldfish to keep him away. Right away, Stan thinks the fish is evil and turns out to be right when he finds a murdered body on his floor. The nice Cartman turns out to be from an alternate universe and Stan and Kyle try to figure out how to swap the normal Cartman with the alt Cartman. Everything comes to a head at an ancient Indian burial ground pet store, where they find the portal to the alternative universe and try to send back normal Cartman. Unfortunately, normal Cartman tricks the other boys and the alternate Cartman gets sent back to the parallel world.
41 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.6
- Votes:2,031
- Air date:Nov. 3, 2004
Wall-Mart comes to South Park and while the townspeople love the cheap bargains, all the small businesses around them begin to shut down. Desperate to make it stop and take Wall-Mart out, the boys travel to Arkansas to confront Wall-Mart at their headquarters. There they find out the only way to stop Wall-Mart is to take out its heart. When the boys return home, they enter the Wall-Mart and find the heart, which is just a mirror, symbolizing that Wall-Mart only lives off the selfish consumerism of its customers. The kids break the mirror and Wall-Mart then implodes on itself. The townspeople take the lesson to heart but then repeat the same mistakes over and over again with other major businesses.
42 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.6
- Votes:2,043
- Air date:March 30, 2005
Playing on the national debate around the Terri Schiavo case, the episode of “Best Friends Forever” pits the town of South Park against one another over whether it’s okay to pull the plug on people in a vegetative state. When Kenny is kept on life support, he can’t get into heaven where God is amassing an army to fight Satan. When the kids eventually find the last page of Kenny’s will, it categorically tells them that if he is in a vegetative state, no matter what, don’t put him on television. Kenny’s tube is then removed, and he floats to heaven to lead God’s army against Satan. The episode won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program.
43 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.6
- Votes:2,102
- Air date:Oct. 15, 2008
Cartman mocks Wendy while she gives a presentation in class on breast cancer awareness. Tired of his antics, she challenges Cartman to a fight and rallies the entire school around her. Afraid that if he gets beaten up by a girl, no one will ever think he’s cool, Cartman goes to extreme lengths to get out of fighting. Wendy and Cartman’s parents get involved and Wendy backs down. But when Principal Victoria tells Wendy that she’s a cancer survivor and that cancer doesn’t play by the rules, Wendy takes it as approval to fight Cartman and beats him up badly. Cartman, misinterpreting the kids’ reactions for pity, walks away feeling better about himself, once again learning nothing from this experience.
44 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.6
- Votes:2,140
- Air date:March 25, 2009
With the global recession in full swing, “Margaritaville” was South Park’s attempt to lampoon America’s infatuation with the market while having virtually no understanding of it. Kyle tries to explain to people that the market is simply a manmade construct and that people should spend money to get out of the recession. Meanwhile, Stan tries to return Randy’s Margaritaville mixer but because it was bought on a payment plan, he can’t figure out who to return it to since the debt was collateralized (mocking the housing crisis at the time). Stan makes it all the way to the United States Treasury where he finds a group of men playing a game with a cut-off chicken’s head, deciding whether to bail an industry out or not. Kyle becomes a martyr for the entire town as he uses his American Express card to wipe out everyone’s debt, which helps bring things back to normal again…for now.
45 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.6
- Votes:2,222
- Air date:April 21, 2004
“The Jeffersons” takes a scathing look at Michael Jackson, portrayed as Mr. Jefferson. When Mr. Jefferson and his son Blanket move to South Park, he immediately wants to play with the boys and have them over to his house. The boys all think he’s creepy, except for Cartman who thinks Mr. Jefferson is his new best friend. Meanwhile, the cops are tipped off that there’s a rich black man in South Park, and because they can’t have black men with more money than them, try to frame Mr. Jefferson. The only problem is that when they see Mr. Jefferson appears to be white, they abandon their plan. Later, the cops realize their mistake, but not before Mr. Jefferson kills Kenny and is scolded by Kyle to act like an adult since he now has kids of his own. Mr. Jefferson takes the lesson and gives his money to charity, prompting the cops to leave him alone because there are already too many poor black men in prison.
46 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.6
- Votes:2,222
- Air date:April 16, 2008
Parodying “The Grapes of Wrath,” the denizens of South Park begin to head west when their town suddenly loses Internet. The episode follows Stan and his family as they flee to California with the promise of more Internet. Randy has been secretly watching Internet porn and becomes addicted, so he needs it more than anyone. When they arrive in California, they’re put up in an Internet refugee camp where they’re permitted less than a minute of Internet each day. The government is flummoxed for why the Internet went down, but Kyle figures it out by unplugging a machine and then plugging it back in. Everything goes back to normal and Randy says that people need to stop hoarding Internet time—unless it’s for porn.
47 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.6
- Votes:2,293
- Air date:June 8, 2011
When Stan turns 10, everything around him begins to look and sound awful. His parents take him to a doctor who diagnoses him as a “cynical asshole.” His friends begin to avoid him because of his incessant cynicism and, in a shocking twist, Kyle and Cartman become friends. Stan’s father, trying to recapture his youth, begins performing tween music, which leads to he and Sharon separating and selling their house. The end of the episode leaves Stan in a funk, with nowhere to turn, and seeing everything in the world as literal feces.
48 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.7
- Votes:1,706
- Air date:April 21, 2010
The title of the episode is also the 201st overall episode of the series. This episode is particularly memorable because of the creator’s desire to use the image of the Prophet Muhammed without any censorship. Throughout the episode, Muhammed is obscured by a black box that simply reads “censored.” Cartman, meanwhile, squares off with his nemesis Scott Tenorman who reveals that Cartman’s father was Denver Broncos player Jack Tenorman.
49 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.7
- Votes:1,915
- Air date:April 12, 2000
After Cartman accidentally hits Token with a rock that was intended for Kyle, he’s accused of a hate crime and tried in criminal court. Cartman is sent to jail for his crime, which leaves the kids without an anchor for their sledding team. The kids quickly realize that Cartman’s weight is their secret weapon to winning the competition and come up with a plan to free him from jail. The kids wind up giving a presentation to the Governor of Colorado, who decides to pardon Cartman just in time for the race.
50 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.7
- Votes:1,984
- Air date:Oct. 2, 2019
The Season 23 episode “Band in China” is particularly notable because it’s the episode that got the show banned in China. Randy, looking to expand his marijuana business, turns to China as a potential market. Upon arrival, Randy is arrested with a suitcase filled with his product and sent to prison. At the same time, Stan is offered a movie deal for a biopic on his band Crimson Dawn. He’s excited until he realizes all of the sacrifices he’ll have to make to appease the Chinese market. While in prison, Randy meets Winnie the Pooh (who was banned in China because people compared him to the country’s leader Xi Jinping) and ultimately beats the bear to death so he can sell his weed in the country. Back at home, Stan is ashamed of his father as dump trucks of money pile up on the farm.
51 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.7
- Votes:2,037
- Air date:Nov. 27, 2002
In a scathing rebuke of psychics, in particular TV psychic John Edward, “The Biggest Douche in the Universe” picks up from a previous episode where Kenny’s dead spirit possesses Cartman. In an attempt to heal Cartman, Chef convinces everyone to take him to John Edward so he can speak to Kenny from the dead. Stan thinks Edward is a phony and when he’s not able to heal Cartman, Chef takes them to Scotland where his parents perform an exorcism. When Stan reveals Edward as a fraud, he calls Edward the biggest douche in the universe, which causes an alien spaceship to crash on Earth. The aliens are the nomination committee for Biggest Douche in the Universe and Edward wins the prize.
52 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.7
- Votes:2,076
- Air date:Nov. 8, 2006
In the sequel to “Go God Go,” episode 13 of Season 10 starts with Cartman still trapped in the year 2546 after he thought freezing himself would help alleviate the agony of waiting for the new Nintendo Wii. While in the future, Cartman encounters three groups of atheists who are all at war over the “great question,” which just turns out to be over the best name for the atheists to adopt. Using a time phone, Cartman inadvertently reveals to Richard Dawkins that Mrs. Garrison is a post-op transsexual, which ends their relationship and completely alters the future. The atheist war ends and they send Cartman back to the present day where he now has to wait two more months for the release of the Nintendo Wii.
53 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.7
- Votes:2,100
- Air date:April 6, 2005
The kids really hate playing baseball, and when they win the last game of the season, they’re thrilled that they can play video games all summer instead. Unfortunately, because of their win, they now have to compete in the playoffs, causing them to devise a plan to lose every game. Randy, a big proponent of the team’s success, becomes a belligerent dad on the field, fighting with anyone who confronts him. The kids are unsuccessful in their bid to lose games as all the other teams want to lose too and are doing it better. In the championship game, the kids look like they’ll win and have to compete on the national circuit when Randy starts a major fight that ultimately disqualifies the kids’ team, alleviating them of having to play any more games.
54 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.7
- Votes:2,108
- Air date:Nov. 20, 2002
Mr. Garrison goes to extreme lengths to get fired by the school for being a homosexual, with the plan to then sue for millions of dollars. The plan backfires, however, because the school and South Park parents go overboard to show that they’re tolerant of homosexuality. Realizing what Garrison is up to, the kids call him out but are then sent to a tolerance camp. One of Mr. Garrison’s gambits involves shoving the class gerbil, Lemmiwinks, inside Mr. Slave’s rectum, which leads the gerbil on a quest, reminiscent of “The Hobbit.” The episode ends when Principal Victoria has Mr. Garrison and Mr. Slave sent to tolerance camp so they can accept their own behavior while Lemmiwinks emerges from Mr. Slave as a newly crowned Gerbil King.
55 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.7
- Votes:2,154
- Air date:Nov. 1, 2006
In the first of a two-part episode, Cartman is enraged that he has to wait weeks for the new Nintendo Wii to come out. As a result, he devises a plan to freeze himself in snow, so he won’t have to feel time pass by. At the school, Mrs. Garrison refuses to teach evolution and so they hire renowned biologist Richard Dawkins to teach it instead. Dawkins and Garrison end up in a relationship and Garrison becomes a devout atheist. Meanwhile, Cartman is buried by an avalanche and is found and woken up in the year 2546 where three different factions of atheists are at war with one another. All Cartman cares about is finding a Nintendo Wii but he can’t get access to one until he tells one of the atheist factions what he knows about a particular person from his time.
56 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.7
- Votes:2,235
- Air date:Oct. 14, 2009
After Butters pays Sally Darson for his first kiss, he forms a kissing business. Trying to get better at management for the business, Butters attends a pimp convention to learn more tricks of the trade. Sergeant Yates, seeing a surge in prostitution in the community, goes undercover as a prostitute to start making arrests. Only problem is, Yates gets so deep that he eventually falls in love with his own pimp, Keyshawn. Over time, Butters finds more and more actual prostitutes seeking his services as he helps them get medical benefits and loans for housing. Yates (undercover as Yolanda) ends up marrying Keyshawn, but while they’re on their honeymoon in Switzerland, he finally breaks cover and arrests Keyshawn for good. Butters gives up his business and lets the prostitutes take over so they can work for themselves.
57 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.7
- Votes:2,303
- Air date:April 5, 2006
“Cartoon Wars:Part 1” finds South Park in a censorship snafu again over the depiction of Muhammed. The episode starts with the denizens of South Park worried that the show “Family Guy” is going to show Muhammed and that terrorism will run rampant in the country as a result. “Family Guy” ends up censoring the depiction but plans on revealing Muhammed in a follow-up episode. Kyle and Cartman go to Hollywood to try to get the second episode pulled from the air, but Cartman hopes to get “Family Guy” canceled altogether. The episode ends on a cliffhanger, revealing that it’s only part one of a two-part episode.
58 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.7
- Votes:2,368
- Air date:April 7, 2010
Stan wants nothing to do with Facebook, but when his friends create an account without his consent, he begins to be confronted by friends and family for disregarding them online. Stan’s friend numbers skyrocket, even though he wants nothing to do with it and he decides to delete his account. He is inserted into the online world (a la “Tron”) where he has to confront his online self in a game of Yahtzee in order to be freed of the account. Stan wins and transfers all of his friends to a kid named Kip Drordy who had no friends online after Kyle deleted him for not being cool.
59 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.7
- Votes:2,380
- Air date:March 31, 2010
South Park’s KFC is replaced by a medicinal marijuana business after the state bans fast food because of its health issues. As a result, Cartman goes into business for himself selling black market fried chicken. Randy, wanting access to the marijuana facility, gives himself testicular cancer and has to carry his now enlarged testicles around in a wheelbarrow. Cartman is recruited by a local underground fried chicken dealer and ends up meeting Colonel Sanders, who wants Cartman to kill Jamie Oliver before he can speak to the United Nations about the dangers of fast food. With an increase in testicular cancer cases, Colorado surmises that fried chicken was actually preventing people from getting cancer and decides to outlaw marijuana and revoke the ban on fast food.
60 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.7
- Votes:2,398
- Air date:March 31, 2004
After seeing “The Passion of the Christ,” Cartman becomes the president of the Mel Gibson fan club and insists on Kyle seeing the movie. After watching it, Kyle feels guilty about his Jewish heritage and thinks Jews are at fault for killing Christ. Stan and Kenny, meanwhile, hate the movie and want their money back. They travel to Malibu to confront a deranged Mel Gibson and steal $20 from him. Enraged, Gibson follows them back to South Park while Cartman starts a rally reminiscent of Nazi Germany. When Gibson arrives, Cartman tries to worship him, but crazy Gibson simply defecates on his face. Stan then gives an impassioned speech that people should follow Jesus’ teachings and not focus on how he died, which appeases Kyle’s guilt.
61 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.7
- Votes:2,531
- Air date:Feb. 25, 1998
The Season 1 finale, “Cartman’s Mom Is a Dirty Slut” is the first in a two-part series where Cartman tries to figure out who his father is. In his search to figure it out, Cartman first thinks his father is a Native American named Chief Running Water. That leads him to Chef, which then leads him to Mr. Garrison, and so on. To solve the issue, Dr. Mephesto says he’ll run a DNA analysis but needs $3,000 for the test. To get the money, the kids enter a video they took of Cartman to the show “America’s Stupidest Home Videos.” The video enrages Cartman as it shows him having a tea party with his stuffed animals. The kids win second place and use the money for a DNA test. Before the results are revealed, the episode ends, enraging Cartman even further.
62 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.7
- Votes:2,616
- Air date:March 26, 2008
The newest drug craze in South Park is called “cheesing,” wherein people get high off of cat urine. Kenny falls victim to the craze and during his urine-induced trip, he’s introduced to a woman with enormous breasts and all the buildings and landmarks start to look like breasts as well. It’s later revealed that Kyle’s dad used to be addicted to cat urine as well and has a relapse so he can once again see the large-breasted woman. The town of South Park ends up banning cats, as Cartman hides Mr. Kitty in his attic. The episode is an allegory for the “Diary of Anne Frank” but the meaning is completely lost on Cartman.
63 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.8
- Votes:1,946
- Air date:April 14, 2010
Through years and years of mocking celebrities, the A-list stars have finally had enough and file a class-action lawsuit against the town of South Park. The only way to get the suit dropped is if they can arrange a meeting between Tom Cruise and the Prophet Muhammed. The only problem is that depictions of the Prophet set off a firestorm and the entire town is afraid they’ll be subject to terrorism if they arrange the meeting. Meanwhile, the Ginger kids want Muhammed as well and threaten to destroy South Park if they don’t get him. The town agrees to give Muhammed to the Gingers, which enrages the celebrities who then use a mechanized version of Barbra Streisand to attack the town. At the end of the episode, Cartman finds out that everyone lied to him about who his father was, an identity that is ultimately revealed in the episode “201.”
64 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.8
- Votes:2,020
- Air date:Dec. 4, 2013
“Titties and Dragons” is the third in a three-episode arc that follows the kids in a “Game of Thrones” spoof over buying video game consoles on Black Friday. The kids are separated into two groups, with Kyle and Stan on opposite sides competing against one another. As Black Friday gets closer, the kids scheme to get the consoles while shoppers murder each other for deals. It comes down to Microsoft Xbox One vs. Sony PlayStation 4 when Bill Gates kills the head of Sony for video game console supremacy. The kids wind up with an Xbox but ultimately realize the game to get the game console was actually more fun.
65 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.8
- Votes:2,078
- Air date:Dec. 13, 2000
When Kyle asks his parents if he can go to a Raging Pussies concert, they tell him that if he can accomplish a bunch of chores and bring democracy to Cuba, he can go. To their utter shock, Kyle accomplishes everything, but they still won’t let him go. Cartman suggests to Kyle that he tell the police his parents molested him so he can get his way. Eventually, all the kids in South Park start turning in their parents for molestation and soon enough the town is parent-free. The town devolves into anarchy with divided factions until an out-of-town couple drives through South Park and reminds the kids what it’s like to actually have parents. The couple is able to convince the police that the parents have been falsely accused and everything goes back to normal—except the parents now believe they’ve been cured of their sexual urges.
66 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.8
- Votes:2,111
- Air date:Nov. 6, 2002
Desperate to find a ticket stub that will earn them an all-you-can-grab prize of candy, Kyle, Cartman, and Stan rummage through Kenny’s belongings, since he was the last one to have the ticket before he died. Cartman finds Kenny’s ashes, and not understanding cremation, mixes them with milk and drinks them. The kids, thinking they can find Kenny in heaven, decide to build a ladder so they can ask him where they can find the ticket stub. The rest of the world fixates on what they think is the kid’s altruistic reason to find Kenny and help build the ladder with them. Country singer Alan Jackson even writes a song about it (which the South Park creators made to mock Jackson for his 9/11 song). Meanwhile, Cartman begins having visions of Kenny, which he realizes is because he drank his ashes. With each vision, Cartman figures out where the ticket stub is, eventually leading the kids to get their candy and ditch the ladder.
67 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.8
- Votes:2,131
- Air date:Oct. 26, 2005
The girls use a paper fortune teller to see into the future as a game but the boys think they’re using an advanced level of technology that they have to steal. By faking Butters’ death, the boys then dress Butters up as a girl named Marjorine so that she can infiltrate the girls and steal the technology. Butters’ parents, now thinking he’s dead, decide to bury his remains (actually a pig that the kids used for their ruse) in an Indian burial ground, thinking it will bring him back to life in a clear nod to Stephen King’s “Pet Sematary.” Butters ultimately steals the fortune teller from the girls and tells his parents that he’s alive. Unfortunately, his parents now think he’s a demon-child and murders someone for him to feed on.
68 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.8
- Votes:2,232
- Air date:April 12, 2006
In part two of the “Cartoon Wars” arc, Cartman tries to get “Family Guy” canceled when they plan on depicting the Prophet Muhammed in one of their episodes. Cartman pleads with the network executives to censor the episode, thinking this will be their undoing, but Kyle tries to stop him. Before Kyle can stop Cartman, he’s knocked out by Bart Simpson, who, like Cartman wants “Family Guy” to go away. After finding out the “Family Guy” writers are just manatees who use pop-culture reference balls to come up with ideas, Cartman steals a ball so they can’t work. With a decision looming for the head of Fox, Kyle is able to break away and convince the network president to air the episode. Comedy Central ultimately intervened and presented Muhammed as a black screen.
69 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.8
- Votes:2,245
- Air date:Nov. 9, 2005
Cartman hates "ginger" kids—red-headed kids with pale skin and freckles—and claims they’re a scourge on society. The ginger kids in school are then treated like second-class citizens and picked on by everyone else. Kyle, Stan, and Kenny decide to teach Cartman a lesson by sneaking into his room at night, dying his hair, making his skin pale, and giving him freckled tattoos. Suddenly Cartman is the outcast, but he then rallies the gingers to rise up as a dominant race. Everything comes to a head when the gingers begin kidnapping other kids and are about to sacrifice them. It’s then that Kyle whispers into Cartman’s ear that he’s not actually ginger, causing Cartman to make an impassioned speech for everyone to get along with each other.
70 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.8
- Votes:2,292
- Air date:Nov. 3, 1999
The obsession with Chinpokomon, an animated Japanese cartoon, takes over South Park and all the kids want to do is talk about it and buy Chinpokomon merchandise. Through the course of the episode, it’s revealed that the Chinpokomon universe is all about converting American kids into child soldiers fighting for Japan through subliminal marketing methods. With the kids totally brainwashed, the parents realize the only way to break the spell is to pretend to like Chinpokomon themselves, making the fad instantly uncool. Their plan works, and the kids swear off fads for the time being.
71 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.8
- Votes:2,317
- Air date:March 16, 2005
With a hippie music festival coming to South Park, Cartman is enraged and begins imprisoning hippies in his basement. After he’s arrested, the town of South Park is overrun by hippies and there’s no one there to stop them. Tired of the hippie onslaught, the town begs Cartman to rid them of the nuisance and he rides on a giant drill to bore through the hippie crowd. He then blasts death metal music, knowing that the hippies will hate it and they eventually disperse, bringing things back to normal in South Park.
72 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.8
- Votes:2,505
- Air date:April 18, 2007
The Season 11 episode of “Night of the Living Homeless” is a satire that plays on the way America treats its homeless through the lens of classic horror movies like “Night of the Living Dead.” In the episode, a homeless epidemic begins to rear its head in South Park and the boys discover that the homeless came to South Park because neighboring town Evergreen advertised it as a great place for them to live. The kids take the same idea and advertise California as the ultimate place for the homeless to live, saving the town.
73 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.8
- Votes:2,679
- Air date:April 8, 2009
Jimmy creates the ultimate joke about fish sticks and when it becomes a national sensation, the only person who doesn’t understand why it’s funny is Kanye West. At the same time, Cartman tries to take credit for the joke, leading to a confrontation between him and Jimmy. Kanye refuses to let anyone explain the joke to him because he claims to be a genius. The episode plays on the scandal of Carlos Mencia stealing jokes and also comes on the heels of Kanye interrupting Taylor Swift at the VMA awards.
74 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.8
- Votes:2,742
- Air date:March 7, 2007
The entire episode of “With Apologies to Jesse Jackson” is dedicated to the N-word and all its connotations. While on an episode of “Wheel of Fortune,” Randy mistakes an answer for “naggers” as the N-word and is immediately lambasted by society. Randy then joins a group of other celebrities like Michael Richards and Mark Fuhrman who were also cast aside because of their use of the N-word. At the same time, Cartman mocks a dwarf and Token is pissed at Stan for not understanding why the N-word is so offensive.
75 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.9
- Votes:2,181
- Air date:Nov. 18, 2015
Jimmy runs the school newspaper, but when PC Principal censors him for using the word “retarded,” Jimmy takes to hand-delivering the paper himself. At the same time, Jimmy starts to suspect something suspicious in town with sponsored content taking over all news sources and people getting addicted to their phones. Jimmy ultimately uncovers that ads are infiltrating everything in South Park and that he is the only one who can distinguish an ad from a real story.
76 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.9
- Votes:2,196
- Air date:Nov. 20, 2013
In the second episode of a three-episode arc, the kids are divided into two groups when it's revealed that the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 will be available on Black Friday. The episode is a spoof of “Game of Thrones” and finds the entire town in a frenzy, lining up outside the mall to get the best Black Friday deals. Cartman elicits the help of George R.R. Martin, but he simply regales Cartman with long-winded stories that have nothing to do with finishing the books. With Black Friday quickly approaching, Martin suggests that they move it one week later but give even bigger discounts to the first 100 people inside. This, predictably, sets up a huge fight in the already enormous crowd, and the episode ends on a cliffhanger leading to the third episode in the story arc.
77 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.9
- Votes:2,454
- Air date:Dec. 5, 2001
What makes this episode so remarkable is that it marks one of the last times that the creators killed Kenny as a running gag. In “Kenny Dies,” Kenny is diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy and confined to a hospital bed. Cartman, meanwhile, discovers that stem cells can be used to reproduce almost anything and convinces Congress to overturn a ban on them so he can sell fetuses in order to build a Shakey’s Pizza. Of course, he made everyone think he was hoarding fetus stem cells to save Kenny.
78 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.9
- Votes:2,525
- Air date:July 25, 2001
After Cartman inherits one million dollars from his grandmother, Kyle loses all faith in God because he can’t imagine a world where that kind of luck could befall such a terrible person. Cartman uses the money to purchase an amusement park and names it “Cartmanland” after himself. Cartman wants the park all to himself, but when he has to start paying for security and maintenance, he’s forced to sell people tickets to keep the park running. With the stress of Cartman’s inheritance weighing on him, Kyle develops a hemorrhoid that pops while trying to sneak into Cartmanland and he nearly dies in the hospital. Kyle has a miraculous recovery, however, and his faith in God is restored when he learns that Cartman goes broke from paying staff, covering lawsuits, and owing the IRS back taxes.
79 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.9
- Votes:2,539
- Air date:June 26, 2002
As Professor Chaos, Butters attempts to find ways to disrupt South Park, but his sidekick General Disarray tells him that every idea he has was already used in an episode of “The Simpsons.” While Butters is scheming, Cartman buys some Sea People (basically Sea Monkeys) and waits for them to hatch. To his dismay, they’re just brine shrimp, but when mixed with actual semen, the Sea People turn into a developed society that worships Cartman. The Sea People become so advanced that they eventually blow themselves up in a war and Butters comes to realize that “The Simpsons” have done everything so he shouldn’t get caught up with copying them.
80 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.9
- Votes:2,597
- Air date:March 14, 2007
Cartman thinks he’s pranking Butters by taking photos with his penis in Butters’ mouth while Butters sleeps. Kyle points out that it actually makes Cartman seem gay and when Cartman loses the photos, he thinks Kyle and Stan are blackmailing him into being nice. While Cartman was taking the photos, Butters’ dad walks in on them and ends up sending Butters to gay conversion therapy camp. While there, Butters witnesses kids killing themselves and the counselors covering it up. To avoid having to suck up to Kyle and Stan, Cartman decides to reveal a copy of the original photo to the entire class, thinking Kyle was going to instead.
81 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.9
- Votes:2,645
- Air date:Dec. 12, 2001
This classic episode is devoted entirely to Butters and his excitement about going to Bennigan’s on his parent’s anniversary. Things go awry, however, when Butters discovers his father is having homosexual affairs and it sends his mother into a tailspin. Butters’ father comes clean about his affairs, but only after his mother thinks she’s drowned her son in a car. To cover up the murder, the Stotches claim that Butters was abducted and get emotional support from celebrities like O.J. Simpson, the Ramsey’s, and Gary Condit. Butters, however, didn’t die and when he returns, teaches his parents a lesson about lying and forces them to come clean about everything.
82 / 100
- IMDb user rating:8.9
- Votes:2,674
- Air date:Oct. 3, 2007
Cartman pretends to have Tourette Syndrome when he realizes he can get away with saying any swear word he wants as long as he blames it on the disorder. After going overboard with his language, Cartman inadvertently causes a real affliction where he’s unable to censor himself. Scheduled to appear on “Dateline” with Chris Hansen, Cartman goes into a panic, knowing that his now real affliction will cause him to humiliate himself on national TV. Kyle, not realizing that Cartman no longer wants to go on “Dateline,” devises a plan to have multiple pedophiles show up on stage as Cartman is about to appear. Because of the ensuing chaos, Cartman gets out of the show and thanks Kyle for helping him, to Kyle’s utter dismay for missing a chance to humiliate Cartman.
83 / 100
- IMDb user rating:9.0
- Votes:2,534
- Air date:June 21, 2000
Thinking his friends are too immature, Cartman goes on the internet looking for men who like young boys. Seeking additional help, Dr. Mephesto advises Cartman to look into NAMBLA. Cartman discovers the group North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), when Mephesto was really telling him to look into the North American Marlon Brando Look-Alikes. Cartman is invited to a NAMBLA banquet and asked to bring his friends, which he begrudgingly does. The FBI ultimately raids the banquet as the boys are lured into hotel rooms of the NAMBLA members.
84 / 100
- IMDb user rating:9.0
- Votes:2,572
- Air date:Nov. 13, 2013
In the first of a three-episode arc that spoofs “Game of Thrones,” the kids learn that both the Xbox One and the Sony PlayStation 4 will be part of a massive Black Friday sale. Randy, meanwhile, takes a job as a mall security cop so he can sneakily beat the crowds on Black Friday before anyone else is let into the mall. Splitting into opposing groups, the kids team up to buy the gaming console and are at odds over which is the better gaming system. As the crowds begin to swell outside the mall, Randy is placed in charge of all security after his boss is murdered by the increasingly unruly crowd.
85 / 100
- IMDb user rating:9.0
- Votes:2,580
- Air date:Nov. 19, 2003
This episode of South Park delves into the story of Mormonism and the creators use a new family that moves to the town to mock the history of the religion in satirical ways. As the kids warm up to the seemingly perfect family and Randy converts to the religion, the episode goes back in time to follow the story of Mormonism’s founder Joseph Smith. Revealing major inconsistencies in the religion’s origin story, the episode points out hypocrisy in all religions and gives the kids a lesson in compassion over truthfulness. This episode is one of the springboards that led the South Park creators to write their incredibly successful Broadway musical “The Book of Mormon.”
86 / 100
- IMDb user rating:9.0
- Votes:2,741
- Air date:Oct. 31, 2007
In the finale of the three-episode arc of “Imaginationland,” the battle for Imaginationland rages on and relies on Butters to use his imagination to conjure up enough good characters to defeat evil. At the same time, Cartman only cares about winning his bet with Kyle over whether imaginary characters are real or not. If he wins, Kyle has to suck Cartman’s testicles. Despite the government nuking Imaginationland, Butters uses his mind to bring everything back to normal and Kyle loses his bet to Cartman, who then conjures up imaginary versions of Kyle to, in fact, suck his testicles. The episode arc won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program, and the creators released a movie version of the episodes fused together with added content.
87 / 100
- IMDb user rating:9.0
- Votes:2,759
- Air date:Oct. 24, 2007
In the second episode of the three-episode arc of “Imaginationland,” Butters travels through Imaginationland, witnessing the carnage that evil characters are enacting on the good. He must find the Council of Nine, which consists of characters like Luke Skywalker, Jesus, Popeye, Morpheus, and others who tell him that he’s the key to saving the land. Cartman, meanwhile, wants Kyle to pay up on a bet wherein he has to suck Cartman’s balls. Every time the bet is about to be consummated, something tragic happens and Cartman is forced to wait for Kyle to make good.
88 / 100
- IMDb user rating:9.0
- Votes:2,886
- Air date:May 3, 2006
No longer able to control her son, Lianne hires the Dog Whisperer Cesar Millan to use his methods on Cartman in the same way he does to train dogs. Though the methods are incredibly successful, Cartman secretly plots to kill his own mother, seething that he can no longer control his own behavior and for the fact that she hired Millan in the first place. When Millan turns Lianne down when she asks him out on a date, she asks Cartman to join her instead. Cartman refuses until Lianne says he can have anything he wants, ultimately breaking all the training that Millan instilled in him.
89 / 100
- IMDb user rating:9.0
- Votes:3,277
- Air date:Oct. 17, 2007
In the first of a three-episode arc, “Imaginationland” starts with Kyle and Cartman making a bet over whether magical creatures exist. If Kyle loses, he has to suck Cartman’s balls. When Cartman finds a real leprechaun, Kyle realizes he’s going to have to pay up. At this point, the kids meet the mayor of Imaginationland, who brings them to the fantasy world only to flee when it’s bombed by Islamic terrorists. The terrorists hold Butters hostage and the kids, along with the Pentagon, have to figure out a way to save Butters and the good imaginary characters, while Cartman only wants one thing—to make Kyle suck his balls.
90 / 100
- IMDb user rating:9.1
- Votes:2,740
- Air date:Oct. 29, 2003
While Kyle, Kenny, and Stan can’t figure out what kind of band to start, Cartman, along with Butters and Token, forms a Christian rock band and bets Kyle that he can get a platinum-selling album first. Cartman’s band immediately takes off when he begins changing love song lyrics by inserting Jesus in the songs. The episode takes aim at famous bands who complain about people pirating their music and they parody the likes of Metallica, Britney Spears, Meat Loaf, and many others. Cartman’s rock band becomes a huge sensation, but he loses the bet to Kyle when he’s told that Christian rock albums can’t go platinum. Token and Butters beat Cartman up for spending all the money they made and Cartman loses all his fans when he screams out “f*** Jesus!”
91 / 100
- IMDb user rating:9.1
- Votes:2,831
- Air date:April 13, 2005
After Cartman crosses the line, again, the kids all decide to ignore him and get everyone else, including Cartman’s mother, to join in. Cartman deduces that he must be a ghost if no one can see him, but he can’t understand why he’s not going to heaven. Butters is the only person not in on the joke, so Cartman solicits his help to apologize for all his past sins. Nothing works, however, and Butters’ parents think that Butters has gone crazy and have him committed. With nothing working and having gone to great lengths to apologize for his sins, the kids finally let Cartman in on the ruse and Cartman immediately goes back to being the same terrible person he always was.
92 / 100
- IMDb user rating:9.1
- Votes:3,167
- Air date:Nov. 12, 2014
Cartman convinces Butters that he’s in a virtual reality (VR) world where he can do anything he wants. After Butters punches his own dad in the balls, he’s grounded, but still thinks he’s trapped inside the VR world. The episode becomes more and more convoluted as it’s unclear which characters are in the VR world, and which ones are simply trying to get customer service to fix their Oculus Rift VR headsets. In the end, it turns out that it was Stan in the VR world all along and he simply had to praise a customer service rep in order to get out.
93 / 100
- IMDb user rating:9.1
- Votes:3,313
- Air date:March 17, 2004
The kids trick a vendor into selling them Japanese weapons and when they get possession of them, the animation style of the show switches entirely to anime, where each of the kids is a superhero with special powers. When they don’t let Butters join them, Butters turns into his alter-ego Professor Chaos and battles with the kids. Unfortunately, the weapons are real, and Butters takes a ninja star to the eye and needs immediate medical attention. Not wanting their parents to find out about the weapons, the kids dress up Butters as a dog and try to take him to a veterinarian instead. The kids ultimately get busted, but the parents are more upset about Cartman streaking nude than the violence, which is directly aimed at American’s sensibilities when it comes to sex versus violence.
94 / 100
- IMDb user rating:9.1
- Votes:3,346
- Air date:Dec. 15, 2004
In the Season 8 Christmas special “Woodland Critter Christmas,” Stan comes upon a group of woodland animals who request his help with Christmas decorations. Stan slowly begins to realize that all the help he gives the critters is actually a ruse as they’re Satanists waiting for the birth of the antichrist, which Stan has inadvertently helped. As the story unfolds, it’s revealed that Cartman is reading a story to his classroom and that Kyle will end up dying in the story’s finale—though not in the way anyone expected.
95 / 100
- IMDb user rating:9.1
- Votes:3,596
- Air date:Nov. 16, 2005
“Trapped in the Closet” takes direct aim at the Church of Scientology when Stan fills out a personality test and finds out he has extremely high thetan levels. The Scientologists believe that Stan is the reincarnated form of the church’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard, and famous scientologists like Tom Cruise and John Travolta come to pay their respects. When Stan tells Tom Cruise that his acting isn’t that great, Cruise hides in a closet, along with R. Kelly and Travolta, mocking their suspected homosexuality. Much of the episode delves deeply into the actual story of Scientology, and the creators all but dare the church to sue them for slander.
96 / 100
- IMDb user rating:9.2
- Votes:3,012
- Air date:Nov. 12, 2003
Cartman will literally do anything to be invited to Kyle’s birthday when he finds out it’s taking place at the famed Mexican-themed restaurant and arcade Casa Bonita. Kyle decides to invite Butters instead of Cartman, so Cartman tricks Butters into thinking the world is about to end and confines him to a bomb shelter leading up to Kyle’s birthday. Butters eventually figures everything out just as the boys (with Cartman) are heading up to Casa Bonita. With the cops waiting for Cartman, he flees and runs into Casa Bonita to eat the food, watch the cliff divers, and play some arcade games, before eventually getting caught.
97 / 100
- IMDb user rating:9.2
- Votes:3,294
- Air date:April 14, 2004
In the Season 8 episode of “Awesom-O,” Cartman pretends to be a robot in order to trick Butters into giving him an embarrassing video he has of Cartman. As most things do in South Park, Awesom-O gets out of hand when Hollywood believes that the robot is the key to coming up with new movie ideas and the government believes that Awesom-O’s artificial intelligence can be used as a secret weapon. After uncovering the truth about Cartman, Butters gets back at him by screening the embarrassing video to the whole town.
98 / 100
- IMDb user rating:9.3
- Votes:3,798
- Air date:Nov. 13, 2002
Spoofing “The Lord of the Rings” movies, the kids are sent on a quest to deliver a video of “Lord of the Rings” to Butters’ parents. Randy, thinking he sent the right movie, quickly realizes that he sent a porn instead. Butters, having watched the porn version, begins to turn into Smeagol from the actual movie, hoarding the film to himself. The kids get the movie away from Butters, but then have to avoid sixth graders who want the video for themselves. When they finally reach the video store dropbox, Butters tries to stop them from returning the movie, but he’s instead tossed into the box with the movie, while the other kids’ parents desperately try to explain all the things that the porn movie was showing.
99 / 100
- IMDb user rating:9.5
- Votes:6,136
- Air date:Oct. 4, 2006
The kids are obsessed with the game “World of Warcraft,” but when an online player begins killing their characters, they decide to train like never before to stop it. Cartman, Stan, Kyle, and Kenny lock themselves into their rooms, eating junk food, and playing the game non-stop to get enough power to stop the other player. To help the players, the executives who created the game attempt to give them a special sword and use Stan’s dad Randy as the conduit. Randy sacrifices himself inside the game, the kids defeat the other player, and they can finally play the game as it was originally intended.
100 / 100
- IMDb user rating:9.6
- Votes:6,654
- Air date:July 11, 2001
Scott Tenorman is a ninth-grader who convinces Cartman that if he buys pubic hair from him, he’ll reach puberty faster. Enraged, Cartman tries to get his money back, but Tenorman just humiliates him further. Cartman, inspired by revenge, finds out that Tenorman’s favorite band is Radiohead and arranges a concert for him. He then finds a way to get Tenorman’s parents killed, chops them up, makes them into chili, and tricks Tenorman into eating his own parents. Stan and Kyle are mortified by Cartman’s actions, but also know there’s no longer a line he won’t cross.
