Whereas South Park has been by means of many alternative iterations over the many years, the present’s newest outing brings again its earliest obsessions, together with all of the controversy they entailed. Despite the fact that The Simpsons is the longest-running scripted primetime American TV present in historical past, South Park shouldn’t be that far behind.
Now in its twenty eighth season, the satirical sequence has been round since earlier than Household Man and reached the large display screen earlier than The Simpsons, with South Park: Larger, Longer, and Uncut arriving in cinemas in 1999. That stated, South Park’s life on display screen has been so much messier and extra controversial than the comparatively family-friendly tenure of The Simpsons.
The many banned episodes of South Park function proof of the present’s sharp, unsparing satirical edge, in addition to its tendency to rub censors up the mistaken means. As not too long ago as August 2025, episodes of South Park season 27 engendered an outraged response from President Donald Trump when the present depicted him actually in mattress with Devil himself.
South Park Season 28 Focuses On Faith and Horror
Though South Park season 27 ended abruptly and the second half of season 27 was revealed to now be a shorter, five-episode season 28, this plot line nonetheless proved that the present is returning to its acquainted roots. As stunning as it might sound, South Park season 28’s reliance on parodying horror films and satirizing faith harkens again to its starting.
To date, the primary two episodes of season 28 have centered on Devil and Donald Trump’s relationship, Cartman and Peter Thiel making an attempt to cease the Antichrist, and Trump’s haunting within the White Home. As this listing implies, South Park’s current outings have chaotically bounced between serialized storytelling and standalone plots.
For some years, from season 14 to season 20, South Park centered solely on serialized, season-long narrative arcs. Abandoning the chaotic, scattershot strategy of seasons 4 to 14, which parodied present occasions as they unfolded, seasons 14 to twenty tried to supply a extra cohesive view on cultural, social, and political tales.
South Park season 20’s overarching story was disastrously derailed when the present’s creators admitted that they anticipated a Clinton victory within the 2016 election. Donald Trump’s shock victory led to a last-second rewrite of season 20’s ending, and season 21 noticed the present return to a much less serialized fashion consequently.
In a daring departure, season 28 has blended each approaches. Episode 1, “Twisted Christian,” launched the present’s model of Peter Thiel and established a weird plot involving the Antichrist, however episode 2, “The Lady within the Hat,” shelved some components of this plot whereas protecting others alive for the sake of continuity.
South Park’s Faith and Horror Parodies Have been Its First Main Controversies
This storyline’s give attention to horror tropes and parodies of faith will sound acquainted to longtime followers of South Park, since each had been among the many present’s first focal factors of controversy. Means again in 1997’s season 1, “Pinkeye” turned the city of South Park into grotesque zombies, and “Damien” featured a boxing match between Jesus and Devil organized by his son.
Like South Park season 27’s episodes, these storylines appeared tailored to upset conservative cultural commentators. Their glib view of faith, together with a parodic depiction of Jesus, was blended with gory, gross-out comedy horror to create a scatological, wilfuly offensive comedy sequence that was as ugly because it was surprising.
South Park initially used horror tropes and parodies of faith to shock and offend as broad an viewers as attainable whereas nonetheless mocking the political institution. It’s honest to say that, after the 9-year Tegridy Farms plot got here to an finish early in South Park season 27, the present’s creators lastly returned to this authentic focus.
This couldn’t come at a greater time for the present, which had been struggling one thing of an identification disaster in the previous couple of years. On the one hand, a few of South Park’s current standalone specials have earned the sequence important acclaim due to their precision-focused satire. Specifically, Might 2024’s The Finish of Weight problems was a intelligent, ingenious particular.
South Park Season 28’s Non secular Horror Story Returns To Its Roots
That outing took on the American healthcare system, the Ozempic craze, physique positivity, and ultra-processed meals and managed to discover a contemporary, humorous strategy to every of those doubtlessly drained topics. That stated, South Park’s Not Appropriate for Kids was a thrown-together flop that by no means convincingly married its OnlyFans spoof with its parody of the Prime power drink craze.
In the meantime, the sequence took two years to acknowledge the genocide in Gaza, however season 27, episode 5, “Battle of Curiosity,” noticed South Park successfully skewer Israel’s mass killing of Palestinians. Clearly, the present’s creators are occupied with regaining the satirical power of their early years, however this implies bringing again the previous fashion of the sequence within the course of.
As such, maybe it ought to come as no shock that South Park season 28 is so centered on parodying horror films and mocking non secular figures. In spite of everything, it was these identical recurring obsessions that made South Park iconic within the first place nearly 30 years in the past, and hammering on these satirical buttons nonetheless appears to get viewers as riled up as ever.
- Launch Date
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August 13, 1997
- Showrunner
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Trey Parker
- Administrators
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Adrien Beard
- Writers
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David A. Goodman, Nancy M. Pimental, Kenny Hotz, Philip Stark, Dave Weasel, Dan Sterling, Susan Hurwitz Arneson, Trisha Nixon, David R. Goodman, Tim Talbott, Pam Brady, Robert Lopez, Dani Michaeli, Kyle McCulloch, Karey Dornetto, Jonathan Kimmel, Jane Bussmann
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Trey Parker
Eric Cartman / Stan Marsh (voice)
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Matt Stone
Kyle Broflovski / Kenny McCormick (voice)
