South Park - Season 1 [2024]

Season 1 succeeded because it didn't care about your feelings. It made fun of the left, the right, the rich, the poor, the disabled, the able-bodied, Christians, Jews, Atheists, and even the network airing it. It was the first show to truly weaponize "equal opportunity offense" as an art form.

This is the season’s secret masterpiece. While the humor is juvenile (a gay dog), the episode actually defends homosexuality with shocking sincerity. Big Gay Al is flamboyant, kind, and unapologetic. In 1997, having a cartoon character tell a kid that being "different" is okay was surprisingly progressive. The show proved it could have a heart between the fart jokes. South Park - Season 1

Without Season 1, there is no Family Guy . There is no Rick and Morty . There is no Robot Chicken . They broke the gate, kicked the guard dog, and burned down the guard shack. Season 1 succeeded because it didn't care about

Watch it if: You want to see how a cultural revolution started with construction paper and a dead kid in a parka. What was your first memory of watching South Park Season 1 live? Did your parents ban it? Let us know in the comments below. This is the season’s secret masterpiece

South Park Season 1 didn’t just arrive; it detonated. Before we talk about the plots, we have to talk about the look. The first season is famously animated using stop-motion with actual cut-out construction paper. It is jerky. It is ugly. The characters walk like they have hip dysplasia, and their mouths flap open and closed like sock puppets having a seizure.

The pilot is a fever dream. Alien abduction, a satellite dish stuck in Cartman’s rectum, and a terrifyingly catchy song about mountain lions. It introduces the "chef" (the legendary Isaac Hayes) explaining the birds and the bees via funk music. It is low-budget, weird, and instantly addictive.