It’s difficult to believe that any show could still be going strong after 22 seasons. Very few shows enjoy even a fraction of that longevity, and the ones that do, like South Park is a different breed; a show that’s been on the air for more than two decades and still manages to knock it out of the park on a regular basis.
It may have had some ups and downs over the years, but, on the whole, South Park is still as sharp, insightful, and hilarious as it ever was. From criticizing Clinton to poking fun at the pandemic, here's how every season of South Park stacks up in of quality.
Updated on October 26th, 2021 by Tanner Fox: Only two episodes of South Park's twenty-fourth season have aired so far, but they've been two of the most hilarious and poignant installments in the long-running series to broadcast in quite some time. Both "The Pandemic Special" and the "South ParQ Vaccination Special" are as irreverent as can be, and they harken back to the jet black comedic leanings for which the series was originally known.
The rest of South Park's season 24 is said to be forthcoming, but there's no shortage of material to check out from past seasons. Be it the crass comedy of season 3 or the profane political perspectives of season 20, almost every chapter in the South Park continuity is worth checking out.
Season 20
While South Park didn’t quite nail serialized storytelling in the few years in which the creators experimented with it—which they reference themselves in the title of the season 20 finale “The End of Serialization as We Know It”—this season came pretty close.
Online trolling, nostalgia, and the 2016 election were covered extensively and woven together in a 10-part narrative that was nothing if not interesting. The season also had some surprisingly powerful moments, like when all the girls follow up on their promise to break up with their boyfriends if the trolling didn’t stop, culminating in Wendy’s heartbreaking “I can’t fix you” note to Stan. That said, five years on, the season already comes across as dated.
Season 21
South Park continued its long-running crusade against political correctness in its 21st season. After getting off to a somewhat rocky start with the premiere episode “White People Renovating Houses,” season 21 delivered some classic episodes. Depicting a nursing home as a drug-infested prison in “Hummels & Heroin” was a stroke of comic genius.
Tackling everything from the controversy surrounding Columbus Day (“Holiday Special”) to the #MeToo movement (“Sons a Witches”), on the whole, season 21 was a doozy.
Season 1
Though it blossomed into a major success during subsequent seasons, South Park's original outing, which premiered in August of 1997, wasn't all that memorable. It did feature a few iconic episodes like "Cartman Gets An Anal Probe" and "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo," but it lacked the biting satire and crass irreverence for which South Park would later be known.
South Park's first season mostly focuses on the mundane lives of four elementary-school boys. It may have stood out against comparatively tamer series at the time, but the show obviously had yet to find its footing.
Season 2
Featuring some of the most iconic moments involving Chef, South Park's second season represents a marked improvement over the previous outing, though it was still far from the adult animation juggernaut it would become in the early 2000s.
Like most seasons of South Park, season 2 was not without controversy; the final episode of season 1, "Cartman's Mom Is A Dirty Slut" promised a revelation concerning Cartman's parentage, but the second season's debut episode, "Terrance and Phillip in Not Without My Anus" ignored previous continuity entirely to the displeasure of fans.
Season 15
Though it features a few noteworthy episodes, South Park's eleventh season, which aired from April to November of 2011, was fairly uninspired. Poking fun at everything from broadway musicals to the success of Apple's iPad, the season offered up a watchable, albeit fairly milquetoast roasting of then-current events.
The most memorable episode was "City Sushi," which mostly focused on gags centered around the mispronunciation of the word "sushi." There's enough here to entertain dedicated South Park fans, but casual audiences will likely be a bit let down, and the many dated references make for less then enthusing topics ten years after the fact.
Season 12
South Park's twelfth season is generally regarded as a meat-and-potatoes edition of the series. 2008, the year in which the season premiered, marked the beginning of a global recession, but the show couldn't capitalize on these events until later.
Instead, season 12 features a few episodes highlighting the wild antics of Eric Cartman, and it includes homages to parodies of famous novels and movies like The Grapes of Wrath, Twilight, and the 1981 cult film Heavy Metal. It also contains an over-the-top two-part episode titled "pandemic" in which South Park must contend with an invasion of giant guinea pigs.
Season 16
Season 16 was a bit hit-and-miss in the minds of most fans, with only a few stand-out episodes included among a slew of mostly forgettable offerings. The most memorable installment in the season is likely "I Should Have Never Gone Ziplining," a hilarious parody of the at-the-time popular show I Shouldn't Be Alive. There's also the excellent "A Nightmare on Face Time," which is a parody of Stephen King's The Shining.
However, episodes like "Reverse Cowgirl" and "Faith Hilling" come across as lackluster and somewhat dated, and the season mostly failed to leave a lasting impression on audiences.
Season 19
Hilariously lampooning the rise of political correctness, South Park’s 19th season was its first to feature an overarching narrative thread. This experiment would end up having mixed results, but season 19 was a strong start.
From Yelp reviewers to online safe spaces, Trey Parker and Matt Stone chose satirical targets with plenty of potential for season 19 and mostly hit the mark.
Season 5
Starting with the meta premiere “It Hits the Fan,” South Park’s fifth season has some of the show’s finest episodes, including “Scott Tenorman Must Die,” which is widely regarded to be the best South Park episode of all. The season has a ton of great installments: “Cartmanland,” “The Entity,” “Here Comes the Neighborhood,” “Osama Bin Laden Has Farty Pants”—the list goes on.
The season’s penultimate episode, “Kenny Dies,” killed off Kenny for a whole season in a brilliant commitment to a running gag, while the finale, “Butters’ Very Own Episode,” turned Butters into the character fans know and love today in anticipation of him taking Kenny’s place.
Season 3
In its third season, South Park morphed from an overbearingly crass spectacle into a more refined piece of political and cultural satire. While there was still plenty of low-brow humor to go around—particularly in episodes like "Cat Orgy" and "World Wide Recorder Concert"—season 3 featured some beloved early episodes—the Pokémon riff-fest "Chinpokomon," in particular.
The season also does quite a bit to establish the late Isaac Hayes' Chef as a character, and a notable improvement in animation quality compared to previous installments further helped to solidify the show's status among after-dark TV icons.
