South Park

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), Sept, 1998 by Robert S. Rothenberg

Warner Home Video / three videocassettes / 56 minutes each / $14.95 apiece

The hottest phenomenon on cable television is "South Park," the crudely drawn cartoon series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Audiences have been roaring over the exploits of the quartet of adolescents--Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny--the show revolves around, as well as their hapless parents and teachers and the weird denizens of their hometown.

The popularity of the show indisputably lies in its unsparing destruction of conventions. The humor is blithefully vulgar, scatological, sacrilegious, and antisocial, pricking gaping holes in everything society supposedly holds sacred. "Guest stars" range from talk show hostess Kathie Lee Gifford to film critic Leonard Maltin to singer Barbra Streisand as a dinosaur-like creature seeking to take over the world. Throw in a steady parade of extraterrestrials and a wrestling match between Jesus Christ and Santa Claus, and you can see why the show has caused so many uptight individuals and groups to go ballistic.

These three videos, each containing a pair of episodes from the series, are typically offensive and hilarious. They give all those who have not already taped them off their cable networks the opportunity to chortle over the outrageous situations and X-rated dialogue that has made "South Park" the topic of morning-after discussion around the water cooler and via e-mail and the Internet since its inception.