Spring Break
"South Park" off to a slow start with brief hiatus
John Holmes
Issue date: 10/14/09 Section: Entertainment
10/14/09 - "South Park" came back from its summer hiatus last Wednesday with the episode "Dead Celebrities" which, as you might guess, was a semi-tasteless riff on the slew of celebrity deaths during the last couple months.
Kyle's adorable little brother Ike is haunted by the ghosts of Billy Mays, Farrah Fawcett and David Carradine. The ghosts torment the little Canadian because they cannot leave purgatory until all of the recently deceased celebrities acknowledge their deaths.
They are being held up by- who else? Michael Jackson. And when the late King of Pop's spirit possesses Ike, the boys Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny have to help Michael Jackson achieve his dream of being a little white girl in order to accept his transition to the afterlife.
The plot works best if you don't think about it…at all. I'm still scratching my head a week later. What this episode is good for, however, is the fun it pokes at who recently passed away. Not even death can stop Billy Mays from hawking "ChipotlAway," which gets the bloodstains out of your underwear after you eat at Chipotle. The show also pays homage to David Carradine's interesting cause of death by depicting his ghost as wearing a noose…and fishnet stockings.
Overall, the episode falls flat due to its uncharacteristically disjointed plot. In order to help Michael Jackson come to terms with his life, the boys enter Ike into a beauty pageant, complete with abusive stage moms and masturbating male judges. It's pretty funny, but it draws from wells of humor that have been already tapped. It's not even the first time that the show has parodied Michael Jackson, and certainly not the best.
All in all, there's surprisingly little to say. One could rail about the insensitivity of poking fun at beloved celebrities mere months after their deaths, but "South Park" made fun of Steve Irwin about a week after he died, and that was hilarious.
With the wealth of material available from the deaths of with all these celebrities, it's a bit of a disappointment that this episode was all they were able to come up with. But "South Park" always comes back from hiatus slow, and this season has already produced the classic "Gay Fish" episode, so what right do I have to complain? I'll be right back in front of my TV come Wednesday.
Kyle's adorable little brother Ike is haunted by the ghosts of Billy Mays, Farrah Fawcett and David Carradine. The ghosts torment the little Canadian because they cannot leave purgatory until all of the recently deceased celebrities acknowledge their deaths.
They are being held up by- who else? Michael Jackson. And when the late King of Pop's spirit possesses Ike, the boys Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny have to help Michael Jackson achieve his dream of being a little white girl in order to accept his transition to the afterlife.
The plot works best if you don't think about it…at all. I'm still scratching my head a week later. What this episode is good for, however, is the fun it pokes at who recently passed away. Not even death can stop Billy Mays from hawking "ChipotlAway," which gets the bloodstains out of your underwear after you eat at Chipotle. The show also pays homage to David Carradine's interesting cause of death by depicting his ghost as wearing a noose…and fishnet stockings.
Overall, the episode falls flat due to its uncharacteristically disjointed plot. In order to help Michael Jackson come to terms with his life, the boys enter Ike into a beauty pageant, complete with abusive stage moms and masturbating male judges. It's pretty funny, but it draws from wells of humor that have been already tapped. It's not even the first time that the show has parodied Michael Jackson, and certainly not the best.
All in all, there's surprisingly little to say. One could rail about the insensitivity of poking fun at beloved celebrities mere months after their deaths, but "South Park" made fun of Steve Irwin about a week after he died, and that was hilarious.
With the wealth of material available from the deaths of with all these celebrities, it's a bit of a disappointment that this episode was all they were able to come up with. But "South Park" always comes back from hiatus slow, and this season has already produced the classic "Gay Fish" episode, so what right do I have to complain? I'll be right back in front of my TV come Wednesday.
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